Read Online dark ops 3 - Renegade by Catherine Mann - Free Book Online Page B

ushered the two Predator crew members into the small briefing room where three of his crewdogs waited. While both the chemical test and the hypersonic jet mission were tasked by his squadron, they shouldn’t have come anywhere near each other that night. But thank God his spy drone crew had been slated to gather data. Now they were able to provide extra visuals on Mason Randolph’s landing.
    Most of the time, juggling so many diverse test projects could be a headache. This time, it had worked to their advantage.
    In the briefing room, pilots Vince “Vapor” Deluca and Jimmy “Hotwire” Gage were giving Mason hell over the rolling car incident.
    Vince leaned his elbows on the long table and gestured with a doughnut. “So, my brother, you get tired of testing airplanes and switch to remote control cars?”
    Mason rocked back in his rolling chair. “Seems damn dumb to run myself over.”
    Jimmy cracked his knuckles. “Ah, but you got to save the girl while going all macho for her.”
    Mason held up his hands, scraped and raw. “I can think of much better ways to catch this woman’s eye that wouldn’t involve blistering my skin while checking out a burning car. Besides, she’s a cop, one of those sneaky camo dudes. She can pretty much save her own ass.”
    “Good point,” Jimmy said. “Women appreciate it when you recognize they’re strong, too.”
    “Camo dude?” Vince paused chewing his glazed jelly doughnut.
    Rex cleared his throat. Mason’s chair creaked upright as the three men stood.
    “At ease.” Rex gestured for Werewolf and Gucci, two other aviators from his top secret squadron, to follow him inside. The small conference room was filled with a long table, cushioned chairs for comfort during long-ass meetings, and a TV/DVD combo mounted into the ceiling for videos and telecoms. “We’re including the pilot and sensor operator from the Predator flying during the incident. I thought they could shed some light on the whole accident, since they watched from a bird’s-eye view.”
    He didn’t even want to consider what kind of hell this squadron would have been going through if Mason had died in that in-flight accident or on the ground from overexposure to a blister agent burning up the inside of his lungs. This squadron had experienced some close calls over the past year and a half he’d been in charge, but he’d never lost a plane or a man. Even thinking about the possibility made him itchy. Stats told him he’d covered all his bases, then covered them again until he couldn’t remember what sleep was beyond a catnap.
    He couldn’t think of anything else to double-check. But he’d learned long ago there was more art than science to this job.
    Werewolf clapped Mason on the back. “Glad to see the Ghostbuster mobile didn’t take you out this morning.”
    Gucci took her seat. “Any word on that incident, Colonel?”
    Rex stepped behind the podium while everyone else settled in a place at the long table. “There are no terrorist groups claiming responsibility as of yet, and the security cops said there wasn’t a bomb present. The engine itself exploded. The vehicle was simply one of the remote models we use in range testing.”
    Werewolf pressed, “Those aren’t supposed to drive willy-nilly around populated areas. What was it doing in a congested hospital parking lot?”
    “The SPs are questioning a sergeant from transportation about that as we speak. He has all the paperwork in order for parking it there last night, complete with the proper authorizing signatures.” Rex scratched behind his neck, right over the kink twisting tighter by the second. “Apparently it started driving when there was some kind of brief power outage.”
    Mason straightened in his chair. “Except?”
    Rex gave up on the knotted muscle. Again. “The major who supposedly signed the order couldn’t possibly have done so, given he was playing putt-putt with his kids.”
    Werewolf held up his hands. “Okay, hold