Chapter 511

I had intended to go to Washington later today so it was no inconvenience when Robert called and said I needed to see him before I left.

“Last night there were a series of emails between the four and a phone call among the three persons of interest. There was a firm date agreed on by all; four weeks from Saturday,” Robert said.

“The Prince has upped his order and added another delivery point. He now wants the CH-4B drones - equal to our Reaper - capable of carrying more missiles a lot further. He wants twenty five sent to the arms dealer in Central America, twenty five sent to South Africa and another twenty five sent to Sudan. He also wants a total of 500 missiles and training for ten people in all three places,” Robert said.

“The Hong Kong dealer answered back a couple hours later; it’s a 425 million dollar deal payable up front, with delivery of the first group of twenty five to central America to begin in thirty days,” Robert said.

“The Prince agreed, provided that they would accept sixty five five-million dollar US treasury bonds and the rest in the previous described currencies; 100 million in gold, diamonds and ivory,” Robert said.

“The dealer replied back accepting the deal in less than twenty minutes,” Robert said.

I failed to understand how the Prince even remotely thought he was going to get away with using those kinds of drones in the Americas. Every country has sophisticated low level capable radars and all the major airports had US made Raytheon Doppler radar to fight small drug planes.

The second big question was how were the operators going to maintain contact and control when they were in use with the range they would have? Those Chinese drones did not have sophisticated satellite communications.

They needed a long range radio communications link. Had these networks been established or are they in the process? Or, was the plan to just use them short range? Just how many operations did the Prince have going on that I did not know about?

It looked like he had upped his game and decided to get actively involved in some of the civil wars in those areas to increase and expand his sphere of influence. If he could do that successfully, it would either greatly improve his standing in the royal family, or just maybe get him executed if he lived that long. The royal family was in the middle of a power struggle; maybe he had a plan to climb to the top.

I immediately called Andy, Bill and Ed from the command center and gave them instructions.

“See Robert ASAP when you return from Washington and expedite the first part of the plan; imperative you keep me informed,” I said.

I was in the middle of the pack as we made the trip to Washington with my phone going crazy with texts from Marty Coeburn.

“We got Balthazar Khamini and an accomplice; they had one of the mobile IEDs in the trunk of the car along with maps and directions. I will be at 1600 when you get there,” the text said.

Twenty minutes later I walked into half a crew at Section Twelve; everyone was taking a cue from me by varying arrival and departure time. Ben and Frank were looking at pictures of Khamini and his car and contents that were being live streamed from the crime unit on the scene. The bomb squad was on the way to the spot.

“Send us some close up pictures of the IED portion, specifically the wires coming out of it. Do NOT touch it or move anything in doing so,” I instructed.

The pictures came in a couple seconds later. The wires were connected.

“It is armed! Get the hell away from there NOW; you need to be 500 yards away. Somewhere there is a remote control and detonator. If you did not find it in the car with him it there must be a second a car carrying it, if you see any other cars stopped within a mile or a car that keeps driving by arrest them and look for a wireless controller,” I said.

We watched as a camera was swinging in the wind as its operator was running. Then engines were running and tires squealing. Then we were picking up the officer talking on the radio through the camera feed that was still on.

“There is a car stopped back there; get him, it’s turning around running. All units on Blackburn Road stop the red Nissan headed north,” was heard. Another waiting game was afoot.