Дэвид Балдаччи - King and Maxwell

“I understand.”

“That’s a lot of firepower,” said Melton. “The A3 weighs two tons, cost over a billion dollars to build, launch, and maintain, and has fifteen more years of useful life in orbit. I’m glad to take your money but there’s rental space on a lot of birds up there far cheaper than this one. And you don’t have to lease the whole platform. On some of our birds we have up to five thousand lessees per platform. It’s quite profitable but the upfront costs are enormous. You have to be patient to make your money – and I am.”

“I appreciate your advice, but we like to have the whole pie. And there aren’t that many up there that could do what the A3 can do,” replied Grant.

“Such as?”

“I was hoping twenty million dollars would provide some degree of privacy,” said Grant.

“But it’s still my bird.”

“The parameters of the rental have been hammered out. We will stay within those parameters at all times or find ourselves in litigation. And I can assure you, I have no plans to be in court.”

Melton nodded. “Did you know the U.S. government is so broke they’re renting space on my platforms too? ‘Hosted payloads,’ we call it in the industry. Military can’t afford to send their own platforms up anymore. I’m bumping them off this one because of our deal, in fact. They were on the A3 but on a short-term lease that came up for renewal, only they wouldn’t match your offer.”

“Interesting,” said Grant. “I didn’t know that.” Except he did know it. In fact, it was the main reason he had rented the A3.

He rose and shook the hand that Melton had extended. The older man said, “The rental agreement has your company as Phoenix Enterprises.”

“Yes it does.”

“Phoenix, like in the city?”

“Phoenix like in the mythological bird that resurrects itself from its own ashes.”

“Okay, whatever. My people tell me you’re in some sort of contracting work. Defense intelligence sector.”

“That’s right.”

“Then I can understand why you need work space up there.”

“I was surprised you wanted to do this personally. I’m sure you have a team of executives who could have met with me and closed the deal.”

“Piece of advice, young man. In business, when you do a deal of this size, and I’ve done bigger and I’ve done smaller, I like to look the man in the eye and shake his hand. Good for me, good for him. And we could be doing business together again.”

“Yes, we could,” replied Grant. But he was thinking, No, we never will.

He took the next flight north. He arrived back in D.C., drove straight to his office, and sat at his desk. He opened the small black book Melton had given him and looked at the series of codes and authentication keys that were critical for him to gain access to the A3. It was quite a unique bird, he knew, for a variety of reasons. And while the military and other federal agencies had been kicked off the platform, they weren’t really. Not really. They always left a little fragment of themselves behind.

And a fragment was all Grant needed.

“HEY, WINGO!”

Tyler looked over as he was leaving school. The group of senior boys was watching him. Some had big duffels they carried over their shoulders. One held a football helmet and shoulder pads.

One of them shouted, “Heard your old man’s not dead. Heard he went AWOL. And he’s a crook.”

Tyler’s face flamed red and he shouted, “That’s a load a’ shit.”

The seniors came over to him, each towering over him. Tyler recognized them all as being on the varsity football team.

The largest senior said, “My old man told me. He’s in the Army. He should know.”

One of the other seniors shoved Tyler. “So you calling his dad a liar?”

“If he says my dad is a crook, I am.”

“AWOL, that’s like being a coward, right? Your old man a chickenshit, Wingo?” said a large, big-bellied eighteen-year-old named Jack. He shoved Tyler so hard he fell back on the dirt, which made all of them laugh. The other boys crowded around. One jerked Tyler up and held his arms, while Jack cocked his fist back and was about to punch Tyler in the gut.

“Don’t think so.”

A hand grabbed Jack’s fist and ripped it backward.

The boys all turned to see Michelle standing there. She let go of Jack’s hand and said, “You guys like ganging up on people?”

“What’s it to you?” snarled Jack.

“Tyler’s a friend of mine.”

Jack guffawed as he looked Michelle up and down. “You mean you’re his bodyguard? You need a chick to guard you, Wingo?”

The other boys all laughed.

“I can take care of myself,” snapped Tyler as he quickly got to his feet and glared at Michelle.

“I know you can. But six on one isn’t fair for anyone. So let’s see.” She looked at the other boys one by one, her gaze finally coming to rest on Jack. “You play football, right?”

“Starting left tackle,” bragged Jack.

“Which means you’re big and strong.” Jack’s smile grew larger. “And slow and fat and you have no stamina because you can’t run more than three yards without collapsing.”

Jack’s smile disappeared.

Michelle looked at Tyler. “Now, Tyler isn’t nearly your size, but he’s wiry and quick and he swims, which means he has great endurance. You fight him, and you don’t take him out fast, he’ll dance around, popping away until you get so tired you won’t be able to stand up, much less hit anything with force. And Tyler’s dad, the so-called coward, is Special Forces, and those guys are in another world when it comes to close-quarter combat. You think MMA [26] MMA – mixed martial arts. guys are tough? They wouldn’t last a round with a SEAL [27] SEAL – Sea, Air, and Land (teams of the United States Navy). or a Ranger. And Special Forces guys don’t just beat you up. They kill you. And I bet Tyler’s dad taught him a few things.”

She glanced at Tyler, who was staring furiously at Jack.

“And Tyler looks like he wants to take your head off,” said Michelle, turning back to Jack. “So why don’t we just let you two go at it. But just the two of you. Any of your buddies try to help you, Slick, I’ll step in, and even though I am a girl, I don’t fight like one.”

Jack eyed Tyler and Tyler stared back at Jack. Jack finally dropped his gaze and said, “Screw this. I’m not getting kicked off the football team for kicking this punk’s ass on school grounds.”

He turned and walked off with his buddies.

Michelle and Tyler stared after them and then Tyler turned to her. “Thanks for doing that,” he mumbled.

“You didn’t really need me. In fact if it were just one-on-one you could have taken him.”

“You really think so?”

“You have fire in the belly, Tyler. That jerk just has a big belly.”

“What are you doing here?” he asked.

“I dropped you off. Now I’m here to pick you up.”

“But I’ve got other plans.”

“Like what?”

“Just other plans.”

“We’ve had this discussion, Tyler. We stick together for now.”

“I don’t want to stick together.”

She eyed him intently. “What changed from then to now?” She eyed the phone gripped in his hand, and the truth dawned on her. “When did your dad email you back?”

“Just leave me alone.”

“No can do.”

“I’m outta here.”

He started to walk off but she grabbed his arm. “Let me clue you in to something really fast, Tyler. This morning Sean and I went to check a lead. It was a lead I picked up at your house and it led to a motel that your fake stepmom was using as a drop point.”