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The ship’s mission center was currently being staffed by Alex Knox, Oliver Fox, and Shana Tran. During down times, the crew worked in shifts to staff both the ship’s security center and the mission center.
Lieutenant Commander Foster Nolan was sitting in the captain’s chair which would be Hail’s if he were present. When Hail, Renner, and Mercier entered the room, Foster began to stand, but Marshall held out his hand saying, “Don’t get up. I feel like standing.”
Nolan eased back into the comfortable chair.
Hail asked Nolan, “Can you give me an update?”
Nolan pointed at a large screen above the pilots’ stations that showed video of an ordinary, if foreign, car parked in front of an ordinary home.
“It looks as if Kornev drove to his friend’s home and has, so far, been inside for the last five minutes. Beyond that, no significant activity.”
Just as Nolan was finishing his briefing, on the screen they saw Kornev exit the front door of the home. The big man’s blue polo shirt was pulled up over his nose.
Remembering his recent encounter with Kornev in the tunnel and having his shirt pulled up over his nose, Hail said, “That doesn’t look good. Either there is someone dead inside that home or Kornev shit his pants again.”
The crew started laughing.
Nolan commented, “My guess—someone’s dead. After all, how much shit can someone have in them?”
“Think so?” Renner asked sarcastically. “Because I think that Russian dickhead is still full of it.”
The team watched Kornev get into the old foreign-looking car. A moment later, the arms dealer was driving away and not headed in the direction of his home.
Hail asked, “Which drone is taking this video?”
Knox responded, “We’ve had Milky Way sitting on the home across from Kornev’s for more than a week. Its solar panels have been extended during the entirety; therefore, it is fully charged and followed him to this location. It has at least thirty minutes of flight time available.”
“Good,” Hail said. “Stay on him. I want to know where he goes. We can’t lose him.”
“Will do,” Knox replied with confidence.
Alex Knox grasped two joysticks on his flight control bar and placed his feet on a pair of weighted foot pedals. The crew watched as the fixed video on the big screen flickered as Milky Way took to the air and began streaming video.
“Make sure you stay in Kornev’s blind spot,” Renner instructed. “We don’t want him to see that you are following him or he’ll take us somewhere we don’t want to go.”
“Ten-four,” Knox said.
“What’s in the direction he’s headed?” Hail asked.
Nolan was the first to respond.
“Nothing but the airport.”
Hail thought about the airport and recalled that the Russian had his own cargo company, Air Cress. He considered having Knox fly ahead to stake out the Air Cress hangar, but in the end, he was glad he hadn’t made that choice. Milky Way continued to fly above the old Russian car.
Once Kornev had entered airport property, he parked his old jalopy inside his Air Cress hangar, but instead of climbing aboard one of his vintage planes, Kornev walked toward the central terminal.
Knox flew his surveillance drone out and away from the terminal building so they could see which terminal door Kornev entered. There weren’t many choices. The only commercial flight out of Termez was hosted by Uzbekistan Airways.
“Why do you think he’s going to fly commercial rather than take his plane?” Hail asked the room.
Pierce suggested, “Maybe he thinks we would expect him to take his cargo plane, so he’s flying commercial. It would make more sense. That way, depending on his destination, he could get lost inside the terminal amongst a throng of people.”
Hail nodded his head in agreement, and said, “Amongst—now that’s a funny word.”
The only plane in the entire terminal, a commercial Ilyushin Il-114, sat quietly at one of the three jetways.
“It doesn’t look like there are many choices to fly out of this place,” Nolan commented.
To conserve battery power, Knox set the small drone down on the roof of the airport.
Knox said, “We have a pretty good vantage point from here. We can see the passengers as they walk across the tarmac toward the jet.”
Just as Knox finished his sentence, Dallas Stone’s voice came over the mission center’s speakers.
“Just an FYI,” Stone said. “We are still showing movement on the tracker that was put in the fob that belongs to the car Kornev was driving.”
Hail smiled and said loud enough for Dallas to hear, “I guess instead of leaving the keys in the car, Kornev put them in his pocket. That’s great. Now we have the ability to track him through a crowd.”
Hail’s team waited and watched. Less than fifteen minutes later, a line of passengers exited the door to the terminal and began walking the short distance toward the jet’s mobile stairway. Most passengers carried or dragged some type of carry-on. Kornev was one of the last passengers to exit the terminal. He had a small backpack slung over his shoulder. The Russian looked around warily, and Hail guessed he was looking for one of Hail’s drones. There was no way Kornev would spot the drone atop the airport’s roof. There was simply not enough time to scan and fully analyze his surroundings.
Kornev boarded the plane and Hail told Knox, “Once the plane is taxiing, I want you to fly Milky Way out to it and fly up into the wheel well. Then shut it down. We’ll know when Kornev reaches his destination from the tracker in his key fob.”
“Roger that,” Knox said.
Hail asked Knox, “By the way, what does Roger mean? I know that the military says it to confirm instructions, but why do they say it?
“I have absolutely no idea, Skipper,” Knox said.