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Renner and Nolan arrived in Peshawar more than an hour before the commercial plane Hail had taken arrived. They parked the Gulfstream inside a private hangar, paid for this privilege with a Hail Industries credit card, made their way into the terminal building, and eventually found a car rental business. Prior to Hail landing, Nolan and Renner disposed of their disguises, bought new clothes inside the terminal, and awaited Hail in the rental car while making loops around the pick-up lane.
*-*-*
Emirates Flight 636 touched down on the runway and taxied toward the gate.
After the landing gear had been deployed and the jet had found terra firma, Knox released Milky Way and flew it out from the jet’s wheel well. Since Hail was inside the jet and would follow Kornev through the terminal, Knox flew the drone over the top of the terminal building and brought it in for a soft landing on the edge of the roof. From this vantage point, the drone looked down on the departing cars, taxis, and buses on the front side of the airport.
If Hail lost Kornev, Knox would have some quick decisions to make. Milky Way had about five miles of flight distance before it ran out of power. In a stop-and-go traffic scenario, where the drone would have to hover for minutes on end, its distance was reduced dramatically. For now, all Knox could do was wait until Hail and Kornev appeared below and go from there.
Knox brought up a screen and accessed the unified phone system on the Hail Nucleus. He tapped out some numbers and waited for an answer.
“This is Renner,” the voice said.
“Hey, Gage, this is Knox. What are you driving?”
“We are in a red Honda Civic.”
“Man, you guys are really stepping up in the world,” Knox quipped. “Why not a BMW?”
“Because we didn’t want to stick out like a sore thumb, and I didn’t have enough frickin’ Hail dollars to rent one.”
“Makes sense,” Knox said, ignoring the second half of Gage’s comment. “OK, where are you guys?”
“Since they won’t allow cars to loiter in the pick-up lanes, we’ve been circling in arrivals. Airports are kind of paranoid about attacks and all. And in this country, they have a damn good reason.”
“What do you mean?”
Renner let out a sardonic laugh and said, “In 2014, TTP militants armed with automatic weapons, a rocket launcher, suicide vests, and grenades attacked Jinnah International Airport in Karachi, Pakistan. In 2012, this same airport came under attack, beginning with an opening salvo of five rockets fired at it. After the rocket attack, the militants rammed a vehicle full of explosives into the perimeter wall, which started a firefight. Oh, and let’s not forget what happened recently, when...”
“OK, I get it,” Knox interrupted. “Dangerous place. Got it.”
Renner asked, “Don’t suppose you’ve seen Marshall and Kornev come out of the airport?”
“Not yet, but it’s a madhouse down there.”
Over the phone, Knox heard Nolan yelling some profanities at a driver who had wronged him.
Knox asked, “Do you want me to jump on the back of your car now or later?”
“Later,” Renner said, “Marshall might walk out while we are between loops so you need to be our eyes.”
“Understood,” Knox agreed. “I’ll call you when I see Marshall come out.”
“That will work,” Renner said, and the call was disconnected.
*-*-*
Back in the terminal building, two of Pepper’s CIA agents compared faces against a photo taken of Hail when he had received his Nobel Prize in Physics. The photo was more than ten years old, but their boss, Paul Moore, had assured them other than a few extra pounds, Hail’s physical appearance hadn’t changed much.
Since Hail had used his passport to board the plane, the CIA had been able to identify the flight and have men waiting when it landed. They were told to identify Marshall Hail, whom they knew little about, or Kara Ramey, who all the CIA agents knew about.
Although they analyzed the faces of each person as they disembarked the plane, Hail was not among them. Instead, an influx of every kind and shape of humanity imaginable seemed to be flying in from Dubai: short women, small kids with their parents, travelers in wheelchairs, men with tall turbans, women in full burqas with only a slit to see out of, and even a man who looked like one of the ZZ Top band members. In spite of their scrutiny, they did not locate either Hail or Ramey, the only two people the men were looking for.
The CIA operatives waited a few more minutes until they were certain no stragglers were still on the plane. One of the men pulled out his phone and dialed a number in Virginia.
*-*-*
Hail made a point of beating Kornev off the plane and to the customs line. He couldn’t risk getting hung up in customs behind Kornev and losing him. Sure, Renner and Nolan were somewhere out front, and by now Milky Way should be surveilling the departing cars, but Kornev was a slippery dude, and Marshall wanted to make sure he didn’t lose him. Getting in front of Kornev turned out to be a good idea.
Instead of leaving customs and walking toward the departures area of the airport, the Russian walked to a door on the side of the brick wall, opened it, and disappeared. Hail slowly made his way over to the door and read the Punjab words پنجاب پولیس, which meant nothing to him. Hail considered trying the door to see where it led, when suddenly it opened, almost busting his nose. Hail quickly stepped out of the way and placed his back against the wall. From the door walked two Pakistani police officers followed by Kornev. Hail stayed cool and did his best to act nonchalant. The three men walked briskly through the airport, and Hail fell in step but well behind them. Pulling his phone from his pocket as he walked, Hail called Renner.
Renner picked up, asking, “What’s up, Marshall?”
“Kornev is walking with two Peshawar police officers through the airport. Don’t know where they’re going.”
Renner responded, “So...” His sentence trailed off.
Hail reported, “Either they’re headed for a car or another room in the airport. Since they were already in a room, my guess is they are headed for a car. The question is, where is the car and where will it leave from?”
A slew of unknowns raced through Hail’s mind. Most police parking areas and garages were unavailable to the public so he might not be able to ID the car Kornev got into. Hell, he would be lucky to find out if Kornev had even gotten into a car. His crew’s only advantage was that police cars were typically marked on the top, so their helicopters could identify them. If the police garage was underground or covered, the possibility of following Kornev was slim to none. Their only hope was to try to identify if the airport’s police lot was aboveground. If so, Knox could use his drone to see what car Kornev got into or was driving.
Hail said, “Have Knox fly around the perimeter of the airport and see if he can find the cops’ lot. Right now, I’m walking toward the south end of the airport, so have him concentrate his search on this side.”
“Roger that,” Renner said.
“And come pick me up near the southern end of the car loop. If Kornev walks behind another secured door, I’m going to lose him, so I’m not doing any good where I am now.”
“You got it,” Renner assured Hail. “We are on like our fiftieth loop and should be there in less than a minute.”
“See you in a minute,” Hail said, and he terminated the call.
Hail saw the door about thirty seconds before the trio ahead of him walked through it. It was identical to the other door and marked with the same Punjab scrawl, but even a small wiggle on a single character could mean something different.
Hail turned to his left and made a beeline for the doors that led out to the airport departure area.
*-*-*
Milky Way hovered over the southern end of the terminal. Separating the terminal by a wide parking lot was a square building.
Knox checked how much power he had left. He had been hovering for over a minute and was happy when he saw two Pakistani Police officers and one Russian arms dealer exit the terminal building. At first, Knox thought the men were headed over to the metal building, but they stopped short and climbed into a police car located in the lot below. Knox could clearly see the number of the car written on top in both Punjab as well as in English, 23. This meant the vehicle would be easy to track from the air, but Knox’s concern was that he didn’t have the flight time to track it for very long. He dialed Hail from his command station on the Hail Nucleus and spoke into his headset.
Hail answered, “What do you have, Alex?”
“I just saw Kornev and two police officers get into a police car with the number 23 on top.”
“That’s great,” Hail said, sounding excited. “I’m in the car with Renner and Nolan. They made us do another loop, but we should be back in a few minutes. Can you see the exits of the parking lot?”
Knox looked at his screen, and while he was trying to determine if the lot had more than one exit, the police car started moving.
Knox reported, “They are on the move, and it looks like there is only one big road leading out of the airport called, strangely enough, Airport Road.”
Hail said, “We’re on Airport Road, but I’m not sure we’re going to make it in time to follow them.”
“That’s no big deal. I’m on ’em. It’s just a matter of how far they go and how long I can fly before I run out of power or you catch up.”
Knox bent his sticks forward and the drone began following the car. Knox tracked the police cruiser as it drove to the end of the access road and turned onto the Airport Road. He pushed in on his pedals and the drone darted toward the vehicle, closing the distance in a matter of seconds.
Hail said, “We are just passing the airport terminal. We will be there in time to intercept their car.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Knox said.
“What do you mean?” Hail asked.
“I touched down on top of their car and locked Milky Way’s magnets onto the roof. It looks like I get a free ride to God only knows where.”
Hail asked, “You don’t think it will look weird to other drivers that you’re on top of the cruiser?”
Knox said, “I don’t think so. The shape of this drone could be that of a hoop antenna maybe used for CB communication and such.”
Alex Knox pressed a button on his control panel labeled BLIP ON.
Speaking into his headset, Knox said, “You should be able to track me on your cell phones using our tracking app.”
“Check it, Gage,” Hail directed to his friend.
Renner paged through his cell phone to the folder of Hail apps and found the tracking app. He brought it up and watched as a red blinking dot appeared on a map of Peshawar.
“I’ve got him,” Renner said. “They are about a half a mile in front of us.”
“Great work guys,” Hail said. “Alex, let us know when they get to wherever they’re going. We’re going to hang back a ways.”
“Understood, Skipper,” the drone’s pilot assured Hail.