Page 35 of Dan

“You think he’s following in his footsteps?” asked Aiden.

“I’m not sure, but it looks that way. The problem is that none of this really fits together. I mean, why flood the entire southern states to get to us?” asked Dan.

“I don’t know, maybe it’s not about us. Maybe it’s about exposing something else or diverting attention. This shit just seems to keep getting more and more strange by the day.”

“Well, I think the first thing we have to do is figure out how Finley’s parents are involved in all of this,” said Dan. “I don’t want to hate my in-laws before they’re even my in-laws. But. I hate my in-laws.”

“I hear ‘ya, brother,” laughed Aiden.

Walking toward the table where the girls were sitting, they had already worked their way through the first two plates of food and smiled up at the men.

“Going back for more?” grinned Dan.

“It’s delicious!” smiled Finley. George grinned from ear to ear, Sara smiling at her grandson.

“You let that girl eat whatever she wants, Dan Robicheaux, or I’ll take you over my knee,” said George. “I like a woman with a healthy appetite who ain’t afraid to show it. That’s confidence if you ask me. Besides, she’s got good taste. Our food is the best in the state, if not the country. Let her have what she wants.”

“Yes, sir,” laughed Dan.

While Brit and Finley filled a third plate, Pigsty, Hiro, and Tanner walked into the cafeteria, scanning faces. Dan connected with Hiro, staring at the other man, and knew he wasn’t going to like this.

“Shit. What now?”

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

“Why was our dinner interrupted?” asked Luke. “Tonight is my favorite, and if we don’t get back there, Finley and Brit will eat the entire thing.”

“We followed Finley’s parents,” said Hiro, pointing to the mapping system on the screen. “They left the office building that they met you in and returned to their waterfront hotel in downtown Portland. It appears that they had dinner, based on the location devices and map of the hotel. Once they had dinner, they got into a rental car and drove to two different businesses in Seattle.”

“Seattle? Why Seattle? Better question, what the fuck is in Seattle?” asked Dan, frowning at the room. Seattle hadn’t been a part of his training with the SEALs. He knew Fort Lewis was there, but again, it had nothing to do with SEALs.

“What’s in Seattle, Dan?” said his father, looking at him, prompting him to think harder. Dan thought about it a moment, then looked up.

“Airplanes. Specifically, someone who wants a piece of our business. Air and Space FormJet. Jet manufacturing and construction,” said Dan, frowning.

“Yep. The jets that we were going to put the missile guidance systems on. But there’s also something else we didn’t even think about.” Dan looked at his father, then at his mother, shrugging his shoulders.

“I’m confused. What else?”

“Mast Quality Aquatic-based Engineering. They also do environmental remediation and environmental planning and restoration. Basically, they build shit on the water or in the water with quality in mind to the environment and clean up shit that other people create on or in the water.”

“So, two businesses,” frowned Dan. “One is the same company we were planning on installing the guidance systems on. But aquatic-based engineering? What the fuck?”

“I might have an idea,” said Finley, standing in the doorway. She smiled with a shy grin, nodding at Luke, who waved her in.

“Fin, honey, I didn’t want to bring you in just yet. This could be nothing for all we know,” said Dan.

“Don’t treat me like a child,” she said, looking at him. “Please, don’t do that. I know that I can be naïve about some things, but on this, I think I know more than you do. While we were eating, Brit and I were commenting on the gravy and how fine the onions were sliced, lying just below the surface.”

“Uh, babe,” frowned Dan.

“Let me say this. It got me thinking about my design for flood waters and your guidance systems. One of the challenges with any defense structure is it being identifiable to the enemy. Now, you could provide stealth coverage, but once fired, everyone would know where it came from. Unless it had aquatic cover causing wave disturbances in the tracking.

“I think they were going to use my designs to build a device in the water, somewhere in the water, or in multiple locations on water, where the missile guidance system could be mounted. It could be raised, up and down, in and out of the water, firing without detection. If they did that, they could effectively mask where the guidance system was being housed.”

“I don’t understand. How could they do that?” said Hiro.

“Simple. My technology of lowering the dams into the water with the guidance systems mounted on it. They could fire randomly at any country, any state, any business, then submerge the system in the water undetected. The waves would effectively create a disturbance in tracking that would make people think it was incorrect data. Since it wouldn’t be nearly the size of a submarine, even if they saw the structure in the water, they would think that it was debris of some sort. Everyone would know it was our, your technology, but wouldn’t be able to prove where it came from, thereby blaming you for faulty systems.”

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