When the door slid open, Crockett stepped into the space. The door closed behind him. Several seconds later, the glass door in front of him opened and he stepped into the FBIlobby.
After Crockett and Decker had retrieved their belongings, Danny led them to a large conference room. “They’re on a brief break,” Dannyexplained.
Based on the number of notebooks and tablets, they had a fullhouse.
“How’d the previous demo go?” Crockett asked while Decker paired the two Flies with hisphone.
“You know I can’t get into the specifics,” Dannyreplied.
“I didn’t ask you anythingspecific.”
“Yeah, right. It went fine. Unexpected,actually.”
Knowing Lizzard, Crockett wasn’t surprised she’d bring theunexpected. That seemed to be her strong suit oflate.
Along with the three members from Round One of the source selection panel, four high-ranking individuals entered the room. They were the Chief Procurement Officer, Chief Technology Officer, Chief of Field Ops, and Chief of SurveillancePrograms.
Between wheezy breaths, the Contracting Officer from Round One reiterated the agency’s expectations per the solicitation, then turned the floor over toCrockett.
“Good morning and thank you for this opportunity.” Crockett glanced at each of the panel members. “Wilde Innovations is the industry leader in unmanned aerial vehicles. We are the eyes and ears during mission-critical operations for law enforcement, first responders and Special Forces. Our military-grade fleet of aircraft is designed to mimic birds of prey. Hovercraft drones, along with our larger craft, are used around the world with excellent results. Per your solicitation, today’s demo will spotlight the two Spy Flies on the table. Black and Horse were designed to mimic the Black and Horse flies. Decker Daughtry, Wilde’s Chief Innovator, will command each device via his phone, but they can also be flown using the handheld controller on the table. Please direct your attention to Black as we highlight its advancedmaneuverability.”
Using his phone, Decker guided the miniscule craft into the air. Based on yesterday’s practice drills, Crockett had every confidence his equipment would exceed expectations. The Fly zoomed around the room before Decker landed it on the top of the projector hanging from the ceiling directly overhead. Then, he demonstrated how the tiny insect could hover in mid-air before landing on the table. After Decker directed it into the Chief Technology Officer’s soft-shell tablet case, he buzzed it onto the Chief Procurement Officer’s spiral-boundnotebook.
“Nice,” said the FBIemployee.
And then, Decker’s expression shifted. It was subtle, but his eyebrows puckered briefly. Acid churned in Crockett’s guts. Black’s demonstration still had another ninety seconds, but the insect hadn’t budged.Why isn’t shemoving?
“As you can see, the equipment behaves like a common fly.” Decker held Crockett’s gaze for an extra second. “Please direct your attention to Horse. This insect is as maneuverable as Black, but we’d like you to pay special attention to the soundquality.”
Horse rose in the air. Decker flew it around the table so the panel could hear the quiet humming of the insect. Then, the bug crashed belly up on thetable.
“That’s not good,” mumbled the Chief TechnologyOfficer.
The wheezy Contracting Officer’s thick, mucous-filled cough made Decker flinch. Crockett’s stomach dropped. He had to act quickly, so he slipped his hand into his suit pocket and pulled out his personal Moth. Not the device he’d used at the previous demo, but one he’d had for years and kept at home. As he flew it around the room, he let out a relievedbreath.
Crockett operated the craft through a series of flawless maneuvers while Decker narrated. Though most stayed focused on Moth, several glanced at the catatonic Horse, still belly up on thetable.
When the demo ended, Decker collected Horse and Black. A thin sheen of perspiration dotted his forehead. Though Crockett wanted to fling the fucking bugs across the room and belt out a list of obscenities, he was too busy trying to come up with a plausible answer as to why both of his sixty-five thousand dollar pieces of equipment had failed in some form oranother.
“What was the purpose of crash-landing the craft?” asked the Deputy Director of FieldOperations.
The tech officer raised his eyebrows. “You did that onpurpose?”
Leaning back, Crockett crossed his legs. “We build fail-safe behavior into the equipment to cover for human error or in the event the mission doesn’t go as planned. The bug goes belly-up to fool the enemy into believing it’s real. And it’sdead.”
“Very nice,” said the Chief of FieldOps.
But Wilde Innovations’s demonstration of their Spy Flies had been anything but. For the first time in his career, Crockett Wilde hadfailed.
Bigtime.
* * *
Alexandra spentthe morningin production going over herDC’s Brightest Tech Starsegment with the editor. Pleased with the results, she hoped this feature story would open up more opportunities to cover the meatier ones. “Can I get a copy for my demoreel?”
Before the editor could respond, Stacy barged in. “I finally have a break in my super busy schedule. Max says I needmentoring.”
“Oh, brother,” mumbled theeditor.