“Shhhhh,” said Miller as he motioned for silence. “I think I hear it.” Both men strained to make out the feint sound of an airplane motor.
After what seemed like minutes passed, Webb replied, “I hear it.”. Consulting his map he added, “they are coming in just like we expected.”
The timing had been perfect. One they got outside the city, Miller contacted his headquarters over the pirated communications satellite and requested the supply drop. An unseen army of men, at a secret location somewhere in Texas, sprang into action. Within an hour a twin-engine turboprop leapt into the air laden with two supply canisters. Painted all black, and covered in radar absorbent materials, the plane, specially outfitted with avionics and high output engines, was purpose built for these sorts of missions.
Flying fast and low over the terrain the plane had successfully penetrated the enemy airspace of the north. The lack of a coherent radar system and heavy fighter cover helped aide their clandestine activities. Hugging the earth, and the aid of night vision and million of dollars of equipment the plane drove on into the night.
Glancing at his watch Miller said, “nice timing too. Only had to wait ten minutes.”
They waited until the plane got closer before Miller said, “Ok, light em up.”
Without responding Webb flicked the switch on the oddly shaped device and aimed it in the general direction of the aircraft. The unit, an infrared beacon, sent a beam visible to anybody with night vision goggles. It was risky, but Miller counted on the remote location to hide their activities.
Within seconds the sound of the plane shifted as it changed directions.
“You just going to stand there and let them drop canisters on your head?” asked Miller with a smile as Webb stood holding the beacon.
Grasping the meaning of the question Webb carefully placed the beacon on the ground. He made an adjustment so the beam was pointing nearly straight up, seemingly endlessly into space.
The two men trotted back to their car and hoped that some freakish gust of wind or other cosmic force wouldn’t result in a heavy supply canister crashing through the hood of the SUV.
Hearing the plane, eerily quiet, pass overhead they waited for the sound of the canisters dropping to earth. They only had to wait fifteen seconds before they were rewarded by the dull thud of steel cylinders slamming into dirt.
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