Free Wraith by James R. Hannibal

concerned. Danny even thought he’d seen a hint of excitement in that stonewall face. Unfortunately, his proposal was so successful that it shot him directly in the foot.
    Danny had thought it would take several days to coordinate all the details, but his boss smelled progress, and Colonel-Richard-T.-Walker-U.S.-Army was never one to put off progress. He immediately started making phone calls and pulling strings.
    Tomorrow, instead of having birthday cake with his daughter, Danny would fly out to Wright-Patterson and indoctrinate Dr. Stone into Cerberus. Then he would spend a week getting to know the details of Dream Catcher and help Scott develop a timeline to bring the concept to reality. “Air Force Materiel Command has a new concept,” he explained to Carol, “and they want somebody from Plans Division to take a look at it.” It was the best explanation he could offer without getting her a top secret clearance.
    â€œWell, why can’t Frank go?” Carol persisted.
    â€œFrank is in the Navy.”
    â€œSo, what happened to ‘One Team, One Fight’?”
    â€œThat’s just something we say around the foreigners, honey. Nobody really believes it.”
    Danny packed as light as possible and gently explained to his daughter why Daddy wouldn’t be there for her party. He hated missing any family event, particularly his kids’ birthdays, but this wasn’t the first one he’d missed, and he knew that, as long as he worked for Uncle Sam, it wouldn’t be the last.

Chapter 13
    The next morning, Danny stepped down the stairs of a Learjet C-21 in front of the base operations building at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. He wore his standard blue uniform and carried with him a blue canvas satchel. A short, dark-haired man met him halfway between the building and the aircraft. He was bundled against the cold, his hands shoved deep into the pockets of his overcoat, a scarf wrapped tightly around his long neck. “Daniel,” he said with a slight shiver. He was about the same age as Danny, still in his twenties, but his tone was that of a teacher addressing an annoying student.
    â€œOnly my mother calls me Daniel, Scott,” Danny replied.
    Scott rolled his eyes, nearly causing them to disappear into the sunken sockets on his pale, gaunt face. “Is your mother going to explain what is so important that you came all the way out here to interrupt my work?”
    â€œIt’ll have to wait until we get to your office.”
    Scott shrugged, and without another word he turned and started walking toward a row of buildings and hangars.
    In their earlier work together, Danny had become accustomed to Scott’s mannerisms. He was rude, arrogant, and condescending, but after a while, these abrasive personality flaws became almost endearing. Or perhaps Danny just told himself that. The real reason Danny or anyone in the Air Force tolerated him was that Dr. Scott Stone was a genius, pure and simple. And geniuses were nice to have around.
    After a long walk, during which Scott staved off all of Danny’s attempts at small talk, they stood in front of a thick steel door protected by a biometric lock and a numeric keypad.
    â€œYou’ll have to wait outside while I clear the office and sign you in,” said Scott.
    â€œNo, I won’t,” said Danny, grinning as he placed his thumb on the scanner and typed in a code. The door clicked open without complaint. Scott gaped, and Danny basked in the glory of the genius’s shock. “I think you’ll find that you have more clearances than you did yesterday, as well.” Danny pulled the heavy door wide. “Colonel Walker’s phone calls can
literally
open doors.”
    Despite the drama of gaining entrance, Scott’s office was disappointingly small. Danny half expected the door to open into a massive hangar filled with super-secret aircraft and weaponry, guarded by black-masked ninjas.