“And if this is some 9/11 kind of thing, is there a chance we’ll be shooting something down, Jed?”

“We hope not, sir,” Jed said. “We hope our intel assets can help us find the target before they can get it airborne.”

“Let’s hope so, son,” the colonel said, rising from his seat now. “Splashing a civil aircraft over densely populated areas is almost certain to end with some collateral damage. We need to avoid that, okay?”

“Yes, sir. That’s the goal,” Jed said, rising and shaking the colonel’s outstretched hand.

“Rhino, get them settled and then meet back with me in the ops center,” the colonel said as he headed through the door into his office. “We need to update the flight board and overlap our CAP for now. I’ll be flying some of these, and Summers will fly lead on some as well. Let’s keep senior pilots coupled with our less experienced guys on every hop. If this hits the fan, I want cool heads in control of the triggers.”

“You got it, Colonel.”

And with that, the wing commander was gone, shutting the door behind him.

“Let’s get you set up,” the squadron commander said. “Sounds like we all have a lot of work to do.”

“Listen, I need more,” Bill said, sidling up beside Jed. “This sounds like the real deal, and if you want to find this threat in time, you need to give me more to work with.”

“We’re working on it, I promise,” Jed said. “Nisha and Gayle represent our N2 shop here; they’ll be sharing everything we have with you in real time.”

The man nodded, but his face suggested he had his doubts. As if to allay both their fears, Jed felt the vibration of his secure phone and fished it out of his cargo pocket.

“Yeah? This is Jed.”

“It’s Corbin,” an excited voice said on the other end. “I’ve got something!”

Jed snapped his fingers to get the attention of the team and waved Nisha over, grinning at Bill as he did.

“What’ve ya got, Corbin?” he said, using her name more to convey to Nisha what was going on.

“I’m sending another sketch,” she said excitedly. “It’s like a skyline, but kind of a small town—looks like a beach town. I saw it through the eyes of the same dude as the hangar. It’s a partial view, like out a window or something, but it’s pretty detailed.”

“Corbin, you rock,” Jed exclaimed.

“The whole team is working hard on this,” she said, and he could almost see her modest blush, the same one she wore every time he complimented her. “It should be on your tablet now.”

“Keep up the good work and send us anything you see. Nothing is too small or insignificant,” he said, and after she promised to do so, he ended the call.