He watched as she went around to the rear of the Renault and opened the doors. She took out the plastic case, opened it and withdrew the parts that, when assembled, would constitute the small drone that had been part of their load-out for this assignment. It was a creation of the engineers in Group Six and was based on the design of the Wasp UAV that was used by the US military. She took the fuselage, the wings and the tail assembly, and clicked them all into place. She took out the avionics equipment—high-resolution day/night cameras and infrared—and attached them to the underside of the fuselage.

“How long can it stay up?”

“Fifty minutes,” Six said.

“We’ll need it tonight, too.”

“I’ve got a spare battery. It’ll be fine.”

Six busied herself with the drone. She adjusted the wings and started the propeller. The engine whined as it got up to speed. She took a step back, turned to face the field, and held the drone as high above her head as she could. She brought her arm forward and launched it, watching it race away and gently increase its altitude. It looped around in a gentle arc so that it could begin to follow its preprogrammed trajectory to the GPS location of the safe house.

Björn watched as it climbed to a thousand feet and settled onto a vector that would take it over the surrounding neighbourhood and into a sentry position, where it would provide a clear view of the house and its immediate environs. Six clicked on the small control unit, waited for the screen to flicker into life and for the radio connection to be established. The drone’s downward-facing cameras passed back their feed, revealing a crystal-clear view as the vehicle passed over Parque Quimbaya en route to its destination.

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