While the project was initially started by Dr. Webster it had made only slight progress in the first year. Devin realized that a change was needed. Discreet inquiries were made to locate a replacement and the name of Dr. Gimbel soon came to his attention. This presented a minor problem. How would he get Dr. Webster out of the picture and still protect the integrity of the BlackStar project? Easing him out would not be an option and simply having him sworn to secrecy did not seem viable.
There were too many temptations to leak information about such a revolutionary new source of energy. Devin decided that there was only one sure way to maintain the security he demanded.
Dr. Webster was going to present a paper on
After visiting friends in New York for a few days, Doctor Webster boarded American Airlines flight 800 leaving from JFK International Airport. Webster boarded with 245 other passengers. The flight departed at 9:17 a.m. and headed out over the Jamaican Bay area just southeast of New York City.
A few minutes later the massive Boeing 747 exploded into a giant fireball and came crashing down near Rockaway Freeway and the Atlantic Ocean. All 246 people onboard, along with nine others on the ground were killed. Dr. Webster was no longer a threat to the security of the BlackStar project.
Dr. Gimbel became the new head of the team and almost immediately Devin could see not only better morale, but substantial progress. He still considered him to be another egghead with not enough common sense to come out of the rain but that didn’t matter if it resulted in the expedient delivery of the finished project.
Now they were getting close. Only a year more and they should be totally ready. Maybe sooner, if everything fell into place. He was pleased with the progress but was determined not to show it around Gimbel. He might ease up if he began to feel too secure. One thing the general knew for sure was that people worked better when they were subjected to pressure.
The air was perfectly still as if someone had shut it off at the source. That was making the job much more difficult. Miller, still known only as 24B to his teammates, knew that all the care and time that had gone into making his ghillie suit wouldn’t do him much good unless a slight breeze came up. He had been lying in the same spot for over an hour. Any movement would give his position away in an instant. He slowly raised his head and could see his target but it was still more than a mile away.
He knew he could get lucky from this distance but it wasn’t worth the chance. He peeked at his watch and saw that he still had at least three more hours of daylight. After that the light would be flat and the shot would become more difficult. He could wait and try for a night shot but he would have to get within seven or eight hundred yards for that. It would lessen his chance for escape but it could be done.
For now all he could do was wait in the hot sun and hope the wind picked up. He lowered his head back down and could smell the earth as he lay there and tried not to move a muscle.
Staying in the same spot for hours is not as simple as it sounds, especially under a hot sun and lying on the hard ground. Flies would land on his sweat covered face but he wasn’t going to risk trying to brush them away. This was a critical exercise for him. He had been successful in five others and so had three of his competitors for the number 24 slot on Strike–1 team. This one was considerably more challenging. The shooter had to locate the target, get into position without detection, make the kill, and escape.
Each of the three remaining contestants had twelve hours to complete the mission. Miller felt very confident as he located the target but as the day wore on and the sun rose higher and higher in the sky, the wind had died down so that none of the field grass was moving.
To get into a comfortable firing position to assure a kill, he needed to be no more than a mile from his objective. He was just a little over halfway when the air no longer rustled the tops of the weeds. Any movement he made would stand out immediately and he would be spotted. He slowly reached into one of his pockets and took out the small spotting scope. He could see the judges looking through powerful binoculars, trying to find them before they could get off a shot.
