"A brilliant read with astounding plot twists...Maden's trail of intrigue will captivate you from page one."—CLIVE CUSSLERWith a fascinating international cast of characters and nonstop action, Mike Maden's Drone kicks off an explosive new thriller series exploring the inescapable consequences of drone warfare.Troy Pearce is the CEO of Pearce Systems, a private security firm that is the best in the world at drone technologies. A former CIA SOG operative, Pearce used his intelligence and combat skills to hunt down America's sworn enemies in the War on Terror. But after a decade of clandestine special ops, Pearce opted out. Too many of his friends had been sacrificed on the altar of political expediency. Now Pearce and his team chose which battles he will take on by deploying his land, sea, and air drones with surgical precision.Pearce thinks he's done with the U.S. government for good, until a pair of drug cartel hit men assault a group of American students on American soil. New U.S. president Margaret Meyers then secretly authorizes Pearce Systems to locate and destroy the killers sheltered in Mexico. Pearce and his team go to work, and they are soon thrust into a showdown with the hidden powers behind the El Paso attack—unleashing a host of unexpected repercussions.A Ph.D., lecturer, and consultant on political science and international conflict, Mike Maden has crafted an intense, page-turning novel that is action-packed and frighteningly real—blurring the lines between fiction and the reality of a new stage in warfare.
Anything one man can imagine, other men can make real.
This book is dedicated to you, Tom Lavin, my magnificent father-in-law, a combat-wounded, combat-decorated Marine. In 1952 you were just a kid hunting the enemy on night patrols with nothing more than a .45 in your hand and your head on a swivel, the point man on a zeroed-in path between rice paddies forward of the MLR. Overrun on the Yoke, bombarded on X-Ray, ambushed on Irene, you and your friends were outnumbered and outgunned, but you prevailed, unyielding in blood and valor. You did your job well, Pop, and so did your friends, the ones who came home from Korea and the ones who didn’t. You believed, and that made all the difference.
Troy Pearce — CEO, Pearce Systems
Udi and Tamar Stern — Husband-and-wife team; field operatives
Stella Kang — Former U.S. Army drone pilot; field operative
Judy Hopper — Pearce’s personal pilot
Johnny Paloma — Former LAPD SWAT; field operative
Ian McTavish — Director of IT operations/research specialist
Dr. Kirin Rao — Head of research and development
Dr. Kenji Yamada — UUV research and operation; oceanographer (whale researcher)
August Mann — UGV specialist; head of nuclear deconstruction division
Margaret Myers — President of the United States
Bill Donovan — Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security
Jackie West — FBI Director
Dr. Karl Strasburg — Foreign Affairs/Security Advisor
Frank Romero — U.S. Ambassador to Mexico
Faye Lancet — Attorney General
Mike Early — Special Assistant (Security) to the President
Nancy Madrigal — DEA Administrator
Pedro Molina — Director of ICE
Robert Greyhill — Vice President
Roy Jackson — Head of DEA Intelligence
Sandy Jeffers — President’s Chief of Staff
Sergio Navarro — DEA Intelligence Analyst
T. J. Ashley, Ph.D. — Head of Drone Command
Tom Eddleston — U.S. Secretary of State
Antonio Barraza — President of Mexico
Hernán Barraza — The president’s brother and chief advisor
César Castillo — Head of the Castillo Syndicate
Ulises, Aquiles Castillo — César’s twin sons
Colonel Israel Cruzalta — Battalion Commander, Infanteria de Marina Mexicana
Victor Bravo — Head of the Bravo Alliance
Dmitry Titov — President of the Russian Federation
Konstantin Britnev — Russian Federation Ambassador to the United States
Ali Abdi — Quds Force Commander
AMISOM — African Union Mission in Somalia
AUMF — Authorization to Use Military Force
ARGUS-IS — Autonomous Real-Time Ground Ubiquitous Surveillance Imaging System
ARSS — Autonomous Rotorcraft Sniper System
BMI — Brain-Machine Interface
DARPA — Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
DAS — Domain Awareness System
FISA — Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act
JDAM — Joint Direct Attack Munition
JSOC — Joint Special Operations Command
LATP — Lima Army Tank Plant
RIOT — Rapid Information Overlay Technology
UAV — Unmanned Aerial Vehicle
UGV — Unmanned Ground Vehicle
USV — Unmanned Surface Vehicle
UUV — Unmanned Underwater Vehicle
WPR — War Powers Resolution
All of the drone systems described in this book are currently deployed or in development. I have taken the liberty of simplifying and, in some cases, amplifying their performance characteristics for the sake of the story. However, I am confident that the “new and improved” versions I have described will soon be widely available.
El Paso, Texas
Cinco de Mayo was cooler than usual in the sprawling border city of El Paso, one of the poorest in America. In one of its grimmest barrios, a pink stucco house thrummed with life on a dark, narrow street. A crowd of teenagers from the nearby arts academy high school danced to throbbing music in the frame of its big picture window, their faces all smiles and laughter. The first graduation party of the year.
Out on the front porch, a knot of young men in hoodies and drooping pants stood guard, drinking beer out of Solo cups and smoking cigarettes, trying to look tough in a brutal part of town. To anybody passing by, they looked like somebody’s crew, but they were just teenagers like the kids inside, their young bodies rocking unconsciously to the beat of the music behind them.
An obsidian-black Hummer on big custom wheels slowed as it passed the house. The windows were blacked out. Death-metal music roared inside. No plates on the bumpers.
The hoodies out front pretended not to notice, playing it cool but keeping careful watch out of the sides of their bloodshot eyes.
Four houses up, the Hummer’s red brake lights flared as it slowed to a stop, then its white back-up lights lit up. The big black box of steel rolled backward. The gear box whined until it stopped in front of the pink stucco house.
It just sat there, idling.
The death-metal music still thundered behind the Hummer’s blackened glass, muffled by the steel doors.
