“How come the ‘check engine’ light is on?” I asked.
Fritz reached forward, tapped one of the gauges, and looked at me with concern. I just shrugged.
“I’m sure it’s nothing.”
Poor Dare about peed himself.
I guided us to the runway and waited for clearance from the tower. Once they gave it to me, I let off the brakes and advanced the throttle, and the plane jolted down the runway. I knew from experience riding with Cassidy and Roy that my passengers would hear the muffled responses from air traffic control. His voice would be barely audible over the noise of the propeller.
I checked outside the cockpit to verify our position on the runway. At my request, Fritz called out our airspeed, and when it reached takeoff velocity, I eased the stick back, and we lifted off.
As we gained altitude, the feeling of a weight being pushed into my chest from the acceleration eased. From the cockpit window, our view was nothing but sky until we reached altitude, when I leveled the plane off.
I was all business when we were flying. It was both fun and serious at the same time. This was something I really liked to do with my money.
◊◊◊
Grace had one of her people pick us up at the airport. Once we pulled through her gate and up to the house, Grace came out. The driver must have let her know we’d arrived.
“Welcome, welcome,” she called as we piled out of the van.
We made our introductions, grabbed our bags, and Grace showed us to our rooms for the night. Dare and I would share a room with bunk beds. The room had probably been decorated for when Grace’s grandkids visited.
“I get the top bunk,” Dare informed me.
“You don’t still pee the bed, do you?” I asked.
“Shut up, ‘stupid boy.’”
I hid my grin. Dare had come a long way from the kid who wouldn’t even look at me six months ago.
“Just checking.”
“Am I really going to make money from selling my drone ideas?” he asked.
“That’s the plan. We’ll see what Grace has to say.”
“Should I unpack the drones so I can show them to her?”
I think he just wanted an excuse to go fly them.
“Why don’t we go down and ask Grace?”
◊◊◊
Grace totally won Dare over by having an assortment of little sandwiches and snacks waiting for us when we came downstairs. He was growing like a weed and had that long, gangly look teen boys get when they sprout up. Once we’d stuffed our faces, Grace walked in with a young guy who looked to be fresh out of college. She motioned for us to join them.
“Darius, Dr. Rossetti, I would like you to meet Carl Buchanan with Drone Security Tech. My people found Mr. Buchanan and his company and thought your project would be a fit for what he does.”
“Darius, good to meet you,” Carl said as he shook his hand.
“Dare.”
“Sorry?”
“I prefer Dare.”
“Oh. Sorry. I like that,” Carl said. “I’ve heard good things about your drones.”
Dare chose that moment to go quiet and look at his shoes. He wasn’t really used to being the center of attention. When it happened, it usually wasn’t in his best interest. Grace saved the day.
“Why don’t we all sit down, and Carl can tell you what he and his company do.”
Once we were all situated, Carl began his presentation.
“We’re a start-up company with a focus on using drones for security purposes. We think it’s the evolution of the next phase in cutting-edge security …”
I tuned him out as he tried to sell us on his company. But he caught my attention when he used the term ‘start-up.’ If I were a betting man, I would say that Carl wasn’t just here for Dare’s ideas. Start-ups always needed financial backing.
Then he told us an interesting tidbit about the current drone market.
“You have to become an FAA-Certified Drone Pilot and register your drone with the FAA in order to legally fly a drone commercially.
“Current certification data shows a breakdown as to the types of companies having their staff get certified. As you might have guessed, photo-related businesses make up nearly half at 43%. Next are realtors, at 27%, followed by utilities, construction, and agriculture companies with between eight and ten percent of the market. All other types of companies, security included, are just getting started.
“What that means is there is very little competition right now. We have an opportunity to penetrate the market and establish ourselves as the dominant player,” Carl shared.
“Another way to look at it is that there isn’t a market,” I said without thinking. When everyone looked at me, I realized my mistake and added, “Yet.”
“That’s a very astute observation,” Grace said, and then smiled to break the sudden tension. “It just so happens that’s what I specialize in.”
I had a suspicion that Carl just lost a big chunk of his company at that moment. The hope he had in his eyes that Grace would back him was apparent to everyone in the room.
“Before we go any further, everyone needs to sign nondisclosure agreements, and then Dare can demonstrate his drones,” Grace said.
I was impressed that Grace had everyone’s names, including mine, on the document we all signed.
