You'd be hard pressed to find a military contractor who didn't take the profits first, and then subcontract out, but in this case, the subcontracting company's name had a double meaning. Jake worked for a company called Gollum Solutions, a subcontractor of a subcontractor for BAE Systems - something that was a common occurrence in the byzantine world of military procurement. The ultimate killing machine, but it had an Achilles heel. With construction on each airframe happening in more than twelve countries all over the world, it was the finest fighter aircraft to ever take to the skies. Capable of unimaginable things, from stealth penetration to combative control of synchronized drones, it was unstoppable. The F 35 jet, known as the "Lightning II," was the most advanced fighter aircraft ever envisioned.
He had a lot invested in this particular experiment, and if it didn't work, he would be the one paying the bill. The initial contact from the aircraft sounded normal, which was not what he wanted to hear. Like a scientist conducting an experiment in a controlled environment, he was unable to alter the outcome once it was started.
So much so he actually had a bead of sweat on his brow in the forty-degree air. Connected to a scanner tuned to the open-net air traffic control frequencies emanating from the tower behind him, he was listening intently. He was too invested in a small bud in his ear. The airbase in Misawa was about as far north in Japan as one could get on the main island, leaving him in the upper echelons of cold weather on the spit of land, but the April weather wasn't bad enough to drive him inside. He had a mission here, and he would see it through. The cold began to seep in under his trousers, an unrelenting contact from the iron park bench he was sitting on, as if it was asking him to leave. It was but one of many flights leaving the airbase, a stream of lights bursting into the night one after the other, some headed out over the Pacific Ocean, others over the Sea of Japan, but this one was special. Jake Shu saw the afterburners kick in, the flight of four F-35 Lightning II aircraft leave the gravity of earth and head into the night sky. Reprinted courtesy of HarperCollinsPublishers book link. He's got the background and the knowledge that helped launch the series, but it's his imagination and craft that have elevated the series to the great success he enjoys today.Ĭheck out the first chapter of "American Traitor" below.įrom "American Traitor" by Brad Taylor, published by William Morrow. Army Infantry and Special Forces, including eight years with the 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment - Delta. There's a successful series here for the right team, if they'll just get it together. There's adventure, advanced spycraft and the kind of hard-bitten dialogue that makes you wonder when Pike's stories will be turned into movies.
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