by Alec Peche
“Okay, guys we need to hold the fort for about ten minutes before help arrives,” Ariana announced.
Hermione grinned and said, “Game on.”
Damian looked a little taken aback by the teenage warrior, but then he thought he shouldn't be surprised given what she'd been through in the past year.
Damian studied the yacht and decided it was the same one that had been parked at the Pier where they found James Spinnaker, so this must be that same drug company after him. He wondered how they found out where he lived? No time to ponder that question he needed to get the swarm working.
When he thought of the swarm being used for security of his island, he'd spent hours creating the computer program to coordinate multi-robots which essentially are what a drone swarm is. He took the swarms on a trip around his island for them to memorize the boundaries. He lost a few drones in that process to the cliff rock or the water. Then he created a reward for the drone by dropping its payload on a target. When he designed the program, he used rocks on the beach or bushes lining the cliff as the target. He now used those same concepts on the men trying to overrun his island. Hermione's actions with the water cannons confused and blinded the men and hid the sound of the drone swarm. All of the individual propellers made a particular sound – a swarm of bees, but that would be drowned out by the sound of gunfire or the water cannons.
Hermione was firing the cannons and letting out shouts of glee whenever she jammed one of the men's guns with a blast of water. She watched them drop a gun and grab another usually from the small of their back. Damian's swarms were coming in from the side, and they began unloading the little packets of green dye and pepper juice on the men still on the boat. He targeted the man at the helm first as he wanted to disable the boat's escape. Dammit, he wanted to be sure these guys went to prison, and he needed them stuck at his beach unable to see their way away from the island until the police and Coast Guard arrived!
Damian let out a cheer when he saw the first swarm drop their little pods on the men on the deck of the boat. He watched them suddenly grab their face, one falling off balance on the back of the yacht to splash in the water. As far he could see, he'd disabled everyone aboard the yacht except a man standing under a sheltered bridge. Fortunately, he seemed disinclined to back out of the island's harbor. He had his hands full controlling the yacht this close to the island and couldn't come to the aid of any of the men.
As soon as the swarm dropped their packages, he moved them away and around his island to save them from gunfire. Still he lost a few, not to gunfire, but instead, they got blasted by the water cannons. He parked that in the back of his brain to find a software solution for the two defensive items to co-exist. He checked where they were from an overall battle and directed the second swarm toward the fighters that were on his island. Two had made it up the hillside and were approaching his front door, and so he went after them first.
The two men looked up when they heard the buzzing sound and took aim, but fortunately, it was milliseconds after the swarm dropped their load on the men. A few of the drones were shot down as the men pulled the trigger just as they were blinded by the bursting bags landing on their heads. He made a second mental note to himself to blast music or something when the island was under attack to cover the sound of the drones. There was nothing he could do to quiet down the drone propellers.
He looked over at Ariana and Hermione to see if they were both doing okay and ended up smiling to himself that he had two warriors at his side.
“When's the cavalry arriving?” he asked.
“Dispatcher says we should be able to see the Coast Guard boat approaching from the south and the helicopter from the east. She wants to know if there's a landing pad on the island?”
“There isn't but they can still land on the island. The men that are now struggling with pepper spray in their eyes are likely in the way of a copter landing. I'm going to have to go outside and drag them out of the way.”
He could hear Ariana relaying the information to the dispatcher.
“Damian, how are you going to stay safe outside? All the technology in the world won't save you from bullets.”
“I know. There's no one else on the top yet and I don't want the drones in the way of the helicopter or sucked up in its draft, so I need you to keep those water cannons going. Ask the pilot if the officers aboard the copter will cover me while I move the men?”
Both Hermione and Ariana looked at him with worry, and Hermione asked, “Do you have a vest and helmet that will protect you from bullets?”
Damian gave it thought and said, “I made a jumpsuit from my magic fabric that will make me less visible. Tell the pilot that they'll see hands and feet moving the men, and to keep watch on the cliff and they'll be able to land once I have the men out of the way.”
Ariana relayed the information to the dispatcher who said in disbelief, “You're telling me there's going to be an invisible man moving two men so the copter can land? This I got to see. Is there a camera that I can connect to the copter? This had been the weirdest operation I've ever witnessed.”
Damian shook his head 'no'.
“There is but I don't want to take the time to make the connection right now. I need to get outside, and you two need to keep blasting with the water cannons.”
Ariana nodded and said to the dispatcher, “Sorry only your crew in the helicopter will be able to see the invisible man move two men.”
Damian was soon cloaked in his invisible jumpsuit, and with the face covering off, Ariana and Hermione smiled briefly at how funny it was seeing shoes, hands, and his face. Once he put down the flap covering his face, it was really bizarre seeing hands encased in blue medical gloves in midair. Miguel had scurried behind Ariana at the disturbing sight. She reached down to pet the dog and said, “It's okay, those are Damian's hands you're seeing.” Not that the dog understood what she said.
“Good luck and don't scare your cats on the way out,” Ariana urged as he left to go up the steps.
Hermione went back to watching the men on the beach approach the hillside and coordinating the exact moment to blast someone when they were off balance.
Ariana kept watch on the water cannons and the position of the intruders while watching two blue hands dragging a screaming man with his hands on his face to the side of the space that would be used for a copter landing. She could hear the helicopter, but not see it as it was above her camera line. The men were moved and then she saw the blue hands retreat to the front door. Damian briefly pulled up the face shield to operate the eye scan door lock of his front door, and he was inside again.
“Damian's safe inside the house,” Ariana said out loud for Hermione's benefit.
“Ha! Take that you bad man!” she practically screeched like it was the final battle of a video game.
Suddenly the men were making a hasty retreat to the yacht. They jumped on board, leaving a few men in the water and tried to take off at full power to evade the incoming Coast Guard boat.
Hermione leaned back to give Ariana a high five saying “I win!”
Damian had been watching the various camera views of his island while he took off the jumpsuit. As soon as the helicopter landed, he opened the door and stood just outside waiting for the signal that the officers climbing out of the copter saw him and weren't going to see him as a threat.
He watched as one officer pointed to the men writhing on the ground and another pointed to Damian. One approached with his gun aimed downward. The copter blade noise and wind updrafts made it hard to hear.
Once the officer got close, he asked, “Are you Damian Green?”
Damian nodded, “My friends are down in my lab and called the dispatcher when we saw we were under siege by that yacht,” Damian said pointing at the departing boat.
“I'm officer Travis Bishop, what's wrong with these men?”
“Ask your men to wear gloves. I hit them with homemade pepper juice mixed with green dye. The dye will take several days to we
ar off. If their eyes are rinsed, they'll regain their vision in six to eight hours.”
The officer used his lapel mic to relay the information to his partners, and Damian saw the few officers that hadn't, pull on gloves. Two other men looked over the edge of the island to where the two men left behind by the boat, were standing with their hands in the air upon the command of another officer. Damian saw that they were taking steps to take the men into custody.
“The dispatcher indicated that you have this entire incident on camera?”
“Yes sir.”
“That's some jumpsuit you're wearing. Where did you get it?”
“I'm an inventor. I've been experimenting with fabrics and materials that cloak by distorting visible light. I'm trying to find fabric that neither adsorbs nor reflects light.”
“Looks like you achieved that goal. We couldn't see you in the helicopter.”
“If I put it on and stood next to you, you could see me. The fabric only works to cloak me from a distance, so it's not ready for commercial purposes yet. I've been working on it for almost a decade.”
“Okay well, what you have so far is impressive. You could sell it now on the Halloween market.”
“That's not my target market. I'm designing it for law enforcement and military use. The technology would aide in crime in the hands of the common person.”
“True,” Officer Bishop said.
Chapter 27
Throughout the whole attack, Hermione had been giving surreptitious glances at the time. She was worried that they would miss the call with her parents. On the hundredth time she glanced at the clock, Damian put her out of her misery by saying, “Hermione, I've seen you take many glances at the time this afternoon. Don't worry, we won't miss the video call with your parents. If I have to, I'll lock the police and crime scene staff outside of the house so that we may make the call in private. I haven't forgotten the call.”
She visibly relaxed saying simply with a small smile, “Thanks.”
First, several officers had invaded Damian's lab to watch a replay of the attack. While it played back, Damian kept an eye on the officers to make sure they didn't touch anything, and he didn't hesitate to admonish an officer he saw reach out to touch something with, “This is a working technical lab, please don't touch anything.”
After that he observed no one else letting their hands stray. Hermione had taken delight in demonstrating how the water cannons worked. Damian showed them a pepper juice packet that he had the drone drop. After getting a copy of the video footage, the officers were back out of his lab organizing the transport of their prisoners to jail in Oakland. The two other men were transported to the hospital for eye care before their transfer to jail.
Officer Bishop relayed that the Coast Guard had caught up with the yacht just under the Golden Gate Bridge, apprehending the five men on board. They assisted the police by towing the yacht back to a police dock and turning the men over to the police for booking on attempted murder.
Damian looked at the swarm of officers and the battle that had taken place there and realized his island, and his identity no longer would have any privacy. It was an end of an era for him, and he mourned the loss of his privacy.
Ariana seemed to sense what he was feeling and sidled up to him putting an arm around his waist and whispering, “It will be okay. People still won't be allowed onto your island, although there are enough young fools that might want to brave the water cannons for the fun of it. You and this island will be known by this attack, but I think the vast majority of people will be amazed and approve of how you've set up your defense systems as I am. I see our company getting calls to set up security systems for other people. We may need to add that to the company's portfolio.”
Damian chuckled and said, “You're probably right about that. Thanks for that unappealing vision of setting up security systems for the rest of my life.”
“No problem,” she said with a grin. “Although I do think you'll need to make an enhancement soon. I really do see scores of idiot young men trying to land on your beach to take on the water cannons. I think you need to re-aim them so that people get blasted in their boats and don't get a chance to come ashore.”
“That's a brilliant idea! Gives me something positive to think about in the near future as I mourn the loss of my privacy.”
“Buddy, you've done so many good things recently that I don't think you could stay in the shadows no matter what you tried.”
“I just wish there was a car chase or a brush fire somewhere to take those damn news copters away from this island. Why couldn't there be bad news for journalists to chase rather than my story.”
“Next time I know your island is under attack, I'll hire someone to do a freeway chase. How's that for a plan?”
Damian chuckled at the thought of that altercation. In his years, he'd seen some weird freeway chases like a fifty-foot recreational vehicle being chased by four Highway Patrol cars. It's not like the RV could hide anywhere, or the vehicle could get to high speeds or cut sharp corners. No, it was a slow chase until the RV ran out of gas.
“Just make sure it's a lumbering RV.”
“What?”
“I don't want a sexy car-chase, just a slow one that will take an hour and not hurt anyone.”
“Ah... okay. A special order crime. Hmmm.”
“We have about an hour before our call,” Ariana said. “Is the video camera all set up?”
“It’s still good to go. Fortunately, there’s no crime scene there for the technicians to destroy.”
“When do you think they’ll be done?”
“I’m hoping they’re done tomorrow. In total there are eight men that they have to prosecute and so they have to collect evidence for those individual cases. They’ll run out of daylight and need to return tomorrow.”
“Yikes, two houses to clean from crime scene dust. Hermione and I will help you clean up the outside tomorrow. Fortunately, you don’t have stuff to clean on the inside. All they want from inside is digital copies.”
“I checked the weather forecast for tomorrow, and it’s supposed to rain in the afternoon, so I’m thinking the rain will wash everything away, and the crime scene techs will be motivated to finish and get off my island.”
Damian was interrupted to answer another question by a detective. Finally, he was sure they had run out of questions, and so he said, “I’ve got an hour-long video call at five, and I need to not be interrupted. Do you have everything you need from inside the house? I’m not worried about the outside you can stay as long as you like.”
“We are done on the inside of your house, and it’s going to be dark soon outside, so our techs will likely return in the morning to continue collecting evidence. I assume if we need video footage of something we haven’t thought of yet, that you’ll be able to supply us with that something going forward?”
“Yes, I’d like to cooperate as best I can. We would have been dead if I didn't have defensive systems set up on this island. No fault of yours, but it takes a while for law enforcement to come to our aid.”
“I understand sir. To add to this distance problem, this island is under the jurisdiction of three counties, so you get help from whomever can reach you first. This time it was the SFPD and the Coast Guard, and hopefully, this will be the last attack.”
“I'm afraid that if this plays out on the news, I'll have idiotic young people trying to breach my water cannons. I've been thinking about what I can do to discourage that behavior and I'd appreciate any suggestions you or any of the other officers have. Don't be surprised if the next time, there's an attack on my property that the California Highway Patrol is involved with a freeway chase. Anything to move the news copters away from my island.”
“I understand,” the officer said and paused thinking about his answer, “Maybe we could invoke a no-fly zone over your island, though they would probably just use long range photo lens.”
After a few more conversations, the officers left Dami
an's island and finally there was peace and quiet as the three of them sat in Damian's living room. He had business cards to follow up with people from the various agencies if he needed to. He sighed and leaned back closing his eyes and says, “Ladies, a long distance high-five for your work today. I don't have the energy to give you more kudos than that.”
Before he knew it, he felt both sides of his sofa cushion sink, and he felt two sets of female arms wrap around his neck for a hug. He opened his eyes and returned the hug.
“Thanks, ladies. Let's just relax here for another twenty minutes or so, and then we'll retire to the lab for our phone call. It's all ready to go, so if we go down there now, we'll just sit around and look at each other.”
Ariana got up and walked into Damian's kitchen to open a bottle of wine. She looked over at Hermione and said, “If this island were located in the Mediterranean Sea and was a part of Italy, you would routinely drink wine. This has been a stressful day so we'll pretend we're in Italy and I'll offer you a glass of wine.”
“Seriously?! Bring it on!”
Damian didn't say anything as he thought it was a brilliant idea and if they were going to lose custody of Hermione after their call tonight what did it matter if they allowed her to have wine with them. Maybe if they still retained custody of her, they would travel to Rome on spring break and have a drink at the Piazza Navona. Then Damian thought, the kid would probably rather go back to Fantasialand.
Soon the three of them clinked wine glasses, but before Hermione was allowed to sip, Ariana took a moment to explain how she should evaluate the wine. After hearing about legs, color, smell, and taste, she took her first sip.
Damian and Ariana watched her for a reaction.
“What?!” Hermione asked when she caught them watching her. “I did what you said!”
“Sooooo, What did you think of the taste?” Ariana asked.
Hermione took a second sip and said, “It’s unique. I’ve never tasted any juice or soda that comes close to this taste. Beer’s a different color, so I assume it tastes very different from this wine. What’s its name?”