205 Ambrosia Cartel: Part 12

And thus, Herring's little holiday was destroyed once the contractors discovered that a bomb had been disarmed inside of the cabin of that aircraft. The confusion had arisen as both parties were suspecting once each other. Nathan was suspecting the CIA for sending Herring as a trojan horse into the HSDC main base and Herring who was suspecting someone had planted a bomb inside of the cabin of his Bombardier jet.

The tense air inside of the command center of the was filling the room up. It was between that 18-year-old boy and that old CIA agent. Both were trying to find the perpetrator. However, Patrick and Lynn were in the corner of the command center. Patrick was smoking a cigar, he was not trying to look badass or anything, he just liked to smoke since the first time you met him.

Lynn was listening to Stacy. Although the leaders were trying to find the lead for the bomb, Stacy actually had known who the perpetrator was. It was Herring's security details. Both of them were from Academia. Stacy and Ryan intentionally didn't tell them both since the security details would be detained covertly by Patrick and Lynn.

"Why would Blackwater killed a CIA SAD agent?" Patrick asked as he puffed a cloud of smoke into the air.

"That's one of the questions that I wanted to know as an intelligence agent. However, the motives might be rivalry since we offer the same service with the same price tag, well… better actually," Stacy said.

"If my father was targeted, it made sense. We will be blamed and United States will go all out on us. Well… It's not like Nathan hadn't think about any countermeasures," Lynn said.

Countermasures were the ICBMs that were placed inside of the base. There were only thirty of them placed inside of the base, but it was more than enough as a deterrent since those missiles were the SS-28 missiles that were able to carry fifteen nuclear warheads at once. It would be more than enough to destroy Washington if it was deemed to be necessary. However, Nathan wouldn't want it to happen since it would be considered a mutually assured destruction for both parties.

"Academia… Blackwater isn't it?" Patrick asked.

"Yup. Also a company backed by Ambrosia. This is one of the proxies that Ambrosia cartel had," Stacy said.

"Hmm, so Ambrosia had also put a bounty on us. Well, we make a lot of noises lately," Patrick said.

Patrick statement wasn't meaningless. HSDC growth was very big. Right now, each section has its own platforms. For example, the intel team has its own platform that was connected to the command platform and also the other platforms. The medical platforms also had its own platforms in the HSDC. It was weird for the HSDC not to have any ship yet considering that they had expanded so much in the past few months.

"It's located in the loggistic unit platform. It will be faster if we use the Blackhawk," Lynn said.

Both of them got out of the command center. They went for the lift that would lead them to the upper platform where the airlift usually wait. The airlift was a method for high-ranking personnel to move from one platform to another. Other personnel would usually use a HUMVEE or a motorbike to move from one platform to another.

They entered the lift and Patrick grabbed the tactical radio to call the airlift. He had to tune the radio to the right frequency first to contact the airlift team. He rotated the switch on that radio to adjust the frequency.

"Charlie Lima and Charlie Papa requesting an airlift. Out." Patrick put his radio back into his tactical rig.

The lift went up and those two contractors were looking at each other. Well, the lift was empty and there wasn't any CCTV inside of the lift. They could do anything that they wanted to do inside of that lift, but Patrick was holding back. Their life in that main base was very romantic, but only at nights. At noon, they had their own job to do.

The lift door opened. There was an UH-60 waiting in the helipad that was located on the upper deck of the command platform. The pilot of the helicopter was an African judging from his skin tone. Patrick puffed on his cigar and both of them entered the helicopter.

"Sir, Lift off."

The helicopter took off from the ground. The helicopter gained enough altitude that Patrick and Lynn could see the main base clearly. The large command platform had been expanded and its sized had been decupled. That command platform looked like an island in the middle of the Atlantic now. Waves were hitting the pillars that were supporting the command platform. If there was a storm, the wave could hit the main platform directly and all personnel must enter the lower deck immediately.

The command platform was connected to six other big platforms that were stretching in the ocean. Those platforms had its own runway and landing pads. The proximate distance of one command platform to another platform was twenty kilometers. Nathan made that much distance since the HSDC might make an expansion that would require that space. Some said that he was dreaming too high, but nothing was too high for Nathan. He could and would do anything to make his mercenary empire.

Still, there wasn't any dock inside of that main base since the R\u0026D team hadn't developed any technology that would ensure that the ship wouldn't be wrecked by the violent Atlantic ocean. They would need to make a dry dock in the middle of the ocean just for the sake of building and repairing one ship.

However, if a ship was available as an unit, they would have a good reach on every single continent on the earth since ship was flexible and had a longer range than an aircraft. However, their air force was one of the strongest airforces in the entire world. It was mainly due to the fact that their worst fighter jet was a Mig-35 and most of the squadrons in the HSDC used 4++ generation aircraft. Still, there were some squadrons that used F-22, Su-57, F-23, and Su-47.

Lynn might go and say to Nathan that she wanted to replace his F-15EX with the F-22 or the F-23. However, that request was refused by Nathan due to the fact that there was an experimental plane that was in development with the R\u0026D team and Lynn was quite a monicker, even in his F-15EX.'

Patrick also had faced the same problem with his Su-35S. He had been spooked so many times by the United States air force when he flew to the Guantanamo Bay. An F-22 fighter jet always sneaked on his back and sometimes, even shot a missile at him. However, Nathan response was the same. He refused since Patrick was quite a legend in his fighter jet.

"The sea is beautiful isn't it?" Patrick asked.

"Yeah, the sea is beautiful."

"But the object on my right is way more beautiful," Patrick said.

Lynn blushed. She just smiled at him. The pilot of the helicopter also smiled. The youngsters that were sitting behind him might be his commander, but he was way older than those two. He knew what teenager's love was.

"Quit it." Lynn just smiled.

The helicopter landed on the logistic platform. The upper deck of the logistic platform was filled with airlift aircraft. Those aircrafts were ranging from a tanker to a C-5 Galaxy. All of those transport planes were escorted by at least one jet squadron. The planes delivered cargo to all over the world. That was where the profit of HSDC was coming from.

Aiden had thought to incorporate their services to the civilian world as a delivery service that delivered your goods faster than most delivery service in the world, but Nathan said that they didn't have the resource to do so. He said that the R\u0026D and Logistic team were developing a drone to deliver cargo to the battlefield. If the project worked, Nathan would think about that proposition.

Lynn and Patrick walked from the helicopter and the helicopter flew away from that platform. A plane was taking off in the runway of that platform. The plane was a C-17 Globemaster and it was escorted by a squadron of Mig-35. The logistic platform was half the size of the command platform which was still very big.

There was some multiple-floored building located in the logistic platform. Patrick and Lynn entered the central logistic building which was ten-floored. The engineering of the R\u0026D platform was magnificient. They really could build a storm-proof building in the middle of the Atlantic ocean. Patrick entered the building and the breeze of air conditioner hit his face.