The Wolf of Los Angeles.

A black Range Rover stopped in front of the Coast Building. Abhishek got out of the car first, called Randall from Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, and they went into the main entrance of the building together.

Edward and Henderson greeted the two men immediately and led them up to the 16th floor to a meeting room.

Hawke was waiting in the reception room.

Abhishek quickly stepped forward, shook hands with Hawke, and said with a smile, "Old friend, long time no see."

Hawke shook hands with both of them and said, "Welcome to Los Angeles, welcome to Twitter."

Abhishek introduced the bearded man next to him: "This is Randall Gusatu, the head of the electronics department at Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL). He came all the way from India to visit you, his good friend from India."

Hawke showed no embarrassment at being cheated or swindled; instead, he smiled and said, "Don't hesitate to ask if you need any help.

Considering the billions of dollars contributed by Indians, he would give them some face: "As long as Twitter and West Coast companies can do it."

Henderson, who had previously spoken with Hawke, said, "We are strategic partners, and we should face difficulties together."

The difficulties faced by major Indians will bring new business to West Coast technology, which means substantial profits.

Although some minor disputes have arisen between the two sides regarding the final payment for some goods, they are still within control.

Henderson had been doing business with the Indians for several years and had a deep understanding of the key to it: no matter what goods or services the Indians wanted to buy, the deposit was equivalent to the full amount.

Abhishek said, "Randall's department is currently facing some difficulties and needs more advanced technical guidance and assistance."

Hawke looked at the bearded man and asked, "Could you elaborate?"

Randall was unusually serious, as if something extraordinary had happened.

After gathering his thoughts, he began to speak: "A month ago, there was a border guard unit in India. We are a team with a glorious history and honors. They are extremely serious and responsible in their work, and have a keen sense of smell and a vision that far surpasses that of ordinary soldiers."

Upon hearing these words, Hawke's feet trembled slightly, and his toes unconsciously tightened.

At this moment, saying there are three bedrooms and a living room under your feet would be an exaggeration, but a one-bedroom apartment is definitely enough.

Randall continued on this unusually serious topic: "Captain Singh in this border unit is a remarkable scout who can always detect the enemy's intentions in advance. One night during a patrol, Captain Singh discovered that the enemy was infiltrating India from the air. There were two bright spheres in the night sky that were moving regularly around the Indian border region."

Hawke simply listened attentively without interrupting.

Henderson, however, followed the Indian's lead and asked, "Did someone use a reconnaissance aircraft for surveillance?"

Randall nodded emphatically and said in a tone as if it were a momentous event, "After observing for many days, Captain Singh discovered that every night, these two bright spheres appear and move regularly around the Indian border region, disappearing quickly after dawn."

He seemed quite angry: "Based on preliminary judgment, those two bright spheres are most likely high-altitude reconnaissance aircraft sent by a country hostile to India. Given that they only make regular movements, they should be some kind of special model of high-altitude unmanned reconnaissance aircraft. The bright spheres must be caused by the lights under the fuselage being too bright."

Edward interjected, "Since the drones have intruded, why don't you shoot them down?"

This made Randall slightly embarrassed. He coughed lightly and said, "We deployed India's most advanced air defense radar vehicles and air defense missile systems to the area, but after several nights of continuous detection, we still could not detect the signals of these two drones. The radar could not capture the signals, the missiles could not be launched, and we used ordinary anti-aircraft guns, but the other side's drones were flying too high."

Hawke suddenly thought of a possibility, but didn't say it aloud; instead, his expression became as serious as that of the Indian bearded man.

After all, when someone comes to deliver money, you should at least show some respect.

Henderson asked in surprise: "A reconnaissance drone at an altitude of 10,000 meters?"

“Based on our observations, this is bound to be the outcome.” To entice the Americans to take on the business, Randall released a bombshell as bait: “All of our advanced radars and detection equipment failed to detect the target signal, indicating that the other party most likely used some kind of advanced non-metallic material in the drone.”

To shoot down an enemy, radar lock-on is required first, but now even radar lock-on is impossible, which is quite embarrassing for the Indian military.

Besides feeling embarrassed, they were also quite angry and terrified.

The anger stemmed from the fact that the other side dared to openly intrude into Indian airspace and conduct spying and reconnaissance for a month.

Panic means the radar is useless and cannot lock onto the target at all.

Randall said angrily, "We protested to them, but they not only refused to acknowledge it, but also openly mocked us, saying, 'If you're so capable, then take it down...'"

He was so angry that he slapped his thigh repeatedly: "Even with our strongest protests, these two drones still come every day without any regard for consequences, completely disregarding India!"

Henderson realized a huge potential order had emerged and immediately addressed the client's urgent needs: "This is really going too far."

Abhishek coughed softly.

Randall somewhat suppressed his anger and continued, "The Army called on the Air Force, and the Air Force dispatched Tejas fighters, but the radar still couldn't pick up their signals, and they were flying too high, exceeding the Tejas fighters' service ceiling."

Abhishek then added, "Ultimately, the key is that the radar can't detect the signal."

“Yes, we’ve tried several different radars, but none of them worked.” Randall sighed. “The Army and Air Force reported the situation to the Department of Defense. The technology in the air is managed by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), so this matter fell into my hands. I led a team to investigate, and the problem is quite serious.”

He looked at Hawke and Henderson: "We need to capture these two high-altitude unmanned reconnaissance aircraft as soon as possible to prevent more Indian military secrets from being leaked."

Hawke nodded slightly and asked, "What do you want us to do?"

Randall said, “Satellites, reconnaissance satellites. We hope you can deploy reconnaissance satellites to observe those two drones from low Earth orbit and provide India with detailed data so that India can shoot them down.”

Hawke glanced at Henderson.

The latter understood immediately and said, "India has always been our largest international partner. The friendship between West Coast and India has stood the test of time. We also want to help our friends, but there is something we need to inform you. Out of respect for our friends and strategic partners, all the probes launched by West Coast are far away from the South Asian continent."

Abhishek asked, "Can't we change tracks?"

Henderson, who understands how to maximize profits, said, "This is not part of our default program. If we rashly change the orbit towards India, it may cause irreversible damage to the satellite, greatly shortening its lifespan. Moreover, Starlink's satellite program is a systematic project. Changing the orbit of one satellite will affect the entire satellite network."

These words weren't entirely false, after all, the other party wasn't exactly an amateur.

Randall frowned: "Is it impossible to achieve a rapid trajectory change?"

Hawke said, "The difficulty and time involved in changing the orbit will exceed that of launching a new satellite."

Randall immediately asked, "Can we launch a variable-orbit probe satellite?" Hawke didn't answer, his gaze shifting to Henderson.

Henderson thought carefully for a while and said, "In our recent launch schedule, we do have a probe satellite ready to be launched. This satellite is equipped with the world's most advanced Earth-viewing cameras and computer analysis programs, but it is intended to be used as an Antarctic probe to analyze the rate of melting of Antarctic ice and icebergs..."

Randall was very anxious: "What's the earliest we can launch? Can we adjust the launch plan? India needs the help of our friends."

“This…” Henderson was extremely embarrassed.

How can you persuade people like this? Changing plans with just a few words, and who will pay for all the losses caused in the process?

Although the actual losses could be kept within six figures, the involvement of India will certainly increase the losses by several hundred times.

Abhishek, who understood the most important rule of international transactions, immediately said, "All costs arising from this will be borne by our side."

Randall realized what was happening and added, "If the satellite can be launched within two weeks, we can also cover the costs of your emergency overtime work."

The fat sheep willingly offered its head to the butcher's knife, but Hawke still did not rashly cut it off. He needed to ascertain some things before he could make a real decision. He said, "This matter is of utmost importance. It concerns the entire Starlink project. Not only will West Coast Technologies and Surrey Satellite Corporation need to make internal adjustments, but we also need to coordinate with NASA and SpaceX. It will take some time before we can give you a clear answer."

Henderson added, "There are too many aspects involved in a single satellite."

Randall glanced at Abhishek and said, "This has been going on for over a month. We can wait in Los Angeles."

Hawke thought for a moment and then said, "I need photos and videos of the situation over there so that satellite detection experts can analyze them. If our equipment doesn't meet the requirements, I can let you know clearly to avoid you wasting time in Los Angeles."

Given the other party's kind attitude and consideration, Randall couldn't refuse and said, "Please wait a moment, I'll have someone send over the photos and videos."

Hawke and Henderson were both waiting patiently.

Edward sat in the back and didn't say a word, but from his angle, he could vaguely see Randall's phone screen.

He discovered that the other party was using Twitter private messaging to transmit such important information.

This reminded Edward of the incident a few years ago when Washington authorities mistakenly added a journalist to an internal group chat. Looking at the mess that the Indians had made, he sighed that the world was just a giant makeshift operation.

Randall received the pictures and videos and quickly forwarded them to the email address Hawke specified.

This concludes today's meeting. Abhishek and Randall have taken their leave.

Hawke had his emails handled by technical professionals to prevent any potential attacks.

He knew very well that you could say Third Brother was unreliable, but you could never overestimate Third Brother's moral character.

After the images and videos were processed, Hawke quickly reviewed them and discovered a point that the Indians had not mentioned.

The target never appeared in any of the photos and videos taken during rainy weather, but it was quite obvious when the weather was sunny.

Based on his brother's track record, Hawke became increasingly convinced of his guess and said to Henderson, "Contact the professionals at West Coast and Surrey Satellite to identify what the luminous object inside is."

Without hesitation, Henderson immediately made a phone call to find someone.

Edward leaned closer and asked, "Boss, do you suspect those glowing objects are unrelated to the drones?"

Hawke nodded slowly and said a few more words to Henderson.

Henderson, who was transmitting videos and pictures, took out his phone again and made a call.

Less than half an hour after the video and image transmission ended, Benjamin, a former professor from Caltech, made a video call directly to the Coast Building.

On the big screen, Professor Benjamin held up a printed photo of the night sky, pointed to two luminous objects, and said, "These are definitely not the lights under an airplane. My team and I have carefully analyzed all the videos and we can be absolutely certain that these are Venus and Jupiter."

Hawke had guessed it might be a star, so it wasn't a big surprise.

Edward stared in surprise.

Henderson kept scratching his head, feeling like he was being played to death by the Indians.

The Indians have deployed their most advanced radar in an attempt to detect signals from Venus and Jupiter? And they're even planning to shoot them down with anti-aircraft missiles?

He asked incredulously, "Professor, are you sure you're not mistaken?"

Benjamin said seriously, "In my field of expertise, there is absolutely no way I could be wrong."

“Thank you very much, Professor.” Hawke instructed, “This matter must be kept secret by everyone who knows about it.”

Benjamin replied, "Understood."

The video call had just ended when Henderson received another call from an astrophysicist at a West Coast company.

"I'm 100% certain that this is Venus and Jupiter!"

Henderson hung up the phone in silence, feeling as if he and the Indians lived in completely different dimensions.

Edward said, "What exactly happened that the Indians used Venus and Jupiter as enemy reconnaissance aircraft and carried out targeted operations for more than a month?"

He looked at Hawke and Henderson: "Have they suddenly lost their minds?"

Henderson, however, remarked, "Perhaps this is just everyday life for Indians?"

Edward was rendered speechless by the Indian man, and he really didn't know what to say.

Hawke confirmed his guess and said directly, "Since the Indians have offered their heads, it would be a disservice to our old friends if we didn't strike back with our knives."

He instructed Henderson: "Negotiate a good price."

Henderson shook off his whimsical thoughts and said, "I want the deposit to be in the hundreds of millions." (End of Chapter)