He had never seen an actual missile system before, only blueprints, and he found it fascinating.
“Just a routine inspection, ordered by Colonels Enrique and Ivan,” Smith said cheerily as he climbed a staging ladder mounted to the top of the missile’s guidance and payload compartment. He found an inspection door below the red nose cone and yelled down to the engineers and technicians, “Don’t mind me, I just want to make sure the course settings are right.”
“Glad to have it checked. Here, you will need the key.” The engineer removed a chain from around his neck and tossed it up without bothering to aim. Keeping one hand on a metal rung, Smith somehow managed to snag the chain before it could fall down into the concrete flame bucket underneath the rocket nozzles. He inserted the key into th
