Chapter 4 - NIGHT FALLS ON THE HANGAR
The SafehouseVictoria’s estate was a sprawling, gated compound overlooking the river, guarded by private security personnel with earpieces and suppressed sidearms. For the first time in four years, Daniel felt like he was back in a combat zone.
Inside the guest house, Emma was fast asleep on a large velvet sofa, wrapped in a plush blanket, her rocket-ship backpack resting on the floor beside her. Daniel sat in a chair next to her, gently stroking her hair.
Victoria entered quietly, carrying two mugs of coffee. She handed one to him. "She’s a beautiful girl, Daniel. She looks like her mother."
Daniel took the mug, nodding slowly. "Sarah was the brave one. When I was deployed, she managed everything. When she died... I realized I knew how to fix an F-22 in a sandstorm, but I didn't know how to comfort a four-year-old who was crying for her mom. I had to learn fast."
"You did a good job," Victoria said, sitting across from him. "But this thing with Obsidian... it’s bigger than we thought. My engineers analyzed the permanent patch you suggested. They found a secondary hidden directory in the avionics suite. It's a remote override protocol. Harding didn't just build an error into the software; he built a backdoor."
Daniel’s hand froze on his coffee mug. "A backdoor means they can control the aircraft from the ground."
"Yes," Victoria said, her face grim. "And the test flight with the Seattle chairman is scheduled for tomorrow morning at 0800. If we cancel it, the contract terminates automatically due to a time-delayed penalty clause I signed three months ago. They have me trapped, Daniel. If I fly, they can crash the plane. If I don't fly, I lose everything."
Daniel stood up, walking to the window that looked out over the dark river. "They won't crash it during the test flight. That’s too messy. They’ll wait until the plane is over the mountains on its delivery route to Seattle. It will look like an atmospheric anomaly or pilot error."
He turned back to face her, his eyes hard. "Unless we change the game."
"How?"
"We don't wait for tomorrow morning," Daniel said. "We flight-test it tonight. Just you, me, and your chief pilot. We take the plane up, trigger the backdoor protocol ourselves while we’re over a controlled airspace, trace the signal back to Obsidian’s ground station, and record the digital signature. We catch them in the act."
Victoria stared at him, her heart hammering against her ribs. "That is incredibly dangerous. If the system locks up—"
"I’ll be in the electronics bay with my laptop plugged directly into the primary bus," Daniel said. "If they try to lock the controls, I’ll physically cut the data lines and fly the plane manually using the backup analog trim tabs. I’ve done it before in combat."
Victoria looked at the delivery driver who spoke of combat flight engineering as if it were a routine day at the office. She felt a surge of adrenaline. "Let’s get the pilot."
The Traitor in the ShadowsUnbeknownst to them, a black sedan was parked half a mile down the river road from Victoria’s estate. Inside, Conrad Harding was watching a military-grade signal scanner.
His phone buzzed. "Harding here."
"The girl is at the estate," a raspy voice said from the receiver. "But Lane’s security is too tight. We can't get to Carter through her."
"You don't need to," Harding hissed. "I just intercepted an encrypted radio transmission from Victoria’s personal line to her chief pilot. They’re heading back to the Asteron hangar right now. They’re going to fly the jet tonight to clear the software before the chairman arrives."
May you like
A cold laugh came from the phone. "They’re going to fly it? Tonight? That makes things much easier. Inform the Obsidian team at the ground station. Tell them to initialize the Vanguard override the moment the aircraft passes ten thousand feet. We’ll make sure Daniel Carter and Victoria Lane never come back down."
Harding hung up, a savage smile spreading across his face. "You should have taken the four million dollars, delivery boy."
