Chapter 2 - THE MAN WHO WAS SUPPOSED TO BE DEAD
Natalie couldn't move.
The recording continued.
“If you're hearing this, the aircraft is already compromised.”
Daniel watched her carefully.
Natalie barely heard him.
Michael's voice filled the cockpit.
“I don't know how much time I have. I don't know who I can trust. But there's one thing you need to understand.”
A pause.
“They didn't kill me.”
Natalie's fingers tightened around the edge of the console.
Michael.
Her husband.
The father of her child.
The man she had buried in her heart for twelve years.
The man whose name she had avoided saying because every syllable hurt.
The recording crackled.
“They made everyone believe I died because I discovered what Nightfall really was.”
Natalie shook her head.
“No.”
Daniel looked at her.
“What?”
“That isn't possible.”
Michael continued.
“The official report says our aircraft was destroyed after enemy fire. That's a lie.”
Natalie's eyes filled with tears.
She remembered the night.
The notification.
The officers standing outside her house.
The folded American flag.
The medals.
The empty coffin.
She had been told there was nothing left to recover.
For twelve years, she had believed it.
Michael's voice became quieter.
“Nightfall wasn't a combat mission.”
Natalie stared at the recorder.
“It was a test.”
The cockpit seemed to shrink around her.
“A test of an autonomous military guidance system. They wanted to know if it could take control of an aircraft without the pilot knowing.”
Daniel whispered, “That's classified.”
Michael continued.
“And it worked.”
A warning alarm suddenly screamed.
The aircraft banked sharply.
Passengers cried out in the cabin.
Natalie grabbed the console.
“What happened?”
Daniel fought the controls.
“The system just changed our heading.”
“To where?”
Daniel looked at the navigation display.
His face went pale.
“North.”
Natalie frowned.
“We're supposed to be going southwest.”
“I know.”
The aircraft began turning.
Natalie looked at the black drive.
“Can we disconnect it?”
Daniel shook his head.
“It's not connected to the cockpit.”
“Then how is it controlling us?”
“We don't know.”
Natalie looked at the flight computer.
A line of encrypted code appeared.
Then disappeared.
She recognized the pattern.
Her military training had exposed her to systems like this.
“It isn't controlling the aircraft directly.”
“What is it doing?”
“It's convincing the aircraft that its commands are legitimate.”
Daniel stared at her.
“Can you stop it?”
Natalie hesitated.
“Maybe.”
Another alarm.
FUEL IMBALANCE.
Daniel swore.
Natalie moved into the captain's seat.
She had never flown a commercial jet.
But she understood something Daniel didn't.
This wasn't about landing yet.
Someone wanted the aircraft to reach a specific location.
And whoever it was had known Natalie would be there.
She turned to Daniel.
“Get me the passenger manifest.”
“Why?”
“I need to know who else was expected on this flight.”
Daniel pulled up the list.
Natalie scanned the names.
Hundreds.
Then she stopped.
One name made her heart drop.
Mara Reed.
Her mother.
Natalie stared at the screen.
“That can't be right.”
Daniel looked confused.
“Your mother is on board?”
Natalie nodded slowly.
“My mother died three years ago.”
Silence.
Daniel looked at her.
Then at the manifest.
“Then who is sitting in 22D?”
Natalie stood.
A terrifying thought entered her mind.
May you like
Someone hadn't merely put her on this aircraft.
Someone had put her entire past on it.
