Chapter 3 - THE WOMAN IN 22D
Natalie ran through the darkened cabin.
Emergency lighting painted the passengers' faces in deep red.
Some were crying.
Others were praying.
A flight attendant tried to calm them.
“Please remain seated!”
Natalie barely heard her.
Row 22.
D.
She reached the seat.
An elderly woman sat there.
Gray hair.
Black coat.
Her face was turned toward the window.
Natalie stopped.
The woman slowly looked up.
Their eyes met.
Natalie's breath disappeared.
It was her mother.
Older.
Thinner.
But unmistakable.
“Mara?”
The woman smiled sadly.
“Hello, Natalie.”
Natalie took a step backward.
“No.”
Mara stood.
“I know.”
“You died.”
“I was told you needed to believe that.”
Natalie's voice trembled.
“Who are you?”
Her mother looked toward the cockpit.
“Your husband was right.”
“What does that mean?”
“Nightfall wasn't an operation.”
Mara's eyes filled with tears.
“It was a cover-up.”
Natalie felt anger rising.
“You let me believe my husband was dead.”
“I had no choice.”
“You had twelve years.”
“I was being watched.”
“By whom?”
Mara didn't answer.
A sudden scream came from the front of the cabin.
The aircraft dropped.
Passengers slammed against their seatbelts.
A child began crying.
Natalie grabbed Mara's arm.
“Come with me.”
They moved toward the front.
Mara whispered as they walked.
“Michael discovered something before the mission.”
“What?”
“He discovered that Nightfall wasn't designed for fighter jets.”
Natalie stopped.
“What was it designed for?”
Mara looked directly at her.
“Passenger aircraft.”
Natalie froze.
“The system was meant to be commercialized.”
Daniel's words suddenly returned to her.
Someone is controlling the aircraft.
Natalie understood.
This wasn't an attack.
It was a demonstration.
Someone wanted to prove the system worked.
And they had chosen a plane full of innocent people to do it.
She brought Mara into the galley.
“Who built it?”
Mara hesitated.
“Your father.”
Natalie stared at her.
“My father died before Michael.”
“No.”
Natalie's face went blank.
Mara whispered, “Your father is alive too.”
Natalie felt the floor disappear beneath her.
Her father had abandoned the family when she was fourteen.
She had always believed he died overseas.
Now she realized something.
Every death in her family had been a lie.
Every disappearance.
Every funeral.
Every explanation.
Someone had been rewriting her life.
Daniel rushed toward them.
“Natalie!”
She turned.
“We have another problem.”
“What?”
“The aircraft is descending toward a military airfield.”
Natalie looked at him.
“Which one?”
Daniel's voice dropped.
“Your old base.”
Natalie's heart stopped.
She knew the location.
The same base where Nightfall had begun.
The same place where Michael had disappeared.
The same place where her career had ended.
Mara grabbed Natalie's hand.
“They're bringing you home.”
Natalie stared at the dark cockpit.
“No.”
Her voice hardened.
“They're bringing me back to the crime scene.”
May you like
And for the first time in twelve years, Natalie wasn't afraid of what she would find.
She was afraid of what would happen when she found it.
