Chapter 4 - THE SECRET PASSENGER
The aircraft continued its descent.
The captain's instruments were becoming increasingly unreliable.
Natalie stood beside him, studying every display.
“We're being guided toward the runway,” Daniel said.
Natalie shook her head.
“No.”
“What?”
“The runway isn't the target.”
Daniel looked at the coordinates.
She pointed to a secondary structure.
“There.”
A small facility surrounded by military fencing.
Daniel frowned.
“That's not an airport terminal.”
“No.”
Natalie recognized it.
“It was a weapons research facility.”
Mara entered the cockpit.
“They moved it underground.”
Natalie turned.
“How do you know?”
“Because I helped build it.”
Natalie stared at her mother.
“You worked for them.”
“I worked against them.”
“That's not what you told me.”
“I was trying to protect you.”
Natalie laughed bitterly.
“By lying to me?”
Mara looked away.
Before she could answer, a flight attendant rushed into the cockpit.
“Captain, there's a passenger asking for you.”
“Who?”
She looked at Natalie.
“A man named Michael Reed.”
Natalie felt her blood run cold.
“Where?”
“Row 14.”
Daniel stood.
“That's impossible.”
Natalie pushed past him.
She reached row 14.
A man was sitting by the aisle.
Baseball cap.
Gray beard.
Dark glasses.
He slowly removed the glasses.
Natalie stopped.
Michael looked older.
Scarred.
But it was him.
She couldn't breathe.
For several seconds, neither of them spoke.
Then Michael whispered:
“I'm sorry.”
Natalie slapped him.
The sound echoed through the cabin.
“You were alive.”
“I know.”
“You watched me bury an empty coffin.”
“I had to.”
“You let Emma grow up without you.”
Michael closed his eyes.
“I know.”
“You let me think I wasn't enough to save you.”
His face broke.
“That was never true.”
Natalie's anger cracked.
“Why?”
Michael looked toward Mara.
“She knows.”
Natalie turned.
Her mother lowered her head.
Michael continued.
“Nightfall was designed by your father.”
Natalie froze.
“He created the guidance architecture. The military wanted it. A private defense company wanted it more.”
“Why fake your death?”
“Because I found evidence they were testing the system on civilian aircraft.”
Natalie whispered, “And my father?”
Michael's eyes filled with shame.
“He was running the program.”
Natalie stepped backward.
“No.”
“He knew exactly what happened during Nightfall.”
“What happened?”
Michael looked at her.
“I wasn't shot down.”
Natalie waited.
“My aircraft was remotely taken over.”
Her stomach turned.
“They made me disappear because I refused to cooperate.”
Natalie stared at him.
“Then why bring me here?”
Michael's expression changed.
“Because they need your help.”
“For what?”
Michael pointed toward the cockpit.
“The system can't complete its final test without a military-trained pilot manually validating it.”
Natalie understood.
“They chose me.”
Michael nodded.
“They've been watching you for years.”
“Why me?”
Michael's answer was almost a whisper.
“Because you were never supposed to survive Nightfall.”
The cabin lights flickered.
Then the speakers came alive.
A man's voice filled the aircraft.
“Hello, Natalie.”
She knew that voice.
She had heard it every Sunday growing up.
May you like
Her father's voice.
“It's time we finished what we started.”
