Chapter 6 - The Child Behind the Door
Sarah ran.
"Lily!"
The corridor was empty.
"Lily!"
Another voice.
"Mom!"
Sarah followed it.
Then stopped.
Speaker.
The voice was recorded.
Robert had manipulated her again.
Sarah turned slowly.
Her father stood behind the glass partition.
"Where is she?"
"Safe."
"Where?"
"On the platform."
David swore.
Marcus's voice came over radio.
"Sarah, we found a child."
Sarah grabbed the radio.
"Marcus?"
"It's Lily."
Her knees nearly gave out.
"Put her on."
A moment later:
"Mom?"
Sarah closed her eyes.
"Lily, baby, are you hurt?"
"No."
"Are you scared?"
"A little."
"I'm coming."
"There's a man here."
Sarah looked at Robert.
"What man?"
"He says he's my dad."
Sarah's breath caught.
Marcus.
"Listen to me. Stay with him. I trust him."
Marcus went silent at those words.
Sarah did too.
Because despite everything, they were true.
She trusted him with Lily's life.
Maybe not with her heart.
Not yet.
But with Lily.
Yes.
Sarah turned to Robert.
"You lost."
"No."
The drones were still moving toward Europe.
Nightglass remained active.
Robert leaned on his cane.
"Family sentiment is touching. But irrelevant."
Sarah looked at the authorization screen.
Two pilot profiles.
Sarah.
Marcus.
She understood.
"Get Marcus down here."
David radioed him.
Minutes later Marcus entered carrying Lily.
Sarah ran to her.
Lily wrapped both arms around her neck.
Sarah held her tightly.
Everything else disappeared.
For several seconds, she was not a pilot.
Not Major Mitchell.
Not Robert's daughter.
Only Mom.
"I'm sorry," Sarah whispered.
"For what?"
"For bringing you into this."
Lily looked confused.
"You didn't."
Sarah smiled through tears.
"No. I didn't."
Marcus watched.
Sarah looked at him.
Lily followed her gaze.
"Mom... is he really my dad?"
Sarah swallowed.
"Yes."
Marcus knelt.
"If that's okay with you."
Lily studied him.
"You fly fighter jets?"
Marcus smiled.
"Sometimes."
"Mom used to?"
"She was better than me."
Sarah looked at him.
"Don't exaggerate."
"I'm trying to impress my daughter."
Lily smiled.
It was small.
But real.
Robert watched from across the room.
"Touching."
Sarah stood.
"Let's finish this."
She and Marcus approached the biometric controls.
"Two authorizations," David said.
"Then?"
"Manual termination."
Sarah placed her hand.
Marcus placed his.
VOICE IDENTIFICATION.
They spoke.
ACCESS GRANTED.
A final prompt appeared.
TERMINATE NIGHTGLASS?
Sarah selected YES.
Robert moved.
Fast.
His cane opened.
Weapon.
Daniel shouted.
David tackled him.
A gunshot struck the ceiling.
Lily screamed.
Marcus pulled her behind the console.
Sarah helped David restrain Robert.
Her father struggled.
"You have no idea what you're destroying!"
Sarah looked at the screen.
"I know exactly what I'm destroying."
She confirmed.
TERMINATION SEQUENCE STARTED.
Drones began losing network connection.
Robert laughed.
Sarah looked at him.
"What's funny?"
"Failsafe."
David's face changed.
"What failsafe?"
Robert smiled.
"The platform."
Alarms erupted.
SELF-DESTRUCT PROTOCOL.
Daniel stared.
"You have got to be kidding me."
David attacked the terminal.
"Stop termination!"
"Can you?"
"No!"
Sarah looked at Lily.
The screen went black.
Then emergency lighting activated.
A countdown appeared on the wall.
08:00.
Eight minutes.
Marcus stared.
"Evacuate."
They ran.
Above deck, chaos had erupted.
Passengers were already aboard support vessels.
Claire shouted that fewer than thirty remained.
Sarah carried Lily.
Marcus helped Daniel.
David stayed behind them.
Robert was restrained by platform security officers who had finally turned against him.
Seven minutes.
They reached the deck.
The passenger aircraft blocked part of the evacuation route.
The sea was rough.
Support boats struggled.
Marcus looked toward his fighter.
"Two seats?"
"One."
Sarah looked toward another aircraft.
A transport plane.
Old.
Large.
Her memory struck.
The aircraft from Nightglass.
The one she had landed seven years earlier.
David followed her gaze.
"It still flies."
"How many?"
"Forty, maybe fifty."
Enough for the remaining people.
Sarah ran toward it.
They loaded everyone.
Marcus took copilot.
Sarah sat left seat.
Six minutes.
Engines started.
One failed.
Sarah tried again.
Nothing.
Five minutes.
"Come on."
Again.
The engine caught.
They taxied.
Robert was brought aboard last.
Sarah looked at him.
He smiled.
"You can't take off in this distance."
Sarah faced forward.
"That's what you said seven years ago."
Memory returned completely.
She had done this before.
Marcus looked at her.
"You remember."
"Everything."
Four minutes.
Sarah pushed throttles.
The transport accelerated.
Platform edge rushed closer.
Too slow.
Marcus called speed.
"Not enough."
"Hold."
"Sarah."
"Hold."
The end arrived.
The aircraft left the platform.
Dropped.
Lily screamed.
Then lift caught.
They climbed.
Behind them, Nightglass exploded.
Fire rolled across the Atlantic.
The platform disappeared.
Sarah looked at Marcus.
"It's over."
Then David spoke from behind them.
"No."
Sarah turned.
He held Robert's damaged cane.
Inside was a small transmitter.
Still blinking.
"What?"
David's face was pale.
"Nightglass transmitted one final command before shutdown."
"To what?"
He looked toward the passenger aircraft they had abandoned.
Then toward the navigation display.
"No."
Sarah leaned closer.
A signal was moving east.
Fast.
Not from the platform.
From something already airborne.
Marcus stared at the radar.
May you like
One unidentified aircraft was heading directly toward Madrid.
And its identification code belonged to Sarah.
