Chapter 11 - THE MISSION THAT BURIED WIDOW SIX
Pauline ran.
At seventy-one, running was not elegant.
Her knees protested.
Her lungs burned.
She did it anyway.
“STOP THE LAUNCH!”
Ethan’s F-35 was already rolling toward the runway.
Vance shouted into his radio.
“Falcon Control, abort Noble One! Abort takeoff!”
The tower responded.
“Noble One already cleared and accelerating.”
Pauline grabbed Vance’s radio.
“Ethan!”
The fighter reached rotation speed.
Lifted.
Gear retracting.
“Ethan, stay below five miles from the helicopter!”
His voice came back.
“Why?”
“Daniel says there’s a proximity-triggered explosive aboard.”
Silence.
Then:
“Daniel Mercer?”
“Yes.”
“Is he reliable?”
Pauline almost laughed at the question.
“I haven’t seen him in forty-three years.”
“That’s not encouraging.”
“No.”
Ethan climbed slowly.
“Send me the helicopter position.”
Control provided it.
Twenty-two miles northeast.
Ethan leveled.
Maintained distance.
Pauline remained on the phone with Daniel.
“Where are you?”
“Safe.”
“That is not an answer.”
“It’s the only one you’re getting for now.”
“You put my flight in danger.”
“No.”
“Your son interfered with the systems.”
“To stop someone else taking control.”
“Your son chose a spectacularly bad method.”
“He gets that from his mother.”
Pauline stopped.
Daniel had always used humor when frightened.
Exactly the same.
“Who is the Architect?”
Daniel went quiet.
“First, save Keller.”
“How?”
“The bomb trigger is linked to military radar emissions above a specific threshold.”
“Why?”
“To prevent interception.”
“Can civilian aircraft approach?”
“Yes.”
Pauline looked toward Flight 702.
Disabled.
Not usable.
Vance understood.
“We need another aircraft.”
Mark spoke.
“There’s a Meridian 737 parked on the civilian support apron.”
Everyone turned.
“How do you know?” Pauline asked.
“I saw it while landing.”
Vance said, “Crew?”
“Probably repositioning crew.”
Pauline pointed.
“Get them.”
Mark stared at her.
“You’re suggesting we chase a possibly bomb-rigged helicopter in another passenger jet?”
“No.”
“Good.”
“We use it to communicate from outside the trigger profile.”
Mark closed his eyes.
“Why did I know ‘good’ was premature?”
Daniel spoke through Pauline’s phone.
“You don’t need the aircraft.”
“What do we need?”
“The helicopter pilot.”
“Who?”
“Major Elise Carter. She isn’t part of this.”
Vance verified the pilot.
Carter.
Experienced medevac commander.
Pauline asked, “Why isn’t she answering?”
“Because the man aboard disabled normal radio.”
“How do we reach her?”
“Guard frequency may still work at low power.”
Ethan overheard.
“I can transmit on guard from range.”
“Do it,” Pauline said.
Ethan called.
“Medical Flight Eagle Two, Noble One, respond on guard.”
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
Then faintly:
“Noble One… this is Eagle Two.”
Everyone exhaled.
Ethan replied.
“Eagle Two, maintain current flight path. Do not approach military aircraft. Possible explosive device onboard triggered by proximity.”
A pause.
Then Major Carter’s voice became remarkably calm.
“Understood.”
Pauline admired her immediately.
“Status of Captain Keller?” Ethan asked.
“Stable. Dr. Ramirez attending.”
“Additional passengers?”
“Medic Sergeant Cole and a civilian transfer technician.”
Pauline and Vance looked at each other.
Civilian transfer technician.
The thief.
Ethan said:
“Can you identify technician?”
Carter replied.
“He’s seated rear cabin.”
Then static.
A male voice interrupted.
“Enough.”
Daniel shouted through Pauline’s phone.
“That’s him.”
The helicopter transmission continued.
“Any aircraft comes closer, everyone dies.”
Pauline pressed the military transmit switch.
“You have something belonging to me.”
Silence.
Then the man laughed.
“Widow Six.”
“Where’s Samuel’s tape?”
“Safe.”
“Captain Keller has nothing to do with this.”
“Neither did the other passengers. Yet you insisted on surviving.”
Pauline’s voice became cold.
“Who are you?”
“You may call me Peter.”
Daniel spoke urgently over the phone.
“Pauline, don’t provoke him.”
She ignored him.
“Peter, if you wanted the tape destroyed, you’d have destroyed it.”
The man stopped laughing.
“You need what’s on it,” Pauline continued.
“Interesting theory.”
“You don’t know who Samuel named.”
Silence.
That was confirmation.
Pauline looked at Vance.
He understood.
The thief stole the tape because his own organization didn’t know whether Samuel had identified the Architect.
They needed to play it.
Maybe decode it.
Maybe locate hidden evidence referenced on it.
Pauline continued.
“You cannot kill Keller until you know whether I have another copy.”
Mark’s eyes widened.
There was no other copy.
She was bluffing.
Peter answered.
“Do you?”
Pauline smiled.
“Daniel knows me. Ask him.”
Daniel muttered through the phone:
“Oh, Professor. I missed you.”
Peter said:
“Then perhaps you and I should meet.”
“Release the helicopter.”
“Bring the copy.”
“Release them first.”
“No.”
“You’re not very good at negotiation.”
“You are in no position—”
“I landed Flight 702 without you wanting me to. I’m having an excellent day.”
Mark covered a laugh.
Even Vance’s mouth twitched.
Peter’s voice hardened.
“One hour. I will send coordinates.”
“Captain Keller first.”
“No.”
“Then no deal.”
Silence.
The helicopter continued northeast.
Finally Peter said:
“I’ll release the doctor and captain.”
Pauline glanced at Vance.
“How?”
“There is an abandoned municipal airfield fifteen miles ahead.”
Daniel spoke urgently.
“It could be a trap.”
“Everything today is a trap,” Pauline replied.
Peter heard.
“Correct.”
He gave instructions.
The helicopter landed at the small field eleven minutes later.
From long-range surveillance, Ethan watched.
Dr. Ramirez exited.
Then medics rolled Captain Keller onto the tarmac on a stretcher.
The helicopter lifted again before ground authorities arrived.
Keller was alive.
Pauline released a breath.
One victory.
Small.
But real.
Then a text message arrived on her phone.
Coordinates.
An abandoned Air Force auxiliary strip in rural Kansas.
Four hundred miles away.
Below the coordinates:
COME ALONE, WIDOW SIX.
Daniel spoke immediately.
“You are not going.”
Pauline laughed.
“You hid from me for forty-three years. You’ve lost voting privileges.”
“Pauline.”
“You knew Samuel had evidence.”
“Yes.”
“You knew Night Widow was deliberate.”
“Yes.”
“You let me believe you were dead.”
“To keep you alive.”
“Everyone keeps saying that.”
“I’m sorry.”
Those two words nearly broke her.
Not because they were enough.
Because they sounded sincere.
Pauline sat slowly.
“Tell me what happened that night.”
Daniel exhaled.
“Night Widow wasn’t just testing deception technology.”
“What else?”
“Someone wanted to know whether pilots could be deliberately fed false threat information and manipulated into attacking friendly targets.”
Mark stared.
Pauline felt sick.
Daniel continued.
“We were supposed to become the proof.”
“Proof of what?”
“That human pilots could be made to start a war without realizing it.”
The room fell silent.
“And we refused to behave the way they expected,” Pauline whispered.
“Yes.”
“What happened to Widow Three?”
“He saw the false target and broke formation.”
“Then he exploded.”
“Yes.”
“Was he shot down?”
Daniel’s answer was almost inaudible.
“Yes.”
Pauline closed her eyes.
Michael Reeves.
Thirty-one.
Two children.
The official story said equipment failure.
“Who fired?”
Daniel paused.
Then said:
“Widow Five.”
Pauline’s eyes opened.
“No.”
“Aaron believed the warning system. He thought Michael was an enemy aircraft.”
“No.”
“That was the experiment.”
Pauline remembered screaming on the radio.
Widow aircraft turning.
Confusion.
Threat tones.
Explosions.
They had not been attacked by an outside enemy.
They had been tricked into targeting one another.
Daniel continued.
“And the man who designed the test is still alive.”
Pauline whispered:
“The Architect.”
“Yes.”
“Name him.”
May you like
Daniel inhaled.
Then the phone went dead.
