Chapter 13 - THE PASSENGER IN SEAT 14C
Pauline stared at Daniel.
The world around her disappeared.
No armed men.
No abandoned hangar.
No hostage.
No Kessler.
Just Daniel.
He looked older than the man who lived in her memories.
Of course he did.
Forty-three years had happened to him too.
His face was thinner.
A scar ran from his right temple toward his ear.
His hair had gone almost completely silver.
But his eyes—
Those were Daniel.
Blue-gray.
Restless.
Always calculating.
“Professor,” he said again.
Pauline climbed down from the aircraft.
Slowly.
She crossed the distance between them.
Daniel smiled uncertainly.
“Hello, Pauline.”
She slapped him.
The sound echoed through the hangar.
Everyone froze.
Daniel touched his cheek.
Then Pauline hugged him.
Hard.
He staggered backward.
For several seconds neither spoke.
Pauline felt him shake.
Or maybe she was shaking.
“You idiot,” she whispered.
“I know.”
“You absolute, impossible idiot.”
“I know.”
“You let me bury you.”
“I know.”
She hit his chest once.
Not hard.
“Forty-three years.”
“I’m sorry.”
She stepped back.
Tears filled her eyes.
“You don’t get to say that once.”
“I can say it every day I have left.”
Kessler interrupted.
“Touching.”
Daniel’s expression changed instantly.
The warmth vanished.
“Jonathan.”
Kessler smiled.
“Daniel.”
Pauline looked between them.
“You knew he’d be here?”
Daniel shook his head.
“I followed Lucas’s tracker.”
Kessler raised an eyebrow.
“Your son betrayed you rather efficiently.”
“He gets that from his father.”
Pauline almost laughed despite herself.
Ethan’s voice remained in her earpiece.
“Widow Six, we have sight lines. Three hostiles visible. Give command.”
Pauline looked subtly toward Sergeant Cole.
Then at Kessler.
One armed man stood near the hostage.
Another beside the hangar entrance.
Kessler himself appeared unarmed.
Daniel wore no visible weapon.
“Why is Lucas on Flight 702?” Pauline asked Daniel.
“I sent him to protect you.”
“You sent your son onto an aircraft you thought might be attacked?”
“I didn’t know they’d compromise the plane.”
“Kessler says you caused the engine failure.”
Daniel laughed.
“Of course he does.”
“Did you?”
“No.”
She studied him.
The old Pauline would have known instantly.
The older Pauline had learned people could become strangers with time.
“Swear it.”
Daniel looked directly at her.
“On Samuel Hayes’s grave, I did not damage Flight 702.”
Kessler scoffed.
“Convenient.”
Daniel turned.
“You still lie badly, Jonathan.”
“I survived longer than you expected.”
“Not much longer.”
Kessler nodded toward the capsule.
“Open it.”
Pauline crossed her arms.
“No.”
The armed man near Sergeant Cole raised his weapon slightly.
Daniel stiffened.
Pauline said:
“If you hurt him, I definitely don’t open it.”
Kessler studied her.
“You think you still control this?”
“I landed an airliner today.”
“Yes, people keep mentioning that.”
“And I am very tired.”
Kessler sighed.
“What do you want?”
“Release Cole.”
“No.”
“Then you don’t get Athena.”
Kessler looked at Daniel.
“Was she always like this?”
“Worse.”
Pauline glared.
Daniel smiled.
For one absurd second they were young again.
Kessler finally gestured.
The armed man cut Sergeant Cole’s restraints.
“Walk,” Kessler said.
Cole crossed the hangar.
Pauline heard Ethan.
“Hostage moving clear.”
Cole reached the door.
Security pulled him behind cover.
Now no innocent hostage remained.
Pauline smiled.
Kessler noticed too late.
“Ethan.”
One word.
The hangar erupted.
Flash devices.
Shouts.
Security teams entered from three sides.
The armed men dropped their weapons after realizing they were surrounded.
Kessler lunged toward the Phantom.
Daniel tackled him.
Both old men hit the floor hard.
Pauline winced.
“That was unnecessarily dramatic.”
Agents cuffed Kessler.
Daniel remained on the ground, breathing hard.
Pauline stood over him.
“You’re seventy-three.”
“Seventy-two.”
“You tackle people like you’re twenty-five.”
“I forgot.”
She extended a hand.
He took it.
Then everyone looked toward the metal capsule still hidden behind the panel.
Ethan climbed the ladder.
“Should we remove it?”
Pauline shook her head.
“Not until we know what it is.”
Daniel stood beside her.
“Athena isn’t a person.”
“I guessed.”
“It’s an archive.”
“What kind?”
“Samuel collected raw telemetry from Night Widow.”
Pauline stared.
“Flight data?”
“Everything. Radar inputs. cockpit recordings. command transmissions. Original routing instructions.”
“Proof.”
“Yes.”
“Why hide it in my aircraft?”
“Because your Phantom was scheduled for destruction. Samuel secretly diverted it to storage.”
“And the name Athena?”
Daniel smiled faintly.
“Goddess of wisdom.”
Pauline shook her head.
“Samuel always was theatrical.”
“He learned from you.”
She elbowed him gently.
Then Lucas was brought into the hangar under guard.
He saw Daniel.
Stopped.
“Dad.”
Daniel’s expression changed.
Pride.
Relief.
Fear.
“Lucas.”
Pauline watched father and son.
So many questions.
Lucas had grown up knowing his father.
Pauline had lost him.
Then she realized something.
Lucas’s age.
Born 1985.
“Daniel.”
He turned.
“Who is Lucas’s mother?”
Daniel went quiet.
Lucas looked away.
Pauline’s intuition sharpened.
“Daniel.”
He sighed.
“Her name was Anna.”
“Was?”
“She died eight years ago.”
“I’m sorry.”
“She saved my life.”
Pauline waited.
Daniel continued.
“Anna worked intelligence support in Germany. She helped me disappear after the transfer attack.”
Pauline nodded slowly.
“You loved her.”
“Yes.”
There was no jealousy.
Not really.
Only grief for years that had gone somewhere else.
“Good,” Pauline said.
Daniel looked surprised.
“What?”
“I’m glad you weren’t alone.”
His eyes softened.
“Neither were you.”
Pauline thought of her late husband, Richard.
Kind.
Patient.
Completely unaware that his wife once flew classified missions under the call sign Widow Six.
“He was a good man.”
“I know.”
Pauline stiffened.
“You investigated my husband?”
“I watched from a distance.”
“For how long?”
Daniel looked embarrassed.
“On and off.”
She slapped his arm.
“Ow.”
“You deserved that.”
“Probably.”
Mark approached carrying his phone.
“I hate to interrupt the reunion, but we have a problem.”
Pauline sighed.
“Of course we do.”
He showed them the screen.
A news broadcast.
Kessler’s organization had released edited footage suggesting Pauline and Daniel had orchestrated the sabotage of Flight 702.
The headline read:
MYSTERY MILITARY PILOTS LINKED TO AIRLINER ATTACK.
A commentator claimed Widow Six might be part of an illegal Cold War operation.
Social media exploded.
Some called Pauline a hero.
Others called her a terrorist.
Conspiracy channels displayed her home address.
Then another video appeared.
Victor Hale—Lucas—inside Flight 702’s electronics panel.
Proof, at least visually, that someone connected to Daniel interfered with the aircraft.
Daniel cursed.
“They’re turning the public against us before Athena can be authenticated.”
Pauline looked at the old Phantom.
“Then authenticate it.”
Ethan said, “We need specialists.”
“No.”
Everyone turned to Pauline.
She pointed at the capsule.
“We need the truth.”
May you like
Then her eyes shifted to Kessler, now seated in cuffs.
“And we need him to watch it come out.”
