Chapter 6 - THE WAR THAT EXISTED ONLY ON SCREENS
Air-raid sirens began howling across the naval station.
Searchlights swept the harbor.
Aircraft engines ignited on distant runways.
Evelyn watched officers race from buildings as automated alerts flooded every command channel.
Incoming missiles detected.
Enemy submarines approaching.
Satellite communications compromised.
None of it had been verified.
That was the brilliance of Nightglass.
It did not need to launch a real attack.
It only needed to convince enough commanders that one had begun.
“False sensor data,” Evelyn said. “They’re manufacturing a war.”
Daniel pulled Mercer upright.
“How do we stop it?”
Mercer coughed.
“You don’t.”
Nathan struck him.
Caroline grabbed Nathan’s arm.
“Don’t. We need him conscious.”
Evelyn looked toward the air station.
“There will be a hardened command room beneath operations.”
Daniel nodded. “If we reach it, we can access regional defense channels.”
“And tell them what?” Dad asked. “That every screen is lying?”
“The truth is usually less believable than fear,” Mercer said.
Evelyn faced him.
“Then we give them proof.”
She ordered Daniel to secure Mercer and led the others toward the operations building.
Military police blocked the entrance.
Their captain raised his rifle.
“Identify yourselves!”
Evelyn stepped into the light.
“Rear Admiral Evelyn Hart.”
The captain hesitated.
Every device on his uniform suddenly displayed her face with a red warning:
PRIMARY ASSET COMPROMISED. DETAIN ON SIGHT.
The captain aimed at her chest.
“Hands up!”
Nathan moved in front of Evelyn.
“Captain, the alert system is corrupted.”
“Step aside, Commander.”
“You are receiving fabricated data.”
The captain’s finger tightened on the trigger.
Then Dad walked forward.
Evelyn stared at him.
He raised both hands.
“My daughter has spent her whole life serving this country,” he said. “I spent most of mine refusing to see it.”
“Sir, move back.”
“No.”
His voice shook, but he continued.
“I called her career insignificant because I did not understand it. I mocked what I should have respected. Tonight I watched armed men invade my home, watched my dead son return, and watched my daughter protect every person who humiliated her.”
Mother came beside him.
“She is telling the truth.”
Caroline joined them.
“So is he,” she said, pointing at Nathan.
The captain looked between them.
Family testimony should not have outweighed military orders.
But certainty had already begun to fracture.
Daniel dragged Mercer into the light.
The captain recognized him.
“Lieutenant Hart?”
“Officially dead,” Daniel said. “Another lie in your system.”
That was enough.
The captain lowered his rifle.
“Five minutes,” he said. “Then I follow protocol.”
Evelyn entered the command center.
Screens displayed enemy aircraft that did not exist and submarines moving at impossible speeds.
Officers shouted conflicting orders.
Evelyn climbed onto the central platform.
“Kill the automated feed!”
A communications officer looked up.
“We’ll lose the entire defense picture.”
“You never had one.”
She ordered independent radar confirmation from civilian aviation networks, weather satellites, commercial ships, and allied stations.
One by one, the threats disappeared.
No missiles.
No submarines.
No bombers.
Only ghosts created by code.
But one signal remained.
A real aircraft had taken off without authorization.
Its destination was the domestic command bunker.
Nathan studied the flight path.
“It carries bunker-penetrating munitions.”
“Can we contact the pilot?”
“No response.”
Daniel searched the personnel manifest.
“There is no pilot.”
The aircraft was autonomous.
Nightglass had launched the strike without consent and intended to blame Evelyn.
“Time to target?” she asked.
“Twelve minutes.”
“Can we shoot it down?”
“Over populated areas.”
Evelyn looked at the map.
The aircraft would cross the Atlantic coastline before turning inland.
“We intercept over water.”
“With what?” Caroline asked.
Nathan’s eyes moved toward the runway.
A training fighter sat fueled near a hangar.
Evelyn understood.
“You are not cleared for that aircraft.”
“I flew its predecessor.”
“That is not the same.”
“It is close enough.”
Caroline grabbed his jacket.
“You cannot keep solving everything by disappearing into danger.”
Nathan touched her face.
“I’m not asking you to forgive me.”
“Good.”
“I’m asking you to believe I’m coming back.”
Tears filled her eyes.
“You’d better.”
Nathan ran.
Daniel moved toward another aircraft.
Evelyn stopped him.
“You can’t fly with that leg.”
“I can navigate.”
“So can I.”
“You are the acting target of half the Navy.”
“Then I’m already involved.”
They boarded the training fighter together, Nathan in front, Evelyn behind.
As the canopy closed, Daniel leaned toward her.
“Evie.”
She looked down.
“Bring him back.”
The aircraft launched into the night.
Clouds swallowed them.
Nathan flew hard toward the coast while Evelyn tracked the autonomous bomber.
“Three minutes to intercept,” she said.
“I see it.”
A dark shape appeared ahead, barely visible against the ocean.
Nathan armed the training jet’s limited weapons.
“One missile.”
“One chance.”
The target changed course.
“It knows we’re here,” Evelyn said.
The bomber released countermeasures.
Nathan fired.
The missile streaked through the night.
For a second, it appeared to miss.
Then the bomber erupted in a sphere of orange light.
The shockwave struck their fighter.
Warning alarms screamed.
The engine failed.
Nathan fought the controls.
“We’re losing altitude.”
“Eject.”
“The canopy system is damaged.”
The ocean rushed upward.
Nathan looked back at her.
“Admiral, I need you to trust me.”
“Commander, that phrase is becoming exhausting.”
He smiled.
Then he pulled the manual release.
The canopy exploded away.
Their seats launched into darkness.
Evelyn hit the water hard.
Cold swallowed her.
When she surfaced, burning wreckage floated across the waves.
“Nathan!”
No answer.
She turned frantically.
Then she saw his parachute collapsing in the distance.
She swam toward him.
His body floated face-down.
Evelyn pulled him over.
He was not breathing.
She began compressions in the freezing water, refusing to stop.
“Nathan!”
Nothing.
Then he coughed violently.
Air returned to his lungs.
Evelyn almost laughed with relief.
Search helicopters appeared overhead.
But as the lights found them, her radio crackled.
Daniel’s voice came through.
“Evelyn, the strike was a diversion.”
“What happened?”
“Mercer escaped.”
Evelyn’s relief vanished.
“Where is he going?”
“To retrieve the only person who can permanently control Nathan.”
“Lily.”
“No,” Daniel said.
May you like
A pause followed.
“He’s going to retrieve her mother.”
