Chapter 6 - The Woman Behind the Curtain
I stared at the screen until the letters blurred.
EVELYN IS ON THIS PLANE.
“No,” I whispered.
Rachel looked at me.
“Could it be another trick?”
“Yes.”
But I was already standing.
She grabbed my wrist.
“Warren.”
I knew what she meant.
The aircraft.
Two hundred people.
My daughter.
Duty was a cruel thing because it rarely cared what your heart wanted.
“I won't leave.”
I sat back down.
“Bring Lan inside.”
Seconds later, she entered.
I didn't ask gently.
“Where is my wife?”
Lan placed the teddy bear beside me.
“Cargo.”
Rachel stared at her.
“You're saying there's a person in the cargo hold?”
“Not exactly.”
“Then explain exactly.”
Lan finally did.
Evelyn had spent years collecting evidence against Aegis Meridian. When she realized she had been exposed, she staged her death with help from people inside British intelligence and disappeared.
She had intended to return for Norah.
Then Aegis found her.
Six months ago, Evelyn was captured.
Three days ago, Lan's network intercepted intelligence that she was being transported to the United States.
Tonight's flight was supposed to carry her back to Europe.
“Why?” I asked.
“Exchange.”
“For what?”
“A classified archive.”
Douglas appeared at the cockpit doorway.
His face was white.
“The Blackstone files.”
Lan looked at him.
“You know?”
Douglas nodded.
“They document twenty years of illegal surveillance, sabotage and contract manipulation.”
I stared between them.
“And Evelyn has access?”
“She's the only person who knows the full encryption sequence.”
“Where is she?”
Lan swallowed.
“There is a secured crew-rest compartment beneath the forward cabin on this aircraft configuration.”
Rachel shook her head.
“Not accessible from the passenger deck during flight.”
“Normally.”
Douglas understood.
“Aegis modified the aircraft.”
The scale of this operation was becoming absurd.
Except nothing felt absurd when I remembered eleven men falling out of the sky nine years earlier.
“Can we reach her?”
“After landing,” Rachel said.
Lan shook her head.
“They'll kill her before authorities reach the plane.”
“Who will?”
“The second ghost passenger.”
Seat 14C had been a distraction.
There were two people on the manifest who didn't exist.
We had never identified the other.
I called Jillian.
“Lock every passenger in their current seat.”
“What am I looking for?”
“Anyone who's moved since takeoff.”
She hesitated.
“Warren…”
“What?”
“One person has been moving all night.”
“Who?”
Her answer made no sense.
“Captain Ellis.”
I looked beside me.
The captain's seat was empty.
For three seconds nobody spoke.
Then I remembered.
During the electronics failure, Captain Ellis had been helped from the cockpit because his head injury worsened.
He was supposed to be in the forward crew area under observation.
Rachel unbuckled.
“No.”
I stopped her.
“You fly.”
“That's my captain.”
“And this is your airplane.”
The reversal wasn't lost on either of us.
I called Jillian.
“Where's Ellis?”
“I thought he was with you.”
“He isn't.”
Douglas whispered, “He's the second passenger.”
“No,” Rachel said.
But doubt had already entered her voice.
I thought back to the first malfunction.
Ellis telling them to follow dispatch instructions.
Ellis injured conveniently before anyone could question him.
Ellis having unrestricted access to the aircraft before takeoff.
“Search the forward galley,” I said.
A scream came through the interphone.
Then the line went dead.
I stood.
Rachel didn't stop me this time.
“Go.”
I left the cockpit.
Passengers watched me.
Some prayed.
Some cried.
Some simply stared.
Norah saw me.
“Dad!”
“Stay there!”
Something in my voice made her obey.
I moved forward.
The galley was empty.
Then I heard struggling below.
The access panel Douglas had opened.
I descended.
Metal.
Wires.
Darkness.
A narrow service passage.
At the far end, Jillian was on the floor.
Alive.
Beside her stood Captain Ellis.
He held a gun.
So much for airport security.
“Don't,” he said.
I stopped.
Behind him was a small reinforced door.
And through its window—
I saw a woman.
Thin.
Dark-haired.
Older than memory.
But unmistakable.
Evelyn.
My wife looked through the glass.
Her hand rose slowly to her mouth.
For five years I had spoken to her grave.
For five years our daughter had cried on birthdays.
For five years I had hated God, doctors, myself and anyone foolish enough to tell me time healed things.
She was alive.
“Warren?”
Even through the door, I recognized her voice.
I forgot Ellis.
I stepped forward.
He raised the gun.
“One more step.”
I stopped.
Evelyn struck the glass.
“No!”
Ellis smiled.
“You always were emotional where she was concerned.”
I looked at him.
“You were there nine years ago.”
His smile disappeared.
I remembered him now.
Not Captain Ellis.
Lieutenant Eric Ellison.
Communications officer.
The man who changed our route twenty minutes before the ambush that killed seven of my men.
“You.”
He nodded.
“Finally.”
Everything inside me wanted violence.
But Norah was one floor above us.
I heard her voice in my head.
You're really nice, Dad.
I couldn't become the monster everyone believed I was.
Not tonight.
“What's the plan, Eric?”
“Land at Shannon. We take Evelyn. You walk away.”
“And the passengers?”
“Alive.”
“My daughter?”
“Alive.”
“You?”
He smiled.
“Rich.”
I nodded slowly.
Then looked at Jillian.
She was conscious.
Watching me.
I shifted my eyes once.
Toward the red emergency handle beside her.
She understood.
Ellis didn't.
I stepped forward.
He aimed at my chest.
Jillian pulled the handle.
A deafening alarm exploded through the compartment.
Ellis flinched.
I moved.
One hand trapped his wrist.
The other drove him into the bulkhead.
The gun fell.
Jillian kicked it away.
Ellis swung at me.
Nine years of anger begged me to finish him.
Instead, I forced him down.
“Not in front of my wife.”
Jillian restrained him.
I turned.
Evelyn stood behind the locked door.
I entered the code Lan had given Douglas.
The door opened.
Neither of us moved.
Five years disappeared.
Then Evelyn whispered:
“Where's Norah?”
Of course those were her first words.
I laughed and cried at the same time.
“Upstairs.”
Her knees almost gave way.
“She thinks I'm dead.”
“I know.”
“Warren—”
A warning alarm sounded overhead.
Rachel's voice came through the interphone.
“Warren, get back here now.”
I looked at Evelyn.
“What?”
May you like
Rachel's next words destroyed the reunion before it could begin.
“We've lost both engines.”
