Chapter 18 - Their Father's Last Flight
Avery's father, Master Sergeant James Shaw, had died in a helicopter accident eleven years earlier. The official report blamed weather. Avery had built a career around that loss, telling herself that danger came with the uniform and not every tragedy had a villain.
Emma pulled an encrypted record from the terminal. The order on the screen carried an old contract code, the same one tied to the ninth flight. Their father's aircraft had been selected to test replacement navigation equipment under emergency conditions. Weather hadn't caused the failure. The equipment had.
Avery stared at the signature line. The name belonged to a Northstar executive, Patrick Vale, who had later become the chief contractor liaison for the base. He had approved the substitution after engineers warned that the unit was unreliable.
“Did you know?” Avery asked Emma.
“Only last month. That's when I stopped trying to escape by myself. I knew you'd come after me, and I hated needing you to.”
Avery remembered her father teaching them to change a tire in the rain. He had insisted they do the work themselves but stood nearby, ready with a flashlight when their hands slipped. She had never known the report was a lie.
“I would've come for you without any of this,” she said.
“I know.”
Federal investigators secured Voss and his guards. Ward gave them her phone and a written account of Ben's abduction. Rourke surrendered his pistol and requested counsel, then repeated that he would testify. Nobody promised quick justice.
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At the exit, a young investigator hurried over. “Lieutenant, the contractor liaison has disappeared. He's taken an aircraft from the eastern apron.”
Avery turned toward the windows. Beyond the hangars, in the early morning darkness, rotor blades were beginning to spin.
