"We found the leak."
Victoria looked up.
"Who?"
Daniel placed a folder on the desk.
"Your chief technology officer."
Victoria stared at the name.
Ethan Cole.
She had known him for twelve years.
He had helped build Harper Aeronautics.
She had personally promoted him.
"No."
"Evidence says otherwise."
Victoria opened the folder.
Bank transfers.
Encrypted messages.
Meetings.
Photographs.
Ethan had been receiving millions of dollars from a private defense contractor.
A company called Meridian Strategic Systems.
Victoria knew the name.
Meridian had been bidding against her for years.
But there was more.
Jake entered the room.
He saw the documents.
His expression became grim.
"That's not the whole story."
Victoria looked at him.
"What else?"
"Meridian didn't create Black Horizon."
"Who did?"
Jake pointed to a name in the file.
Victoria read it.
Then her face went white.
"General Nathaniel Voss."
Jake nodded.
"He was our commanding officer."
"But he's retired."
"Officially."
Victoria turned the page.
A photograph showed Voss entering a private facility.
The date was two months earlier.
"He's alive."
"Very."
Victoria stared at Jake.
"Why would he want the technology?"
"Because he believes autonomous aircraft should never be truly autonomous."
"What does that mean?"
"He wants centralized control."
"For the military?"
"For everyone."
Victoria understood.
Commercial aviation.
Cargo.
Emergency aircraft.
Private jets.
Military systems.
If Voss controlled the network, he could control the sky.
"How do we stop him?"
Jake looked at her.
"We make him come to us."
Victoria shook her head.
"How?"
"Give him what he wants."
The plan was simple.
Too simple.
Victoria announced publicly that the prototype would be transported to a government facility for final testing.
In reality, the real prototype remained hidden.
A decoy was placed inside the aircraft.
Jake personally inspected every component.
The flight was scheduled for 6:30 the next morning.
Victoria would be aboard.
So would Jake.
At 6:20, Victoria stood beside the Gulfstream.
"Are you sure?"
Jake nodded.
"No."
She laughed despite herself.
"That's comforting."
"I'm sure about one thing."
"What?"
"They'll come."
The aircraft took off.
For twenty minutes, everything was normal.
Then the cockpit alarm sounded.
The pilot looked back.
"We're losing navigation."
Jake stood immediately.
"Show me."
The system display flickered.
Victoria watched.
A red symbol appeared.
REMOTE OVERRIDE DETECTED.
Jake's face became completely calm.
"It's started."
The aircraft banked.
The pilot fought the controls.
"Can you stop it?"
Jake opened the emergency panel.
"I can try."
Victoria grabbed the seat.
"Try harder."
Jake almost smiled.
"That's the plan."
He connected a portable device.
The override fought back.
Numbers flashed across the screen.
"Someone is trying to lock the flight controls."
"Can you break it?"
"Not from here."
"Then where?"
Jake looked at Victoria.
"On the ground."
He handed her the radio.
"Call Daniel."
She did.
Within seconds, the government response team was activated.
But Jake wasn't trying to disable the system.
He was tracing it.
"Got you."
Victoria looked at the screen.
A location appeared.
A private facility outside Cheyenne.
Jake smiled.
"Voss."
The aircraft controls suddenly returned.
The pilot exhaled.
"We're back."
Jake stood.
"It's over."
Victoria shook her head.
"No."
She looked at the coordinates.
"Now we know where he is."
Three hours later, federal agents surrounded the facility.
General Nathaniel Voss was arrested without firing a shot.
Ethan Cole surrendered twenty minutes later.
But before he was taken away, he asked to see Victoria.
She agreed.
They met in a conference room.
Ethan looked exhausted.
"I never wanted anyone killed."
Victoria stared at him.
"You sabotaged my aircraft."
"I wanted the prototype."
"You helped Voss."
"I thought he was going to secure the technology."
"You sold your company."
Ethan looked down.
"I made a mistake."
Victoria's voice was quiet.
"No."
She leaned forward.
"You made a choice."
Ethan had no answer.
He was escorted away.
Victoria returned to the airfield.
Jake was sitting beside the same toolbox where she had first found him.
She stood beside him.
"So what now?"
Jake looked at the mountains.
"I go home."
"Where is home?"
He smiled.
"Still figuring that out."
Victoria sat beside him.
"You know, you're terrible at being a normal mechanic."
"Never claimed to be."
She looked at his tattoo.
"Are you going to cover it?"
Jake shook his head.
"No."
"Why?"
"Because people forget."
"Forget what?"
Jake looked at her.
"What happens when powerful people decide rules don't apply to them."
Victoria nodded.
"I understand."
Jake stood.
"I think you do."
The Sky Belongs to Everyone
Six months later, Harper Aeronautics announced a new initiative.
It was called the Miller Aviation Safety Program.
The program funded research into aircraft emergency systems, independent maintenance audits, and cybersecurity protections for aviation networks.