Kane stopped pacing. "You need the saboteur to turn on the remote control."
"Yes," Emily said. "We have to reinstall the device in Viper One. Or, rather, a dummy device that mimics the signal handshake. And you have to fly it, Colonel."
Kane stared at the device on the table. He was being asked to willingly step into a machine that someone else could control, to act as live bait suspended thousands of feet in the air.
"If the saboteur sees the helicopter take off, they'll assume the device is still active," Emily explained rapidly, outlining her plan. "They will try to initiate the hijacking sequence. The moment they transmit the activation signal, my scanner will lock onto their location on the base. We'll have them."
"And what happens to me when they take control?" Kane asked, his voice steady.
"I will install a physical, mechanical kill-switch in the cockpit," Emily said firmly. "Hidden under your seat. The moment you feel the controls lock up, you pull that switch. It will physically sever the hydraulic lines to the saboteur's device, restoring manual control to you. But you'll only have seconds before the aircraft destabilizes."
Kane looked at Major Reed, who gave a grim, slight nod. It was incredibly dangerous, a plan born of desperation. But it was the only way to catch the traitor and secure the base.
"Do it," Kane commanded. "Rig the bird, Specialist. We fly tomorrow at dawn."
Dawn broke over the desert in streaks of violent orange and bruised purple. The air was crisp and still, the kind of morning that usually filled Kane with a sense of peace before a flight. Today, however, his stomach was a knot of cold iron.
He walked out to the tarmac, his helmet tucked under his arm. Viper One sat on the pad, its rotors drooping slightly in the cold air. Emily was already there, doing a final pre-flight walk-around. She looked pale, the weight of the operation resting squarely on her shoulders.
As Kane approached, she subtly tapped the metal framing beneath the pilot's seat. "The kill-switch is rigged, Colonel. A heavy steel lever with a red paracord wrap. Pull it hard, and it drops a physical guillotine blade over the spliced fiber-optics. You will regain control instantly, but expect a massive hydraulic pressure spike. It will be a rough ride."
"Understood," Kane said, climbing into the cockpit. He strapped himself into the five-point harness, the familiar smell of leather and electronics grounding him. "Where will you be?"
"In the mobile command van with Major Reed," she said, plugging a discrete earpiece into her radio. "Monitoring the scanner. I'll be in your ear the whole time."
"Good luck, Specialist."
"You too, sir. Happy hunting."
Kane ran through the startup sequence. The massive twin turboshaft engines whined to life, a deafening roar that shook the tarmac. The rotors began to spin, blurring into a deadly disc overhead. Kane signaled the ground crew, pulled collective, and Viper One lifted gracefully into the morning sky.
He banked south, heading toward the designated training sector. The flight was smooth, the controls responding with crisp perfection. It was hard to believe there was a phantom presence lurking within the machine’s nervous system.
“Viper One, this is Overlord,” Major Reed’s voice crackled in Kane’s ear. “You are entering the operational zone. Keep your eyes peeled.”
“Copy, Overlord,” Kane replied. “Holding altitude at three thousand feet. Systems nominal.”
For ten agonizing minutes, nothing happened. Kane flew figure-eights over the barren canyons, the tension mounting with every passing second. Had the saboteur gotten spooked? Had they realized the device was discovered?
Then, it happened.
It wasn't sudden this time. It was terrifyingly smooth. Kane felt a slight resistance in the anti-torque pedals, followed by a gentle, unauthorized shift in the cyclic stick. The helicopter banked left without Kane making an input.
He immediately tried to correct it, but the controls were stiff, like they were encased in concrete. The master caution alarm did not sound. The digital displays showed all systems were normal, even as the helicopter began a deliberate, calculated descent toward a hidden ravine off the edge of the military reservation.
“Overlord, we have a breach,” Kane barked into the radio, fighting the rising panic. “I have lost control. The phantom is flying the bird.”
In the command van, Emily was frantically typing on her keyboard. “I see it! We have an active transmission! The handshake is complete, they are transmitting the hijacking telemetry!”
“Location, Vance! Give me a location!” Reed demanded.
“Triangulating... It’s coming from inside the base!” Emily shouted, watching the red blip on her screen narrow down a grid sector. “Sector 4, the civilian contractor barracks! Building 42!”