Chapter 14 - PHOENIX PROTOCOL
The first gunshot shattered the window.
Mercer pushed Emily to the floor.
Sarah grabbed the notebook and pulled her daughter behind the kitchen counter.
More shots tore through the walls.
"They're shooting at the house!" Emily cried.
"I noticed."
Sarah's voice remained strangely calm.
Mercer looked toward the rear door.
"We need an exit."
Sarah pointed.
"Basement."
They moved quickly.
The three of them descended the stairs as bullets struck the ceiling above.
Mercer opened the basement door.
"Move!"
They rushed inside.
Sarah remembered the house had an old storm exit beneath the laundry room.
She pulled aside several boxes.
There it was.
A rusted steel hatch.
Emily stared.
"How did you know?"
"I checked the house before I bought it."
Sarah opened the hatch.
Cold rain poured into the narrow passage.
They crawled through.
Behind them, the basement door exploded inward.
Mercer pulled the hatch closed.
They ran.
Ten minutes later, they emerged two blocks away.
A federal extraction team was waiting.
But Sarah didn't feel safe.
She kept staring at the notebook.
"What is Phoenix Protocol?" Mercer asked.
"I don't know."
"You don't believe that."
Sarah sighed.
"I remember the name."
"Then tell me."
She looked at Emily.
"Your mother was not just a test pilot."
Emily frowned.
"What does that mean?"
Sarah swallowed.
"Before the Wraith, I was recruited into a classified program."
Mercer went silent.
"How classified?"
"Nobody officially admitted it existed."
Sarah opened the notebook.
"Phoenix Protocol was designed to test whether a pilot could control an aircraft after catastrophic systems failure."
Emily whispered,
"Like what happened on our flight."
"Exactly."
Mercer frowned.
"But that technology was developed decades ago."
Sarah shook her head.
"No."
She pointed to a page.
"It was still being developed when I flew the Wraith."
Mercer read the handwritten notes.
His expression changed.
"Hydraulic independence."
Sarah nodded.
"An aircraft capable of bypassing traditional flight controls."
"Using what?"
"Engine thrust."
Emily looked confused.
Sarah explained.
"If the control surfaces fail, differential engine power can change the aircraft's direction."
Mercer stared.
"You did that on the Wraith."
"I tried."
"And the aircraft crashed."
Sarah's eyes hardened.
"Because someone disabled the backup system."
Silence.
Emily looked at her mother.
"Someone sabotaged you?"
"Yes."
Sarah turned another page.
There was a list of names.
Most were crossed out.
One remained.
Arthur Vance.
Another name appeared beneath it.
Daniel Hayes.
Mercer immediately took a photograph.
"We need to get this into evidence."
Sarah shook her head.
"Not yet."
"Why?"
"Because if Daniel survived all these years, he didn't do it alone."
Emily looked frightened.
"Who else?"
Sarah stared at the final page.
There was a symbol she had never seen before.
A black phoenix.
Underneath it was a date.
SEPTEMBER 18, 2026.
Mercer checked his phone.
"That's tomorrow."
Sarah felt the room become colder.
"What happens tomorrow?"
"I don't know."
Emily stepped closer.
"Mom..."
Sarah looked at her.
"What?"
"At the wedding."
Sarah frowned.
"Remember when I told you there was an old man standing outside the chapel?"
Sarah's face changed.
"You never told me that."
"I thought he was security."
"What did he look like?"
Emily closed her eyes.
"Gray hair. Military posture."
Sarah already knew.
"Daniel."
Emily nodded.
"He gave me something."
She reached into her purse.
Sarah stared as Emily pulled out a small brass key.
"I thought it was a wedding gift."
Sarah took it.
There was an engraving on the side.
EDWARDS — HANGAR 9.
Sarah's heart stopped.
Hangar 9 had been abandoned for thirty-two years.
And it was where the Wraith program had begun.
Mercer looked at her.
"Why would Hayes want you to go there?"
Sarah closed her hand around the key.
"Because he wants me to remember."
Then her phone vibrated.
Unknown number.
One message appeared.
COME ALONE. MIDNIGHT. HANGAR 9.
A second message followed.
BRING THE NOTEBOOK.
Sarah stared at the screen.
May you like
Then another message appeared.
OR EMILY DIES.
