Chapter 16 - NINETEEN MINUTES
Sarah had nineteen minutes to stop a system that had taken thirty-two years to build.
She studied the control room.
It wasn't simply a computer network.
It was integrated directly into aircraft navigation systems.
Commercial jets.
Military aircraft.
Cargo planes.
Private aircraft.
Thousands of machines.
All connected.
Mercer entered behind them, weapon raised.
"What the hell is this?"
Daniel pointed toward the screens.
"Mass aviation control."
Mercer stared.
"Can we shut it down?"
Sarah shook her head.
"If we cut power, the system switches to autonomous mode."
Mercer looked at her.
"Then what?"
"We have to convince it that the system itself is failing."
Daniel understood.
"You want to trigger the emergency protocol."
Sarah nodded.
"The same protocol they used against me."
Daniel's face tightened.
"It could lock every aircraft into emergency control."
"Only temporarily."
"How long?"
"Six minutes."
Mercer looked confused.
"Six minutes for what?"
Sarah looked at the countdown.
"For us to find the master server."
She began typing.
Daniel watched.
"You still remember the old architecture."
Sarah smiled faintly.
"I designed half of it."
Her fingers moved rapidly.
Screens changed.
Aircraft disappeared from the map.
Then alarms sounded.
UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS DETECTED.
Mercer looked toward the hallway.
"We have company."
Footsteps approached.
Sarah didn't stop.
"How many?"
"At least six."
Daniel picked up a rifle.
"Then I'll buy you time."
Sarah looked at him.
"You owe me thirty-two years."
Daniel smiled.
"I know."
He walked toward the door.
Sarah returned to the console.
Emily's face appeared in her mind.
The wedding.
The first time her daughter had called her Mom again.
She couldn't lose that.
Not now.
Daniel opened fire.
The hallway erupted.
Sarah found the master network.
But there was a problem.
"Password."
Daniel shouted from the hallway.
"What?"
"The master password!"
"I don't know it!"
Sarah looked at the notebook.
The old pages.
Her handwriting.
Flight numbers.
Test sequences.
Coordinates.
Then she saw it.
A phrase she had written beside the Wraith's final flight.
HOME IS WHERE THE FIRE ENDS.
Sarah entered it.
Access denied.
She tried again.
Nothing.
Her hands shook.
Then she remembered.
The phrase wasn't complete.
It had always continued with one word.
A word she had told Emily when she was a child.
"Phoenix."
She typed it.
The system unlocked.
Every screen went black.
Then a single message appeared.
WELCOME BACK, COLONEL MITCHELL.
Sarah stared.
"Who wrote that?"
Daniel shouted.
"Sarah!"
She turned.
He was standing in the doorway.
Blood covered his shoulder.
But behind him stood Evelyn Cross.
Deputy Director of the FAA.
She held a pistol against Daniel's head.
"Step away from the console."
Sarah froze.
Cross smiled.
"You really are as good as they said."
Sarah looked at the countdown.
00:08:31
Cross walked closer.
"Thirty-two years ago, we needed you to prove the concept."
Sarah stared.
"You framed me."
"Yes."
"You killed innocent people."
Cross shrugged.
"Acceptable losses."
Sarah's eyes hardened.
"And today?"
Cross smiled.
"Today we finish what we started."
She pointed the gun at Sarah.
"Move away."
Sarah slowly stepped back.
Cross approached the console.
But Sarah noticed something.
A small blinking light.
Hidden beneath the control panel.
A manual override.
She had installed it herself.
Thirty-two years ago.
Sarah smiled.
Cross frowned.
"What's funny?"
Sarah whispered,
"You forgot one thing."
"What?"
Sarah's scarred hand moved toward the underside of the console.
"I designed the system."
She pressed the switch.
Every screen turned red.
A new message appeared.
MANUAL OVERRIDE — PHOENIX AUTHORITY
Cross's face went pale.
Sarah looked directly at her.
"You're not in control anymore."
Then the hangar doors exploded open.
May you like
Dozens of federal agents stormed inside.
And behind them stood Emily.
