Chapter 10 - THE LAST FLIGHT
Grant Cole did not run.
He went to the airport.
At 9:18 p.m., an emergency alert reached Skycross operations.
One aircraft had powered up despite the grounding order.
A Boeing wide-body used for international service.
Tail number SC-901.
It was parked in a maintenance hangar with no passengers.
At first, everyone assumed Grant intended to steal it.
Then Leela saw the connected network topology.
“He doesn't need the airplane to fly.”
Jackson looked at her.
“What?”
“He needs it powered.”
SC-901 contained the newest Skycross avionics integration package.
A network bridge to maintenance servers.
With Leela's stolen root key, Grant could push a trusted update.
Not malicious-looking code.
Signed code.
Her signature.
If he released it before the fleet shutdown completed, every aircraft that later connected could accept it.
Jackson whispered:
“He can poison the whole fleet.”
“Yes.”
Agent Chen shouted orders.
Federal teams surrounded the hangar.
Then Grant called.
Jackson's phone.
He answered.
“Uncle.”
Grant laughed.
“Still calling me that?”
“What do you want?”
“My company back.”
“It was never yours.”
“Exactly.”
Jackson looked toward Richard.
His father stood nearby under federal supervision.
Grant continued.
“Dad got the name. Richard got the company. I got spreadsheets.”
“You became CFO.”
“I became useful.”
Jackson looked at Leela.
The language sounded familiar.
Useful.
Hidden.
Secondary.
The Cole family had created wounds everywhere.
Grant said:
“Leela understands.”
She took the phone.
“No.”
Silence.
Grant replied:
“You of all people should.”
“I understand being underestimated.”
“Then you understand me.”
“No.”
Leela's voice hardened.
“I didn't answer humiliation by putting passengers in danger.”
Grant laughed.
“You think I wanted deaths?”
“Your code almost caused them.”
“Mercer lost control.”
“You changed his payload.”
Silence.
There.
Leela knew.
Grant continued:
“You don't know what you're talking about.”
“Yes, I do.”
She looked at Richard.
“You needed Skycross stock down.”
Grant said nothing.
“Then you planned to blame Mercer, acquire distressed shares through partners, force Richard out, and become the man who saved the airline.”
Jackson stared.
Richard slowly sat down.
Leela continued.
“Flight 312 was supposed to scare investors.”
Grant laughed quietly.
“Smart woman.”
“No.”
Leela looked at Jackson.
“Just finally surrounded by people willing to listen.”
Jackson absorbed it.
Grant's voice sharpened.
“Bring Richard to Hangar Seven.”
Agent Chen shook her head.
Leela ignored her.
“Why?”
“Because this started with him.”
Richard whispered:
“No.”
Grant heard.
“Hello, brother.”
Richard stared at the phone.
“Grant.”
“Remember when Dad made you CEO?”
Richard closed his eyes.
“Don't do this.”
“You told me my day would come.”
“Grant—”
“It never did.”
The call ended.
Agent Chen said:
“Nobody goes inside.”
Leela looked at the hangar schematics.
“We need the root key.”
“We take Grant.”
“If he initiates release first, arresting him won't stop the signed package.”
“Can you revoke the key?”
“Not while it remains active inside a trusted hardware session.”
“What stops the session?”
“Physical removal.”
Jackson looked at her.
“So someone has to get inside.”
Chen said:
“My team.”
Leela shook her head.
“They won't know which module.”
“I will,” Jackson said.
Leela turned.
“No.”
He looked at her.
“You've been walking into danger for everyone else.”
“This isn't about us.”
“I know.”
That answer stopped her.
Jackson continued.
“That's why I'm going.”
He had flown Skycross wide-bodies for eleven years.
He knew maintenance bays.
Power distribution.
Aircraft access.
Not like Leela.
Enough.
Richard suddenly stood.
“No.”
Everyone looked at him.
He stared toward the hangar.
“I'll go.”
Jackson laughed bitterly.
“You think this is where you become heroic?”
Richard flinched.
“Grant asked for me.”
“Because he hates you.”
“Yes.”
Richard looked at Leela.
“And perhaps he should.”
“No.”
Her answer surprised him.
“You failed him.”
She continued.
“You hid people. Controlled people. Decided which truths were convenient.”
Richard lowered his eyes.
“But Grant chose what he became after that.”
Leela looked toward the hangar.
“You don't owe him your death.”
Richard whispered:
“What do I owe him?”
“The truth.”
Federal agents developed a plan.
Richard would approach.
Jackson and Leela would enter through the opposite maintenance access with Chen's team.
Leela protested Jackson's involvement.
He said:
“You don't have to trust me as your husband.”
That hurt.
“Trust me as a captain.”
She nodded.
They entered Hangar Seven through the service corridor.
Inside, SC-901 hummed with ground power.
Leela saw the update progress on a maintenance screen.
61%.
Grant stood near the nose gear with a pistol.
Richard approached from the main doors.
“You came.”
Richard stopped forty feet away.
“Yes.”
Grant laughed.
“Still dressed like a CEO.”
Richard removed his suit jacket.
Dropped it.
“I was wrong.”
Grant's face changed.
Richard continued.
“Our father trained us to believe one person had to win.”
Jackson listened from the shadows.
Richard said:
“I let that become the way I treated everyone.”
Grant raised the gun.
“Too late.”
“Yes.”
The answer surprised him.
Richard continued.
“I should have acknowledged Mercer.”
Grant's expression cracked.
“He was my son.”
“I know.”
“You called him an embarrassment.”
“I know.”
“You fired him.”
“I know.”
Richard swallowed.
“I am sorry.”
Grant's hand trembled.
For one second, Leela thought it might work.
Then he screamed:
“Sorry does not give me thirty years back!”
He fired.
Richard fell.
Jackson moved.
“Dad!”
Federal agents surged.
Grant ran toward the aircraft.
Leela grabbed Jackson.
“Root key!”
His face was white.
“My father—”
“Chen has him.”
Jackson looked toward Richard.
Agents were already applying pressure to his shoulder.
Alive.
Grant had missed center mass.
Jackson forced himself to turn.
They climbed into the avionics service bay.
Update 79%.
Leela searched.
Three modules.
Then four.
Grant had mirrored authentication.
“Smart.”
Jackson stared.
“Can you stop it?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“Pull all three trust modules simultaneously.”
“Where?”
She pointed.
Two accessible here.
One deeper inside.
Jackson squeezed through.
Grant entered the aircraft above them.
Footsteps.
Leela whispered:
“He's coming.”
Jackson reached the third module.
“Ready.”
“On three.”
One.
Two.
A gunshot rang through the bay.
Metal sparked beside Leela's head.
Grant appeared at the access opening.
“Step away.”
Jackson froze.
Grant aimed at Leela.
“You ruined everything.”
She stared at him.
“No.”
“Skycross was supposed to fall.”
“You almost killed people.”
“Collateral.”
Jackson's face changed.
The word ended any sympathy.
Grant continued.
“Give me the module.”
Leela stood slowly.
“No.”
“I will shoot you.”
Jackson said:
“Then you lose the only person who can verify whether your package worked.”
Grant looked toward him.
A mistake.
Leela ripped the first module.
Jackson pulled the third.
The second remained.
Grant fired.
Jackson lunged.
The shot struck the wall.
They crashed into equipment.
Leela reached for module two.
Grant slammed Jackson against a rack.
Update 96%.
Leela pulled.
Nothing.
Locked.
“Come on.”
Grant hit Jackson.
Hard.
97%.
Jackson caught Grant's wrist.
The gun fired again.
Leela twisted the locking collar.
98%.
Grant shouted:
“No!”
99%.
The module came free.
Screens went black.
Update failed.
Grant stopped.
Silence.
Jackson knocked the gun away.
Federal agents flooded the bay.
Grant was dragged down.
Leela stared at the dead update screen.
Over.
Actually over.
Jackson leaned against the wall, bleeding from his forehead.
“You okay?”
Leela laughed breathlessly.
“You ask me that now?”
He smiled weakly.
“Trying something new.”
They climbed from the aircraft.
Richard was on a stretcher.
Alive.
Grant in handcuffs.
Jenna stood outside with federal investigators.
When she saw Leela, she ran forward.
Then stopped.
Old habits.
Uncertainty.
Leela closed the distance and hugged her.
Jenna froze.
Then held on.
“I’m sorry,” Jenna whispered.
“For what?”
“Too much.”
Leela closed her eyes.
“Then start with the parts you can fix.”
Jenna nodded.
Jackson watched them.
His marriage was still uncertain.
His family was shattered.
Skycross might never recover.
But Flight 312's passengers were alive.
Grant was arrested.
Mercer had agreed to cooperate.
And for the first time in years, every hidden truth was standing in the open.
Leela looked toward Jackson.
He did not approach.
May you like
He simply waited.
That mattered more than he knew.
