Chapter 6 - The Longest Night Above the Atlantic
Lisbon.
Claire repeated the word silently.
She had been there three days after Evan disappeared.
Officially, she had flown to Portugal for medical evaluation before returning to the United States.
Unofficially…
Her memory blurred.
Medication.
Exhaustion.
Grief.
A hotel room.
Someone knocking at midnight.
Claire closed her eyes.
“Think,” she whispered.
Thomas watched.
“What do you remember?”
“A courier.”
His expression changed.
“What courier?”
“I don't know.”
Claire pressed her fingers against her temples.
“A woman came to my hotel.”
“What woman?”
“Dark hair. Portuguese accent.”
“What did she give you?”
Claire's eyes opened.
“A book.”
Thomas glanced toward seat 8A.
“The book.”
Claire ran.
She moved through the cabin toward her seat.
Peter, the businessman, looked up.
“What's happening?”
“My book.”
“What?”
“The book that was in my lap.”
He pointed.
“It fell when everything tilted. I put it in your seat pocket.”
Claire grabbed it.
Ordinary paperback.
She had owned it for years.
Suddenly she remembered buying it in Lisbon.
Except she hadn't bought it.
The courier had given it to her.
She opened the cover.
Nothing.
Flipped pages.
Nothing.
Thomas arrived.
“Check the spine.”
Claire tore the outer paper carefully.
Inside the binding was a thin metallic strip.
Thomas stared.
“My God.”
“What?”
“Storage substrate.”
Claire felt sick.
“Evan's evidence.”
“Probably.”
Four years.
It had sat on her bookshelf for four years.
She had brought it on this flight because she couldn't sleep on airplanes without reading.
Coincidence?
Maybe.
Or had some buried instinct made her choose it?
Thomas connected the strip to Hale's laptop.
Encrypted files appeared.
Thousands.
Financial records.
Military procurement documents.
Names.
Companies.
Government officials.
Private contractors.
Claire stared.
“This is what Evan discovered?”
Thomas nodded.
“This could destroy people.”
“Good.”
“Powerful people.”
“Even better.”
The screen suddenly flashed.
REMOTE WIPE INITIATED.
Thomas swore.
“They know we found it.”
“How long?”
“Six minutes.”
“Copy it.”
“To where?”
Claire looked toward the cockpit.
“Everywhere.”
Thomas almost smiled.
They transmitted copies through every working communication channel.
Airline operations.
Authorities in Europe.
Military contacts.
Media servers contained in Evan's preconfigured emergency addresses.
Thomas looked at Claire.
“Once this is out, they can't bury it again.”
“Send.”
He pressed ENTER.
Files began uploading.
Twenty percent.
Thirty.
Then communications failed.
“Come on.”
Forty-two percent.
The screen froze.
Claire's radio crackled.
Evan.
“Two hostile aircraft returning.”
“What happened?”
“One left.”
“And the other?”
“Still here.”
Claire understood.
“Can you stay with us?”
“As long as I can.”
“Evan.”
“Yes?”
“If we don't get another chance…”
“Don't.”
“I need to say this.”
“No.”
“For four years I thought I killed you.”
“You didn't.”
“I left.”
“You followed an order.”
“I should have come back.”
Evan's voice softened.
“If you had, both of us would have died.”
Claire's eyes filled.
“Were you waiting for me?”
A long silence.
“Yes.”
That answer broke something inside her.
“I’m sorry.”
“I know.”
“I thought about you every day.”
“I know that too.”
“How?”
“Because I thought about you.”
Claire closed her eyes.
Passengers around her were silent now.
Some heard only fragments.
But everyone understood the emotion.
Evan continued.
“Claire, surviving wasn't heroic.”
“You don't have to explain.”
“I became angry.”
“I would too.”
“I spent years planning how to expose them.”
“And this flight?”
“My worst decision.”
Claire almost laughed through tears.
“That is a very low bar tonight.”
Evan laughed too.
For one second, they were younger.
Two pilots teasing each other between missions.
Then a missile warning screamed through Evan's radio.
His voice changed instantly.
“Break!”
Static.
Claire rushed toward the window.
Far outside, lights moved violently.
One fighter climbed.
Another turned.
A flash appeared.
“Evan!”
No answer.
“Evan!”
Static.
Claire's heart stopped.
Then his voice returned.
“Still here.”
She almost collapsed.
“Don't do that.”
“Wasn't planning to.”
The first officer called.
“We're approaching European airspace. Military interceptors inbound.”
Finally.
Real help.
Portuguese fighters made radio contact minutes later.
The hostile aircraft disappeared west.
Evan remained beside Flight 217.
Claire looked at Thomas.
“Upload?”
He checked.
“Resumed. Eighty-nine percent.”
“Ninety.”
“Ninety-seven.”
Then—
COMPLETE.
Thomas exhaled.
“It's out.”
Claire looked toward Hale.
For the first time, he looked defeated.
But the aircraft still had to land.
Captain Reeves announced they would divert to Lisbon.
Claire almost laughed at the strange symmetry.
Lisbon.
Where the secret had entered her life.
Now it would leave it.
The flight continued for another hour.
No one slept.
Claire returned to the cockpit.
Reeves looked exhausted.
“You're staying?”
“Yes.”
“Good.”
She sat in the jump seat.
As dawn approached, the horizon turned gray.
Then orange.
Europe appeared ahead.
Claire hadn't realized how badly she needed to see land.
Portuguese fighters escorted them.
Evan's aircraft remained farther away.
“Why doesn't he join the escort?” Reeves asked.
Claire knew.
“He can't land with us.”
“Why?”
“Whatever he's been doing for four years isn't official.”
Evan came over the radio one final time.
“Raven.”
Claire lifted the microphone.
“I'm here.”
“You've got friends now.”
“Where are you going?”
Silence.
“Evan?”
“I can't follow you to Lisbon.”
“Why?”
“Not yet.”
Anger surged.
“Don't disappear again.”
“I have to.”
“You don't get to decide that.”
“Claire—”
“No. Four years ago everyone decided what I was allowed to know. Harlan. Thomas. You. I'm done.”
Silence.
Claire continued.
“You're alive. I'm alive. We finish this together.”
Evan didn't answer.
His fighter slowly banked away.
Claire watched.
“Evan.”
The aircraft continued turning.
“Evan!”
Then his voice came softly.
“I'll find you.”
And he disappeared toward the rising sun.
Claire stared after him.
She had found a ghost.
And lost him again.
But this time she refused to mourn.
Because this time Claire Dawson knew the truth.
Evan Cole was alive.
The evidence was public.
Her daughter was safe.
And Flight 217 was heading toward land.
Captain Reeves looked at her.
“Ready to bring them home?”
Claire looked at the runway lights appearing in the distance.
For the first time in four years, the answer came without fear.
“Yes.”
But twenty miles from Lisbon, the landing gear warning light illuminated.
Reeves stared.
“No.”
Claire leaned forward.
“What?”
“The nose gear isn't confirming down.”
The first officer tried again.
Nothing.
After everything they had survived, Flight 217 still had one final emergency.
Claire looked toward the runway.
May you like
Three hundred people believed the nightmare was almost over.
They had no idea the hardest landing of Claire Dawson's life was about to begin.
