His threat receiver shrieked.
“Colonel Vance,” I said, my voice echoing through his cockpit. “I have a solid lock on your engine block. If I pull this trigger, you die. Eject.”
“You’re bluffing!” Vance screamed, throwing his jet into a violent barrel roll, trying to shake me.
I stayed glued to his tail, matching his every maneuver with terrifying precision. I had spent ten years teaching pilots how to fly; Vance was good, but I was the one who wrote the manual he learned from.
“I am broadcasting this frequency on the international guard channel,” I said, my voice completely devoid of emotion. “The Pacific Fleet Command is listening. Every ship within five hundred miles is listening. Confess, Thomas. Tell them what you did to Mark.”
“Go to hell, Sarah!” he roared, pulling into a vertical climb, trying to stall me out.
I followed him up, our jets screaming toward the edge of the atmosphere.
“Mark found out you were selling the modules,” I said, the G-forces making my voice strain. “He confronted you. You told him to meet you at these coordinates to talk. And when he arrived, you ambushed him. You jammed his radar and forced him into the water. Say it!”
“He was a Boy Scout!” Vance screamed, the pressure of the climb and the terror of the missile lock finally breaking his composure. “He was going to ruin everything! The Pentagon throws billions away every year! We just took our share! He gave me no choice!”
“You murdered him,” I stated, my finger resting on the laser toggle.
“Yes! I shot him down!” Vance yelled, his voice cracking with desperation. “I ordered the shot! Now back off, Hayes! You fire on me, you’re committing treason!”
I eased the throttle back.
“I told you, Colonel,” I said softly. “I don't have any missiles. I’m flying a test jet.”
A heavy, stunned silence fell over the radio. Vance realized exactly what had just happened. I hadn't come to shoot him down. I had come to make him confess on an open military frequency.
“But they do,” I added.
Suddenly, the radar screen in my cockpit cleared. My jammer had cycled down.
Four massive, green radar signatures appeared on the edge of the screen, moving in at astonishing speed from the east.
“Unidentified black aircraft, and Black Falcon actual, this is Commander Reynolds, PACFLT Air Command,” a new, authoritative voice broke over the radio. “We have recorded your entire transmission. Colonel Vance, you are ordered to power down your weapons systems and follow our escort back to base. If you deviate from this flight path, you will be splashed. Do you copy?”
Four F-35 Lightnings dropped out of the clouds, surrounding Vance’s jet. Real missiles. Real locks.
Vance didn't answer. I watched from above as his jet slowly leveled out, defeated, boxing himself into the center of the military escort. Evans and Miller, who had recovered from their dives, were quickly intercepted and corralled by the incoming fleet.
The nightmare was over.
“Unidentified aircraft,” Commander Reynolds said, his voice softening slightly. “We have verified your transponder code as an Aerodyne test vehicle. Sarah Hayes, is that you?”
I reached up, unbuckling my oxygen mask and letting it hang loose against my chest. I took a deep breath of the cool, recycled air in the cockpit.
“This is Hayes,” I replied, my voice shaking for the first time all night.
“Follow us home, Sarah,” Reynolds said gently. “You’ve done enough.”
I banked the black jet slowly to the east, watching the moon reflect off the water one last time. The ocean didn't look like a void anymore. It looked peaceful.
Mark’s name would be cleared. Vance and his men would face a court-martial they could never escape. The truth was finally out in the light.
I pushed the throttle forward, joining the formation, and flew home into the rising dawn.
THE END