Calm expression.
The name on the boarding pass was deliberate.
A message.
Claire activated the cabin intercom.
“Listen to me.”
The gunman looked toward the nearest speaker.
“You are on an aircraft over the North Atlantic. Shooting anyone risks decompression, panic, and loss of control.”
The man smiled.
“Captain Bennett.”
Claire hated how many strangers knew her name.
“What do you want?”
“Elena Vargas.”
Elena backed away.
Thomas whispered, “Stay out of sight.”
The gunman continued.
“Bring her to the forward galley.”
“No.”
“Then I start choosing passengers.”
Claire studied the cabin camera.
His stance was trained.
Weapon close to body.
Finger disciplined.
Not an amateur.
“Who are you?”
“Someone who wants to land.”
“So do I.”
“Not in Ireland.”
“Then we disagree.”
He pressed the gun against the shoulder of a seated passenger.
A college-aged man froze.
“Five minutes.”
Claire cut the intercom.
Ross said, “We need to unlock the door.”
Thomas shook his head.
“If Paladin locked it, cockpit release may not work.”
Claire looked at Elena.
“What exactly did your husband leave you?”
“I told you. I don’t know.”
“Think.”
“He gave Sophie the rabbit before he died.”
Claire’s attention sharpened.
“The transmitter was inside it.”
“I didn’t know.”
“Anything else?”
“He told Sophie something.”
“What?”
Elena closed her eyes.
“He said, ‘If Mommy ever gets lost, remember our castle game.’”
Thomas looked at her.
“Castle game?”
“A game they played.”
“Rules?”
“I don’t know.”
Claire stared.
“Get Sophie.”
Elena hesitated.
“With a gunman in the cabin?”
“She’s already a target.”
Ross said quietly, “Claire.”
“I know.”
Mara brought Sophie into the cockpit through a crew access panel that bypassed the main locked door.
The girl immediately hugged Elena.
Claire crouched.
“Sophie, I need to ask about your dad.”
Sophie’s eyes filled.
“Okay.”
“What was the castle game?”
Sophie looked at her mother.
Then at Claire.
“Daddy was the king.”
“What were you?”
“The dragon.”
Claire almost smiled.
“Of course.”
“And Mommy was the princess.”
“Did the game have a password?”
Sophie nodded.
Elena looked stunned.
“Sophie, why didn’t you tell me?”
“Daddy said it was dragon secret.”
“What was it?” Claire asked.
Sophie whispered, “Three-seven-one-nine.”
Thomas repeated it.
“3719.”
Claire looked at him.
“Mean anything?”
“No.”
Sophie shook her head.
“That’s only the first part.”
Everyone looked at her.
“What’s the second part?”
“You have to know the dragon’s birthday.”
Elena answered immediately.
“March seventh.”
Thomas’s eyes widened.
“03-07.”
Claire pieced numbers together.
Eight digits.
“Authentication code.”
Thomas nodded.
“Could be.”
Elena stared at Sophie.
“Your father hid the access code with you?”
Sophie looked worried.
“Am I in trouble?”
Elena hugged her.
“No.”
Claire stood.
The gunman’s voice came through the intercom.
“Four minutes.”
Thomas said, “He cannot get Elena.”
Ross looked at him.
“He has two hundred passengers outside.”
“He wants the key.”
“He may start shooting.”
Thomas’s expression remained cold.
“If he gets the master access key, shooting passengers will be the smallest problem.”
Claire hated that he might be right.
“What can Paladin control?”
“Any aircraft with the compromised architecture.”
“How many?”
Thomas hesitated.
“How many?”
“Thousands.”
Ross stared.
“Thousands?”
“Potentially.”
Claire looked at Elena.
“That code cannot leave this cockpit.”
Sophie quietly said, “Daddy said there was one more thing.”
Claire knelt again.
“What?”
“He said the real key wasn’t numbers.”
Thomas leaned closer.
“What was it?”
“A song.”
Elena frowned.
“What song?”
Sophie hummed four notes.
Thomas went rigid.
Claire noticed.
“You know it.”
“That melody was Nightglass authentication.”
Claire stared.
“How does an Aerodyne engineer know a classified Air Force authentication melody?”
Thomas said nothing.
Elena did.
“Because Rafael was in Nightglass before Aerodyne.”
Claire slowly turned.
“You never mentioned that.”
“I didn’t know until after he died.”
“How?”
“I found his old military box.”
“What was his role?”
“Software engineer.”
Thomas closed his eyes.
Claire understood.
“Rafael helped build Paladin.”
“Yes.”
The gunman called again.
“Three minutes.”
Claire looked at the cockpit camera.
Passengers were crying.
A flight attendant stood frozen near row twenty.
The gunman had positioned himself well.
No clear approach.
No simple tackle.
No heroic solution.
Claire spoke into the intercom.
“I’ll bring Elena.”
Thomas grabbed her arm.
“No.”
Claire whispered, “Trust me.”
“That phrase usually precedes something stupid.”
“So does pointing guns on airplanes.”
She turned to Mara.
“Can we depressurize one section?”
“No.”
“Cabin lights?”
“Yes.”
“Kill them when I say.”
Ross understood.
“You’re creating confusion.”
“Briefly.”
“Then what?”
Claire looked at Thomas.
“You said you boarded under federal clearance.”
“Yes.”
“You armed?”
Thomas reached under his jacket.
Claire stopped him.
“Do not pull that weapon until cabin lights are out.”
Ross muttered, “This keeps getting better.”
Claire took Elena toward the crew access exit.
“Sophie stays here.”
Elena kissed her daughter.
“I love you.”
Sophie clung to her.
“Don’t go.”
Elena whispered, “I’ll come back.”
Claire opened the narrow service panel.
The gunman saw movement.
“Elena!”
Claire stepped out first.
Hands visible.
“Easy.”
The gunman smiled.
“There she is.”
Claire moved into the aisle.
Elena behind her.
Passengers stared.
The gunman aimed at Claire.
“You’re supposed to be flying.”
“I delegated.”
“To whom?”
“Wouldn’t you like to know?”
His smile disappeared.
“Send Elena forward.”
Claire continued walking.
“First tell me who you work for.”
“No.”
“Mercer?”