Fear could wait.

Evelyn looked at Captain Mercer.

His expression remained controlled, but his eyes told her everything she needed to know.

They needed time.

So Evelyn gave them time.

She lowered her shoulders and deliberately made herself appear uncertain.

“I’ve never flown this model.”

The leader frowned.

“You’ll manage.”

Evelyn looked toward the navigation display.

“Then I need to understand where you expect me to take it.”

He pointed toward a coordinate over the ocean.

Evelyn leaned closer.

And began planning.

The Message Hidden in Plain Sight

Evelyn placed her hands over the flight computer.

To the men watching her, she appeared to be entering the requested route.

Most of what she typed was exactly what they expected.

But hidden inside a routine system sequence was something else.

A coded emergency transmission.

It was an old technique, adapted for modern equipment, designed to look like ordinary automated aircraft data.

If the right system received it, someone would understand.

Aircraft compromised.

Immediate assistance required.

Evelyn pressed the final key.

Now she had to assume help was coming.

The problem was that help might arrive too late.

She glanced at the weather radar.

A large storm system stretched across their southern route.

Most pilots would avoid it.

Evelyn saw something different.

An opportunity.

She pointed toward the display.

“Your route takes us through unstable air.”

“Then go around it.”

She shook her head.

“That puts us back where tracking coverage is stronger.”

The leader hesitated.

Exactly what Evelyn wanted.

“Can you get through it?” he asked.

Evelyn looked at him.

“If everyone stays where I tell them to stay.”

Into the Storm

Minutes later, Flight 718 entered the edge of the weather system.

The first movement was mild.

Then the aircraft shook harder.

Evelyn kept both hands steady.

Behind her, one of the men grabbed the side of a seat.

Captain Mercer looked toward Evelyn.

She gave him the smallest possible nod.

He understood.

She tightened her harness.

Mercer quietly did the same.

Another heavy wave of turbulence moved through the aircraft.

The three strangers struggled to remain balanced.

Evelyn waited.

Not yet.

The radar glowed in front of her.

She needed the right moment.

Then it came.

A sharp pocket of unstable air struck the aircraft.

Evelyn made a rapid but controlled maneuver, using the aircraft’s momentum and the storm conditions together.

For a few seconds, the men who had been confidently standing behind them could no longer keep their footing.

That was all Evelyn and Captain Mercer needed.

Mercer moved immediately.

First Officer Nolan assisted.

Within moments, control of the cockpit had returned to the flight crew.

Evelyn’s hands remained on the controls.

“Captain?”

Mercer looked at her.

“You’ve got it.”

Evelyn carefully corrected the aircraft’s attitude and guided it away from the worst part of the storm.

The shaking gradually eased.

For the first time in several minutes, she allowed herself to breathe.

The Red Folder

Once Flight 718 was stable, Captain Mercer contacted the authorities through a secure channel.

The coded message had worked.

Military controllers were already aware of their situation and directed them toward a secure airfield in Spain.

Evelyn finally picked up the red folder.

Inside were names, financial records, travel routes, and operational details.

She recognized references connected to the investigation Nathan had been involved in six years earlier.

Her hands trembled.

For years, Evelyn had wondered whether his final assignment had accomplished anything.

Now she understood.

Nathan had been closer to exposing this network than she had ever known.

And somehow, six years later, they had come looking for her.

Captain Mercer noticed her expression.

“You know what that is, don’t you?”

Evelyn closed the folder.

“I’ve been trying not to know for six years.”

The Landing

Three hours later, Flight 718 descended toward a secured airfield on the Spanish coast.

Evelyn remained in the cockpit.

The runway lights appeared ahead.

Captain Mercer glanced at her.

“Would you like me to take the landing?”

For a moment, Evelyn considered saying yes.

Then she remembered the woman she had been before fear taught her to hide from the sky.

She shook her head.

“I’ve got it.”

The wheels touched the runway smoothly.