Chapter 14 - THE PLANE BENEATH THE PLANE
Hangar Twelve appeared abandoned from the runway.
Inside, it contained two aircraft.
The first was the old cargo plane from Cass’s photograph.
The second stood beneath it.
A hydraulic platform had lifted the visible plane toward the roof, exposing an underground chamber large enough to hide a smaller jet.
Its black fuselage carried no registration number.
Mara, Jonah and the children watched from the maintenance tunnel.
Men loaded silver server cases into the jet.
“They’re not transporting money,” Jonah whispered. “They’re transporting Orpheus.”
Mara studied the workers.
One of them was Celian Ward’s personal pilot.
Another wore a Quinn Aeronautics security uniform.
The conspiracy had not entered her company.
It had grown inside it.
Theo pointed toward a glass room overlooking the chamber.
Lena stood inside with Cass.
A man sat in a medical chair between them, his face hidden by equipment.
May pressed her hands against the glass from the tunnel side.
“Daddy.”
Mara’s chest tightened.
The man raised his head.
Even through the cables and shadows, she recognized Elias.
He looked older and dangerously thin, but alive.
Mara moved toward the chamber.
Jonah stopped her.
“There are thirty guards.”
“He’s my brother.”
“And the moment they see you, they’ll move the plane.”
The underground jet’s engines began turning.
A countdown appeared on the hangar wall.
06:00.
Mara noticed a second timer beneath it.
ORPHEUS GLOBAL RELEASE: 06:00.
If the aircraft reached the runway, the system would upload itself through every satellite network connected to the airport.
Theo began humming Elias’s song.
The countdown stopped.
Every guard turned toward the tunnel.
A message appeared on the wall.
May you like
ROOT KEY DETECTED.
Then the hangar doors locked.
