Chapter 5 - In the Dark
The red emergency strobes pulsed rhythmically, painting the deserted concourse in shades of crimson and shadow. Reyes stood frozen by the locked jet bridge door, his heart hammering against his ribs like a trapped bird.
"Reyes! Over here!" the lead paramedic shouted from the darkness near the ticketing desk. "Her vitals are fluctuating wildly! The power surge just rebooted whatever was wired into her brainstem!"
Reyes sprinted back through the gloom, nearly tripping over a stray piece of luggage. When he reached the desk, he dropped to his knees beside Nova, who was frantically licking Martha’s cold, trembling fingers.
Martha was no longer unconscious, but she wasn't entirely present either. Her pupils were dilated to the point where her eyes looked black, and her lips moved in a feverish, looping whisper.
"The vault... they didn't want the plane to fly," Martha rasped, her voice sounding hollow, as if speaking from the bottom of a well. "They wanted the tower."
Reyes grabbed her shoulders gently, trying to ground her. "Martha, listen to me. Who is 'they'? What tower?"
Before she could answer, the portable ECG machine sparked, emitting a sharp electrical pop that sent a small puff of acrid smoke into the air. The screen flickered green one last time before dying completely.
Simultaneously, the heavy overhead glass windows of the terminal rattled violently. Not from the wind—but from a concussive shockwave echoing from somewhere out on the tarmac, near the main air traffic control tower.
A distant, muffled explosion shook the floor beneath them.
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Nova immediately jumped up, barking fiercely toward the massive floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the airfield.
Out in the darkness of the runway, Flight 404 was already moving, its jet turbines whining into a deafening roar as it accelerated down the tarmac—not toward the standard departure corridor, but directly toward the burning silhouette of the airfield's main radar and communication center.
