Chapter 13 - The Missing Engineer
As bomb technicians surrounded Flight 782, Martin climbed out of the underground shaft with Ethan close behind.
The countdowns had stopped.
That frightened Martin more than if they had continued.
"Why would Victor pause everything?" one officer asked.
"Because he's waiting," Ethan replied.
"For what?"
Ethan looked toward the airport terminal.
"For someone."
Back in the maintenance hangar, security reviewed every employee badge scanned during the previous twelve hours.
One name immediately stood out.
Lucas Ward.
The veteran engineer whose identification card had been found inside aircraft 417.
According to airport records, Lucas had never left the maintenance building.
According to security cameras...
He had never entered it.
Martin frowned.
"That's impossible."
Ethan examined the timestamp more carefully.
"The cameras aren't lying."
"What do you mean?"
"They're showing yesterday."
Everyone looked again.
The surveillance feed displayed today's date—but the weather outside was different.
A cargo loader visible through the hangar doors had been removed the previous evening.
Someone had replaced the live camera feeds with recorded footage.
Every movement security believed they had watched during the day had actually happened twenty-four hours earlier.
Victor's network had controlled the surveillance system from the beginning.
Just then, a mechanic ran into the hangar.
"We found Lucas!"
"Where?"
"Storage Building C."
"Alive?"
The mechanic hesitated.
"Barely."
Lucas had been tied to a chair inside an abandoned electrical room.
He had bruises across his face but was conscious.
May you like
His first words stunned everyone.
"You've been chasing the wrong Victor."
