Chapter 15 - The Hangar at Midnight
Night settled over Westbridge International Airport.
Commercial flights resumed under heavy security, but Maintenance Hangar Three remained sealed by federal investigators.
Rows of evidence boxes lined the walls.
Counterfeit turbine blades.
Forged inspection certificates.
Encrypted hard drives.
Despite the discoveries, Ethan felt uneasy.
"If Victor—or Vincent—wanted these destroyed," he said, "why leave them here?"
Martin looked around.
"You think we're still missing something."
"I know we are."
Ethan walked back toward Flight 782.
The engine he had repaired earlier sat completely silent.
He crouched beneath the turbine and ran his fingers along the inner casing.
There.
A tiny engraved symbol.
Not a serial number.
A compass.
North.
He stood immediately.
"My father left this."
Martin hurried over.
"What is it?"
"He wasn't marking the engine."
"He was marking a direction."
Ethan followed the invisible line extending from the compass engraving.
It pointed through the rear wall of the hangar.
Beyond the concrete stood an abandoned fuel-testing facility that had been closed for nearly a decade.
Airport blueprints showed nothing unusual there.
But Samuel Hale had never hidden clues without reason.
Before anyone could investigate, every light inside the hangar dimmed.
A backup generator activated automatically.
One monitor, disconnected from every network hours earlier, suddenly powered itself on.
White letters appeared across the black screen.
WELCOME BACK, ETHAN.
May you like
A second line slowly appeared beneath it.
THIS TIME, COME ALONE.
