Chapter 2

The alarm ripped through the operations floor before I could close the DARPA email.

I shot to my feet and ran for the classified maintenance bay.

I had been grounded for review for the past year, and that section had been under my supervision the entire time. I knew the condition of every aircraft inside better than anyone.

When I reached the hangar, red warning lights swept across the concrete floor. At the far bay, Chloe Bennett stood beside my jet, clutching a restricted maintenance terminal.

My stomach dropped.

That terminal was linked to the aircraft's emergency purge system. Once activated, it would burn through the classified avionics bay and destroy every protected system on board. A junior flight candidate had no business touching it.

"Put it down," I said.

Chloe turned as if startled, her eyes already red. "Ava, I was only checking the diagnostic panel. I thought Ethan wanted me to learn the system."

"Put the terminal on the floor and step away from the aircraft."

She looked down at the red warning on the screen as if she suddenly could not read. "I didn't know it was dangerous."

"You passed emergency equipment identification on your first day here. Don't pretend."

Her fingers tightened.

The next second, the confirmation tone cut through the alarm.

The purge sequence activated.

I lunged for the cable, but I was too late. The first purge charge detonated, and the blast threw me across the hangar floor. My shoulder slammed into the concrete, and for a moment, all I could hear was a high, empty ringing.

When my vision cleared, the jet that had carried me through storms, war zones, and too many impossible missions was burning from the inside. White suppressant and black smoke poured from the open panels as the avionics bay collapsed into sparks.

I felt no pain.

Only something inside me burning out with it.

When I woke again, I was in the infirmary.

A medic was cleaning the cuts along my arm. I closed my eyes, but the fire and the smell of scorched metal were still there.

The door opened.

Ethan came in first, uniform sharp, face unreadable. Chloe followed him with red eyes, both hands wrapped around a paper cup.

She spoke before he could. "Ava scared me. I thought it was a basic diagnostic. She rushed at me, and I panicked. I really didn't know that button would cause so much damage."

A short laugh scraped out of my throat.

"You didn't know a red-tagged emergency purge system was dangerous?"

She bit her lip and looked to Ethan for help.

I looked at him too. "Everyone who enters this base learns restricted emergency systems on day one. She knew how to log in, bypass the warning, and confirm execution."

Ethan's gaze moved from Chloe to me.

In that second, I already knew whose version he would choose.

"The aircraft is destroyed," he said. "Whatever happened, the classified maintenance bay was under your supervision."

I stared at him.

His tone was calm, like he was filing an incident report. "You were responsible for preventing unauthorized access to active systems. You share responsibility for this failure."

For a moment, the man in front of me felt like a stranger.

He was Ethan Hale, the commander whose voice had once guided me through a thunderstorm, the flight partner I had trusted with my life in the air.

Now he stood beside Chloe and handed the blame for my destroyed aircraft back to me.

I only said, "Understood."

He seemed to pause, as if he had expected me to argue.

Then his voice returned to business. "There's an emergency escort mission tonight. A defense scientist needs extraction from a remote test site before the weather shuts the area down."

I looked up.

Ethan watched me closely. "This can be added to your evaluation file. If you complete it cleanly, the board may reconsider your final review."

Once, I would have asked if he meant it. I would have promised him I could do it.

This time, I only stood.

The medic moved to stop me. "Major Morgan, you shouldn't be moving yet."

"I'm fine."

Ethan frowned. "Ava--"

"I said I'm fine."

Chloe sniffled behind him, but I did not look at her again.

Today was the anniversary Ethan had once promised he would never forget. I had not reminded him. I wanted to see whether he would remember on his own.

Instead, he gave Chloe another excuse, another shield, and let her destroy one of the most important parts of my life.

Ethan seemed to be waiting for a reaction, anger, gratitude, maybe the old fire I used to show whenever he handed me an impossible mission.

I gave him nothing.

"I'll take the mission," I said. "Send the file to my terminal."

His expression finally shifted. "You know what this means."

"I know."

It meant I had one last chance to fly, and one last mission to complete under his command before I walked away clean.

I passed him at the door.

He seemed to reach for me, then stopped.

"Ava."

I did not turn back.

After this mission, I would submit my resignation, the divorce papers, and the one thing from our past I should have returned years ago.

I had mistaken loyalty for love for too long.

It was time to wake up.