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Chapter 8
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His Wife, His Wingman, His Regret Chapter 11
The second half of the foundation reception was a closed demonstration for the new autonomous wingman project.Julian stood at the presentation platform, briefing the board and military representatives on the cooperative control system. When the flight-adaptation segment began, he handed me the remote terminal and said quietly, "This part is yours."I looked at him.He stepped aside and gave me the floor.I took the terminal. My right hand still carried a faint numbness, though it was steady enough now. On the screen, the simulated formation split, regrouped, evaded, and returned under my commands. Above the hall, the full flight path projected across the dark display. The things that had once belonged only to runways and cockpits had found their way back to me in another form.When the demonstration ended, applause filled the room.For a moment, I stood still. Then Julian glanced at me, a faint smile in his eyes."Welcome to the project, Consultant Morgan."I smiled too.Ethan approac
His Wife, His Wingman, His Regret Chapter 10
The favor Julian needed was for me to attend a closed reception hosted by a defense technology foundation.The event was held after hours inside an aviation museum. Retired aircraft hung above the hall, the glass ceiling reflected the deep blue night, and most of the guests wore dark formalwear with security badges pinned discreetly near their lapels.I wore a silver-gray satin suit. The brace on my right hand had finally come off, leaving only a pale support band at my wrist. When I saw myself in the mirror, I paused for a moment.For too many years, I had known myself only in flight suits, pressure gear, combat boots, and helmet-flattened hair. Standing there without waiting for a command, I almost looked like someone with a life outside the cockpit.Julian handed me a glass of sparkling water. "Nervous?""A little." I looked toward the old reconnaissance aircraft in the center of the hall. "This is harder than a runway."He smiled. "Then think of them as moving ground targets."That
His Wife, His Wingman, His Regret Chapter 9
On the way to the base conference room, Ethan read the rest of the file.By the time they reached the door, the rescue identity was no longer a question. The old extraction footage, medical transfer record, and St. Christopher registration all confirmed what the medal had already told him.When the heavy conference room door opened, the room was already full. JAG inspectors, base security, flight medicine, and the accident investigation team sat around the table. The air felt pressed flat.Chloe sat on the other side, pale and rigid.The moment she saw Ethan, her eyes lit up. She stood as if she had found her last chance."Ethan," she said, voice shaking, "tell them this is fake. Ava hates me. She made this up to ruin me."Countless times before, he had stepped in front of her when she cried.This time, Ethan did not look at her.He walked to the head of the table and nodded to the lead inspector.The inspector pushed a file toward him. "Commander Hale, the preliminary evidence against
His Wife, His Wingman, His Regret Chapter 8
Ethan stood in the empty hospital room, the St. Christopher medal clenched in his hand until his knuckles turned white.The resignation and divorce agreement lay on the nightstand. Ava's signature was clean, steady, and without hesitation.Fragments he had ignored began rising in his mind.Years ago, when he had been invited to give a lecture at flight school, a young woman had stayed behind after class. Her eyes had been bright when she asked whether rescue pilots could always bring people out of the dark.He had thought the question naive and answered casually, "Not every time. But we try."Later, at a celebration dinner, someone teased Ava about having liked him for years. She denied it with flushed cheeks, but when he looked at her, her fingers moved instinctively toward the side of her neck, as if something had once hung there.Then there was their first winter after marriage.Ava had leaned against his shoulder and asked softly, "Ethan, do you remember the girl from your first fi
His Wife, His Wingman, His Regret Chapter 7
The DARPA helicopter did not land at headquarters. It touched down at a closed airfield outside Arlington.Dawn had just broken, and a thin layer of fog covered the tarmac. I shifted my flight bag to my left shoulder, my right hand still numb, and had barely reached the security lane when an unmarked black SUV stopped outside the exit.The window lowered.Julian Hayes sat in the back seat with a file open on his lap and a cup of black coffee beside him.His gaze dropped to my right hand."You can still carry your own bag. That's better than the report suggested."I stopped. "Is this how you usually comfort injured people?""I usually don't." He closed the file. "Get in. The doctors are waiting."That sounded like the Julian I remembered.I first met him at a military flight simulation assessment. He was there on behalf of an aerospace engineering lab to record system-limit data, while I had to land a simulator with its failure rate set absurdly high.After the assessment, everyone else
His Wife, His Wingman, His Regret Chapter 6
Chloe's face went pale."I don't know what you mean." She clutched the jacket in her arms, tears still on her cheeks. "Ethan, Blue is missing, and you care more about some phone call?"Ethan did not move."I asked why you answered the flight medicine center's call last night and didn't tell me. Or Ava."Chloe's breathing faltered, but she quickly began crying again. "I was scared. The doctor used all these medical terms, and I didn't understand. I didn't mean to hide anything."I didn't mean to.He had heard that too many times.The purge system had been an accident. The runway incident had been panic. The ruined evaluations had all been mistakes. Yet every time, Ava was the one left paying for them.Ethan's voice cooled. "Security can handle Blue. Move."Chloe froze, then blocked the door. "You're going to her?""Yes.""She already left you." Her voice rose. "What's the point of chasing her now?"The words hit him wrong.Ethan looked at her. "How do you know she left?"Chloe seemed to
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