Chapter 17 - The Atlantic Crossing
For five agonizing hours, the twin turbines pushed us through the freezing upper atmosphere above the North Atlantic. Outside the pressurized cabin, the temperature plummeted to forty below zero, frosting the edges of the cockpit glass into intricate white spiderwebs.
Marcus adjusted the fuel mixture, his face illuminated by the green glow of the fuel gauges. "We’re running on fumes, Emily. We can't reach Geneva on this bird. We’ll be lucky to cross the French coastline before the tanks go dry."
"We don't need to fly into Geneva," I said, leaning over the navigational charts spread across the center console. "Northstar Terminal in Geneva has a high-speed underground cargo rail connected directly to the private sovereign freight depot in Basel. If we hit the French Alps near the border, we can use the low-altitude parachute egress your black-ops team installed in this fuselage."
Marcus turned to me, his dark eyes narrowing in disbelief. "You've never performed a high-altitude jump in your life."
"My stepmother tried to bury me six feet deep, Marcus," I replied, meeting his gaze without flinching. "Dropping from ten thousand feet is an upgrade."
He stared at me for three long seconds, then the corner of his mouth curved into a faint, grim smile. "Your father would have said the exact same thing."
He tapped a sequence into the auxiliary navigation system. "There’s an abandoned NATO radar relay station nestled in the Jura Mountains, less than twelve kilometers from the Geneva perimeter. The syndicates don't monitor the old service rail line because it was officially decommissioned during the Cold War. But Northstar kept the subterranean power grid alive to move confidential freight."
Suddenly, the red threat-warning receiver on the instrument panel let out a shrill, rhythmic scream.
*BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.*
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"Radar lock!" Marcus shouted, his hands instantly slamming the throttle levers forward. "French air interceptors! Victoria didn't just call the board—she triggered an international sovereign alert!"
***
