“What happened?”
“You lost consciousness.”
He looked toward Laura.
“Who is she?”
Andrew answered without taking his eyes from the controls.
“Someone who may have just saved us.”
Laura shook her head.
“Not yet.”
She looked at the instruments again.
The vibration was still there.
Much weaker.
But still present.
“We haven’t fixed the problem.”
Andrew looked at her.
“What do you need?”
Laura’s voice became calm.
“Your maintenance history.”
He frowned.
“Why?”
“Because I’ve seen this failure before.”
The cockpit became silent.
Andrew studied her expression.
“Where?”
Laura swallowed.
“On a military aircraft.”
The first officer stared at her.
“An F-16?”
She nodded.
“My wingman’s aircraft.”
Andrew’s expression changed.
“What happened?”
Laura didn’t answer immediately.
She didn’t want to remember.
But the memory came anyway.
The warning.
The vibration.
The sudden loss of control.
The radio call that ended too soon.
And the terrible silence afterward.
“I survived,” she finally said.
“My wingman didn’t.”
Andrew looked back at the instruments.
“You think it’s the same failure?”
“I think the pattern is too similar to ignore.”
The aircraft suddenly jolted.
A warning sounded.
Andrew immediately reached for the controls.
Laura stopped him.
“Wait.”
He looked at her.
“Trust me.”
For one second, Andrew hesitated.
