Chapter 5
Talon One did not answer right away.
When he did, the arrogance was gone.
“Who told you that?”
Riley kept flying.
The truth had been buried for twelve years.
Major Thomas Hayes had died in a training accident, according to the official report.
Mechanical failure.
Bad weather.
A tragic loss.
That was what Riley had been told.
But two months before this mission, an old file had been declassified by mistake.
Inside was a report with her father’s name.
A mission recording.
And another pilot’s voice.
Derek Voss.
Back then, Voss had abandoned a rescue flight after mocking Hayes for trying to save trapped soldiers in a canyon.
Hayes went in alone.
Hayes saved eleven men.
Then his aircraft went down.
Voss survived.
Voss lied.
And men like him kept flying.
Riley had read the file in silence.
She had not cried.
She had only memorized his voice.
Now that same voice was laughing at American soldiers trapped in another canyon.
Fate had not brought Riley here.
Justice had.
Then Talon One came back on the radio.
“Your father should’ve run too.”
The words hit every channel.
Commander Grant’s face went pale.
Riley went still inside.
Not frozen.
Focused.
“My father saved men you left behind,” she said.
Talon One laughed once.
“Then he died for nothing.”
Riley looked at the canyon opening ahead.
The sun was low.
The angle was perfect.
May you like
“No,” she said. “He trained me.”
Read Part 6 to see how Riley used her father’s final lesson against Voss.
