The Jet's Wake-Up Call
The King Industries jet raced across the pre-dawn sky, pushing its engines to the limit. Inside, the usual calm turned into a suffocating pressure cooker of adrenaline and betrayal. Adrian King's face showed complete devastation; realizing that his father, the respected founder and chairman emeritus, was the true criminal behind his mother's disappearance shattered his control. He clutched a heavy briefcase containing the logbook and the dangerous Scylla Agent vial, both serving as evidence and a threat.
"We have seven hours," Adrian said, his voice low and strained from the effort to stay composed. "Seven hours until the emergency board meeting. He didn't just remove me, Maya. He scheduled the motion for when I'm most vulnerable, mid-ocean. He's betting on two things: that the board's loyalty to the 'King Legacy' outweighs any financial concerns, and that I won't survive the flight."
Maya, focused on their counter-strategy, worked the encrypted satellite link projected from the silver cuff Adrian had fastened to her wrist. Her concentration was sharp, fueled by protective anger for the man she cared about.
"We're framing this as a hostile coup, not a family feud," Maya said, her voice steady as she bypassed layers of security. "I'm contacting the independent directors, the swing votes. Their priority is stability, not sentiment. I'll tell them Adrian Sr. is recklessly destabilizing the corporation with a baseless no-confidence vote just to take control after years of retirement. We need to present *him* as the problem."
The Erased Ledger
"The financial proof must come first," Adrian insisted, focusing on the hard lines of his briefcase. "My father's motive wasn't just the Scylla Agent, but the money and reputation it protected. He used a shell company—K. I. Holdings, Ltd.—to funnel the original capital to Aethel Tech, disguising it as 'deep-sea exploration funding.' We need the transfer record."
Maya understood the crime's complexity. "I've accessed the legacy system records. The K. I. Holdings transaction is there, dated twenty years ago, but the amount shows as **$0.00**. The ledger is corrupted. He didn't just fund the crime; he used his authority as founder to erase the trace from our history. He has controlled the narrative and the data for two decades."
Silence filled the air, heavy with the weight of betrayal. Adrian King Sr. had not just betrayed his family; he had turned the infrastructure of King Industries into a weapon against his son.
"He anticipated this," Adrian said, clenching his jaw. "He knew that if the merger went through, a deeper Aethel audit would eventually reveal the financial crime. He's disabling me before I can complete the transaction and access Aethel's historical funding records, which would still show the incoming capital, even if our side is erased."
Their only connection to the transaction, Sterling Vance, was already secured by King Sr.'s private network. Adrian understood their time was running out.
"We move to the operational threat," Adrian said, regaining his focus. "If we can't prove the financial crime, we prove the biological terrorism. The board won't ignore a threat to national security. We rely on the logbook and the Scylla Agent vial as physical proof. We need to land, secure the evidence, and walk straight into that boardroom."
The System Failure
Just as Adrian finished laying out his plan, a massive shudder hit the highly shielded jet. The cabin lights flickered, throwing them into a chaotic mix of darkness and emergency red. Alarms blared—an unending chime signifying a catastrophic failure, far beyond normal turbulence.
The pilot's voice, strained and panicked, cut through the comms. "Mr. King! Critical failure! We've lost primary navigation and hydraulic control! We're running on auxiliary power only! Diverting to the Azores, but we're losing altitude fast."
"What caused it?" Adrian shouted, aware of the seriousness of the situation.
"We don't know, sir! It happened in an instant! A massive electromagnetic interference spike, a localized burst that fried the primary avionics!"
Maya and Adrian exchanged terrified looks.
"Adrian Sr.," Maya whispered, her hand reaching for the briefcase. "He knew our flight path. He knows we have the evidence. He has a device, a prototype. The Project Nightingale EMP."
Adrian accepted the awful truth, his expression hardening with anger. "He knew the jet was shielded against standard attacks. He's using the Scylla Agent's own enhanced EMP frequency to bring us down. He's trying to crash the plane in the Atlantic. He's eliminating the evidence and us in one catastrophic, untraceable move."
The captain's voice crackled in with urgency. "We are out of options, sir! We have to execute an emergency ditching maneuver in the open water! Brace for impact!"
Adrian unbuckled himself, his movements efficient despite the plane's wild motions. He grabbed the logbook and the vial from the briefcase. "Zara, Garrick, prep the survival gear!"
He also took a pair of tactical handcuffs. He secured the logbook to his body and, with a grim determination, snapped the second cuff onto Maya's wrist, locking her to the heavy briefcase that now held not only essential survival gear but also served as a heavy, symbolic tether.
"You don't let go of this," Adrian commanded, staring into her eyes. "If the plane breaks up, you are the custodian. You swim east. You get the evidence to the board, even if you have to walk it onto the runway."
The Traitor Revealed
The plane spiraled down, engines roaring against the crushing wind. Adrian pulled Maya from her seat, bracing for impact.
"He's not just using the EMP, Adrian!" Maya shouted over the alarms. "He's ensuring we won't survive the water. He knows the wreckage will be found. He has a cleanup crew!"
The cockpit door burst open. It wasn't the pilot; it was Finn, the co-pilot, staggering in, his eyes wide with fear and pain.
"Mr. King, sir! It wasn't the EMP! It was the hydraulics! Sabotage!"
Finn stumbled, exposing a deep wound in his lower back. Behind him stood **Garrick**, Adrian's deep-cover security asset, calm and collected, holding a syringe stained with Finn's blood.
"Forgive me, Mr. King," Garrick said flatly, throwing the syringe to the floor. "The Chairman Emeritus anticipated your reliance on the 'asset.' He knew a technical failure might be overlooked. He chose to ensure compliance. He offered me a controlling interest in the new King Industries foundation. Legacy over loyalty, sir."
Garrick raised a small, nonmagnetic pistol, pointing it directly at the handcuffed briefcase attached to Maya's wrist.
"He needs the logbook destroyed, Ms. Reyes," Garrick said, devoid of emotion. "It's too dangerous for the Chairman's reputation. And too costly for you to survive."
Adrian shielded Maya with his body, lowering his voice. "The Scylla Agent vial is strapped to me, Garrick. If you shoot, you risk breaking the glass and releasing the agent in this cabin. We all die, including you."
Garrick remained unfazed. "A regrettable loss, sir. But a necessary one. You should have stayed in control. The company is in better hands now."
He lowered the pistol, aiming for the metal hinge connecting the briefcase to Maya's wrist.
Before he could fire, Zara lunged from the cabin floor, tackling Garrick with fury. They struggled for the gun, the shot going wide and tearing a hole in the ceiling.
The missed shot and their intense fight created a breaking point for the jet. The airframe groaned, and the nose pitched down into a horrifying dive toward the churning water below.
Adrian pushed Maya toward the open emergency hatch, the wind's roar drowning out everything else. "You swim east! Don't look back! I'll catch up!"
As Maya prepared to jump, Garrick broke free of Zara's grip. He lunged for the open hatch, grabbing the handcuffed briefcase.
He yanked the heavy briefcase from Maya's wrist. The sharp force tore the metal cuff clean, leaving a painful gash across her forearm.
Garrick secured the logbook, then, with a cruel grin, jumped from the falling jet into the dark sky.
Maya screamed Adrian's name as the plane hit the water with a shattering impact, plunging them both into the freezing darkness of the Atlantic.