Page 145 of Aviatrix

Lark nods. “Yes.”

My stomach rolls with nausea.

“How do you know this?” I demand. If it’s true. It can’t be true.

He exhales. “We recovered surveillance footage. Deleted footage. While Glitch was pretending to sleep, she was actually breaking into the control room and trying to erase VAL’s arrival.”

I stop breathing. Just for a second. Then, the air rushes in sharp, and wrong.

They used Thea as a distraction?

They used me?

They used our reunion as cover for a damn drop?

I feel sick.

My mind claws at timelines, faces, details. How long have I been the puppet dancing in someone else’s theater?

“I know this is hard to hear,” Lark says gently. “But Atlas has also been in contact with someone in Arlington County. The contact’s codename was encrypted. No identifiers. Only reaches out late at night. Logistics stumbled upon that information when reviewing data from Langdon.”

“When did you find out?” I ask, nerves fraying.

“Several days ago,” he says. “But I gave Atlas a chance to come clean before I brought this to you.”

I stare at him. My hands shake against the edge of the table.

And when I speak, it’s barely a whisper. “He used me, didn’t he?”

My entire chest constricts. Like I’m back under fire.

Eli reaches for my hand, a quiet gesture of support.

When Dad disappeared, it was hard. There were no answers in those early days. We just… waited. And when waiting broke me, I applied to the Academy. I needed to move, to do something other than sit in limbo, hoping for confirmation he was gone for good.

Over time, I thought less and less about what might have happened. I was living my life. Flying. Growing. Healing.

I spent a few years at a bigger base before eventually transferring to Langdon, convinced I was finally ready to search for answers about my father’s disappearance. That’s when I met Gary.

And he took me under his wing like a daughter. Protected me like one.

Was it all a lie?

Maybe my worst fear isn’t being in this room while we all fire shots at each other. Maybe it’s being lied to by someone who swore they had my back.

Eli exhales, his fingers squeezing mine. “You okay?”

“I don’t know,” I admit. And for once, I’m not trying to sound strong. I just… don’t.

I want to believe my team—the people who chose me to be a part of something bigger than myself—meant well. But now? Now, I just feel used. Dirty. Grimy.

“I’ll go next,” Eli volunteers, pivoting the conversation.

I want to ask him what he really thinks about Gary betraying me, about Thea being used as a distraction, about the video footage being deleted right under my nose. But I know him too well. With Lark here, Eli won’t say anything that might compromise me. Or himself.

“I’ve been tracking Rourke’s movements,” he says evenly.

Lark’s head snaps toward him, brows raised. “What do you mean?”