Page 8 of Controlled Drift
Tane nodded.“Eyes on the ground crew.No contact unless forced.”
“And if we miss the window?”Drew asked.
Kael’s expression hardened.“Then we follow him into whatever hole they pass him into.”
Ethan adjusted course again, shaving another margin as the engines hummed, pushing them deeper into controlled airspace.He felt it then—the weight of being seen, of re-entering a world he’d spent years skirting.
Someone would notice.
Including his father.
He shut the thought down.Not now.
Jakarta’s lights bloomed beneath them, the city a sprawl of fire and shadow.Somewhere in that maze, a jet was lining up to land with Niko Keahi restrained inside, alive for reasons none of them yet understood.
Ethan kept them invisible, steady, closing the distance one quiet mile at a time.
“Hold on,” he said softly—not into the comms, not to the men behind him.
Just to the air.
And to the man who trusted it as much as he did.
Chapter Two
The closer they got, the tighter the net became.
Niko felt it before anyone said a word.
The rhythm of the aircraft shifted—not in speed, but in intention.Movements that had been economical turned deliberate.Restraints were checked twice instead of once.A man who had previously remained at the front of the cabin repositioned himself where Niko could see him without turning his head.Another entered a code into the console and didn’t bother to obscure the screen this time.
Verification.
Not identity.Not yet.
Capability.
