Chapter 17
That evening, the family gathered around a large oak dining table inside the warm, wood-scented cabin.
A grand Thanksgiving feast filled the center of the table: roasted turkey, cranberry sauce, stuffing, and fresh pumpkin pie.
Sarah sat with them at the table as an honored member of the family, no longer wearing her dark grey uniform.
Ethan raised his glass of red wine, looking around at the people he loved most in the world.
“To second chances,” Ethan toasted, his voice filled with quiet emotion.
“To second chances,” everyone repeated, clinking their glasses together under the warm chandelier light.
After dinner, while Victoria and Sarah helped Lily bake cookies in the kitchen, Ethan and Clara walked up to the loft study.
In the corner of the loft stood a heavy iron safe that had belonged to Ethan’s grandfather.
Ethan used the bronze key Clara had given him months ago, inserting it into the keyhole and turning it counterclockwise.
The heavy iron door clicked open with a satisfying metallic thud.
Inside lay two dusty leather journals and a small black hard drive labeled Vance Logistics - 1999.
Ethan pulled the hard drive out, examining the serial numbers on the back.
“This was the drive from my father’s private office,” Ethan realized out loud.
“He hid it in Vermont before his last flight.”
Clara sat beside him on the leather sofa, resting her hand on his knee.
“Are you sure you want to look at what’s on it?” Clara asked gently.
“I need to know everything, Clara,” Ethan said, plugging the hard drive into his laptop.
The screen illuminated with hundreds of archived digital folders, encrypted with a thirty-year-old security code.
Ethan entered his father’s birth date into the prompt.
May you like
The screen flashed green: ACCESS GRANTED.
The top folder was titled: PROJECT ECHO - DEFENSE CONTRACTS.
