Chapter 10 - The System They Never Knew ExistedAva’s company had built the emergency descent system for rescue workers, journalists, and engineers who traveled through dangerous terrain.

It was not commercially available.

The prototype had been integrated into her jacket only because her security director had refused to let her board Ethan’s helicopter without protection.

Ethan had searched her handbag before the flight.

He had checked her phone.

He had even asked why she was wearing a structured blazer in warm California weather.

He had never imagined the clothing itself could become survival equipment.

The smart wing responded to Ava’s wrist device.

It calculated altitude, wind speed, body position, and distance from solid ground.

But the system had a problem.

Its original safety limits assumed a single adult body weight.

Ava was seven months pregnant.

Every correction came late.

Every turn required more force.

A warning pulse struck her wrist.

Landing zone unsuitable.

Ava looked toward the rock shelf.

Too narrow.

Too much spray.

She pulled the steering loop and aimed higher, toward a patch of scrub above the cliff edge.

The wing resisted.

A crosswind pushed her back toward the water.

Above, the helicopter passed across the sun.

Ava saw Ethan collide with the cockpit divider.

The pilot regained control and forced the aircraft away from the cliff.

Then Ethan reached toward something near the instrument panel.

The helicopter’s navigation lights flickered.

Ava’s wrist device vibrated differently.

A signal had been interrupted.

Ethan was trying to disable the aircraft’s location systems.

He still believed that if he could erase the flight path, he could construct an accident no one could challenge.

But the emergency system was not transmitting through the helicopter.

It had already sent its first data packet elsewhere.

Ava did not know whether anyone had received it.

The technology had never been tested this far from populated cellular coverage.

Her only confirmation was a small green pulse beneath her cuff.

The upload had started.

Not completed.

Started.

Ava gritted her teeth and pulled harder against the crosswind.

The cliff came closer.

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