Chapter 13
TOMCAT
Once Wizard managed to crack open the corrupted black box contents, it had taken less time than I’d anticipated for Wizard, Linden, Fallon, and me to analyze the data from Carson Holbrook’s crash.
It confirmed what we’d all expected. The pilot error narrative was bullshit. Carson had not made a mistake.
The four of us had spent long hours poring over every line of code, every snippet of flight telemetry, and every anomaly in the system logs.
Linden had amazed us all with her eye for detail and uncanny ability to recognize patterns in the chaos.
Fallon, with his experience as a pilot, had been invaluable, double-checking flight dynamics against Wizard’s data extractions.
Wizard himself, as expected, had managed to expose layers of tampering buried beneath subtle, sophisticated alterations.
The truth was worse than just an error or malfunction—Carson’s crash had been caused by an override command deliberately inputted from somewhere outside the cockpit.
The cold precision of it twisted my gut, the implications stark and unsettling.
Someone had intentionally sent a military test jet down, costing a skilled pilot his life.
And then they’d tried to fucking bury it.
The confirmation was sobering, but it was also fuel.
I could see it in Linden’s eyes when Wizard compiled all the information and laid the facts out, cold and irrefutable.
Her green eyes darkened, a shadow of pain and anger flickering behind the glassy surface.
She sat silently, absorbing the details, her jaw set with quiet determination.
She deserved answers—and justice for Carson.
I was gonna make damn fucking sure she got both.
The days blurred together, fueled by coffee, determination, and simmering anger. Early on, we’d discovered a disturbing pattern as we dug deeper into any crashes linked to Aegis and their classified military aircraft programs.
Wizard painstakingly unraveled each set of data, reconstructing files with the kind of skill only he possessed.
Each time he uncovered another crash, he brought us a new dossier, and the four of us would dissect every line, specifically noting any trace signals for remote tampering after we figured out what happened with Carson.
We kept meticulous records, marking inconsistencies and noting signs of interference. I was constantly impressed by Linden. Her meticulous gaze never wavered, spotting some discrepancies we might’ve missed without her.
When we’d gone back through several years of failed flights, we looked at them all collectively, piecing together the fragmented evidence to find the thread that connected them.
The chilling picture became clear. These were all intentional takedowns, and the perpetrators had hidden their tracks behind layers of sophisticated digital interference.
After that realization, we started digging deeper into Aegis.
With every layer we peeled back, I felt increasingly uneasy.
We were untangling something darker and more dangerous than any of us had anticipated.
The kind of corruption that led to cover-ups, to silenced voices, and to men they’d sworn to defend dying in the skies.
I didn’t know how far down this rot went, but I intended to find out.
At the end of the week, Wizard and I were ready to take what we’d found to King.
Once we laid it all out, he would decide if they had enough actionable intel to start planning our next move.
One that would likely involve violence and dead bodies, but in the end, the cancer would be cut out, and the wound would be cauterized.
I stepped into King's office, shutting the door behind me. A wall of familiar faces greeted me—each one a brother, a man I trusted with my life. A familiar tension hung in the air, but it wasn’t oppressive. Just another day with men who knew how to handle shit most people ran from.
King sat behind his desk, his elbows resting casually on the polished surface, wearing his perpetual scowl like armor. Blaze lounged beside the bar, staring intensely into amber liquid in a tumbler. The pyrologist and demolitions expert was probably contemplating the nature of fire itself.
Wizard had beaten me there and was sprawled at the conference table, laptop open, his fingers flying across keys at warp speed. Ace was on the couch, flicking through pages on his tablet between belly rubs for the giant hellhound turned pussy cat, stretched out over his lap.
Echo leaned against the wall near the window, his eyes scanning the room with quiet intensity—always observing, cataloging details most people missed.
The road captain was a surveillance specialist, so he would be vital to whatever plan we came up with.
Kevlar, our sergeant at arms, stood beside him, his arms crossed, a faintly amused smirk forming on his lips as he eyed me, clearly anticipating whatever chaos I'd brought to their doorstep.
Fallon and Cruze, another enforcer, lounged in the stuffed chairs in the sitting area by Ace, talking quietly.
I wasn’t surprised to see Echo and Cruze there. King had let me know that he’d pulled them on the job, and they’d been caught up with everything so far.
Kevlar glanced at me as I shut the office door behind me, and his mouth quirked in a sarcastic grin.
“Oh good, the Navy’s here. Fallon alone wasn’t nearly enough ego for the room.
” He cocked his head and drawled, “Heard you’ve been rattling some cages.
Thought the only talent you two possessed was buzzing towers and looking pretty in aviators. ”
Fallon flipped him the bird casually without even looking up. “Jealousy doesn’t look good on you, brother.”
Kevlar snorted, folding his muscular arms across his chest. “The day I’m jealous of someone who flies sitting down is the day I turn in my damn patch.”
Blaze chuckled dryly. “That a challenge, Kevlar? Pretty sure Fallon and Tomcat can arrange to toss your ass in the back seat of a Super Hornet and remind you what it feels like to black out from G-force.”
Kevlar gave a mock shudder, his lips twisting in disgust. “Pass. Rather have my ass strapped to a missile.”
A faint smirk tugged at Echo’s mouth. “I wouldn’t recommend strapping explosives to Kevlar. He’d probably rig it himself and end up blowing up half of Georgia.”
Ace grunted, never lifting his gaze from the tablet in his hands. “Accurate. And we don’t have room in the budget for another Kevlar-sized hole in anything.”
Wizard looked up and snickered. “But it’s so much fun to see you practically stroking out when someone fucks with your budget.”
“You lookin’ to eat a bullet?” Fallon asked the tech genius as he watched Ace lazily spinning his pistol around his trigger finger.
Kevlar’s eyes narrowed, and he cracked his neck from side to side. “Try it, pretty boy. We’ll see who ends up on the wrong end of a sniper rifle.”
King cleared his throat, the sound breaking through the banter instantly. “If you jackasses are done trying to measure your dicks, I’d like to get back to work.”
There were a few snickers and some smirks, but with one look from King, the atmosphere shifted abruptly from teasing camaraderie to something far more severe as the weight of the situation settled over the room.
All eyes turned toward me, their expressions now reflecting a grim understanding of the magnitude of the shit show we were dealing with.
Even Cerberus, who’d returned to his dog bed by King’s desk, lifted his head, feeling the tension in the air.
“This goes deeper than we initially thought,” I began, my voice edged with barely restrained anger. “Aegis has been conducting unauthorized tests of remote override systems during active test flights.”
Kevlar’s eyes hardened dangerously, his jaw clenched tight. “They’re fucking with aircraft in-flight?”
“Yeah.” My hands fisted on the table as cold fury coursed through my veins.
“They’ve overridden controls without pilot consent.
Partially to test pilot response, but we’ve found evidence that they’ve intentionally crashed planes to see how much interference they can inject before fail-safes trigger. ”
Silence blanketed the room, heavy with anger and disbelief. Any aviator would have been enraged at such a violation. For me, it was personal. A pilot’s plane was fucking sacred, and Aegis had desecrated that sanctity.
Wizard spoke up, his voice tight. “We were right that Carson Holbrook’s flight wasn’t mechanical failure or pilot error. His aircraft was hijacked remotely and deliberately crashed as part of a risk trial.”
Blaze let out a low curse, disbelief coloring his tone. “They’re crashing multimillion-dollar military prototypes just to see how much control they can seize? How the fuck can they afford it?”
“Not just multimillion,” Ace interjected as he leaned forward and set his tablet on the coffee table in front of him.
“These aircraft cost hundreds of millions each, but since Aegis has been making it look like pilot error or mechanical malfunctions, the military’s been footing the bill.
They’ve been getting away with it, but that shit ends now. ”
I looked at King. “The only reason Aegis would risk exposure this way is because they already have a buyer lined up. Someone who wants this override capability badly enough to make these tests worth it.”
His gaze sharpened, his voice dropping to a deadly rasp. “That means Linden is in even deeper shit than we thought.” He paused, his eyes flicking to Wizard. “We need to know exactly where these override signals originate from, then burn it to the fucking ground.”
Wizard nodded, his gaze already locked on his tablet again. “I’m on it. If there’s a server or signal hub within fifty miles, I’ll find it.”
Our prez turned his chair toward Ace. “Stay on the financials. Track deposits, offshore accounts, and shell companies. Anything that ties Aegis to the buyer or evidence that they’ve had previous dealings like this. Find the money trail, and we’ll know who’s pulling the strings.”
Ace nodded. “Consider it done.”
“Echo,” King continued, his tone unyielding, “you’re our eyes and ears. Get full surveillance on every building Aegis owns—admin offices, hangars, and warehouses. I don’t care how many prospects or resources you need, whatever it takes.”
“Got it,” Echo responded quietly, already pulling out his phone to send messages.
King’s eyes landed on Cruze, whose cool, calculated expression sharpened under the weight of the order he knew was coming. “Get inside the airfield’s admin building. I want every physical file, record, or document Aegis hasn’t digitized yet. They’re hiding something, and I want it in our hands.”
Cruze’s mouth curved into a ruthless smile.
Before he’d patched with the Hounds, he’d been a ghost—one of the most elusive and renowned thieves in the world.
His real identity had never been confirmed, but his alias still whispered in elite circles like a legend.
Now, he used those unparalleled skills for the club. Mostly.
King turned to Kevlar. “Start putting together anything you think we might need when we finally find the lab and plan to breach. Blaze’ll work on the pyro shit.”
Finally, he turned to Fallon and me. “You two keep working with Linden and Wizard. Comb through the files. She seems to have a knack for finding patterns in all the noise.”
I started to protest, something protective flaring in my chest at the idea of Linden staying tangled up in this mess, but King cut me off sharply. “She needs to stay busy and focused. Being locked in the clubhouse with nothing to do will make her restless, and that’s dangerous. Trust me on this.”
King was right, and I fucking hated it. Linden wasn’t the type to sit idle, and giving her purpose might be the best way to keep her safe. Even though every instinct in me screamed to lock her away and shield her from everything.
“Fine,” I grudgingly agreed.
The meeting broke up quickly after that, each of my brothers focused on their tasks with determined efficiency. I rose from my chair, the urge to get back to my woman riding me hard. I needed to see that she was safe. Feel her in my arms. I just needed her.