PART 2 — THE DEVICE UNDER THE BABY’S BLANKET
I stared at the tiny black object pressed against Oliver’s side.
And suddenly I was back in our house.
Five nights earlier.
The shouting downstairs.
My mother screaming.
Glass breaking.
Chloe crying into my nightgown while I dragged her toward the little storage closet beneath the stairs.
I remembered shutting the door.
I remembered darkness.
I remembered holding my hand over Chloe’s mouth because she kept whispering, “Mommy?”
And I remembered seeing something near the floor.
A black plastic shape no bigger than my thumb.
Exactly like the thing under Oliver’s blanket.
My mouth went dry.
“I saw one,” I whispered.
Marcus Vale leaned closer.
“Where?”
“At my house.”
Nobody in first class moved.
Even Oliver had stopped screaming.
He was making small broken sounds now, tiny exhausted whimpers that somehow frightened me more.
Marcus’s eyes stayed on mine.
“When?”
“The night the police came.”
The security guard nearest us looked at Marcus.
Something passed between them.
A silent warning.
Marcus’s voice softened.
“What happened that night, Abigail?”
I looked toward Chloe.
She was still asleep three rows away.
Her stuffed giraffe rested against her cheek.
I suddenly didn’t want to say anything.
Adults had already asked me too many questions.
Police officers.
A woman from somewhere called child services.
A man who kept asking whether I remembered what the other man looked like.
Everybody wanted pieces of the night.
Nobody seemed to care that every time I remembered, my stomach hurt.
Marcus noticed me shrinking into myself.
He stood.
“Enough.”
The security guard looked surprised.
“Sir?”
“She’s four.”
He removed his jacket from the empty seat and placed it over my shoulders.
It smelled faintly like soap and something expensive.
“You don’t have to tell us anything else right now.”
That made me look at him.
Most adults didn’t say that.
They usually said, “Try to remember.”
Marcus turned toward his team.
“Get a photograph of the device before anyone touches it.”
One guard already had his phone out.
The flight attendant whispered, “What is it?”
“I don’t know yet.”
But the way Marcus said it made me think he knew more than he wanted anyone else to hear.
A second guard approached.
“The captain’s been informed.
He wants to know if this is something that requires diversion.”
Marcus glanced at Oliver.
“Yes.”
The attendant’s face changed.
“Where?”
“Nearest suitable airport.”
“We’re over the Atlantic.”
“Then find one.”
His voice wasn’t loud.
It didn’t need to be.
Everyone moved.
I watched him carefully slide Oliver’s shirt upward without shifting the baby’s body.
The device had been tucked inside the fabric near Oliver’s ribs.
A thin wire disappeared beneath a medical patch on his skin.
Marcus stopped breathing.
“What is that?”
The flight attendant covered her mouth.
One of the guards swore under his breath.
Marcus looked at him sharply.
“Not around the child.”
The guard nodded toward me.
“Sorry.”
I didn’t care about the word.
I cared about Marcus’s face.
Something terrible had happened inside his eyes.
Not panic.
Recognition.
He knew.
“What is it?”
I asked.
Marcus didn’t answer immediately.
Finally he said, “Something that should not be there.”
That was when Oliver started crying again.
A weak cry this time.
Marcus’s hands trembled.
Just once.
Then stopped.
He looked toward the aisle.
“Where’s Dr.
Chen?”
A woman from the second row stood immediately.
“I’m here.”
I hadn’t realized she was a doctor.
She knelt beside Oliver.
Within seconds, the first-class cabin changed from something frightening into something almost like a hospital.
Blankets disappeared.
Lights came on.
A medical kit was opened.
Marcus held Oliver’s head while Dr.
Chen examined the patch.
I stayed beside him.
Nobody told me to leave.
Maybe they had forgotten I was there.
Maybe Marcus hadn’t.
Dr.
Chen touched the edge of the adhesive carefully.
Oliver screamed.
“There’s swelling underneath.”
Marcus’s face tightened.
“Can you remove it?”
“Not here.
Not without knowing what’s attached.”
The security guard said, “Could it be a tracker?”
Dr.
Chen looked at him.
“A tracker wouldn’t explain this level of pain.”
Marcus stared at the device.
“What would?”
She hesitated.
“Something delivering an electrical current.
Or pressure.
Or medication.”
The word medication made Marcus look up.
“What medication?”
“I don’t know.”
He reached for his phone.
No signal.
His jaw tightened.
The guard said, “Aircraft Wi-Fi is still available.”
Marcus opened something on his phone.
A medical record.
Oliver’s.
He scrolled quickly.
“Allergies.
Vaccinations.
Pediatrician.”
Then he stopped.
His voice dropped.
“He had an appointment yesterday.”
“With whom?”
Dr.
Chen asked.
“A private pediatric nurse came to the hotel.”
The guard beside him turned.
“Which nurse?”
Marcus looked at him.
“You arranged it.”
The man went still.
“I arranged the agency.”
“Who was the nurse?”
“I’ll check.”
He moved away.
Something inside me tightened.
I looked toward the curtain separating us from the rest of the plane.
Someone was watching through the gap.
Just an eye.
Then it disappeared.
I pointed.
“There.”
Marcus turned.
“What?”
“Someone was looking.”
The security team moved immediately.
One guard pulled the curtain aside.
Several passengers looked up.
Nobody suspicious.
Nobody running.
Nobody admitting anything.
“Who?”
Marcus asked.
“I don’t know.”
A woman in row four frowned.
A businessman removed his headphones.
An old man stared over his glasses.
A teenage boy kept playing a game.
Then Chloe woke up.
“Abby?”
Her voice was small and scared.
I ran to her.
“I’m here.”
She sat up.
“Where are we?”
“Still on the plane.”
“Why are people yelling?”
“They’re helping the baby.”
She rubbed her eyes.
Then she saw Marcus.
Her face changed.
Chloe crawled closer to the window.
Marcus noticed.
“Hi, Chloe.”
She stared at him.
“How do you know my name?”
Marcus looked at me.
I hadn’t told him.
Neither had anyone else.
I felt cold.
Marcus realized it too.
“I heard Abigail say it earlier.”
Had I?
Maybe.
I couldn’t remember.
Then Chloe pointed past him.
“That man was at our house.”
Everything stopped.
Marcus turned slowly.
“Which man?”
Chloe pointed toward the curtain.
At one of Marcus’s security guards.
Not the one beside us.
The other one.
The man who had gone to check the nurse’s name.
His name was Daniel.
He was standing near the cockpit door.
His face changed.
Just slightly.
But I saw it.
So did Marcus.
“Daniel.”
The guard didn’t move.
Marcus’s voice became colder.
“Come here.”
Daniel smiled.
“Sir?”
“Come here.”
He walked toward us.
Every step seemed too loud.
Marcus placed himself between Daniel and Oliver.
“Have you ever been to Washington?”
Daniel frowned.
“Of course.
We’ve had meetings there.”
“Have you ever been to Abigail’s house?”
“No.”
Chloe shook her head.
“Yes.”
Daniel looked at her.
Not kindly.
Not angrily.
Just carefully.
That scared me.
Marcus noticed.
“What aren’t you telling me?”
“Nothing.”
Chloe whispered, “He had a red hat.”
Daniel’s face lost color.
I remembered it then.
A red baseball cap on the floor.
Near the stairs.
Mom screaming.
A man’s voice.
Not the same man who had been shouting before.
Another one.
Lower.
Quieter.
Dangerous.
I backed toward Chloe.
Marcus stepped forward.
“Daniel.”
“Sir, this is absurd.”
“Then give me your phone.”
Daniel didn’t.
The entire cabin changed.
Marcus’s other guard moved to block the aisle.
Dr.
Chen pulled Oliver closer.
Marcus held out his hand.
“Phone.”
Daniel laughed once.
“Seriously?”
“Yes.”
“You’re trusting two traumatized children?”
“I’m trusting the fact that you’re refusing a direct order.”
Daniel looked around.
He was calculating.
I didn’t know the word then.
But I knew the look.
Animals made that look before they ran.
Daniel suddenly shoved the flight attendant aside.
The champagne bottle hit the carpet.
He ran.
Passengers screamed.
Marcus’s guard chased him.
The curtain snapped open.
I grabbed Chloe.
Daniel pushed through business class.
Somebody shouted.
A tray crashed.
Then there was a struggle.
Marcus looked toward Oliver.
Then toward Daniel.
He chose Oliver.
That told me everything I needed to know about him.
He stayed.
The second guard returned a minute later with Daniel’s arm twisted behind his back.
A passenger helped.
Daniel had blood on his lip.
His expensive suit was torn.
Marcus stood.
“Sit him down.”
Daniel laughed.
“You have no idea what you’re doing.”
Marcus walked toward him.
“No.
I think I’m beginning to.”
Daniel looked at me.
I shrank behind Marcus.
That was when Marcus stopped pretending this was just a security problem.
He stepped between us completely.
“You look at her again,” he said quietly, “and you’ll regret it.”
Daniel smiled.
“You’re protecting the wrong child.”
Marcus’s face changed.
“What does that mean?”
Daniel said nothing.
Marcus’s guard took Daniel’s phone.
Locked.
Fingerprint access.
Daniel refused.
Then Chloe spoke.
“The baby thing.”
Everyone turned.
She pointed toward Daniel’s jacket.
“There’s another one.”
The guard searched him.
In his inside pocket was a small black case.
Inside were two devices.
Both looked like the one attached to Oliver.
Marcus stared.
Then he looked at Daniel.
“You put it on my son.”
Daniel said nothing.
Marcus grabbed the front of his shirt.
“YOU PUT THAT ON MY SON?”
“Marcus!”
Dr.
Chen’s voice stopped him.
Oliver had gone quiet.
Too quiet.
His tiny face looked gray.
Marcus released Daniel instantly.
“Oliver?”
Dr.
Chen checked the baby’s pulse.
“We need to remove it.”
“You said that was dangerous.”
“It’s more dangerous to leave it.”
Marcus knelt.
“What do you need?”
“Scissors.
Saline.
Gauze.
And everyone else needs to move back.”
The plane suddenly tilted.
Not violently.
But enough that everyone grabbed something.
The intercom clicked.
The captain’s voice came through.
“We have begun an emergency diversion toward Shannon, Ireland.
Flight time approximately forty-one minutes.”
Forty-one minutes.
Oliver didn’t have forty-one minutes.
Dr.
Chen worked carefully.
The medical patch lifted.
Underneath, Oliver’s skin was bright red.
There was a tiny needle.
Marcus made a sound I never forgot.
Not anger.
Not fear.
Pain.
Pure pain.
“What has he been given?”
Dr.
Chen examined the device.
“I don’t know.”
Daniel laughed softly from behind us.
Marcus turned.
“What?”
Daniel looked at the baby.
“You should’ve left it alone.”
Dr.
Chen froze.
“What did you say?”
Daniel’s smile disappeared.
Nothing scared me more than that.
Marcus moved toward him.
“What happens if it’s removed?”
Daniel looked straight at him.
“Ask Abigail’s mother.”
My whole body went cold.
“What?”
Daniel’s eyes moved to me.
“Your mother figured it out too.”
Marcus’s voice sharpened.
“Figured out what?”
Daniel leaned back.
“That nobody was supposed to find the devices.”
I stared at him.
“My mommy?”
He smiled.
“She was smarter than we expected.”
My throat hurt.
“Where is she?”
Daniel said nothing.
“WHERE IS MY MOMMY?”
Chloe started crying.
I didn’t care.
I ran toward Daniel.
Marcus caught me before I reached him.
“Abigail.”
“Let me go!”
I kicked.
I screamed.
“Where is she?”
Marcus held me gently but firmly.
Daniel watched.
Then he said, “She’s alive.”
Everything inside me stopped.
Even Chloe stopped crying.
I stared at him.
“My mommy is alive?”
Daniel’s smile returned.
“For now.”
Marcus handed me to one of the flight attendants.
“Take both girls back.”
“No!”
“Abigail—”
“I want my mommy!”
“I know.”
His face softened.
“I’m going to find her.”
“You promise?”
Marcus looked at me.
Something changed in his expression.
I think he understood that adults had made promises to me before.
Promises about safety.
Promises about going home.
Promises about Grandma waiting.
He didn’t say yes immediately.
Then he said, “I promise I will do everything I can.”
That felt different.
I let the attendant take me.
But I could still hear everything.
Marcus questioned Daniel.
Not loudly.
That was worse.
“Who are you working for?”
Silence.
“What was attached to my son?”
Silence.
“What does Abigail’s family have to do with this?”
Daniel finally answered.
“Nothing.”
Marcus stared.
Daniel smiled.
“That’s the problem.”
The guard beside him frowned.
“What does that mean?”
Daniel leaned forward.
“Her family wasn’t the target.”
He nodded toward Oliver.
“Neither was yours.”
Marcus looked genuinely confused.
“Then who was?”
Daniel’s eyes moved toward the cockpit.
“The plane.”
Nobody spoke.
The engines hummed steadily around us.
Passengers nearby began whispering.
One flight attendant went pale.
Marcus said, “Explain.”
Daniel looked almost amused.
“You think one screaming baby was the point?”
He nodded at Oliver.
“The device makes him cry when he moves.
Makes people focus on him.
Makes security gather.
Makes cabin crew gather.”
Marcus slowly turned toward the front of the aircraft.
Realization moved across his face.
“A distraction.”
Daniel smiled.
“Exactly.”
The captain’s door was closed.
Marcus’s guard raised his radio.
“Cockpit, confirm secure.”
Static.
No answer.
Again.
“Cockpit, respond.”
Nothing.
A flight attendant approached the door.
The keypad didn’t respond.
Her face drained.
“That isn’t right.”
Marcus looked at Daniel.
“What did you do?”
Daniel shook his head.
“Not me.”
Then the plane dropped.
People screamed.
Loose glasses flew upward.
Chloe hit the seat beside me.
I grabbed her.
The aircraft steadied seconds later.
The intercom remained silent.
The lead flight attendant ran toward the cockpit.
“Captain?”
No answer.
Marcus shouted, “Can you access it?”
“There’s an emergency code.”
She entered it.
Red light.
Denied.
Again.
Denied.
Daniel laughed.
“You’re late.”
Marcus’s guard punched him.
Daniel’s head snapped sideways.
“Where is the captain?”
Daniel spat blood onto the carpet.
“I don’t know.”
Then a voice came over the aircraft speakers.
Not the captain.
A woman.
Calm.
American.
“Good evening, Mr.
Vale.”
Marcus froze.
The cabin went silent.
The woman continued.
“I’m sorry Oliver had to suffer.
Children are unfortunately effective.”
Marcus’s eyes became murderous.
“What do you want?”
A soft laugh came through the speakers.
“You still think this is about you.”
I recognized her voice.
My knees went weak.
Not because I knew her name.
Because I had heard her five nights earlier.
In my house.
Arguing with my mother.
I stood.
“That’s her.”
Marcus looked back.
“What?”
“That lady.”
The voice continued.
“Hello, Abigail.”
Everyone looked at me.
Chloe buried her face against my arm.
My heart slammed.
“How does she know me?”
The woman laughed again.
“Because, sweetheart, your mother has caused us a great deal of trouble.”
“Where is she?”
“Closer than you think.”
Marcus shouted toward the speaker.
“If you touch that child’s mother—”
“Oh, Marcus.
Always the rescuer.”
He stopped.
“You know me?”
“I know everything about you.”
The speakers crackled.
“More importantly, I know why you were really on this flight.”
Marcus said nothing.
That frightened me.
The woman continued.
“London.
Private meeting.
Westbridge acquisition.
Fourteen billion dollars.”
Several passengers stared.
Marcus’s jaw tightened.
“How do you know that?”
“Because half the people involved in that transaction are already ours.”
Daniel smiled.
Marcus looked at him.
Then at his remaining guard.
For the first time, Marcus no longer knew whom to trust.
Neither did I.
The woman said, “Here is what happens now.
Mr.
Vale hands over the access token he is carrying.”
Marcus touched his shirt instinctively.
There.
Something beneath it.
A chain.
The voice laughed.
“Thank you for confirming.”
Marcus swore softly.
“What access token?”
His guard asked.
Marcus didn’t answer.
The woman did.
“A cold-storage authentication key.”
I didn’t understand.
Marcus did.
His face changed.
“You built all this for financial access?”
“Not merely financial.”
The cabin lights flickered.
“You have seven minutes.”
“To do what?”
“Give Daniel the key.”
Daniel smiled through his bleeding lip.
Marcus stared at him.
“If I refuse?”
“Then the aircraft continues on its current flight path.”
The flight attendant looked toward a monitor.
Her face went white.
“We’re turning.”
Marcus looked.
The plane was no longer heading toward Ireland.
We were turning south.
Away from land.
The woman said calmly:
“Six minutes, forty seconds.”
Then the speakers went dead.
Panic spread.
Passengers began shouting.
Someone demanded to know what was happening.
Another person started praying.
Marcus moved fast.
“Can anyone access the cockpit?”
The flight attendant shook her head.
“We have procedures, but the door control isn’t responding.”
“Can this aircraft be controlled remotely?”
She looked horrified.
“Not normally.”
“Normally isn’t useful right now.”
Dr.
Chen called out.
“Oliver’s breathing is improving.”
Marcus turned immediately.
Even then.
Even with the plane possibly hijacked.
He went to his son.
He touched Oliver’s face.
The baby opened his eyes.
Marcus nearly collapsed with relief.
Then I remembered something.
The closet.
That night.
The black device.
My mother had picked it up.
She’d whispered something.
Not to me.
Into her phone.
I closed my eyes.
Think.
I remembered Chloe shaking.
Mom kneeling.
The device in her hand.
And Mom saying:
“It’s not a tracker.”
Then another sentence.
“They’re testing access.”
My eyes opened.
“Marcus.”
He looked at me.
“My mommy said something.”
He came over immediately.
“What?”
“When she found the thing.”
“What did she say?”
I squeezed my eyes shut again.
Words floated through my memory.
Adults speaking too fast.
My mother pushing us into the closet.
“It’s not a tracker.”
“They’re testing access.”
And then—
“If they can get through here, they can get through anywhere.”
I opened my eyes.
Marcus stared at me.
“What did your mother do?”
“I don’t know.”
“What was her job?”
I shook my head.
“She worked on computers.”
His face changed.
“What kind?”
“She had lots of screens.”
The security guard said, “Cybersecurity?”
I didn’t know.
Marcus asked, “What’s her name?”
“Emily Harper.”
The remaining guard pulled out a phone.
Typed.
Then stopped.
His eyes widened.
“Sir.”
“What?”
He held up the screen.
“Emily Harper isn’t just cybersecurity.”
Marcus read.
Then looked at me.
“She worked for the Department of Defense.”
I didn’t understand what that meant.
But everyone else did.
“She designed aviation security architecture,” the guard continued.
Marcus stared toward the cockpit.
Suddenly everything connected.
My house.
The device.
My mother.
Oliver.
This plane.
The woman’s voice.
The guard typed again.
Then frowned.
“Official record says Emily Harper died five days ago.”
My heart cracked.
“No.”
Marcus looked at him sharply.
“Daniel said she’s alive.”
“According to this, her body was identified after a house fire.”
I shook my head violently.
“No!
There wasn’t a fire!”
The guard looked at me.
“What?”
“There wasn’t!”
Five nights ago.
Police lights.
Broken glass.
The blue-coated woman.
Hotel room.
Nobody had mentioned fire.
Nobody had said Mommy died.
They had only said we had to leave.
Marcus crouched.
“Abigail, who told you that your grandmother was waiting in London?”
I tried to remember.
“The lady.”
“What lady?”
“The lady in the blue coat.”
“From the police?”
“I thought so.”
Marcus’s face tightened.
“Did she have a uniform?”
“No.”
“Badge?”
I shook my head.
“She said she was helping.”
Marcus stood.
“Who placed these children on the aircraft?”
The flight attendant checked paperwork.
“An escort service coordinated through federal documentation.”
“Names.”
She read one.
Marcus’s guard searched.
Nothing.
Second.
Nothing.
Fake.
All fake.
I felt cold.
Chloe looked up at me.
“Abby?”
I held her hand.
Marcus whispered, “They weren’t sending you to safety.”
“Then where were we going?”
Nobody answered.
Then the speaker came alive again.
“Three minutes.”
Marcus looked toward Daniel.
Daniel smiled.
“Give me the key.”
Marcus reached beneath his shirt.
He pulled out a small metal object on a chain.
Daniel’s eyes lit up.
Marcus held it.
Then looked at me.
At Chloe.
At Oliver.
He seemed to make a decision.
He walked toward Daniel.
The guard said, “Sir?”
Marcus ignored him.
Daniel extended his hand.
“Smart.”
Marcus dropped the key into his palm.
Daniel smiled.
The speakers clicked.
“Excellent.”
Then Marcus said:
“Now.”
The remaining guard moved.
So did Marcus.
Daniel barely had time to react.
Marcus grabbed his wrist.
The guard slammed his hand against the table.
The key fell.
Marcus kicked it toward Dr.
Chen.
“Take it!”
Daniel screamed.
“You idiot!”
Marcus twisted his arm.
“You really thought I’d hand you the genuine key?”
Daniel froze.
Marcus smiled.
“That one opens a wine cellar in Geneva.”
For the first time, Daniel looked afraid.
Then something beeped.
Not
Source: Stories of Destiny · Huyen Huyen
