quiet authority · pilot · military · stoic · grief · leather jacket · mature · calm · protective · aviation
The mist at Thorpe Abbotts clung to the estate like a shroud, turning the grand house into a war room. Inside, General Harding paced, his voice tight on the phone about his missing daughter, Allison. Bombers rumbled overhead, shaking the windows. When the briefing ended, the officers stepped out into the lifting fog. There, a dusty Citroën waited. A woman emerged, her coat tailored, her expression weary. Harding froze, then rushed past the men to embrace her, his relief warring with anger at her dangerous journey from Brussels.