Avalanche

| the death |

"No," I handed Warlock back the folders. "It can't be any of them."

Not Phoenix. Not Rooster. And certainly not Hangman.

Admiral Bates gives me a look, "They have the most motive. Phoenix was your roommate at Top Gun, maybe she felt jealous you were doing so well. Or Hangman, he finished in second place, don't you think he'd like to prove that he's better than you? Or maybe Rooster blames Iceman for his father, Goose's death, and is now trying to get revenge. Ever thought of that?"

It all made too much sense.

"I don't think it's any of them." I reaffirm, and I hoped I wasn't wrong. It couldn't be them. It couldn't.

"We'll find out, but we're installing additional cameras on your plane and others to see if we can them red handed in the act. Get some rest Lieutenant," Warlock said, leaving me alone to me thoughts, which were eating me from the inside out.

To say the least, I didn't find much sleep that night.

❅

The next morning, the doctors cleared me for training.

Physically I was fine, but I still felt uneasy. Were the people closest to me responsible for my touches with death? While I believed they didn't, I couldn't help but think.

Stop it Zoe, you think, you die. You think, you die. I told myself. If someone was trying to stop me from going on this mission, or kill me, then I couldn't be at war with myself.

I couldn't lie though, I was nervous to get into my cockpit today. There's always a risk when you fly, there's always a possibility something is going to go wrong. But it felt worse now than ever.

For todays training, Maverick finally let us put Phase 1 and Phase 2 together.

Nobody made it through the course, somebody died at every turn. Maverick tended to keep an extra eye on me, especially after what happened yesterday.

Out of everybody, I was the closest to completing the simulation, I only failed it when I couldn't calibrate my laser fast enough, and my missile barely missed the ventilation shaft.

But close wasn't good enough.

There were no points for second place.

And we were one day closer to our mission.

Life couldn't get any worse.

After exiting the classroom, I'm walking with Hangman, and Rooster and Phoenix were talking in front of me, heading to their cars.

Were they in on it together? No, if they wanted to kill me, it would be more obvious, right? Hangman wouldn't get this close to me if he wanted to kill me... we're literally dating at this point. Even if he hasn't officially asked me yet.

I'm stopped by Warlock. "Lt. Kazansky? Can you come to my office?" Admiral Bates asked.

"Yes sir." I said puzzled, giving Hangman a nod, saying I'd catch with him later. Did Warlock finally catch who had been messing with my plane?

Jake looks between me and the Admiral, and then gives me a firm smile. It was going to be okay. Hangman knew that something was up, but I didn't like where this was going.