High Altitude Infiltration

The interior of the twin-turboprop cargo plane was a dim, rattling cavern illuminated only by the faint red glow of tactical jump lights. At twenty-four thousand feet above the Swiss Alps, the temperature outside hovered near minus forty degrees Celsius, and the air was thin enough to induce hypoxia within seconds without pressurized oxygen. Geneva adjusted the seal on her full-face high-altitude oxygen mask, hearing the rhythmic, mechanical hiss of…