Chapter 7 - Steel and Sleet
The perimeter gates of Waukegan Airport had been ripped open, the chain-link fence flattened where the ambulance had smashed through without stopping. Beyond the shattered barrier lay a vast expanse of wet tarmac, illuminated by towering halogen floodlights that buzzed against the freezing rain.
At the far end of Runway 23, the sleek white silhouette of a Gulfstream G650 stood with its engines whining into a high-pitched taxiing scream, blue exhaust shimmering against the dark sky. The ambulance skidded to a halt directly beneath the lowered boarding stairs.
""Cut them off!"" I yelled.
I slammed the Maybach's brakes, executing a sweeping Scandinavian flick that sent our four-ton armored vehicle sliding sideways across the wet tarmac, bringing our reinforced front bumper to a bone-crushing halt directly against the rear axle of the ambulance. The metal crumpled with a deafening screech, pinning the rear doors shut.
The driver’s door of the ambulance flew open. Julian Vance jumped out, brandishing a compact automatic pistol. But this wasn't an assassin; it was an aging, panicked bureaucrat whose thirty-year conspiracy had just collapsed into ruins. He scrambled toward the passenger side, pulling Lily by the arm, using her as a shield while dragging Emma behind him.
""Marcus! Stay back!"" Julian shrieked, his voice carrying over the jet engines. He pressed the barrel of his weapon against his own trembling jaw before leveling it toward Lily. ""Stay back or I swear to God I'll end it all right here!""
I stepped out of the Maybach into the driving sleet, holding my weapon lowered at my side. Viktor and four operators fanned out into a wide perimeter, laser sights dancing across Julian’s chest, but none could risk the shot with the girls so close.
Lily was crying silently, her face pale, but her hands were clamped tight around Emma's wrist, refusing to let Julian separate them. Emma looked at me through the rain, her emerald eyes wide with terror, but she didn't scream. She remembered what I had told her beneath the oak tree.
""Julian,"" I said calmly, stepping forward, one slow pace at a time. The sleet soaked my hair, running cold down my collar, but my voice remained steady as granite. ""You were my father's friend. You delivered Lily. You took care of my mother when she was dying. Why?""
""Why?!"" Julian screamed, his composure fracturing completely. ""Your father treated me like a glorified veterinarian! Thirty years I patched up his thugs, kept his secrets, stitched up his gunshot wounds in dirty basements while your family raked in hundreds of millions! Grace found out Hayes was altering trust funds to funnel money to offshore shell corporations I controlled. She was going to tell you that very night! If she talked, your father would have buried me in a foundation pillar!""
""So you stole Emma to keep Sal quiet, and you kept Emma alive as leverage,"" I said, closing the distance to fifteen paces. ""And tonight, when the drive resurfaced, you realized Sal was finished and your trail was exposed.""
""The girls are worth two hundred million in trust assets if you're dead, Marcus!"" Julian yelled hysterically, his hand shaking so violently the gun wobbled. ""The board requires a surviving direct heir to release the funds! I was going to raise them in Switzerland! They would have had everything!""
""They already have everything,"" I said softly.
Emma suddenly looked down at Julian’s foot, which was hovering over a patch of slick black ice right at the base of the metal stairs. Without warning, Emma stomped down with all the strength in her little legs, driving her hard sneaker heel onto Julian’s toes while Lily jerked her arm violently backward.
Julian gasped in pain, his foot slipping outward on the ice. His center of gravity vanished, his weapon swinging harmlessly toward the gray sky.
May you like
A single suppressed crack split the night.
Viktor’s round took Julian through the right shoulder before his gun could level again. The old doctor collapsed onto the slick tarmac with a sharp cry, his weapon clattering harmlessly away across the ice.
