Chapter 18 - The Unholy Alliance
The high-beam headlights of our SUV blinded the woman standing on the tarmac. Sarah froze, holding the blue blanket close against her chest as the plane’s twin engines roared louder, sending gusts of wet wind across the asphalt.
Reid slammed the vehicle into park forty feet away, throwing his door open and stepping directly into the storm. I scrambled out right behind him, the rain soaking my clothes in seconds.
"Sarah!" Reid’s voice boomed across the tarmac, cutting through the thunderous noise of the aircraft. "Put him down!"
Sarah backed away toward the plane’s folding stairs, her yellow hood blown back by the wind to reveal her pale, panic-stricken face. "Stay back, Reid! Don't come any closer!"
"It’s over, Sarah!" I yelled, stepping beside Reid, my eyes locked on the small blue bundle in her arms. "The federal marshals are behind us! The court hearing is stopped! Julian isn't getting out!"
"You ruined his life!" Sarah screamed back, her voice crackling with raw hatred and desperation. "Julian was going to fix this family! He was going to reclaim our father’s legacy, and you destroyed him! You took the trust, you gave it away to strangers!"
"He tried to kill my daughter!" Reid shouted, taking a slow, calculated step forward. "He tried to murder Wren before she drew her first breath!"
"He was protecting our estate!" Sarah yelled, tears streaming down her face, mixing with the pouring rain. "And now I’m protecting what’s left of us!"
From inside the open door of the aircraft, a man stepped onto the small landing stairs. He was dressed in a dark suit, holding a satellite phone to his ear.
It wasn't a pilot. It was Richard Sterling—Julian’s high-profile defense lawyer.
"Sarah! Get on the plane now!" Richard Sterling shouted, looking nervously toward the broken perimeter fence where federal siren lights were appearing through the fog. "The authorities are here! We need to take off immediately!"
"He doesn't care about you, Sarah!" I pleaded, holding out my open hands as I edged closer. "Look at him! Aegis Global Health is using you! Once that plane leaves American airspace, you won't be Julian’s sister—you’ll be an international fugitive with a kidnapped child! They will throw you away the moment they get what they want!"
Sarah looked up at Richard Sterling, then back at us. Her hands were shaking violently around the blanket.
Suddenly, a tiny, high-pitched cry came from beneath the blue fabric.
"Mommy!"
Leo’s sweet, frightened voice cut through the roaring engines like a ray of pure light.
Hearing his voice, every instinct in my body went wild. "Leo!" I screamed, stepping forward without thinking of danger. "Leo, Mommy's here!"
"Don't move!" Richard Sterling shouted from the stairs, pulling a heavy silver pistol from beneath his coat and pointing it directly at me. "Back off, or I order this plane to roll right now!"
Before Sterling could pull the trigger or signal the pilot, Reid lunged forward like a lion.
He didn't run at Sarah—he charged straight for the aircraft stairs, leaping over the wing strut and slamming his shoulder into Richard Sterling’s torso. The gun went flying into the darkness, discharging once into the wet asphalt with a loud POP. Both men crashed down onto the tarmac in a chaotic heap of limbs.
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Sarah shrieked in terror, dropping her balance as the wind gusted. She slipped on the wet paint of the runway, losing her footing and stumbling backward.
I sprinted forward, diving across the slippery ground, throwing my arms out to catch my son as Sarah fell.
