Chapter 5 - The Blue Vial
The roar of the rain and the jet engines seemed to fade into a dull hum. Everything narrowed down to the small blue glass vial held between Evelyn Vale’s trembling, liver-spotted fingers.
"What do you want?" I asked, stopping on the stairs, holding my hands out in a universal gesture of surrender.
"I want my life back," Evelyn said, her eyes burning with fanatic intensity. "I want fifty million dollars wired to an offshore account in Nassau within ten minutes. I want full immunity signed by the district attorney. And I want you to sign over the deed to the Vale Steel manufacturing plant back to my family."
"Done," I said instantly.
Vanessa looked at her mother, then at me. "Mason... you can't just agree to that—"
"I don't care about fifty million dollars!" I shouted over the storm. "I don't care about the steel plant! Take all of it! Just give me the vial!"
"You think I'm stupid, Mason?" Evelyn sneered. "If I give you this vial now, your tactical thugs will shoot us before we reach ten thousand feet. The transfer happens when we land in Nassau. You will receive the formula by encrypted email after the money clears."
"Claire doesn't have ten hours!" I took another half-step up. "Dr. Bennett said her organs will start failing within six hours!"
"Then you had better pray your bank transfers money quickly," Evelyn said, turning toward the plane door.
"Evelyn, wait!" Vanessa suddenly cried out, grabbing her mother's arm. "Look!"
Down the airport access road, four police cruisers with flashing red and blue lights blew through the security gate, sirens wailing against the night sky. Detective Reyes had tracked my location through my vehicle's GPS.
Evelyn panicked. "They called the police! You betrayed us!"
In her terror, her grip slipped on the silver cane. She stumbled backward against the doorframe, her arm jerking wildly.
The blue vial slipped from her fingers.
It fell through the gap between the air-stairs and the fuselage, dropping forty feet toward the wet concrete below.
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My mind went completely blank. I didn't think. I didn't calculate the distance or the risk.
I threw my body over the stair handrail into the open air.
