Chapter 6 - The Airport Choice
Sophia stared at the dead screen.
“What did he mean?”
Marcus already knew.
“He wants me there.”
“Why?”
“Because the drive isn't enough.”
Rafael drove through downtown Chicago at nearly ninety miles per hour.
Marcus sat in the passenger seat with Dominic's flash drive inside his coat.
Sophia was in the back.
“He said Lily or you.”
Marcus looked through the windshield.
“Ethan has spent six years waiting for this.”
“For what?”
“To finish whatever happened the night Dominic died.”
Sophia shook her head.
“Ethan was there. We heard him.”
“Yes.”
“But your mother was there too.”
“Yes.”
“And Victor knew Mercer.”
Marcus turned.
“Everyone in my family knew Mercer.”
“Except you?”
The question hurt.
Because it was true.
Marcus had spent years believing he was the responsible son.
The one who stayed.
The one who cleaned up the empire.
Maybe everyone had been protecting him from something.
Or using him.
Rafael took an exit.
“Airport in twelve.”
Marcus called federal prosecutor Helen Ward.
She answered on the fourth ring.
“Marcus, it's one-thirty in the morning.”
“I have evidence connecting Caleb Mercer to trafficking, financial crimes, public corruption, and at least one murder.”
Silence.
“That's not funny.”
“I don't joke with you.”
“Where are you?”
“Moving.”
“Evidence?”
“Digital records.”
“Reliable?”
“My brother died collecting them.”
Helen knew about Dominic.
“Send me a copy.”
“I can't.”
“Then I can't help you.”
“You can prepare.”
“For what?”
“Chicago Executive Airport. Private hangar seventeen.”
“Marcus—”
“A five-year-old child has been kidnapped.”
Helen's voice changed.
“I'm calling the FBI.”
“Do it quietly.”
“Why?”
“Because Mercer's network includes law enforcement.”
She paused.
“How deep?”
“I don't know.”
“Then how do I know your people aren't compromised?”
“You don't.”
Marcus ended the call.
Sophia leaned forward.
“You trust her?”
“As much as I trust anyone outside this car.”
Rafael glanced at him.
“Comforting.”
They reached the airport at 1:47.
Hangar seventeen stood at the far end.
A private jet waited outside.
Engines off.
No visible guards.
Marcus hated that immediately.
“Too easy.”
Sophia reached for the door.
Marcus stopped her.
“You stay until I signal.”
“No.”
“Sophia.”
“We already had this conversation.”
“And now there's a plane full of kidnappers.”
“And my daughter.”
Marcus turned toward her.
Sophia met his eyes.
Neither moved.
Finally Rafael said, “You're wasting time.”
Marcus exhaled.
“Stay behind me.”
They approached the hangar.
The door opened.
Ethan stood inside.
No weapon visible.
Lily sat twenty feet behind him in a chair.
Her hands weren't tied.
She clutched her stuffed rabbit.
“Mommy!”
Sophia moved.
Marcus caught her.
Ethan raised one finger.
“Not yet.”
Sophia's voice shook with rage.
“You son of a—”
“Careful. Lily can hear you.”
“You kidnapped her.”
“I protected her.”
“From who?”
Ethan looked at Marcus.
“Him.”
Marcus said, “That's becoming repetitive.”
Ethan smiled.
“You think you're the hero because you inherited enough money to rewrite your family's history?”
“I don't care what you think of me.”
“No. But you should care what Lily eventually thinks.”
Sophia stepped forward.
“Give me my daughter.”
“Drive first.”
Marcus removed it.
Ethan's eyes followed.
“Throw it.”
“No.”
Ethan's smile vanished.
“You're not negotiating.”
“I always negotiate.”
“You have no leverage.”
Marcus glanced at Lily.
“She has asthma.”
Ethan's jaw tightened.
“You took her from medical observation. If she has another attack, you need Sophia.”
Ethan looked toward Lily.
The girl was already breathing faster.
Sophia noticed.
“Lily.”
Her daughter looked at her.
“Baby, slow breaths.”
Ethan became uneasy.
Sophia stepped closer.
“Her inhaler.”
Ethan pulled it from his pocket.
“Give it to her.”
“She doesn't need it.”
“You're not a doctor.”
“She used it an hour ago.”
Sophia's eyes widened.
“An hour?”
Ethan realized his mistake.
Marcus did too.
“You've had her longer than the hospital timeline suggested.”
Ethan said nothing.
“You arranged the transfer before Sophia received your threat.”
Marcus stepped forward.
“This wasn't improvised.”
“No.”
A voice came from behind them.
“It wasn't.”
Caleb Mercer emerged from the shadows.
He was in his late sixties.
Elegant suit.
Silver hair.
No visible weapon.
Four men appeared around the hangar.
Rafael quietly shifted position.
Mercer smiled at Marcus.
“You look like Victor.”
Marcus said nothing.
“That isn't a compliment.”
“Where is my father?”
“Still playing games.”
“You burned his house.”
“Technically, it was his house.”
Mercer looked toward Sophia.
“And you.”
His expression became almost affectionate.
“Dominic really did have terrible judgment.”
Sophia's hatred was immediate.
“You killed him.”
Mercer sighed.
“Everyone keeps saying that.”
“Did you?”
“No.”
Marcus watched him carefully.
“Who did?”
Mercer looked at Ethan.
Ethan's face tightened.
Sophia followed his gaze.
“No.”
Ethan said, “It wasn't supposed to happen.”
Sophia stared.
“You killed Dominic?”
“He attacked me.”
“You murdered Lily's father.”
“I didn't know about Lily!”
His composure cracked.
“For six years, I raised her!”
“You controlled us.”
“I protected you!”
“You tracked me!”
“Because Mercer was looking for you!”
Mercer laughed.
Ethan turned.
“Shut up.”
Marcus noticed the fracture.
Interesting.
Ethan wasn't Mercer's loyal employee anymore.
He was terrified of him.
Mercer looked at Marcus.
“The drive.”
Marcus held it up.
“You get this when Lily leaves with Sophia.”
“No.”
“Then we're finished.”
Marcus turned as if leaving.
One of Mercer's men raised a gun.
Marcus stopped.
Mercer smiled.
“You inherited Victor's arrogance too.”
“No.”
Marcus looked at Lily.
“I inherited his patience.”
Sirens sounded in the distance.
Mercer's smile disappeared.
Ethan spun toward Marcus.
“You called police?”
“Not police.”
Black vehicles entered the airport perimeter.
Federal agents.
Mercer's men raised weapons.
Chaos erupted.
Rafael tackled Sophia behind a vehicle as gunfire exploded.
Marcus ran toward Lily.
Ethan reached her first.
He grabbed the child and pulled her behind the plane.
“Ethan!”
Sophia screamed.
Marcus chased them.
Mercer disappeared through a side exit.
Federal agents flooded the hangar.
Marcus rounded the aircraft.
Ethan held Lily against his chest.
A gun in his hand.
Lily cried.
“Daddy, stop!”
Ethan froze.
The word destroyed him.
Daddy.
Despite everything, Lily still knew him as her father.
His gun lowered slightly.
Sophia approached.
“Ethan.”
“Stay back.”
“You love her?”
His face twisted.
“You know I do.”
“Then look at her.”
He did.
Lily was trembling.
“You're scaring her.”
Ethan's eyes filled.
“I never wanted this.”
“Then stop.”
“I can't.”
“Yes, you can.”
Mercer's voice suddenly came through Ethan's earpiece.
“Shoot Voss.”
Marcus heard it.
Ethan closed his eyes.
“I'm sorry.”
He raised the gun.
Sophia stepped between Marcus and the weapon.
“No.”
“Sophia!”
Ethan stared at her.
“You'd die for him?”
“No.”
She looked at Lily.
“I'd die before I let my daughter watch you become a murderer again.”
Ethan's hand shook.
Then a gunshot rang out.
Sophia screamed.
Ethan collapsed.
Blood spread across his shoulder.
Behind him stood Victor Voss.
Holding a pistol.
Marcus stared.
Victor lowered the weapon.
“Take the child.”
Sophia ran to Lily.
She pulled her daughter into her arms.
“Mommy!”
Sophia sobbed into her hair.
Marcus looked at Ethan.
Alive.
Barely.
Federal agents approached.
Then Marcus heard another sound.
An engine.
The private jet.
Mercer was aboard.
The aircraft began moving.
Victor shouted, “The drive!”
Marcus reached inside his coat.
Empty.
He looked toward Ethan.
Ethan smiled weakly.
During the chaos, he had taken it.
But it wasn't in his hand.
Marcus looked at the jet.
Mercer had the drive.
The plane accelerated.
Helen Ward ran toward Marcus.
“Can he expose what's on it?”
Marcus shook his head.
“That isn't what I'm worried about.”
“What then?”
Marcus stared at the departing jet.
“The drive contains names of every witness Dominic identified.”
Sophia looked up from Lily.
Marcus's face darkened.
“And if Mercer has it…”
May you like
He watched the aircraft lift into the night.
“He now knows exactly who he needs to kill.”
