Chapter 14 - THE RUNWAY
The private jet rolled toward the runway with Clara trapped inside.
Arthur drove a maintenance truck across the taxiway.
The pilot swerved and stopped twenty yards short of the truck.
Reed jumped from the rear stairs and fired toward the windshield.
Julian pulled Arthur down.
Captain Brooks’ officers surrounded the plane from both sides.
Eleanor appeared at the open doorway with one arm around a frail gray-haired woman.
Clara.
Even after twenty-two years, Arthur recognized her.
“Let her go,” he shouted.
Eleanor pressed a syringe against Clara’s neck.
“You signed your empire away for her once,” she called. “Do it again.”
Maya arrived with Gabriel moments later.
She stepped onto the runway alone.
“You lost the board vote.”
Eleanor’s eyes narrowed.
“That’s impossible.”
“I control Clara’s shares.”
“You are a waitress.”
“I’m the waitress who stopped your glass.”
Maya held up the recovered flash drive.
“And I’m the witness who can put you away for the rest of your life.”
Eleanor dragged Clara closer to the stairs.
Clara opened her eyes.
She looked at Julian.
“My boy,” she whispered.
Eleanor glanced down for one second.
Clara drove her heel backward into Eleanor’s shin.
Julian rushed the stairs.
Maya caught Clara as Eleanor fell against the railing.
Reed raised his gun.
Ben, watching from an ambulance, shouted a warning.
Arthur stepped between Reed and Julian.
The gun fired.
Arthur dropped to the runway.
Eleanor screamed, not in grief, but rage.
Then Captain Brooks placed her in handcuffs.
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As medics surrounded Arthur, Clara knelt beside him and touched his face.
His eyes stayed closed.
