CHAPTER 14 — THE CHOICE
Against medical orders, Adrian left the hospital.
Jonah programmed the hidden safety lock while Luis coordinated with federal agents.
Milo climbed into the SUV.
Adrian shook his head.
“You’re staying.”
“You said fear keeps people careful.”
“This isn’t your fight.”
Milo held up the charred notebook.
“It became my fight when they killed my mom.”
Adrian looked at Jonah.
Jonah sighed.
“He won’t listen to me either.”
They drove to the private airfield.
Celeste had blocked the main road with fuel trucks. The hangar doors were wired with explosives.
Adrian approached alone, carrying a tablet.
Celeste stood on the upper platform.
“Set it down.”
“Release the employees.”
“Give me the phrase.”
Adrian looked at the hostages.
His sister Evelyn was tied near the front.
“Adrian,” she called, “don’t do it.”
Celeste struck the railing with her gun.
“Quiet!”
Adrian placed the tablet on a crate.
“The code is inside.”
Celeste ordered one of her men to retrieve it.
The man opened the file.
A password box appeared.
Celeste smiled.
“Say it.”
Adrian looked at her.
“The machine serves the life.”
The man entered the phrase.
For one second, the tablet showed ACCESS GRANTED.
Then every screen in the hangar flashed red.
UNAUTHORIZED SYSTEM DISABLED. DATA CORRUPTED.
Celeste stared at the tablet.
“What did you do?”
“Protected my company.”
“You destroyed everything!”
“No. I destroyed what you stole.”
Celeste raised the gun toward Evelyn.
A small voice came from the speaker system.
“Don’t move.”
Milo’s face appeared on the security monitor.
He had crawled beneath the hangar through an old fuel inspection tunnel.
The notebook had shown him where the emergency fire controls were located.
Milo held one hand over a red switch.
“If you fire, I flood the hangar with foam.”
Celeste laughed.
“You think that scares me?”
“No,” Milo said. “But this might.”
The hangar doors opened behind her.
Federal agents poured in.
Celeste spun and grabbed Evelyn.
Adrian ran forward.
Celeste dragged Evelyn toward the private jet.
“You take one more step, your sister dies!”
Adrian stopped.
Celeste backed up the boarding stairs.
The jet’s engines began to turn.
Then Milo noticed a thin stream of fluid beneath the landing gear.
His eyes widened.
“Adrian!”
The same dark, oily warning.
The same kind of sabotage.
Marcus had rigged Celeste’s escape plane too.
Celeste had betrayed him.
Marcus had planned to kill her before she could talk.
Adrian shouted, “Get off the plane!”
Celeste looked at the fluid, then at the spinning engine.
For the first time, she understood how disposable she had always been.
May you like
The jet’s left landing gear buckled.
And the aircraft began tipping toward the hangar wall.
