CHAPTER 6 — The Woman Who Controlled Everything
Police conv
oys raced through downtown with lights blazing.
Helicopters thundered overhead.
Private Terminal 7 was already preparing for departure when federal agents surrounded the runway.
A sleek white jet idled with its engines roaring.
Inside the cabin...
Dr. Catherine Ross calmly poured herself a glass of champagne.
She wasn't frightened.
She had escaped impossible situations before.
Her assistant looked nervous.
"They're here."
Catherine smiled.
"They're always too late."
Outside, Adrian's convoy screeched to a halt.
He jumped from the vehicle before the officers could stop him.
His legs still ached from years of paralysis.
He didn't care.
He ran.
Every painful step felt like reclaiming another year that had been stolen from him.
Agents stormed the aircraft.
The cabin was empty.
Only one glass remained on the table.
Still warm.
The cockpit was deserted.
The jet had never intended to fly.
It had been a distraction.
Then Noah looked through the terminal window toward another hangar across the runway.
"That one."
Everyone turned.
A smaller black aircraft was already accelerating toward takeoff.
Catherine stood inside the doorway looking back at them.
She smiled.
Then she raised one hand.
Not to wave.
To reveal a small remote control.
She pressed the button.
Across the city...
Emergency alarms suddenly erupted inside Adrian Wolfe Children's Hospital.
The same hospital he had rebuilt in Elena's memory.
Investigators immediately radioed the command center.
"There are explosives inside the building!"
Panic spread instantly.
Doctors began carrying children into the parking lot.
Parents screamed.
Firefighters rushed toward the entrances.
Catherine's voice crackled through a phone she had left behind.
"If I can't erase the past..."
"I'll erase the future."
Adrian stared helplessly as the black jet lifted into the sky.
He thought she had escaped.
Then military helicopters appeared over the horizon.
The aircraft was surrounded within seconds.
But before anyone celebrated...
The pilot suddenly transmitted a chilling message.
"There isn't just one Catherine Ross."
"There never was."
The signal cut out.
The jet disappeared into thick storm clouds.
Adrian looked at Noah.
Noah looked back with quiet certainty.
"This story isn't over."
"It was never about one villain."
"It was about an entire empire."
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And somewhere beyond the clouds...
The real mastermind was still waiting.
