Chapter 5 - THE SHADOW IN THE MANSION

The shattering sound of iron tearing from stone echoed through the foggy Virginia countryside as my SUV plowed straight through the heavy entrance gates. Splinters of metal and reinforced mahogany flew into the air as I smashed through the mansion's massive double doors, bringing the vehicle to a screeching halt inside the grand marble foyer.

I threw open the driver's side door, stepping out into a cloud of smoke and dust, holding a heavy tire iron from the trunk in my right hand.

"Maya!" I screamed, my voice echoing off the vaulted ceilings. "Maya!"

Silence answered.

Then, a faint, wet cough came from the adjacent drawing room.

I rushed around the corner, my knuckles white as I gripped the steel iron. The sight inside made my blood freeze.

The grand living room was completely tossed. Antique vases were smashed, filing cabinets ripped open, and papers littered the floor. Lying near the cold stone fireplace was Dr. Harold Finch. He was clutching his chest, a deep pool of crimson blood spreading rapidly across his white silk dress shirt.

"Finch!" I yelled, dropping to my knees beside him and pressing a heavy velvet curtain against his chest wound to stop the bleeding. "Where is she?! Where is Maya?!"

Finch’s eyes rolled back, unfocused and glassy. He gasped for air, his lips stained red.

"She... she took her..." Finch wheezed, grabbing my wrist with his weak, trembling hand.

"Who took her?!" I demanded, tears of sheer rage blinding me. "Who took my daughter?!"

"Paige..." Finch coughed out. "Paige Ellison... she escaped custody... she knew... she knew Adrian’s entire backup plan... she came for the Swiss bank codes... stored in the girl’s... pendant..."

My heart plummeted into a pit of absolute ice.

Paige.

Adrian’s mistress hadn't just been a pretty face sitting at the defense table. She was deeply embedded in Adrian's criminal syndicate from the very beginning. When she was removed from the courtroom earlier, she must have posted bail using a secret backup account or had help from inside the police department.

She knew that Adrian had hidden thirty million dollars in an encrypted cold-storage crypto wallet, and the private recovery key was physically engraved inside a silver locket he had given to Maya on her fifth birthday.

Paige didn't want the child. She wanted the money. And my seven-year-old biological daughter was currently being used as a human hostage to buy an escape out of the country.

"Where did she take her?!" I shook Finch’s shoulders, refusing to let him slip into unconsciousness. "Tell me where she went!"

"Private airfield..." Finch whispered, his breath growing shallow. "Skyline Hangar Four... twenty minutes north... please... save Maya... I'm sorry... I'm so sorry, Clara..."

Finch’s hand went limp, dropping heavily onto the floor. His eyes stared blankly at the ceiling. He was dead.

I didn't waste a single second weeping for the man who had ruined my life eight years ago. I stood up, wiped his blood from my hands onto my jeans, and ran back to my shattered SUV.

The front bumper was caved in, but the engine was still humming like a vengeful beast. I threw the vehicle into reverse, backed out of the ruined foyer, and spun the wheel toward the northern highway.

The rain was falling in relentless sheets now, lightning flashing across the dark mountain sky. I dialed Elizabeth on the hands-free console.

"Clara! Where are you? Police dispatch is reporting a vehicle break-in at Finch’s estate!"

"Finch is dead," I said coldly, navigating the slick twists of the mountain road at over a hundred miles per hour. "Paige Ellison killed him. She has Maya. They are heading to Skyline Airfield, Hangar Four. I need you to contact the Federal Marshals right now and tell them Paige is executing an armed kidnapping."

"Oh God," Elizabeth gasped. "Clara, do not engage her alone! Paige was a officer in military intelligence before she went into corporate communications! She’s trained, armed, and extremely dangerous!"

"I don't care if she’s an entire battalion," I hissed, stepping down harder on the gas. "She has my child."

Ten minutes later, the dark silhouette of the private airport emerged through the foggy downpour. Skyline Airfield was a small, secluded landing strip used by ultra-wealthy executives to fly out without TSA security checks.

I turned off my headlights a quarter-mile before the perimeter fence and coasted silently into the shadows near Hangar Four.

A small, sleek Gulfstream private jet was idling on the wet tarmac, its twin engines whining loudly as they warmed up. The rear boarding staircase was down.

Near the wing of the aircraft, illuminated by the harsh yellow floodlights of the hangar, stood Paige Ellison. She was wearing a dark raincoat, holding a heavy black pistol in one hand, and dragging a small, terrified little girl by the arm with the other.

The little girl had wavy dark hair, just like mine. She was wearing a small yellow raincoat, clutching a tiny stuffed rabbit, and sobbing hysterically.

"Let go of me!" Maya screamed, her little voice cutting through the roar of the jet engines. "I want my daddy! Let me go!"

"Shut up, you little brat!" Paige snarled, violently shoving the child toward the jet stairs. "Your daddy is dead, and your CEO father is going to prison! You’re my ticket to Panama!"

Seeing my daughter’s terror unleashed something primal inside me.

I didn't wait for the police. I didn't wait for the marshals.

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The fluorescent lights of Operating Room Two buzzed like angry hornets,...

The burner phone in my hand felt heavy, like a slab of cold iron pulled...

The man in the back of the Bentley was not a stranger, though it took me...

I put my SUV into drive, slammed the accelerator to the floor, and smashed straight through the chain-link perimeter fence, roaring directly onto the tarmac toward the jet.

[HOOK FOR NEXT CHAP] Paige spun around, raised her pistol, and fired three rounds straight through my windshield. The glass shattered into a million pieces, and a burning bullet grazed my temple—but I didn't stop.