Chapter 7 - THE RECKONING AT DAWNVance was crawling through the snow toward the open door of the jet, trailing blood from his shattered hand.
Nathan walked over calmly, stepping heavily onto Vance’s leg, pinning him to the frozen ground.
"Nathan... please," Vance gasped, his refined composure completely shattered. "We can make a deal! There's forty million dollars on that drive! We split it! You can have whatever you want—new hospitals, unlimited funding, power!"
Nathan pulled the thumb drive out of his vest and held it in front of Vance’s face.
"My sister died for this," Nathan said. "My niece nearly froze to death carrying her brothers up a mountain because of this. You think your blood money means anything to me?"
"If you give that to the authorities, you'll go down too!" Vance yelled desperately. "Your name is on every invoice! You'll spend the rest of your life in federal prison!"
Nathan smiled—a cold, terrifying smile.
"I don't care," Nathan said softly. "As long as those children are safe, you can give me life without parole."
Sirens suddenly echoed down the mountain pass. Red and blue lights flashed through the heavy snowstorms as a convoy of Federal Bureau of Investigation vehicles, accompanied by state trooper SUVs, flooded onto the runway, surrounding the airstrip.
Behind them was an armored medical transport unit.
When Sarah had given Lily the paper, she hadn't just written Nathan’s address. She had embedded a emergency beacon signal within the encrypted thumb drive that activated the moment Nathan plugged it into his secure home terminal earlier that night. The FBI Federal Task Force had been tracking the cartel for two years; Sarah was their confidential informant.
Special Agent Ramirez stepped out of the lead vehicle, weapon drawn, taking in the scene: the fallen mercenaries, Marcus Kane whimpering in the snow with a shattered arm, and Victor Vance pinned under the boot of Washington’s most famous surgeon.
"Dr. Nathan Pierce?" Ramirez called out, keeping his weapon steady.
May you like
Nathan held his hands up, dropping the scalpel into the snow, but keeping his grip firm on the thumb drive.
"Agent Ramirez," Nathan said clearly. "I have the evidence log, the offshore accounts, and the masterminds who murdered Sarah Carter. Take them."
