Chapter 15 - Clean Flight
The helicopter’s turbine roared to a piercing whine as Marcus flipped the overhead breakers, the twin rotors churning the coastal storm into a vortex of mist and spray.
In the passenger bay, Mark buckled Leo into the heavy four-point safety harness of the center seat, tucking a thermal blanket tightly around his shoulders. Rex jumped into the cabin, taking his place on the floorboards across the boy’s feet, resting his heavy chin directly over Leo’s sneakers. The boy's hand drifted down, small fingers burying themselves into the dog’s thick neck fur. Leo was sleeping—a deep, healing sleep, his breathing rhythmic and full.
Mark stepped to the open sliding door one last time before sealing the cabin. He looked back at Basin Point.
Far down the marsh road, the red and blue flashers of a dozen emergency vehicles were emerging through the salt fog. The local police and county marshals had finally broken through the false roadblocks, but they were twenty minutes too late. The terminal floor where Leo had fallen, the baggage tunnels where the chase had begun, and the dirty secrets locked in the courier pouch were now behind them.
Mark reached into his pocket and pulled out the old airline pass. The laminate was scratched, but his sister's face looked out through the plastic, young and unbroken.
"We got him, Elena," Mark murmured into the storm.
He slid the heavy door shut, locking the latches with a solid, mechanical thud that sealed out the rain and the sirens.
The helicopter lifted smoothly from the tarmac, banking hard over the black water of the bay, rising above the low clouds until the lights of the city below vanished into an endless sea of stars.
On the floor of the cabin, the silver briefcase sat between Mark’s boots. Attached to the handle was a small digital transmitter that had remained silent throughout the entire flight.
May you like
Suddenly, while thirty thousand feet above the dark Midwest plains, the small screen on the briefcase blinked to life. A single line of text scrolled across the green display in a continuous loop:
*CARRIER VESSEL CONFIRMED. COMMENCING REMOTE DETONATION OF INTERNAL SATELLITE CORE IN 05:00.*
