Chapter 14 - The Final Ascent
The blinding swirl of snow kicked up by the twin turboprop engines whipped across the tarmac, stinging Elena’s face as she stepped out of the federal SUV.
Agent Ramos and her tactical team fanned out rapidly, taking cover behind the concrete barricades surrounding the tarmac while their rifles were raised and locked onto the private jet.
"Vanessa Vance! Federal agents! Turn off the engines and step away from the aircraft immediately!" Agent Ramos shouted through a heavy-duty tactical bullhorn, her voice barely carrying over the deafening roar of the spinning propellers.
Vanessa stood on the top step of the boarding stairs, her cashmere suit fluttering wildly in the jetwash.
Her blonde hair was loose and matted with sleet, her sophisticated composure completely shredded to reveal the frantic desperation underneath.
She clutched the heavy leather satchel with both hands, glaring down at the federal agents with burning hatred.
"You're too late!" Vanessa screamed back over the roar of the engines.
"The master keys have already been transmitted to an off-shore server! The entire municipal infrastructure contract is legally binding, and you can't touch us without bankrupting half the state government!"
She turned, her hand reaching out to grab the cabin door handle to pull herself inside the fuselage.
"Not this time," Elena muttered.
Ignoring Agent Ramos’s shouted warning, Elena broke cover from behind the SUV, sprinting across the slippery, ice-coated tarmac with reckless speed.
Her boots found purchase on the slick metal rungs of the boarding stairs just as Vanessa swung the cabin door inward.
Startled by the sudden intrusion, Vanessa spun around, her eyes widening in sheer terror as Elena lunged forward, grabbing the heavy leather satchel and wrenching it downward with all her remaining strength.
The strap snapped with a sharp crack, sending the satchel tumbling down the metal stairs to scatter its contents—hard drives, cryptographic keys, and paper ledgers—across the freezing pavement below where Agent Ramos’s team quickly scooped them up.
Screaming in rage, Vanessa lashed out, her fingernails raking across Elena’s cheek and drawing a thin line of bright red blood.
Elena didn't flinch.
She used her momentum to drive her shoulder directly into Vanessa’s chest, knocking the other woman backward against the interior bulkhead of the aircraft just as the pilot inside realized the breach and slammed the throttle forward to abort the takeoff.
The sudden, violent acceleration threw both women off balance.
Vanessa slipped, her foot catching on the edge of the open cabin door as the aircraft lunged forward along the runway.
With a terrified shriek, Vanessa grabbed the exterior handrail, her body dangling halfway out of the soaring plane as the icy wind whipped around them.
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Elena lunged forward without a second thought, ignoring her own exhaustion and the freezing gale, her bleeding hands clamping firmly around Vanessa’s wrists just as the jet’s nose lifted sharply toward the dark winter sky.
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