Chapter 12
The sterile fluorescent lights of the federal interview room hummed softly, casting a stark white glow over the metal table where Sarah and Leo sat. A steaming cup of hot cocoa sat untouched in front of Leo, who had finally traded his dusty suit jacket for an oversized federal windbreaker provided by one of the female agents. Across the table, Marcus Vance leaned against the wall, his arms crossed over his trench coat as he listened to the audio playback of the silver flash drive plugged into a secure terminal.
The voice filling the small room was unmistakable—Arthur’s cold, methodical tones detailing the routing of shell corporation funds through Caribbean ports. Beside the audio files were thousands of encrypted email chains, corporate ledgers, and signed contracts bearing the forged signatures of board members who had been blackmailed into silence.
"It's all here," Marcus said softly, running a hand through his graying hair as he stared down at the screen. "Every single transaction, every illicit cargo manifest, and the paper trail linking Arthur directly to the syndicate. This is enough to put half the corporate board away for twenty years."
Sarah sat quietly, her fingers gently stroking Leo’s messy light brown hair as the boy rested his head against her shoulder, half-asleep from the overwhelming emotional exhaustion of the day. "He tried to bury me, Marcus. Literally. In a white coffin beneath the altar of St. Jude’s, while the mourners were supposed to be singing hymns."
Marcus’s jaw tightened, a muscle ticking in his cheek as he looked at the bruised ring around Sarah’s neck. "Local jurisdiction reported an abandoned car registered to Thomas outside the church about twenty minutes ago. We have a tactical unit dispatched to the rectory right now. Arthur won't slip away this time."
Just then, the heavy steel door of the interview room swung open, and a young agent stepped inside holding a secure tablet. "Sir, we just got a transmission from the tactical team at St. Jude’s. They secured the building. Thomas surrendered without resistance, but Arthur wasn't on the premises."
Marcus pushed off the wall sharply. "What do you mean, he wasn't there?"
"He took the south ridge trail on foot before our units locked down the perimeter," the agent replied, reading from the tablet screen. "Local highway patrol spotted a suspicious vehicle heading toward the private airstrip near the county line fifteen minutes ago."
May you like
Sarah’s eyes flashed with immediate alarm. "The airstrip. He’s heading for the border. He has a private charter waiting on the tarmac to take him out of the country."
Marcus didn't hesitate. He pulled his radio from his belt, barking rapid orders to the tactical dispatch unit to scramble pursuit vehicles and alert air traffic control to ground all departing private flights within a three-hundred-mile radius.
