Chapter 14 - Nathan Makes His Choice
The airfield lockdown failed.
Gerald had overridden it seven minutes before Dad’s command reached operations.
One aircraft was already moving toward the runway.
We were twenty-two minutes away.
Richard wanted law enforcement to handle it.
Dad agreed.
I did not.
“We need to know what he has.”
My father looked at me.
“He may be armed.”
“So are the people going after him.”
“Claire.”
“If Gerald leaves with the network’s remaining records, this begins again.”
Richard studied me.
“You sound like your mother.”
Dad’s expression tightened.
“I wish people would stop saying that while she is walking into danger.”
Nathan spoke from behind us.
“I can stop the plane.”
We all turned.
Dad’s face showed open contempt.
“How?”
Nathan held up his phone.
“Ashford Global services Bennett Airfield’s fuel logistics.”
“You no longer have system access.”
“No.”
“But I have an offline emergency code.”
Gerald never knew about it.”
I stared at him.
“Why do you have an offline code?”
“Because five years ago our network went down during a fuel transfer.”
“I required a physical shutdown system after that.”
Dad looked toward his security chief.
“Can he trigger it remotely?”
Nathan shook his head.
“No.”
“It is inside the airfield control building.”
Of course it was.
Dad said no immediately.
Nathan did not argue.
He looked at me.
“Claire.”
“Don’t.”
“I know I am the last person you want beside you.”
“Correct.”
“But Gerald recruited half the people who helped me build Ashford Global.”
“He knows me.”
“He trusts my ego.”
I almost laughed.
“At least you finally know what your strongest asset is.”
Nathan accepted the insult.
“He will assume I am desperate enough to make a deal.”
Richard nodded slowly.
“He might.”
Dad looked at him.
“You are not helping.”
“I am evaluating.”
I stared at Nathan.
“What deal?”
“I tell Gerald I will destroy your evidence in exchange for money and an exit.”
Celeste crossed her arms.
“He’ll know you cannot destroy the pendant archive.”
“He doesn’t know how much we decrypted.”
Richard looked at her.
“He also does not know Sloan is alive.”
Sloan had been transferred to federal custody minutes earlier.
Gerald might believe his cleanup had succeeded.
I hated the plan.
That did not mean it was bad.
Nathan stepped closer.
“I get inside.”
“I shut down the fuel system.”
“Security surrounds the aircraft.”
“He has nowhere to go.”
My father stared at him.
“Why?”
Nathan looked at me.
I expected him to say redemption.
Love.
Forgiveness.
Instead, he said.
“Because I finally understand that every person in my life who encouraged the worst parts of me was able to do it because those parts were already there.”
Silence.
Nathan continued.
“Gerald did not make me hurt Claire.”
“Celeste did not make me hurt Claire.”
“Adrian did not make me hurt Claire.”
“I did.”
He looked at me.
“I cannot undo it.”
“But I can stop pretending someone else is responsible.”
I said nothing.
It was the first honest thing he had given me in years.
Not enough.
Never enough.
But honest.
We went to the airfield.
Nathan entered alone wearing a concealed microphone.
The rest of us remained inside an operations vehicle.
Gerald answered Nathan’s call after three attempts.
His voice came through the speakers.
“You’re finished.”
Nathan laughed.
“So are you.”
Gerald went silent.
Nathan continued.
“Claire has copies.”
“So do the investigators.”
“You need someone inside to eliminate them.”
Gerald replied.
“And you expect me to believe you can?”
“I spent six years married to her.”
“I know every account.”
“Every device.”
“Every weakness.”
My stomach turned hearing him speak that way.
Even knowing it was a performance.
Gerald laughed.
“There is the Nathan I invested in.”
Dad’s face became stone.
Gerald continued.
“Come to Hangar Two.”
Nathan entered the building.
Cameras tracked him.
Gerald stood near a private jet.
Two armed men waited nearby.
Nathan spread his hands.
“No weapon.”
Gerald smiled.
“You never needed one.”
“You always preferred other people to do the damage.”
Nathan’s face changed.
The words hit.
Gerald handed him a tablet.
“Prove Claire’s archive is accessible.”
Nathan looked down.
Then toward the control room door twenty feet away.
Gerald noticed.
“What are you looking at?”
Nathan smiled.
“My empire.”
Gerald laughed.
“You still think it was yours?”
Nathan looked at him.
“No.”
Then he lunged toward the control room.
Gunfire cracked.
Security moved.
I screamed his name before I could stop myself.
Nathan reached the emergency panel.
He slammed his hand against the shutdown.
Across the runway, warning lights changed.
The jet engines powered down.
Gerald shouted.
One of his men ran.
Security intercepted him.
Gerald grabbed Nathan from behind.
A weapon pressed against Nathan’s side.
Dad ordered everyone to hold.
Gerald looked toward the operations vehicle.
He knew we were watching.
Then he smiled at the nearest camera.
“Claire.”
My blood turned cold.
“You want the truth about your mother?”
May you like
He dragged Nathan toward the jet.
“Come ask me yourself.”
