Chapter 18 - THE FINAL HORIZON
Caleb moved with lightning speed, slamming his forearm against Miller's gun arm while throwing his shoulder into the senior agent's chest. The gun discharged, the bullet piercing the plane's interior side panel with a deafening pop as cabin pressure dropped rapidly.
Warning sirens blared throughout the aircraft as oxygen masks dropped from the ceiling panels. Caleb wrestled Miller to the floor, securing the traitorous agent in heavy plastic zip-ties while keeping his hand tight on the flight controls.
"Hold on, Serena!" Caleb shouted over the roaring wind noise, grabbing the cabin intercom to direct the pilots to execute an emergency landing at a private airstrip in Maryland.
Minutes later, the aircraft touched down hard on the wet runway, its brakes screeching as it slid to a halt near an isolated hangar surrounded by dark woods.
Caleb grabbed the leather diary and escorted Serena out of the emergency exit into the cold, torrential rain. A single black SUV stood waiting near the tree line, its headlights flashing twice in a pre-arranged signal.
As they reached the vehicle, the rear door swung open, revealing a person sitting inside whom Serena had believed dead for over twenty years.
Serena froze on the wet tarmac, her umbrella slipping from her hand as her breath caught violently in her throat.
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"Hello, my daughter," the man inside the SUV whispered softly, holding out a worn silver ring that matched Serena's own key. "It's time we finish what we started."
Behind them, down the dark runway, three pairs of high-beam headlights suddenly turned on from the woods, blocking their only exit as the sound of approaching helicopters thundered through the stormy night sky.
