Chapter 19 - What My Mother Finally Did
The shot went into the ground.
I pulled Mom sideways.
Thomas struck her across the face with the gun.
She fell.
I lunged.
He caught my jacket and slammed me against the vehicle.
Pain shot through my shoulder.
“Stop!” Mason shouted through my earpiece, uselessly far away.
Thomas raised the weapon.
I trapped his wrist with both hands.
He was stronger than he looked.
Older, not weak.
We struggled against the side of the car.
Then headlights exploded across the runway.
Hsu’s teams moved in.
Thomas dragged me in front of him.
“Back off!”
Guns came up from three directions.
Mom pushed herself to her knees.
Blood ran from her forehead.
“Thomas,” she said.
He looked at her.
She held Dad’s letter.
I had dropped it during the struggle.
Thomas’s attention shifted for one second.
Mom tore the letter in half.
His face changed completely.
“No!”
He shoved me aside and moved toward her.
I hit the ground.
Hsu’s team closed the distance.
Thomas fired once toward the lights.
Agents returned fire.
He dropped.
Silence hit the runway.
For a second nobody moved.
Then everyone moved at once.
Medics.
Commands.
Hands pulling me up.
Mason reached me first even though I never saw him arrive.
He grabbed my face gently.
“Are you hit?”
“No.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
He looked at my mother.
She was crying beside the torn pieces of Dad’s letter.
“It’s okay,” I told her.
Her face twisted.
“No, it isn’t.”
I looked toward Thomas.
He was alive.
Wounded in the shoulder and thigh.
Handcuffed.
Furious.
For the first time, powerless.
Mom picked up half the letter.
“I destroyed it.”
“No,” I said.
“What?”
I pulled out my phone.
“I scanned every page.”
Mason stared at me.
“You did?”
“I’m not reckless.”
He gave me a look.
“Do not start.”
Even Hsu laughed.
Mom did not.
She looked at me with an exhaustion that seemed deeper than the bruises.
“I’m sorry.”
I wanted to say it was okay.
It wasn’t.
I wanted to forgive her because she had grabbed Thomas’s wrist.
I couldn’t.
One brave act did not erase years of manipulation.
So I told her the truth.
“I’m glad you helped me tonight.”
She nodded, tears falling.
“And I still need distance from you.”
Her mouth trembled.
“I understand.”
For once, she did not argue.
At sunrise, agents opened Thomas’s vehicle.
Inside they found records tying Northstar to bribery, coercion, and illegal surveillance.
They also found a sealed envelope marked with my father’s name.
Hsu handed it to me.
Inside was a copy of a statement Dad had prepared for federal investigators.
At the bottom, one handwritten line had been added.
If I don’t make it home, Olivia will finish this.
I read it twice.
Then Mason’s phone rang.
His expression changed as he listened.
“What?” I asked.
He ended the call.
“They arrested Wesley Kane.”
“I thought he was already detained.”
“He made bail.”
“And?”
Mason looked toward Thomas.
“Kane was trying to leave the country with someone.”
“Who?”
May you like
He answered quietly.
“Sienna.”
