She Whispered “There’s a Bomb” to the Ruthless Billionaire—What He Did Next Shocked Everyone!

“Who's the child?” Mara asked.

June expanded the manifest. A girl named Isabel, age eight. The photograph showed two missing front teeth and a brave, lopsided smile.

“Nightjar's last transfer,” June said. “She left twenty minutes ago.”

Adrian checked his watch. “We can reach the airfield.”

Lucian shook his head. “Celeste's people will be waiting.”

“Then they won't be disappointed.”

Mara turned to Sophie's mother, who had finally stopped crying long enough to breathe. “Can you stay with Eli until child services gets here?”

The woman nodded fiercely. “I'll sit with him all night.”

Eli caught Mara's hand. “You're coming back, right?”

She crouched. “I'm going to bring someone else home.”

He thought about that, then offered her his plastic stegosaurus. “For luck.”

She tucked it into her pocket as carefully as a diamond.

They drove in June's van toward the airfield, headlights off for the final mile. A small jet idled beyond the fence. Men in dark coats moved around it like shadows around a fire.

Lucian used an old maintenance code to open a side gate. “Dad never changed these,” he muttered.

“His arrogance finally pays dividends,” Adrian said.

Mara spotted Isabel through the jet's oval window. The girl pressed a palm to the glass. Mara pressed hers against the cold night air in answer.

Then a spotlight snapped on. Men shouted. Adrian shoved Mara behind a fuel truck as bullets struck metal with brutal little pings.

“Get to the plane,” he ordered.

“What about you?”

“I'll draw them away.”

“No solo heroics.”

“Then make this a team effort.”

Lucian sprinted to the flight-control shed and pulled the power on the runway lights. Darkness swallowed the field. June backed the van through the fence, crushing wire beneath its tires.

Mara ran up the boarding stairs. A crewman grabbed her arm. She drove Eli's toy dinosaur into his hand and struck his nose with her elbow. He fell, cursing.

She reached the cabin. Isabel was strapped into a seat, crying silently.

“I'm Mara. We're leaving.”