Chapter 18 - THE AIRFIELD
The old Vale airfield had been abandoned for twelve years.
Owen chose it because my father once kept company jets there.
Because he knew the tunnels.
Because he thought we didn't.
Grant did.
He and Mara entered from the maintenance road while I approached the hangar alone wearing a wire.
Elena stayed in the command vehicle.
She hated me for that.
But Sofia needed one parent waiting when this ended.
Owen stood beneath a broken hangar light.
Sofia sat twenty feet away, wrists tied loosely in front of her.
She looked terrified but unharmed.
"Ethan Vale," Owen said. "Finally without an army."
"Let her go."
"You sound like Adrian."
My anger sharpened.
"You killed him."
"He fell."
"Because you attacked him."
Owen smiled.
"Your father paid me to scare him. Your family turned every job into something worse."
"And Noah?"
His smile vanished.
"That wasn't the contract."
"Who changed it?"
"You already know."
"Say it."
Owen looked toward the dark runway.
"Julian."
My stomach tightened.
"Why?"
"Because he knew the tower sabotage was happening. He offered me triple to make sure you didn't walk away from the chaos."
I wanted to believe it.
Then I remembered Noah's exact words.
Uncle Julian said not until Ethan gets here.
It fit.
Owen continued.
"Julian wanted interim control. Susan wanted records erased. Your mother wanted family secrets buried. Everybody wanted something."
"And you?"
"Payment."
Then Sofia shouted, "Behind you!"
A gunshot cracked.
Owen jerked backward.
He had not fired.
Someone else had.
Julian stepped from the shadows holding a pistol.
"He talks too much," he said.
My chest went cold.
Owen collapsed.
May you like
Julian pointed the gun at me.
"You should have died under the glasses."
