Chapter 5 - The Tarmac
No!
The scream ripped from my throat as I threw myself against the thick glass of the terminal window.
The massive airplane was slowly rolling backward onto the tarmac.
My little girl was trapped inside that metal tube with a monster.
Aaron did not stop at the window with me.
He sprinted directly toward the confused gate agent standing at the boarding desk.
He demanded she halt the pushback procedure immediately.
The agent shook her head and explained that she had no authority to stop a moving aircraft.
Aaron bypassed her and slammed his fist into the emergency door release button.
The alarm blared loudly as he shoved the security door open and ran down the stairs to the tarmac.
I followed blindly behind him, fueled entirely by a mother's desperate adrenaline.
The roar of the jet engines was deafening as we stepped out onto the concrete.
Cold wind whipped across my face, stinging my eyes.
Aaron stood directly in the path of the airplane, waving his arms wildly to signal the pilot.
A fleet of airport security vehicles with flashing yellow lights rushed toward us from all directions.
The airplane stopped moving.
I felt a massive wave of relief wash over me.
But that relief shattered when heavily armed airport police tackled Aaron to the ground.
Three more officers surrounded me with their weapons drawn.
I screamed that my daughter was being kidnapped on that flight.
The officers ignored my pleas and forced me to my knees on the cold concrete.
They pressed my face against the rough ground and handcuffed my wrists behind my back.
Through my tears, I watched the airplane engines spool up again.
The pilot had been cleared to continue taxiing to the runway.
The airplane slowly turned and rolled away, leaving us completely helpless.
An officer hauled me to my feet and dragged me toward a security van.
I looked over at Aaron, who was bleeding from a cut on his forehead.
They threw us into the back of the van and slammed the metal doors shut.
It was over.
Daniel had won, and Lily was gone forever.
The van drove us to an underground holding cell beneath the airport.
The police captain walked into the room with a grim expression on his face.
He held a piece of paper in his hand.
We just received a call from the FBI regarding your husband.
May you like
He paused and looked at me with a mixture of pity and terror.
The man on that airplane is not Daniel Whitaker.
