Chapter 9 - The Mother's Mark
Leah stumbled backward, completely unable to process what she was looking at.
Her mother was a simple travel agent who worked long hours in a small office downstairs.
That was the boring story she had been told her entire life.
But travel agents did not have encrypted logos tattooed on the wrists of international assassins.
Travel agents did not hide biometric explosive triggers under their kitchen tables.
"Leah, what is wrong with you?" Silas demanded, still typing frantically on his tablet.
"Look at his wrist," Leah whispered, pointing a trembling finger at the bound guard.
Silas glanced back, his eyes narrowing dangerously at the snake and compass tattoo.
"The Vanguard Syndicate," Silas breathed, his voice laced with pure venom.
"They are the ghost network that took out my entire operation in Milan."
Silas aggressively grabbed Marcus by the collar and hauled him halfway off the ground.
"How does a ten-year-old girl know about the Vanguard?" Silas screamed directly in the guard's face.
Marcus just grinned, revealing a horrifying row of bloody teeth.
"She does not know a thing," Marcus laughed ominously.
"But her mother is the one who wrote the boarding protocols for this very flight."
Leah felt the entire world spin violently around her.
Her mother had deliberately sent her and Maya on this specific plane.
Her mother had personally packed the stuffed rabbit with the bomb trigger.
Her mother was not hiding them from danger; she was using them to complete a massive hit.
"Silas, the mountain!" Leah screamed, pointing wildly at the front monitor.
The digital map showed the terrain rising sharply right in front of their flight path.
The altitude warning alarms suddenly blared over the cabin speakers with a deafening screech.
"PULL UP! TERRAIN! PULL UP!" the automated voice shrieked.
Silas dropped Marcus and ripped the cable completely out of his tablet.
"The code will not work, I need a biometric override!" Silas yelled.
He looked at the keypad, which required a fingerprint from an authorized flight crew member.
Silas dragged Marcus over to the door and grabbed the guard's right hand.
"You registered yourself as the head of security," Silas said, pinning the man's thumb to the scanner.
"Your print is the master key to everything."
The scanner beeped loudly with a red light.
ACCESS DENIED.
"I wiped my prints from the system ten minutes ago," Marcus sneered.
The plane began to shake violently as the turbulent air from the mountain ridges hit the wings.
They had less than sixty seconds before total impact.
Silas looked at the scanner, then looked at Leah with a terrifying calm.
"Get behind the seats and hold onto my baby," Silas ordered.
May you like
He reached into his boot and pulled out a jagged hunting knife.
Silas turned back to Marcus, aggressively grabbing the man's left hand.
