Chapter 4 - The Race to the Tarmac
Gretchen grabbed the tablet and sprinted back out to the waiting taxi.
She flashed a hundred-dollar bill at the driver and screamed the address of the private airfield.
The cab tore through the rainy streets of Minneapolis at breakneck speed.
Gretchen called Marcus again and frantically explained the rapidly escalating hostage situation.
The seasoned lawyer warned her not to confront a man tied to a cartel without heavy police presence.
Gretchen refused to wait for a sluggish police bureaucracy while her daughter was being smuggled out of the country.
The taxi screeched to a halt outside the heavily guarded chain-link gates of the airfield.
Gretchen threw the money at the driver and ran toward the perimeter fence.
She spotted Joshua's sleek black SUV parked near a small, twin-engine private jet.
The airplane's engines were already whining with terrifying, deafening power.
She saw Joshua forcefully dragging a crying Maxine up the metal boarding stairs.
Cheyenne was standing at the top of the stairs, holding a sleek leather briefcase tightly to her chest.
Gretchen ignored the shouting security guards and squeezed through a gap in the rusted fence.
She sprinted across the wet tarmac, waving her arms wildly and screaming her daughter's name.
Maxine turned her head, her eyes widening in profound relief when she saw her mother.
The teenager stomped incredibly hard on Joshua's expensive leather shoe.
He grunted in severe pain and briefly loosened his iron grip on her arm.
Maxine broke free and ran frantically down the metal stairs toward Gretchen.
Joshua cursed loudly and lunged after his escaping daughter.
Gretchen intercepted him at the bottom of the steps, shoving him backward with all her strength.
"You are not taking my child anywhere," Gretchen snarled fiercely.
Joshua recovered his balance and sneered at his furious wife.
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"You are making a fatal mistake, Gretchen," he warned in a deadly whisper.
He pulled a heavily suppressed handgun from the inside pocket of his tailored jacket.
