Chapter 9 - The Tarmac Interception
While Claire was securing Noah's legal future, Evelyn Vance wasn't planning on waiting around for the authorities to knock on her door.
Using her remaining personal emergency funds, she had a private driver sneak her out of Vance Tower through the underground service loading docks. Dressed in an oversized trench coat and dark sunglasses, she sped toward Westchester County Airport, where a Gulfstream private jet sat fueled on the runway, prepared to fly non-stop to a non-extradition sanctuary in Dubai.
Her phone had been ringing off the hook, but she ignored it, clutching a small leather bag containing three million dollars in bearer bonds and rare jewelry.
"Hurry up, you fool!" Evelyn barked at the driver through the partition. "Drive directly onto the hangar apron! The flight crew has clearance!"
The black town car screeched onto the tarmac, speeding toward the waiting jet whose engines were already whining to life. Evelyn breathed a sigh of relief. With her foreign accounts, she could live like a queen in exile, far beyond the reach of state prosecutors and ungrateful daughters-in-law.
The car stopped beside the boarding stairs. Evelyn grabbed her bag, shoved open the door, and took two hurried steps toward the metal ladder.
Suddenly, high-powered floodlights illuminated the entire runway, blinding her.
Sirens wailed from every direction as six unmarked black cruisers and three state police vehicles boxed in the town car and the private jet. Dozens of officers stepped out, weapons drawn, badges gleaming in the glare of the spotlights.
At the front of the formation walked Detective Julian Cole, carrying a folder with a bright yellow fugitive warrant.
"Going somewhere, Mrs. Vance?" Julian called out through a megaphone.
"Get out of my way!" Evelyn screamed, her voice cracking with hysterical rage. "I am an American citizen on private property! I am boarding my aircraft!"
"Not today," Julian said, stepping forward as two female state troopers approached her with handcuffs drawn. "Warrant for your arrest issued by the Westchester County District Attorney. Two counts of felony child endangerment, one count of assault with a deadly weapon, and an unsealed indictment for federal corporate fraud and witness tampering."
"Don't touch me! GET YOUR HANDS OFF ME!" Evelyn shrieked, flailing wildly as the steel cuffs snapped shut around her frail, manicured wrists.
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Her expensive trench coat was dragged through the wet pavement fuel-sludge. Her wig slipped, revealing graying, matted hair underneath. A news helicopter hovered overhead, its searchlight capturing the fallen queen of New York society being forced into the back of a police cruiser like a common criminal.
***
