Chapter 8: Fractured Loyalties
Chapter 8: Fractured Loyalties
The sheer drop below Ethan was an endless abyss of swirling white snow and jagged dark rocks. The roar of the helicopter engines was deafening, the freezing wind ripping at his clothes as the aircraft swung out over the edge of the cliff, climbing into the stormy sky.
"Hold on, boss!" Marcus’s voice echoed weakly from the roof below, swallowed by the howling wind.
Ethan gritted his teeth, his arms muscles burning with intense strain. Using every ounce of physical strength he possessed, he pulled himself up, hooked his leg over the helicopter’s landing skid, and hauled his body up into the open cabin door.
Inside the cabin, the second guard lunged at him with a tactical knife!
Ethan ducked under the wild slash, grabbing the guard’s wrist and driving his elbow violently into the man’s ribs. The guard gasped, dropping the knife. Ethan twisted the man's arm around and slammed him hard against the side wall of the cabin, knocking him unconscious.
Ethan turned to the cockpit, drawing his sidearm and pointing it directly at the back of the pilot’s helmet.
"Set this bird down back on the roof!" Ethan shouted over the roar of the rotors. "Now!"
The pilot glanced back, seeing the lethal fury in Ethan’s eyes and the unconscious guard on the floor. Trembling, the pilot immediately pulled back on the collective control stick, banking the heavy helicopter around in a tight turn and bringing it back down onto the snowy landing pad.
The skids touched down with a heavy thud. Marcus immediately rushed forward, throwing open the cabin door and helping Ethan drag the unconscious guard out onto the concrete.
Ethan ran to the gurney that had been left abandoned on the icy roof deck. The blanket was soaked with snow. With trembling hands, Ethan gently pulled back the heavy wool cover.
Lying on the gurney was an elderly woman. Her hair was snow-white, her face lined with age and decades of sorrow, but her high cheekbones and striking deep-green eyes were unmistakably familiar.
She looked up at Ethan, her breathing weak and shaky in the freezing mountain air.
"Arthur...?" she whispered in a faint, raspy voice, her pale hand reaching up toward Ethan's face. "Arthur... is that you...?"
Ethan felt a massive lump form in his throat. He dropped to his knees in the snow beside the gurney, taking her cold, frail hand in both of his.
"No," Ethan whispered, tears welling up in his eyes and freezing on his eyelashes. "I'm not Arthur. I'm Ethan... I'm your son, Helena."
Helena’s eyes widened, a sudden, brilliant light coming back into her clouded gaze. Tears spilled down her cheeks as her fingers tightened around Ethan’s hand with surprising strength. "My baby... my boy... they told me you died thirty years ago..."
"They lied to you," Ethan said softly, pulling his thick coat off his shoulders and wrapping it carefully around her frail body. "They lied to both of us. But it's over now. You're safe."
Clara ran out onto the roof deck, wrapping a heavy thermal blanket around Helena as Marcus helped lift the gurney into the warm interior stairwell.
As they brought Helena down into the safety of the clinic’s warm main lobby, Mia ran up holding a satellite tablet, her face pale.
"Mr. Ethan! Look at the news feeds from New York!" Mia urged, turning the screen toward him.
The tablet showed a live broadcast from the Federal Courthouse in Manhattan. Julian Sterling was standing on the steps outside, surrounded by a legion of high-priced corporate defense attorneys.
"Ladies and gentlemen," Julian was shouting to a sea of news cameras. "I have just filed criminal charges against Ethan Vance for corporate fraud, international kidnapping, and the illegal abduction of my late brother’s incapacitated widow! An international Red Notice arrest warrant has just been issued by Interpol for Ethan Vance’s immediate arrest!"
Clara’s jaw dropped in horror. "He turned it around on us! He’s framing you as a kidnapper!"
Ethan looked at his mother, who was sitting up on the gurney in the warm lobby, drinking a glass of water held by Mia. Helena’s mind was clear, her eyes sharp despite her long captivity.
"Let him issue his warrants," Ethan said calmly, a dangerous, victorious smile touching his lips for the first time in days. "Julian thinks he’s playing a game of corporate politics. He doesn't realize we just found the ultimate witness."
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Helena looked at Ethan, her voice growing stronger and steady. "Julian thinks I am weak because he kept me locked away. He doesn't know that before Arthur died... he gave me the master decryption keys to all of Sterling Global’s hidden offshore accounts."
She looked at Clara and Ethan, her expression filled with fierce maternal resolve. "Take me to New York, my son. It’s time to destroy Julian Sterling."
