Chapter 2 - Margaret Changed Sides Too Late“Change direction.”
Jack looked at Margaret.
“What?”
“Do not go to that clearing.”
“You just told me to land.”
“There are people waiting there.”
Jack’s face hardened.
“What people?”
“I don’t know.”
He stared at her for half a second.
Then looked back toward the terrain.
“You need to start explaining.”
Emily screamed beneath them.
Jack swore.
“We don’t have time.”
He adjusted course slightly.
The two SUVs below changed direction too.
Margaret saw it.
“They’re following us.”
Jack looked down.
His jaw tightened.
“Someone is tracking the aircraft.”
Margaret gripped the seat.
“Can they do that?”
“Anybody can watch a helicopter if they know where to look.”
He keyed the radio.
“Mayday, Mayday, this is November—”
Margaret grabbed his arm.
“No police.”
Jack jerked away.
“What?”
“They said no police.”
He looked at her as if she had lost her mind.
“You have a woman in labor hanging under my aircraft and unknown vehicles following us.”
He keyed the radio again.
“We are absolutely calling police.”
Margaret’s phone rang.
She didn’t answer.
Again.
Again.
Jack spoke into the radio, requesting emergency medical assistance and law enforcement.
The phone stopped.
A text arrived.
YOU JUST MADE THIS WORSE.
Margaret felt something she hadn’t felt in years.
Helplessness.
She had built her entire adult life around never feeling it.
Margaret Whitmore controlled restaurants, charities, company boards, family holidays, wills, weddings.
She controlled Daniel.
At least she had until Emily arrived.
Emily was the first person who looked Margaret in the eyes and said no without apologizing afterward.
Margaret hated her for it.
That hatred had made the offer irresistible.
Three weeks earlier, an unknown man contacted Margaret through an encrypted number.
He knew everything.
Daniel planned to give Emily voting authority over part of Whitmore Aeronautics after the baby’s birth.
Emily wanted Daniel to reduce Margaret’s influence.
The man offered Margaret money and a solution.
Frighten Emily.
Make her believe remaining in the Whitmore family would endanger her.
Make her leave Daniel before the baby was born.
Margaret agreed.
She told herself it wasn’t about money.
The $500,000 payment simply proved the man was serious.
She told herself Emily would never be physically harmed.
The helicopter company specialized in professional rescue operations.
Harnesses.
Safety procedures.
An experienced pilot.
Everything controlled.
Just fear.
Now Emily’s water had broken.
And somebody wanted the baby.
Margaret looked down.
Emily’s legs were trembling.
“Emily!”
Emily looked up.
“I’m getting you out!”
Emily’s expression changed.
Even from that distance, Margaret could see disbelief.
“NOW you care?”
Margaret had no answer.
Jack pointed ahead.
“There.”
A narrow plateau sat beside an abandoned fire-service road.
Barely enough space.
“What about the SUVs?”
“They won’t reach it immediately.”
“How long?”
“Four minutes.”
Emily screamed.
Margaret pressed both hands against the window frame.
“Hold on!”
Emily laughed once.
A broken, terrified sound.
“What do you think I’m doing?”
Jack radioed their coordinates.
Emergency responders acknowledged.
Then the helicopter suddenly rocked harder.
Margaret grabbed the wall.
“What happened?”
“Wind.”
Jack corrected.
Nothing mechanical.
But Emily cried out below.
Margaret’s stomach twisted.
Another call.
UNKNOWN.
She answered.
“Leave us alone.”
The man chuckled.
“You’re disappointing me.”
“Who are you?”
“Someone who understands what that child is worth.”
Margaret frowned.
“Worth?”
“You genuinely don’t know.”
The line went dead.
Margaret stared at the phone.
What the child is worth.
Not who.
Worth.
Money.
Shares.
Inheritance.
Something.
Margaret knew every major Whitmore trust.
Or she thought she did.
Her late husband, Charles Whitmore, had created multiple estate vehicles before dying five years earlier.
Daniel inherited company shares.
Margaret controlled several family trusts.
There was no reason anyone needed the baby.
Unless—
Margaret went still.
Charles had amended something before his death.
A document she had never seen.
Daniel once mentioned it during an argument.
“My father made sure the next generation would never have to beg you for anything.”
At the time Margaret assumed he meant money.
What if it meant control?
“Margaret!”
Jack’s voice snapped her back.
“We’re descending.”
The helicopter approached the plateau.
Emily dangled below, eyes squeezed shut.
Margaret watched the ground rise.
Then she saw movement.
A black SUV burst onto the distant fire road.
Too fast.
Jack saw it too.
“That your friend?”
“No.”
The SUV accelerated toward them.
Jack changed angle.
“I’m not setting down.”
“What?!”
“They can block us.”
Emily screamed below.
Margaret leaned toward the cockpit.
“Then what do we do?”
Jack looked toward another ridge.
“There’s a ranch six miles east.”
“Can we make it?”
“Yes.”
“Emily?”
Jack didn’t answer.
That answer was enough.
Margaret looked down.
Emily’s head had fallen forward.
“Emily!”
No response.
“EMILY!”
Her body still moved.
But weakly.
Margaret’s heart stopped.
Then Emily raised her head again.
“I’m here.”
Margaret nearly collapsed with relief.
Emily shouted:
“If my baby dies, I will never forgive you!”
Margaret closed her eyes.
For once, she didn’t defend herself.
“I know.”
The SUV below stopped.
A man stepped out.
Too distant to identify.
He lifted something.
Not a weapon.
A phone.
Margaret’s phone rang.
She stared at him through the glass.
Then answered.
The man’s voice came through.
“You can keep running.”
Margaret whispered:
“Who are you?”
The figure looked up at the helicopter.
“But you’re taking my child with you.”
Margaret went completely still.
My child.
Not the child.
May you like
Emily’s baby.
The stranger had just claimed it was his.
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