The Trap

They were being delivered.

Elena stared at the flight monitor, the little white airplane icon inching across the digital map like a cursor moving toward a delete button. Westchester. The airport was practically in the Hawthorne’s backyard. They weren’t flying to safety. They were flying into custody.

"Can you override it?" she asked Kai.

"I'm trying," Kai said, his fingers flying across his laptop keyboard. "But the encryption is military grade. It’s hardwired into the avionics. Someone with root access locked us out."

"Julian," Elena said.

"Or whoever Julian is working with," Kai muttered. "This isn't just a landlord protecting his investment. This is... systematic."

Elena looked at Silas. He was pale, sweating, clutching his arm where the tranquilizer dart had hit him. He looked old. Defeated.

"We have to land," Silas said. "We don't have enough fuel to divert."

"If we land in Westchester," Elena said, "Marcus will be waiting. With the police. With a court order. With a padded cell."

She looked at Leo. He was awake now, his eyes wide and curious, tracking the movement of the clouds outside the window.

She had stolen him. She had run with him. She had fought for him.

And now she was going to lose him.

"No," she whispered.

She unbuckled her seatbelt. She stood up.

"What are you doing?" Kai asked.

"I'm going to talk to the pilot," Elena said.

She walked to the cockpit door. It was locked. She pounded on it.

"Open up!" she shouted. "I know you can hear me!"

The intercom crackled. "Please return to your seat, Mrs. Vance. We are beginning our final approach."

"Who are you working for?" Elena demanded. "Julian? Marcus?"

"I work for the flight plan," the pilot said, his voice devoid of emotion. "And the flight plan says Westchester."

Elena looked around the cabin. She needed a way out. But they were at 30,000 feet. There was no way out.

Unless...

She looked at the emergency exit over the wing.

"Kai," she said. "Can you open that?"

"At this altitude?" Kai looked at her like she was insane. "We'd be sucked out. We'd freeze. We'd die."

"Not now," Elena said. "When we land. Before we taxi to the terminal."

"You want to jump?"

"I want to run," Elena said. "The moment the wheels touch the ground, we blow the door. We jump. We run for the perimeter fence."

"With a baby?" Silas asked.

"It's better than handing him to Seraphina," Elena said.

She went back to her seat. She took Leo out of the car seat. She strapped him into a baby carrier against her chest, wrapping her coat around him tight.

"Get ready," she told Kai.

The plane descended. The ground rushed up to meet them. Snow-covered fields. The dark line of the reservoir. The lights of the airport.

The wheels touched down with a screech. The plane shuddered. The engines roared in reverse.

"Now!" Elena shouted.

Kai grabbed the release handle on the emergency door. He yanked it.

Nothing happened.

"It's locked!" Kai yelled. "Electronically locked!"

Elena looked out the window. They were slowing down. They were turning off the runway.

And there, waiting on the tarmac, was a convoy.

Three black SUVs. A police cruiser.

And a woman standing in the snow.

Seraphina.

She was wearing a fur coat. She was smiling.

The plane came to a stop. The engines whined down.

The main cabin door opened.

Cold air rushed in.

Two men in tactical gear stepped onto the plane. They weren't police. They weren't FBI.

They were private security.

"Mrs. Vance," the leader said. "Please step forward."

Elena backed away, clutching Leo. "Get away from me."

"We have authorization to use force," the man said.

He raised a taser.

Elena looked at Silas. He was too weak to fight.

She looked at Kai. He was unarmed.

She looked at Leo.

She had no choice.

She stepped forward.

"Don't hurt him," she said.

"Hand him over," the man said.

Elena unbuckled the carrier. She kissed Leo's forehead.

"I love you," she whispered. "I'm coming back for you."

She handed him to the guard.

The guard took him. He turned and walked off the plane.

Elena watched him go. She watched him hand Leo to Seraphina.

Seraphina took the baby. She looked up at the plane. She waved.

Then she got into the lead SUV.

The second guard grabbed Elena's arm. "You're coming with us."

They dragged her off the plane. They dragged Kai and Silas off.

They put them in the second SUV.

"Where are you taking us?" Elena asked.

"Home," the guard said.

They drove. Five miles. Ten minutes.

They turned onto the private road. The gates of the Hawthorne Estate loomed ahead.

They opened.

The SUV drove up the winding driveway.

But they didn't stop at the main house.

They drove past it. Past the gardens. Past the guest cottage.

They drove to the boathouse.

The car stopped. The doors opened.

"Get out," the guard said.

Elena got out. The wind was howling off the lake.

The boathouse door was open.

Elena walked inside.

It was empty. The boat was gone. The furniture was gone.

But someone was waiting.

Sitting in the single remaining chair, facing the door.

It wasn't Julian.

It was Seraphina.

She was holding Leo.

And in her other hand, she was holding Elena's passport.

"Going somewhere?" she asked.

She held the passport over the open flame of a lighter.

Elena lunged.

But Seraphina dropped it.

The little blue book fell into the fire. The pages curled. The photo blackened.

"You don't exist anymore, Elena," Seraphina said, watching it burn. "You're not a citizen. You're not a wife. You're not a mother."

She looked up, her eyes bright with malice.

"You're just a ghost."