Chapter 11 - THE CHOICE OF A MOTHERThe cargo plane lurched.
Maya threw herself over Ethan.
The rear wheel began turning toward them.
Agent Ortiz fired into the cockpit control panel.
Sparks exploded across the windshield.
The left engine lost power.
The plane jerked sideways.
Marcus and two agents dragged Ethan away from the wheel.
The tire passed inches from his legs.
Victoria struggled with the damaged controls.
The aircraft struck a fuel cart.
The wing tore through a metal barrier.
Foam erupted from the airport fire system.
The plane stopped.
Agents rushed the cockpit.
Victoria was pulled from the pilot’s seat.
She fought them with surprising strength.
“My son needs a surgeon,” she shouted.
Maya stared at her.
“You moved the plane knowing he was beneath it.”
Victoria’s face remained hard.
“He made his choice.”
“So did you.”
Paramedics placed Ethan on a stretcher.
His pulse was weak.
Maya climbed into the ambulance with him.
Leah was transported in a second ambulance.
Noah remained with Eleanor under federal protection.
As the doors closed, Ethan reached for Maya’s hand.
She allowed him to hold two of her fingers.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered.
“Save your strength.”
“I need you to know.”
“You need to survive.”
“I loved you.”
Maya looked at him.
“Love without courage became another weapon against me.”
His eyes filled with tears.
“I know.”
The ambulance reached the trauma center.
Ethan was taken directly into surgery.
Leah was admitted under federal guard.
Doctors found dangerously high levels of sedatives in her system.
Her body showed evidence of years of improper treatment.
Yet her heart remained strong.
Maya sat between the two operating areas wearing a torn evening dress stained with Ethan’s blood.
Marcus brought her the medal.
The federal technicians had finished photographing it.
“It belongs to you.”
Maya closed her fingers around it.
“Did my father hide the trust authorization inside this?”
“Possibly.”
“There may be another mechanism.”
Marcus pressed the central star.
A section of silver shifted.
A thin metal strip emerged.
It contained a sequence of letters and numbers.
Eleanor arrived with Noah.
She recognized the sequence.
“That is Gabriel’s private archive code.”
“Where is the archive?” Maya asked.
Eleanor looked toward Marcus.
“No one knows.”
Marcus examined the final numbers.
“They are coordinates.”
The location appeared to be beneath the old Vaughn family cemetery.
Hours later, Ethan’s surgeon entered the waiting room.
The bullet had damaged his liver.
He had lost a dangerous amount of blood.
But he was alive.
Maya closed her eyes.
Relief came.
So did anger.
Both emotions could exist at the same time.
A doctor from Leah’s room approached next.
“Mrs. Vaughn is awake.”
Maya carried Noah into the room.
Leah lay beneath white blankets.
Her face was thinner than the photographs.
Her hair had turned mostly gray.
But when she saw Maya, her eyes became clear.
Maya stopped beside the bed.
Neither woman knew how to cross twenty-four stolen years.
Leah slowly lifted her hand.
Maya placed the medal inside it.
Her mother began to cry.
“I gave this to you on the road.”
“I kept it.”
“I thought they found you.”
“They found Maya.”
Leah looked confused.
“That is the name the children’s home gave me.”
“You are Amelia.”
Maya looked down at Noah.
“I think I am both.”
Leah touched her daughter’s face.
Then she touched the baby’s tiny hand.
“My grandson.”
“His name is Noah.”
Leah smiled weakly.
“Your father wanted to name our second child Noah.”
Maya’s heart tightened.
“Where is my father?”
Leah’s smile disappeared.
“Gabriel survived the road.”
Marcus stepped closer.
“What happened to him?”
“They took him below Lake Mercer.”
“We searched the laboratory.”
“You searched the new one.”
Leah’s voice became urgent.
“The original facility is beneath the family cemetery.”
May you like
She gripped the medal.
“Gabriel may still be there.”
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