Chapter 19 - The general’s confession
The private security team threw their rifles into the snow, dropping to their knees with their hands behind their heads. Victoria’s private helicopter pilot cut the engines immediately, knowing that any attempt to lift off would result in being shredded by the gunships hovering fifty feet above.
Dozens of combat-ready Army Rangers slid down the ropes, their assault rifles raised, swarming the clearing in a textbook perimeter cordon.
General Jonathan Davis was the first to hit the ground. He didn't wear his dress uniform this time; he wore full combat gear, his weathered face grim and set like stone. He walked straight toward Victoria, who stood frozen in the snow, her aristocratic composure completely shattered.
"Davis!" Victoria hissed, her voice trembling with venomous rage. "What are you doing? Do you know what files I have on you? Do you know what happens to your legacy if I speak?"
Davis didn't even look at her. "Arrest her," he said to the Ranger captain beside him. "Federal charges of treason, conspiracy to commit murder, and corporate espionage. Handcuff her."
"You coward!" Victoria screamed as two soldiers pinned her arms behind her back and snapped heavy steel cuffs around her wrists. "You were in the room when Clara’s flight plan was signed! You took the checks!"
"I took the checks to build the hospital named after her," Davis said, his voice raw with a grief he had carried for twenty-four years. "And every single dollar you funneled into my accounts has been sitting in a forensic escrow account monitored by the Department of Justice. I waited twenty-four years for you to step into the open, Victoria. Your father was too smart to ever touch the hardware. But you... you couldn't resist coming for the black box yourself."
Victoria was dragged toward the waiting Black Hawk, still screaming obscenities into the roaring wind.
Davis turned slowly toward Evelyn. The young captain stood unmoving, her eyes fixed on the man who had saluted her arm at the gala, the man who had just dismantled an empire.
"You knew," Evelyn said, her voice shaking with restrained emotion. "You knew she was out here."
Davis closed his eyes for a long moment, the heavy lines on his face deepening under the glare of the searchlights.
"Clara was my wingman in the Gulf, Evelyn," Davis said quietly, his voice breaking. "When your father betrayed her, she came to me. But the syndicate was too deep. If I moved then, they would have killed you and Amanda before breakfast the next day. Clara made me swear to protect you two, no matter how much dirt I had to swallow to stay in power. She told me, 'Wait until Evelyn earns her wings. When she wears them, she'll have the rank, the clearance, and the strength to finish this.'"
Evelyn looked down at the silver wings pinned over her heart. A single tear cut through the grime on her cheek.
"Then it's over," Daniel said, walking out from behind the rock with Amanda, wrapping an arm around his trembling sister. "Richard is in prison, Victoria is arrested, and the truth is out."
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Davis looked at Daniel, then back at Evelyn. His expression was not one of relief. It was one of chilling, grave solemnity.
"No, Daniel," Davis whispered, pulling a satellite phone from his tactical pocket. "It's not over. The Department of Justice just raided your father’s estate ten minutes ago."
