Chapter 10 - The Midnight Trap
"Drop the weapon immediately!" a voice boomed over the helicopter's loudspeaker.
"You are completely surrounded!"
Red and blue police lights flooded the entrance of the pier.
Four heavily armored SWAT vehicles smashed through the chain-link gates.
Beatrice screamed in sheer panic and shielded her eyes from the blinding spotlight.
She wildly aimed her handgun toward the approaching police cruisers.
Before she could even fire a single shot, a dark figure tackled her from the side.
It was Ethan.
He had tracked the GPS signal on Hannah's new phone the moment she left the hotel.
They crashed violently onto the wet concrete pavement.
The silver handgun skittered harmlessly away into the dark water.
Ethan pinned Beatrice's arms behind her back with overwhelming force.
"Get your hands off me, you miserable mistake!" Beatrice shrieked, thrashing wildly.
Two heavily armed SWAT officers sprinted forward and dragged Beatrice up by her coat.
They slammed her against the hood of the black sedan and secured her in heavy steel cuffs.
Hannah ran toward the car and frantically pulled open the back passenger door.
The backseat was completely empty.
Sarah wasn't there.
"Where is she?" Hannah screamed, grabbing Beatrice by the collar of her trench coat.
"What did you do to my sister?"
Beatrice laughed maniacally, blood dripping from a fresh cut on her forehead.
"She was never here, you gullible idiot."
"I never had her."
Ethan pulled Hannah back gently, wrapping his strong arms around her trembling shoulders.
"I called Sarah's university dorm while you were on your way here," Ethan explained softly.
"She is completely safe in her room, Hannah."
"Beatrice completely bluffed you to get the flash drive."
Hannah collapsed against Ethan's chest, sobbing with absolute relief.
Agent Carter stepped out of the lead police cruiser and walked toward the scene.
She picked up the decoy flash drive from the wet ground and examined it closely.
"You tried to extort a federal witness with a fake kidnapping," Agent Carter told Beatrice firmly.
"That adds another twenty years to your rapidly growing sentence."
"You are going away for a very long time, Beatrice."
They threw the screaming, furious woman into the back of a police van.
The heavy metal doors slammed shut, echoing loudly across the empty pier.
Ethan turned to Hannah and gently wiped the tears from her cold cheeks.
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"It is finally over," Ethan whispered, kissing her forehead softly.
They stood together under the flashing police lights, finally free from the nightmare.
