Chapter 6 - TIME RUNS OUT
The clinic waiting room descended into utter chaos.
Julian backed away from the police officers, his hands raised in a placating gesture. “Officers, this is a corporate misunderstanding. A family dispute. You have no jurisdiction here—”
“Actually, sir,” the Chief of Police said, stepping forward. “Extortion, grand larceny, and corporate fraud fall well within our jurisdiction. Especially when the victim hands us the evidence.”
The Chief gestured toward Arthur Hale.
Julian’s eyes darted frantically around the room. He looked at Sterling, the consortium head.
“Sterling, call my lawyers. The firm on retainer. Get them down here now.”
Sterling took a very deliberate step backward.
He smoothed his tie, his face wiped clean of any allegiance.
“I’m afraid our partnership with Hale Global is currently under review, Julian,” Sterling said coldly. “We cannot involve our legal team in your… personal matters.”
Julian’s face twisted in rage. “You opportunistic parasite. I built this deal!”
“And I am dismantling it,” Arthur said.
Arthur’s voice was fading. He leaned heavily against the clinic wall, his chest heaving. The adrenaline that had kept him upright was rapidly burning away, leaving only the fragile shell of a seventy-two-year-old man who hadn’t eaten in a day.
Megan saw him slipping.
She abandoned her cart and rushed to his side, grabbing his arm to steady him.
“Mr. Hale, please,” Megan begged. “You need a doctor. Right now.”
Arthur shook his head stubbornly. “Not yet.”
“Yes, yet!” Megan demanded. She looked at Angela. “Help me get him to a bed.”
Angela moved quickly, taking Arthur’s other arm. Together, the two women guided the billionaire toward one of the examination rooms in the back of the clinic.
Julian watched them go, a sneer forming on his lips.
“Look at him,” Julian called out to the police. “He’s senile. He’s playing cop. That recording is inadmissible. You have no warrant. You have a disgruntled manager and a fake watch.”
The Chief of Police pulled out a folded piece of paper from his jacket.
“Actually, Mr. Hale, we have a warrant signed twenty minutes ago by a federal judge. Based on an affidavit provided by your father’s legal counsel.”
Julian blinked. “What affidavit?”
Angela stepped out of the examination room, her face a mask of professional ice.
“The affidavit detailing the offshore accounts in the Cayman Islands,” Angela said. “The ones you thought were safely hidden under Thomas Carter’s name.”
Julian laughed nervously. “Yes! Under Carter’s name! It proves Carter stole the money!”
“No, Julian,” Angela corrected him softly. “It proves you opened the accounts.”
Julian’s smirk vanished.
“When you opened the shell company online,” Angela continued, tapping her tablet, “you used a VPN to mask your location. Very smart. But you paid the account registration fee with a corporate credit card.”
Julian froze.
“A card issued to Hale Global,” Angela said. “Which means, as Chairman, your father had full access to the billing statements. He saw the charge three months ago. He’s been building this case with federal investigators ever since.”
Julian looked at his father, who was now sitting on an examination bed, an oxygen mask over his face, watching through the glass door.
Julian’s arrogance finally shattered.
It was replaced by sheer, unadulterated panic.
He lunged toward the exit.
The two police officers grabbed him instantly.
“Get your hands off me!” Julian screamed, struggling wildly. “I am the Vice Chairman of Hale Global! I own this airport!”
“You own nothing,” Arthur’s voice drifted faintly from the exam room.
The officers snapped handcuffs onto Julian’s wrists. The click of the metal echoed loudly.
David Collins, still kneeling on the floor, wept openly.
Megan stood in the doorway of the exam room, her hand resting gently on Arthur’s shoulder.
She watched as Julian was led out of the clinic, cursing and screaming threats that no longer held any power.
Then, she watched as the officers pulled David Collins to his feet and handcuffed him as well.
As David was walked past the Carter family, he couldn’t look at Megan.
He didn’t look at Noah.
He kept his eyes glued to the floor.
Megan’s mother, Sarah, wrapped her arms around Noah, pulling him close. Tears were streaming down her face, but she was smiling.
“It’s over,” Sarah whispered into Noah’s hair. “It’s finally over.”
But inside the exam room, Arthur pulled the oxygen mask down.
He looked at Megan.
“It’s not over,” Arthur rasped.
Megan frowned. “What do you mean? They arrested them. They have the proof.”
Arthur shook his head slowly. He reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a small, crumpled piece of paper.
It was a baggage claim ticket.
“Julian is smart,” Arthur said, his breathing shallow. “The federal investigators have the offshore accounts frozen. But Julian knew they were closing in. He didn’t just come to the airport tonight to sign the consortium deal.”
Megan felt a cold dread wash over her. “Then why did he come?”
“He came to empty the physical vault,” Arthur said.
Angela stepped into the room, her face pale.
“Sir,” Angela said quietly. “Security just checked Julian’s briefcase. The bearer bonds… they’re gone.”
Arthur closed his eyes.
“Fifty million dollars,” Arthur whispered. “Untraceable corporate bearer bonds. Julian must have moved them from the corporate vault to a secondary location before he was arrested.”
Megan stared at the baggage claim ticket in Arthur’s hand.
“If he hid them,” Megan said slowly, “how does he get them out?”
Arthur opened his eyes. He looked at Megan.
“He doesn’t,” Arthur said. “He’s going to jail. But he transferred the claim ticket to someone else. Someone who can walk right out of this airport with fifty million dollars in a suitcase, untraceable.”
Arthur looked through the glass window.
May you like
Out into the terminal.
Where Sterling, the head of the consortium, had quietly slipped away in the chaos.
