Chapter 42: Waiting for Dawn

Inside the small plane, the air is stale with sweat and engine fumes. Two seats up front, a cramped bench in the back. The stranger—a lean man calling himself Zach—barks instructions. "Strap in. We take off as soon as it's safe."

Safe from what, exactly? My pulse slams. Elena's fingers grip my arm. I can't stop scanning the shadows for traps.

Zach's companion is a tall, quiet woman with a scar along her jaw, introduced only as Marta. She eyes us briefly, then settles into the co-pilot seat. No warmth, no small talk.

The engine whirs softly. We sit in tense silence, waiting for dawn to break. Zach murmurs they'll do a quick flight out of state, then vanish us over the border. "It won't be luxury," he warns. "But you'll be off your husband's radar."

Elena nods stiffly. I watch the horizon, mind spinning with all the "WTF" possibilities. Will we actually escape? Or will Vasquez track us to some remote runway and tear us apart? My stomach churns, half-expecting headlights to blaze across the tarmac any second.

Still, we wait, dawn creeping up like a half-remembered promise.