Chapter 14 - The Midnight Chase
The storm raged over the dark airstrip. The twin-engine cargo plane accelerated down the runway, its engines roaring violently as the pilot prepared for lift-off. Alongside the moving plane, the black SUV sped at seventy miles per hour, its side doors sliding open as Blackwood's mercenaries prepared to throw ropes to secure their entry onto the aircraft's open cargo ramp.
"Faster!" Blackwood screamed at the pilot over the radio headset. "Get us airborne now!"
Suddenly, out of the dark, rain-soaked marshlands bordering the tarmac, a terrifying sight emerged from the fog.
Obsidian burst through the high chain-link fence like a black missile, his massive hooves pounding the wet asphalt. Clara rode low on his back, her eyes fixed entirely on the plane's left landing gear assembly.
"What the hell is that?!" the SUV driver screamed, looking out his side window in sheer horror. "Is that a horse?!"
"Shoot it!" Blackwood yelled, sticking his arm out the passenger window with a heavy handgun.
Blackwood squeezed the trigger, but the slick rain and violent bouncing of the SUV threw off his aim. The bullets splashed harmlessly into the wet pavement.
Obsidian match the high speed of the accelerating plane step for step, his powerful muscles straining, his lungs roaring against the cold wind. He drew side-by-side with the heavy front landing gear of the twin-engine aircraft.
"Clara! Hold on!" Julian shouted from behind, as his police sedan smashed through the outer perimeter gate, pursuing the SUV from the rear with Sarah firing warning shots into the air.
Clara leaned close to Obsidian’s ear. "Now, boy! Block the wheel!"
Obsidian did something incredible. Instead of shying away from the deafening roar of the jet engine, the stallion veered directly in front of the aircraft’s nose wheel, galloping mere inches ahead of the spinning rubber tire.
The pilot inside the cockpit saw the giant black horse directly in front of his nose wheel and panicked. Fearing that hitting the massive horse would cause the landing gear to collapse and explode the fuel tanks, the pilot instinctively slammed on the emergency hydraulic brakes.
*SCREECH!*
The heavy aircraft went into a violent skid, its tires screaming against the wet asphalt, sending up massive clouds of white smoke and sparks. The plane spun ninety degrees out of control, its left wing clipping a concrete signal tower and tearing off in a massive fireball.
The trailing black SUV tried to swerve to avoid the spinning plane, but flipped over twice on the slick wet pavement, crashing heavily into a drainage ditch at the edge of the runway.
Obsidian veered sharply off the tarmac, leaping safely over the guardrail and landing smoothly in the grass, completely unharmed.
The burning debris of the aircraft illuminated the ruined runway. Julian’s police sedan skidded to a halt beside the overturned SUV. Julian and Sarah leaped out with weapons drawn, surrounding the smoking vehicle.
The driver was unconscious, and Victor Hale was groaning in pain, pinned under the crumpled rear door.
Marcus Blackwood, covered in mud and blood, kicked open the shattered front door and crawled out into the rain, clutching his satellite phone containing his offshore fortune.
"I have fifty million dollars..." Blackwood gasped, scrambling on his hands and knees through the mud. "I can pay you... anything you want, Vance! Just let me walk away!"
Julian walked up to Blackwood, stepping heavily on the satellite phone and crushing it into pieces beneath his boot heel.
"You can't buy your way out of this one, Blackwood," Julian said coldly, dragging the syndicate leader to his feet and shoving him face-first against the hot hood of the police car. "Your empire is dead."
Clara rode Obsidian slowly over to the crash site. The rain washed over the black stallion’s shimmering coat as he stood proudly beside the young girl.
Victor Hale crawled halfway out of the back window of the SUV, looking up at Clara with hollow, broken eyes. "Clara... please... tell them I was forced into it... tell them David was my friend..."
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Clara looked down at the ruined billionaire who had taken her father's life and stolen her childhood.
"My father called you a brother, Victor," Clara said, her voice steady and echoing through the falling rain. "And you traded his life for gold. You will spend the rest of your days remembering his name."
