00:00Maya said again, sharper this time.
00:02Adrienne turned the phone toward her, hands trembling.
00:06The paused video still showed Isabel clutching Lucia inside the small plane's cabin,
00:11fear frozen across her face.
00:13Adrienne, what does it say?
00:16Below the message was a set of GPS coordinates,
00:19the same private airstrip Marcus had just mentioned.
00:22Adrienne was already moving toward the car.
00:24They want you alone, which means they want leverage over the crown directly,
00:30not a rescue negotiation.
00:32This isn't about money, Adrienne.
00:35This is about control.
00:37Then, they'll get exactly what they asked for.
00:40Absolutely not.
00:41Grabbing his arm.
00:43Adrienne, think for one second.
00:45If you walk onto that airstrip alone, you're not saving them.
00:49You're handing yourself over as a second hostage.
00:52She's right.
00:53My father doesn't make threats he isn't prepared to follow through on.
00:57If you go alone, the only thing that changes is that now there are three people to control instead of
01:03two.
01:04So what am I supposed to do?
01:06Exhaustion and fear cracking his usually composed exterior.
01:11Sit here and watch a countdown clock while my wife and daughter sit on a plane that could take off
01:16any minute.
01:17Marcus stepped between them, voice steady.
01:20You go, but not unprepared.
01:23And not without a plan they don't know about.
01:26Marcus pulled up a satellite map on his phone, pointing to the private airstrip's layout.
01:31I still have two former Operation Contacts stationed within 20 minutes of here.
01:36People loyal to me, not to whoever's paying the Ashworth family's private security.
01:41If we move now, I can have them positioned around the perimeter before Adrian even arrives.
01:47And if your contacts are seen, then we've lost the element of surprise.
01:52And Adrian walks in exactly as vulnerable as they expect, admitted.
01:57It's a risk, but it's better odds than sending him in with nothing.
02:02Adrian looked at the coordinates, then at Maya, whose face was a mixture of fear and fierce determination he hadn't
02:09seen from her before.
02:10I'm coming with you.
02:12Absolutely not.
02:14Absolutely not.
02:39The contacts already melted into the darkness along the tree line as promised.
02:44Adrian stepped out alone, exactly as instructed, hands visible, Fern held out in front of him.
02:50A figure emerged from the shadow of a small hangar, not Christina's father, but a broad-shouldered man Adrian didn't
02:56recognize.
02:57Flanked by two others in plain black tactical gear, a sleek black car pulled up along the tarmac, and Christina's
03:05father, Lawrence Ashworth, stepped out, composed and unhurried, exactly the way Christina always described him.
03:11Your Highness, right on time.
03:14Where are they?
03:16Patience.
03:17Mr. Ashworth would like a word first.
03:19Adrian, said warmly, as though greeting an old business partner rather than a man he'd just threatened by video.
03:27I do apologize for the theatrics.
03:30I find people move much faster when properly motivated.
03:33You have my wife and daughter, voice shaking with barely controlled fury.
03:39What do you want?
03:40Simple.
03:41The Belmore-Ashworth trade agreement.
03:44Fully restored.
03:45This time with terms my family actually controls, not merely benefits from.
03:50And in exchange for my discretion regarding certain unfortunate financial irregularities,
03:56your father's private security operation has been running for the past several years.
04:02You're blackmailing the crown.
04:04I'm negotiating.
04:05There's a difference, if you know how to use it properly.
04:08While Adrian kept Morin's talking, Maya slipped along the tree line exactly as planned, guided by quiet directions from Marcus
04:17through a small earpiece hidden beneath her hair.
04:20She found the small plane parked at the far end of the airstrip.
04:23A single guard stationed near the cabin door, distracted by his phone.
04:28Marcus's voice crackled softly in her ear.
04:31Second guard is circling from the north side.
04:35You have maybe 90 seconds before he completes his loop.
04:39Maya crept closer, heart hammering, until she was close enough to hear a small muffled voice from inside the plane.
04:46Lucia, crying softly, and Isabelle's low steady voice trying to soothe her.
04:53She had exactly one chance to get this right.
04:56Maya reached the cabin door, just as the distracted guard finally looked up from his phone, directly at her.
05:02The rest of his sentence was cut off, as Marcus's contact emerged silently from the darkness behind him,
05:09and the guard crumpled to the ground before finishing the call.
05:13Maya yanked the cabin door open, finding Isabelle huddled in the corner with Lucia pressed tightly against her chest,
05:21both of them staring back at her in wide-eyed terror.
05:24Hey, he shouted, reaching for his radio.
05:27We've got a...
05:28Isabelle, breathless.
05:30My name is Maya.
05:31Adrian sent me.
05:33We don't have much time.
05:34You know, Adrian, he knows I'm alive.
05:37He knows everything.
05:39Reaching out a hand.
05:41We need to move right now.
05:43But just as Isabelle rose to follow her, the airstrip's floodlights suddenly blazed on all at once,
05:50flooding the entire tarmac in blinding white light,
05:53and somewhere behind them, near the hangar where Adrian still stood face to face with Lawrence Ashworth,
05:59a single gunshot cracked through the night air.
06:02Maya froze.
06:03Isabelle's hand still gripped tightly in hers.
06:07Maya froze.
06:08Isabelle's hand still gripped tightly in hers.
06:11Adrian.
06:12Coming up in episode 9, the gunshot.
06:16Maya must choose between reaching Adrian or getting Isabelle and Lucia to safety,
06:21as the true cost of Lawrence Ashworth's negotiation finally comes due.
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