Chapter 6 - The Tokyo Red-Eye Flight
Thirteen hours later, at 4:30 AM, the heavy glass doors of the terminal at JFK International Airport parted.
Leo Vance sprinted through the arrival gate, his business suit rumpled, his tie loose, carrying only a carry-on briefcase. He had caught the first emergency red-eye flight out of Haneda the second his phone connected to the airport Wi-Fi and received fifteen panicked, hysterical voicemails from his mother and sister.
He threw himself into a taxi, speeding toward Meadowbrook Lane.
When the cab pulled up to the gated property, Leo froze.
The iron gates were padlocked with heavy industrial steel chains. Parked along the curb were two large commercial moving vans, accompanied by three marked patrol cruisers from the County Sheriff’s Department.
On the front lawn, in the damp morning mist, sat thirty cardboard storage boxes, suitcases, and plastic bags filled with Agnes and Chloe’s designer clothes, shoes, and vanity mirrors.
Agnes was sitting on a damp suitcase, wrapped in a blanket, weeping hysterically while Chloe screamed at two stone-faced armed guards standing at the gate.
"Mom! Chloe!" Leo shouted, running up the gravel driveway. "What is going on here?! Where is Elena?!"
Agnes scrambled to her feet, throwing her arms around Leo's neck, sobbing with bitter, theatrical venom. "Leo! Oh, God, Leo! Your monster of a wife has kicked us out into the street! She brought armed thugs and a fake lawyer to steal your house! Look at what she did to your mother!"
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"Leo, she called the police on me!" Chloe wailed, waving her phone. "All my bank cards declined at midnight! They shut off my apartment lease in the city!"
Leo turned around, his face pale with furious confusion, staring at the front steps.
