Chapter 25 - The Perimeter Trap
Ten minutes later, flashing blue and red emergency lights illuminated the windows of our parked jet.
Swiss federal police cruisers had swarmed the perimeter road of the private airstrip, their sirens wailing as they boxed in the sleek black Mercedes-Maybach. Officers in tactical gear poured out of the vehicles, weapons drawn, shouting commands in rapid French and German as they surrounded the luxury car.
Anton and I descended the metal steps of the jet, our feet touching the asphalt of the tarmac just as the lead police inspector approached us, his coat flapping in the crisp morning wind.
"Mr. and Mrs. Sterling?" the inspector asked, flashing an official badge. "Inspector Meier, Swiss Federal Police. We received your distress signal and intercepted the vehicle matching your description."
"Did you catch her?" I asked immediately, stepping forward. "Is Beatrice in custody?"
Inspector Meier’s expression darkened. He exchanged a grim look with one of the tactical officers behind him before turning back to us. "Step this way, please. You need to see this for yourselves."
We followed the inspector across the tarmac toward the intercepted Maybach. The doors of the car were wide open, the interior lights glowing softly against the expensive leather upholstery.
Leaning over the back seat was a team of crime scene technicians, dusting for prints and examining a small, open laptop resting on the central console.
But the back seat was completely empty.
"What do you mean, she's not inside?" Anton demanded, stepping up to the open door of the car. "We saw her from the jet window less than twenty minutes ago! She was sitting right there!"
Inspector Meier pointed down at the floor of the vehicle. Resting on the plush floor mats was a sophisticated, high-end animatronic mannequin—dressed in an identical cashmere coat, wearing the exact same oversized designer sunglasses and styled blonde wig that Beatrice always wore.
"This wasn't a live sighting, Mr. Sterling," Inspector Meier said grimly. "It was a decoy. The vehicle was set on an automated GPS loop, controlled remotely from a secure server off-site. The person sitting in the back was nothing more than a mechanical puppet programmed to wave at a specific time."
My breath caught in my throat. The room seemed to spin. "A puppet... She wasn't even here. She hasn't been here all morning."
"Correct," the inspector confirmed, handing Anton a small, laminated card that had been pinned to the steering wheel of the Maybach.
Anton took the card with shaking fingers and read the single sentence written across it aloud:
May you like
*“You can't trap a ghost, my children. See you at the finish line.”*
***
