Chapter 10 - Chloe’s Airport Arrest
While Arthur was raging in his mansion and trying desperately to reach his corporate lawyers—most of whom had stopped answering his calls the moment they realized his accounts were frozen—Chloe Vance made a desperate, arrogant mistake of her own.
Accustomed to escaping difficult situations with her father’s money, Chloe decided to flee. She booked a first-class ticket on a 2:00 PM British Airways flight from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport to London, intending to connect to Geneva where she believed an old family friend would shelter her.
What Chloe didn't understand was that her name was formally listed as a corporate board member on Aegis Tactical Solutions—a title Arthur had given her for tax evasion purposes five years prior. When the federal warrant was signed at midnight, Chloe’s passport was automatically flagged in the Department of Homeland Security’s Treasury Enforcement Communications System (TECS).
I was at the FBI command center with Special Agent Vance when the alert flashed on the dispatch monitors: TARGET INTERCEPTED - SEA-TAC AIRPORT - TERMINAL 2.
We pulled up the live security camera feed from the international departure security checkpoint. On screen, Chloe was dressed in oversized designer sunglasses and a cashmere travel tracksuit, arguing furiously with two Transportation Security Administration officers who were holding her passport.
"Do you know who my father is?!" Chloe shrieked on the audio feed, waving her manicured hands in the face of a female TSA supervisor. "I am Chloe Vance! You cannot hold my passport! I have a first-class flight boarding in ten minutes!"
Two uniformed Customs and Border Protection officers, accompanied by two armed FBI special agents in tactical vests, stepped out of the security office and flanked her.
"Chloe Vance," the lead FBI agent said calmly, pulling a pair of steel handcuffs from his belt. "You are under federal arrest for conspiracy to commit wire fraud, money laundering, and attempting to flee jurisdiction to avoid federal prosecution. Hands behind your back."
Chloe’s arrogant facade shattered instantly. She dropped her five-thousand-dollar carry-on bag, screaming hysterically as the agents grabbed her wrists and forced them behind her back, clicking the cuffs shut with a sharp, metallic snap.
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"Let go of me! I didn't do anything!" Chloe sobbed as she was led away through the crowded terminal, hundreds of passengers raising their cell phones to record the hysterical heiress being dragged off to a federal holding cell. "I just wanted my laundry washed! Call my dad! Somebody call my dad!"
Agent Vance chuckled dryly, shaking his head as he closed the video feed. "Well, she won't have to worry about washing her clothes for the next few years. The Federal Bureau of Prisons provides standard-issue orange jumpsuits, and they do the laundry in-house."
