A Broken Vow

3

Five minutes before take-off. The captain and his co-pilot just finished going through the pre-flight check list. Aboard her private plane, the CEO of AG, partners and associates is bound for Amsterdam in the next 9 hours for a make or break meeting with the Deputy Prime Minister. 30 million dollars at stake. Everything is all-ready to go. You know what they say when everything you planned out for is changed by a single detour. How that one tiny detail changed the path of a whole story. A single corner missed, a stone left unturned and your journey drastically changes. This came to Althea in a form of a single text message. She was getting the last-minute briefing from Batchi when she received the message from Bobby. 911. She felt the hair at the back of her neck stand up.

It was an 18-wheeler truck that holds an empty 30-foot container. It was running smoothly on the freeway at 65 mph when the driver noticed that the breaks weren't working. He tried to do an engine break but it was a downward trail. He hit the sedan to his left that sent the poor car flying to the other lane. He swore he felt the steering wheel locked and by instinct, he made a sharp turn, rammed an SUV to his right before he rolled over and glided for a few meters. The container was separated from the truck as soon as it hits the pavement. Exactly a minute and 30 seconds after, the unchartered flight of a luxurious private plane to Amsterdam was cancelled.

Jade was in a 7-car collision wreck. Their son, Gabriel was at school, he's safe. Bobby's guys were 2 miles away from the car that Jade was driving. A good distance to not lose her but apparently not safe enough to keep her from getting into an accident. The driver saw the rear break lights first before the big container lying in front of it. His passenger, one of the new ones from the firm, called Bobby right away as instructed. He got a tongue lashing for not calling for help first.

Before the sirens from the ambulance and rescue team, a lone helicopter flew over the crash and extracted the unconscious Jade Tanchingco from her wrecked Toyota. The EVAC team rushed her to the nearest ER. Her vitals are stable but she's unresponsive.

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Althea is very patient. That's what got her where she is. A very meticulous player. Patiently waits for her turn to savage the prey. She watches her competitors and clients bask in the glory of success before she catches them sleeping at night, with their guards down, at their most vulnerable state before stealing their eggs. Right before it hatches. Boy the contracts and deals she won last minute! But this one is different. She could not hold it any longer. She's sitting at the waiting area for family inside the ER. She knows the Director of the Hospital. In fact, her firm represented this hospital twice for a malpractice suit. Both cases dismissed. The boys from the firm smelled that the patient/client wanted a quick buck. The hospital's board members wanted to settle quickly and move on. They escalated the case to the CEO before money change hands and Althea managed to convince the board to fund their defense to make a statement to the general public. They won, the hospital got to keep its clean name, the firm was paid a hefty sum. The patient, now cancer-free, still sour grapping and dirt talking the hospital to anyone who cares to listen. Althea even leaked it to the press that the patient had a history of schizophrenia and is bat shit crazy before handling back the case to her associates and going back to her big clients, the defense contractors. The firm now holds a 5-year representation contract with the hospital with a half a million a year retainer.

She could storm to the ER or even to the Director's office to get an update on Jade's condition if she wanted. But she sits still and think. And for the first time in many years, she prayed.

Forty-eight hours earlier, she showed up at Jade's doorstep to pick up their son, Gabriel. It was the first time in many months that they saw each other again, face to face. She would normally watch her from the distance. When she comes and pick-up her son or when she brings him back. Several times from an unmarked van, just watching her cheer for their son playing soccer. Once, behind very dark sun glasses while Jade happily assists a customer at the warehouse store. She is different up close. Her smell. It has the same effect at Althea from years ago. Her skin. Although, not as clear and spotless as it was in the past, it's still her. It took every inch of her to stop her self from grabbing Jade and begging her to take her back. She was a little confused when she saw her. She was uneasy. She was cute.