Jonas Faukman, abducted and bound in the back of a van, struggles with fear and numb hands as he realizes the vehicle is near Signature Aviation at Teterboro Airport in New Jersey, not a military base. The implication that mercenaries could move him without oversight makes him panic.

One operative with softer features (Chinburg) loosens and reties Faukman’s restraints, leaving them deliberately slack, while his partner Auger remains aggressive. When Chinburg exits the van to urinate, Faukman notices an idling SUV near the terminal and decides it is his only chance to avoid being flown away.

Faukman slips free, bolts from the van, and sprints to the SUV as Chinburg gives chase and a gunshot cracks past him. Faukman jumps into the driver’s seat, speeds away, and pulls out his phone, urgently using Siri to call Robert Langdon.

The scene reveals the escape was staged: Chinburg stops running and returns to Auger, confirming Faukman took the phone. There is no plane; the operatives engineered “the Fugitive” ploy to trigger flight and ensure Faukman would use his phone, which they had already unlocked and loaded with surveillance software. Listening in through an iPad interface, they hear Faukman leave voicemails warning Langdon and Katherine that they are in danger, that Katherine’s manuscript was deleted from the server, and that the only remaining copy may be the one Katherine printed in Prague. Auger notes this confirmation, and Chinburg calls Finch to report it.