Chương 5
“She cleared the search.”
“She didn’t tell me.”
Natalie looked toward the office doors.
Then back at him.
“Fine.”
She raised her voice.
“Tessa.”
The security chief appeared behind the glass.
“Can Marcus assist with the technical inspection?”
Tessa hesitated.
“Only if he wears gloves, touches nothing unless Garrison directs it, and every access point gets photographed before opening.”
Marcus nodded.
“Works for me.”
They climbed into the aircraft.
The cabin smelled faintly of leather, carpet adhesive, and coffee that had sat too long in a silver service pot.
Marcus had forgotten how quiet expensive airplanes could feel even while sitting inside a hangar.
The seats were cream-colored.
The wood trim along the sidewall had been polished recently.
A folded newspaper rested beside one chair, yesterday’s date still visible.
Natalie came in behind him.
“You’ve been on one of these before.”
Marcus looked down the aisle.
“Yes.”
“How many times?”
“Enough.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“It’s the one I have.”
She watched him for another second.
Then Garrison opened the forward service cabinet.
Everyone became quiet.
Tessa photographed the interior.
Garrison leaned in with a flashlight.
Priya stood beside him, breathing through her nose, arms locked against her chest.
“Nothing obvious.”
Marcus stayed two steps back.
“Check the harness clamps.”
Garrison moved the beam downward.
“First looks normal.”
“Second?”
“Normal.”
“Third?”
Garrison stopped.
Priya leaned closer.
“What?”
Garrison did not answer.
Marcus saw his shoulders tense.
Natalie moved forward.
“What is it?”
Garrison pointed the flashlight into the lower corner.
A wiring harness ran along the frame beneath three black control modules.
Around one section, nearly hidden behind a clamp, the protective sleeving had been cut.
Not torn.
Not rubbed through.
Cut.
Priya whispered Evan’s name.
Marcus looked at the exposed wires.
Then at the clamp.
Then at the clean edges of the incision.
“No.”
Garrison turned.
“No what?”
“Don’t blame him yet.”
Marcus leaned closer.
The cut was too neat.
Too visible once the correct panel was open.
And resting beneath the harness, almost as if someone expected it to be found, was the broken tip of a red-handled precision knife.
Marcus felt the old familiar weight settle into his stomach.
Evidence that arrived too perfectly was rarely evidence he trusted.
He looked at Natalie.
“Whoever did this isn’t just trying to stop your airplane.”
Her face tightened.
“What are they trying to do?”
Marcus looked at the broken blade tip beneath the damaged harness.
“They’re trying to make sure you blame someone.”
Natalie stared at the blade fragment as if it had personally insulted her.
“Whom?”
Marcus kept his eyes on the harness.
“That depends on who owns a red-handled precision knife.”
Priya’s face changed before anyone answered.
Garrison noticed.
“What?”
She looked at him, then at Natalie.
“Evan does.”
The words seemed to cost her.
“He keeps one in his chest pocket.”
Garrison swore under his breath.
Priya turned on him immediately.
“So do six other technicians.”
“I didn’t say anything.”
“You made a face.”
“I found a cut harness and a broken blade.”
“And you made a face.”
Marcus crouched as far as Tessa’s restrictions allowed and studied the fragment without touching it.
The painted handle material had broken unevenly around the steel tang.
What bothered him was not that it was there.
It was how clean it was.
A tool broken while cutting braided sleeving usually left fibers trapped around the edge.
This one rested on the compartment floor like something placed after the work was finished.
“Tessa needs to bag that separately.”
Natalie looked at him.
“You’re avoiding the obvious.”
“No.”
“What’s obvious to you?”
“That somebody wants us to find obvious things.”
Garrison lowered the flashlight.
“You think the knife tip was planted.”
“I think we should treat it as evidence instead of a conclusion.”
Natalie pressed two fingers against her forehead.
Her phone vibrated again in her pocket.
She ignored it.
“You keep saying things like that.”
“Like what?”
“Things that sound as though you’ve lived through this exact kind of morning before.”
Marcus stood.
His knees complained, which irritated him more than the question.
“Different airplane.”
Nobody spoke.
Priya looked at him first.
Garrison’s head lifted slowly.
Natalie did not blink.
“What happened?”
Marcus looked toward the cockpit.
“Not now.”
“That answer again.”
“Yes.”
Tessa entered the cabin carrying two evidence envelopes and stopped when she saw everyone’s faces.
“What happened?”
Garrison pointed.
She moved in, photographed the blade fragment, photographed the cut sleeve, then made everyone step back while she placed evidence markers.
“Parking cameras show Cole left at 4:02.”
Priya exhaled.
“See?”
Tessa looked at her.
“That doesn’t clear him.”
“It doesn’t convict him either.”
“No one said it did.”
Priya folded her arms.
Tessa continued.
“He drove directly out through the east gate.”
“Can you see whether anyone followed him?”
“Not yet.”
Natalie checked the cabin clock.
6:28.
“Can we repair this?”
Garrison looked at Marcus.
Marcus almost laughed at the shift.
Less than an hour earlier, Garrison had wanted him removed from the floor.
Now he was waiting for Marcus to answer before speaking in his own hangar.
Marcus did not enjoy it as much as he might once have.
“You can repair what you’ve found.”
Garrison nodded.
“But that doesn’t make the aircraft safe.”
Natalie’s jaw tightened.
“I need something more useful than that.”
“Then cancel the flight.”
The words landed harder than Marcus intended.
Natalie stared at him.
“No.”
“You asked.”
“I asked whether the aircraft can be made airworthy.”
“Not before you know what else was altered.”
“We have two and a half hours.”
“You don’t have two and a half hours.”
Her voice cooled.
“What does that mean?”
“It means the deadline isn’t engineering information.”
“It’s business reality.”
“It won’t care if the airplane catches fire.”
Garrison looked down.
Priya stopped breathing for a beat.
Natalie took a step closer.
“Do not dramatize this.”
“I’m not.”
“You just mentioned a fire.”
“Because damaged wiring can arc.”
May you like
“You don’t know that it will.”
“No.”
