Chương 9
Garrison pointed toward the bay.
“We’ve got a badge entry and a suspicious text.”
“That isn’t enough.”
“Good.”
Garrison looked relieved.
“I’m not ready to decide a man who’s worked here twenty years crawled through a jet in somebody else’s clothes.”
“Neither am I.”
Tessa’s phone vibrated.
She checked it.
“Camera footage is coming up.”
They returned to the hangar floor.
The group had thinned because Tessa had ordered nonessential personnel into offices or the break area.
A few employees still watched through the glass.
The atmosphere had changed completely.
No laughter now.
No casual curiosity.
People had started looking at one another differently.
Marcus hated that part most.
Once sabotage entered a workplace, every ordinary habit became suspicious.
A late break.
A closed door.
A forgotten badge.
A coworker suddenly remembered as too quiet or too angry.
Derek connected the security tablet to a wall monitor beside the maintenance desk.
The first video showed the east employee entrance at 11:47 p.m.
A figure approached the door.
Dark overcoat.
Gray hair.
Marcus did not need anyone to identify him.
Natalie’s face answered first.
Graham Voss entered the code, badged through, and disappeared inside.
“He was here.”
Her voice was almost inaudible.
Renner stepped closer to the screen.
“Show the exit.”
Derek advanced the footage to 12:19.
Voss emerged carrying nothing.
He walked toward the executive lot.
A minute later, a black sedan left through the gate.
“Nothing unusual.”
Renner sounded relieved.
Marcus watched the video again.
“Back up.”
Derek did.
“Stop when he comes out.”
The image froze.
Marcus moved closer.
“Zoom on his shoes.”
Garrison looked at him.
“His shoes?”
Derek enlarged the image.
The resolution softened.
Voss wore polished black dress shoes.
Marcus looked toward the aircraft.
Then at the dusty maintenance floor beneath the access panels.
“Anyone who worked inside that forward rack would have marks on their knees or shoes.”
Renner folded his arms.
“So Graham didn’t.”
“Looks that way.”
Natalie exhaled.
Priya said, “Then his badge entry was unrelated.”
“Maybe.”
Marcus looked at the footage.
“Show Evan leaving.”
Derek advanced to 12:14.
Evan Cole appeared at the employee exit wearing a dark work jacket and no hat.
He badged out.
He carried a lunch cooler in one hand.
“Now go forward.”
At 12:21, another person crossed the far edge of the frame inside the building.
Dark jacket.
Baseball cap.
Head down.
Priya leaned toward the screen.
“That’s who I saw.”
Garrison stepped closer.
The figure disappeared toward the hangar.
Derek rewound.
“There’s no entry record for that person.”
Tessa looked at the timestamp.
“Seven minutes after Evan left.”
Marcus felt the pieces shifting.
Not settling.
Shifting.
“Show every camera between that hallway and the hangar.”
Derek clicked through two feeds.
The figure appeared once, then vanished behind a service corridor.
On the third camera, there was nothing.
Tessa frowned.
“Camera twelve covers that corridor.”
Derek opened it.
Black screen.
A small error message sat in the corner.
FEED UNAVAILABLE.
“When did it fail?”
Marcus asked.
Derek checked the system log.
His face changed.
“12:20.”
Garrison looked at him.
“One minute before the person appears.”
Tessa leaned closer.
“When did it come back?”
Derek scrolled.
“4:11.”
The hangar went silent.
Marcus looked at Natalie.
The sabotage window now had edges.
Someone had entered without a recorded badge, moved through a corridor whose camera failed at exactly the right time, and spent almost four hours inside the facility disguised as Evan Cole.
Then Marcus noticed something else.
“Show the camera failure log for the last month.”
Derek pulled it up.
Camera twelve had failed twice before.
Both outages lasted under ten minutes.
Tessa pointed at the dates.
“What happened those nights?”
Derek searched maintenance records.
His fingers stopped.
“Both nights Graham Voss was here late.”
Renner immediately shook his head.
“That still doesn’t mean Graham caused the outages.”
Marcus looked at Natalie.
“No.”
Then he looked back at the screen.
“But whoever did this may have been practicing.”
Natalie stared at the two earlier outage dates until the numbers seemed to become more personal than technical.
“What was Graham doing here those nights?”
Derek searched the visitor and maintenance records.
“First one says executive review.”
Renner frowned.
“That could mean anything.”
“Second one says capital planning.”
Natalie closed her eyes for a second.
“I was at both meetings.”
Marcus looked at her.
“Did he stay after you left?”
“Yes.”
“How long?”
“I don’t know.”
Renner glanced toward the offices.
“You’re building a theory from routine executive access.”
Marcus shook his head.
“No one’s built anything yet.”
Tessa tapped the screen.
“But somebody learned that camera twelve could disappear without triggering an immediate response.”
Derek looked embarrassed.
“It sends an alert.”
“To who?”
“Facilities.”
Every face turned toward him.
He swallowed.
“To me, technically.”
Marcus glanced at the clock.
“You were working those nights?”
“No.”
“Who clears after-hours alerts?”
“Usually whoever’s on call.”
“Who was on call?”
Derek pulled up another system.
The first outage had been cleared by a facilities supervisor named Lane.
The second had been closed automatically after the feed restored.
Last night’s outage had generated three alerts.
All three had been marked acknowledged.
Derek stared at the screen.
“I didn’t acknowledge these.”
Tessa stepped closer.
“Whose credentials?”
“Mine.”
The young man went pale.
Garrison looked at him.
“Derek.”
“I was on the floor.”
“No one’s accusing you.”
Derek almost laughed.
“Seems like we say that a lot this morning.”
Marcus looked at the authentication line.
“Was it a password login?”
“Mobile token.”
“Where’s your phone?”
Derek reached into his pocket and produced it.
Tessa held out her hand.
“Company device?”
“Yes.”
“Unlock it.”
Derek did.
She checked recent security notifications.
Nothing.
“No alert history.”
He shook his head quickly.
“I didn’t delete anything.”
Tessa gave him a measured look.
“I didn’t say you did.”
Marcus pointed at the timestamp.
“Could someone acknowledge alerts from a desktop under his account?”
Derek nodded slowly.
“Facilities console.”
“Where?”
“Office behind the west tool crib.”
May you like
Garrison swore.
“That’s inside the dead camera corridor.”
