Chapter 6 - A File Nobody Should Have Seen
David entered an empty conference room in the airport administration wing and locked the door. Marissa appeared on his laptop screen, a folder of emails open beside her.
“An unauthorized download was attempted from the shared vendor portal,” she said. “The access token originated from Mesa's procurement account.”
“Whose account?”
“We don't know yet. It could be compromised. I'm separating what we can prove from what we're worried about.”
David appreciated the distinction. Fear made people fill gaps with stories, and stories could destroy innocent lives almost as quickly as lies.
When David founded his company, he had slept on a borrowed office couch and eaten canned soup beside a prototype that failed seventeen tests in a row. His mother had loaned him money she could hardly spare. He knew exactly how seductive a shortcut looked when the numbers were tight. He had also watched a failed test send a maintenance worker to the hospital. After that, he required every team to document defects, even when it delayed a sale.
The contract was important: Johnson Aerotech manufactured collision-warning components used in ground equipment. The deal would modernize multiple airport fleets, but the evaluation was unfinished. No purchase was guaranteed.
“Do not tie today's incident to the bid without evidence,” David said.
“Agreed. But preserve the timeline.”
At thirty thousand feet, Malik finally opened his grandmother's album. On the first page was a photo of David at twelve, missing a front tooth, standing in front of a tiny repair shop.
“Your dad?” Ben asked.
“Grandma used to fix radios with him.”
“You got his smile.”
Malik smiled for the first time all morning.
Then his tablet received an email, routed through the airline's trip notification system. The subject was URGENT: TRAVEL VERIFICATION. Inside was a request for photographs of his passport and birth certificate, with a link to a website that almost matched Mesa's official domain.
Malik had been taught not to click unexpected links. He took a screenshot and showed Ben.
“Good catch,” Ben said. “Tell the crew.”
The captain contacted ground security through the aircraft's communications channel. Nora confirmed that the message was not from Mesa Airlines.
David received the screenshot within minutes. The sender had used Malik's full name, seat number, and flight details. Someone with access to passenger information—or someone fed that information—had targeted his son again.
May you like
Marissa looked at the email header and went quiet.
“David,” she said, “the message was sent after the aircraft departed.”
