Chapter 7 - Someone Was Still Watching
“Can the link steal anything if Malik didn't open it?” David asked.
“Not from the screenshot alone,” Marissa replied. “We'll have it analyzed. The important thing is he didn't enter documents.”
David tried Malik's phone. Airplane mode sent him to voicemail. For the first time that morning he couldn't reach his boy, and the distance felt physical.
He called his mother in Denver.
“Malik's safe,” he said before she could worry. “The flight is on its way. There was an incident at the gate.”
“Did he stand up for himself?” she asked.
“He did.”
“Then don't teach him that speaking up creates trouble.”
David sat with that sentence.
Inside Mesa's headquarters, Selena confronted Harold in his office. She had spent fifteen years handling angry customers, delayed flights, and broken promises. She recognized the difference between a bad moment and a manufactured story.
“Why did your code touch that child's reservation?” she asked.
“I don't know.”
“Then request an audit.”
“I already have.”
“Show me the ticket.”
Harold closed his laptop. “You're overstepping.”
Selena set a copy of the security note on his desk. “Somebody labeled a child a fraud risk. If we hide it, we're part of it.”
He stared at the note without picking it up.
“You don't understand the pressure we're under,” he said.
“Then explain it.”
“Vance Capital is negotiating a financing package. The board is terrified. Elliot wanted the seat and I thought moving one child would be simple.”
Selena's mouth went dry. “You authorized the override?”
“I authorized service recovery. Catherine misunderstood.”
“But why the fraud flag?”
Harold's desk phone rang. He glanced at the screen and refused the call.
Selena saw the caller name before it vanished: ELLIOT VANCE.
May you like
That afternoon, the first video from Seat 2C reached a reporter anyway. It showed a backpack hitting the aisle, a child displaying a boarding pass, and a uniformed adult saying, “Don't argue with me.”
Within an hour, millions would see it. But the most damaging footage hadn't surfaced yet.
