Chapter 13 - Frank in Handcuffs
Leo regained consciousness thirty-six hours later.
Before he could speak, Frank was arrested.
The FBI search of Frank’s detached garage uncovered a cutting tool inside an old metal cabinet.
Lab technicians obtained a preliminary match between the tool jaws and marks on the severed aircraft component.
Frank stared at the agents.
“I’ve never seen that.”
His daughter Rebecca was visiting.
She began crying.
“Dad?”
Frank remained calm.
Agent Moreno looked almost apologetic.
“You need to come with us.”
Damian heard from Maya.
He drove to the federal courthouse despite being on leave.
Frank appeared in a plain interview room.
No handcuffs by then.
But the image of him being led from his apartment had already reached television.
MECHANIC ARRESTED IN BILLIONAIRE JET SABOTAGE CASE
Damian’s stomach turned.
Maya whispered:
“That tool was planted.”
“How do you know?”
“Because Frank organizes everything by drawer.”
Damian stared.
“That’s your evidence?”
“You’ve seen him.”
Fair.
Frank’s lawyer challenged the search findings.
The tool carried partial fingerprints.
Frank’s.
That was bad.
Frank explained he may have handled it in the hangar at some time if it came from shared inventory.
Investigators checked.
The serial number had been ground away.
Worse, traces of the same blue synthetic fiber from the engine panel were found on it.
Prosecutors had enough for suspicion.
Not necessarily enough for a sabotage charge.
Frank was released under conditions while the investigation continued.
The FAA issued an emergency suspension of his mechanic certificate pending review of the apparent evidence and his admitted 2014 disclosure issues.
That destroyed him more than the arrest.
Frank sat outside the courthouse holding the suspension order.
“Twenty-eight years.”
Damian stood nearby.
“I’ll fix this.”
Frank looked up.
“No.”
“I have lawyers.”
“No.”
“I can—”
“Stop.”
Frank’s voice hardened.
“You still think every crisis is improved when Damian Cross touches it.”
Damian went silent.
Frank looked at the order.
“If I’m cleared, I’m cleared because evidence says so.”
“You think I should do nothing?”
“I think you should stop making promises about systems you don’t control.”
The words landed.
Damian nodded slowly.
“All right.”
Frank looked surprised.
It was the first time Damian had accepted no without fighting.
At Cross Meridian, Elena’s position improved.
With Damian on leave and Victor missing, some directors argued her Larkspur conduct was financial misconduct but unrelated to sabotage.
Her lawyers began building separation.
She publicly expressed concern for Frank.
Damian watched the interview and almost broke the television.
Helen stopped him with one sentence:
“That is how I used to respond.”
He lowered his hand.
The serious setback widened.
Paul Renner recanted.
Through counsel, he claimed his earlier statements were coerced by fear of prosecution.
He now said Frank had approached him weeks earlier seeking access to security logs.
False, according to Frank.
But damaging.
Then prosecutors revealed the eighty-thousand-dollar transfer had been scheduled using a device found in Frank’s own home network.
Damian stared at the forensic report.
“How?”
Maya read carefully.
“The payment instruction was created through a remote session using Frank’s router.”
“Someone hacked him.”
“Or someone was inside.”
“Who had access?”
Frank’s daughter.
Building maintenance.
A cleaning service.
And, three weeks earlier, Leo Marsh.
Frank remembered.
Leo had visited to return paperwork from 2014 after telling him Cross wanted old files destroyed.
“He was in my kitchen.”
Damian leaned forward.
“Could he have planted the tool?”
“Yes.”
“Could he have used your network?”
“Yes.”
Frank closed his eyes.
Leo knew.
They requested another interview.
Leo finally talked.
Paul had threatened him.
Victor paid him.
But Leo admitted something worse.
He had gone to Frank’s home.
He planted the tool.
He scheduled the transfer.
He placed his own badge in Frank’s locker under Paul’s instruction.
Frank listened without moving.
Damian felt relief.
Then Leo said:
“But I didn’t know they were going to sabotage the jet.”
Agent Moreno asked:
“What did you think you were framing Frank for?”
“Maintenance fraud.”
“What maintenance fraud?”
“Fake parts.”
Frank’s expression changed.
Leo continued.
“Victor said a vendor investigation was coming. Frank would be blamed for accepting AFL parts.”
“So you agreed to ruin him.”
Leo cried.
“I was scared.”
Frank whispered:
“So was my wife in 2014.”
Leo could not look at him.
The planted-tool case began collapsing.
Frank’s arrest record remained.
His FAA suspension did not disappear immediately.
His career had already been publicly shredded.
Damian watched him leave the interview room.
“Frank.”
The older man stopped.
“I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“For ever believing you might have done it.”
Frank looked at him.
“You should have considered it.”
Damian frowned.
“Why?”
“Because evidence pointed at me.”
“That’s not what I meant.”
“I know.”
Frank sighed.
“The mistake isn’t considering guilt. The mistake is deciding before checking.”
Damian thought of Elena.
He had decided too quickly.
Then evidence moved.
Then decided again.
Power trained people to confuse instinct with judgment.
That evening Maya accessed Leo’s old shift files.
She found one final piece.
The sabotage tool had originally belonged to Cross Meridian’s security-response kit.
Signed out six weeks earlier.
Authorized by Paul Renner.
Collected by someone else.
Signature:
V. Sloane.
Victor.
The actual trail was finally narrowing.
Then Helen received a call from Anita Cho.
An emergency board petition had been filed.
By Elena.
She was seeking Helen’s removal as chairwoman for the 2014 safety cover-up and undisclosed offshore reserves.
Damian stared at his sister’s filing.
If successful, Helen would lose control.
Adrian would chair temporarily.
But Elena’s resolution also nominated herself to return as chief strategy officer and join the executive committee.
Helen looked broken.
“She’s using the truth.”
Damian replied:
“That’s what makes it dangerous.”
May you like
The board vote would occur in seventy-two hours.
And because Damian remained on leave, he had no executive authority to stop it.
