Chapter 2 - The Badge at 2:14
Federal agents arrived before noon.
Because the suspected tampering involved a civil aircraft intended for interstate and international flight, the FBI took the lead on the criminal inquiry while FAA inspectors focused on maintenance, access, and airworthiness records.
The Gulfstream was sealed.
No one touched the left engine area without authorization.
Damian hated every second.
He stood in the glass conference room overlooking the hangar while FBI Special Agent Rachel Moreno interviewed Elena downstairs.
“She’s wasting time,” he said.
Helen sat across from him.
“Let them work.”
“We have a transaction dying by the hour.”
“You almost boarded a sabotaged aircraft.”
“I know what happened.”
“No, Damian. You know what Frank found.”
Damian looked through the window.
Frank was sitting alone beside his scattered toolbox while a federal evidence photographer documented every wrench before allowing him to collect them.
The image bothered Damian.
Not enough to make him apologize.
Yet.
“What did you mean by ‘not again’?”
Helen did not answer.
“Mom.”
“Not now.”
Damian laughed bitterly.
“That phrase should be engraved on our family crest.”
Helen’s eyes hardened.
“Watch yourself.”
“There it is.”
“What?”
“The part where nobody is allowed to ask questions until you decide what they can survive.”
Helen stood.
“Your sister may be under criminal suspicion.”
“And you still haven’t answered me.”
The door opened.
Maya entered with an FAA inspector.
She looked nervous.
“Mr. Cross?”
Damian turned.
“What?”
“We found another problem.”
She handed over a printed maintenance page.
A digital sign-off appeared at 1:48 a.m.
Pre-departure left propulsion visual inspection completed. No discrepancies noted.
Technician:
FRANKLIN J. MILLER — A&P 3128847
Damian stared.
Frank.
The inspector said, “Mr. Miller says he was home at that time.”
Damian’s eyes narrowed.
“Can you prove it?”
Maya looked uncomfortable.
“His building camera shows him entering his apartment at 10:36 last night.”
“And leaving?”
“Not until 6:31 this morning.”
Helen took the page.
“So someone used his credentials.”
“Possibly.”
Damian said, “Or he remote-signed.”
The inspector looked at him.
“That would be a serious violation.”
Damian shrugged.
“He’s the one who found the damage.”
Maya’s expression changed.
“You think Frank did it?”
“I think I’m done assuming employees become saints because they shout loudly.”
Helen looked at him.
“You fired him because he stopped you from flying.”
“I fired him because he humiliated me in front of my staff.”
Silence.
Maya said quietly:
“He saved your life.”
Damian’s gaze snapped toward her.
“We don’t know that.”
Frank appeared in the doorway.
His tools were back in the damaged metal box.
“Then let’s find out.”
No one had invited him.
Damian almost ordered him out.
Helen spoke first.
“Come in.”
Frank placed the red safety tag on the table.
“The damage wouldn’t necessarily have caused failure immediately.”
Damian crossed his arms.
“Convenient.”
“But the component is part of a secured assembly that should never have been altered without a maintenance task.”
Frank looked directly at him.
“If it shifted under vibration, the result could have included loss of normal engine-control function.”
Helen went pale.
Damian noticed.
Frank continued.
“That’s why I stopped the flight. Not because I knew you would die. Because I could no longer say the airplane was safe.”
The distinction silenced Damian.
Frank pointed toward the maintenance sign-off.
“That is not mine.”
“Your credential,” Damian replied.
“My credential was stolen.”
“Digital credentials aren’t wrench sockets.”
“They are when companies build systems around convenience.”
Helen turned toward Paul Renner, the security manager.
“Who can reset maintenance credentials?”
Paul hesitated.
“Aviation IT administrators.”
“How many?”
“Four.”
“Names.”
Paul gave them.
One was Maya’s supervisor.
Two were IT personnel.
The fourth was Victor Sloane.
Damian looked up.
“Our CFO?”
Paul nodded.
“His enterprise role gives him emergency administrative access across executive systems.”
Damian laughed once.
“Why does the chief financial officer have authority over aircraft maintenance credentials?”
“Legacy permissions.”
Helen’s eyes hardened.
“Remove them today.”
Paul nodded.
Frank looked toward Elena through the glass.
She had finished her first interview and stood in the hangar with her attorney.
“What did she say?”
Helen answered.
“She says her badge never left her possession.”
Maya frowned.
“Then the badge ID could have been cloned.”
“Could it?”
“With enough access to the system.”
Damian looked at Paul.
“Who can clone executive badges?”
“Security.”
The room went quiet.
Paul’s face changed.
“I mean the department. Not me personally.”
Helen said:
“We’re preserving your system.”
Paul swallowed.
“Of course.”
Then Elena entered.
Her attorney remained outside.
She looked furious.
“I have hotel key records showing I was in Boston at 1:53 a.m.”
Damian replied:
“That doesn’t prove you were there at 2:14.”
“My room was forty minutes from the airport.”
“You own helicopters.”
“Damian.”
Helen interrupted.
“Enough.”
Elena stared at her mother.
“You think I tried to kill you?”
Helen’s voice softened.
“I don’t know what to think.”
“You know me.”
Helen said nothing.
Elena laughed in disbelief.
“That’s your answer?”
Her eyes shifted toward Frank.
“You.”
Frank stiffened.
“You found it.”
“Yes.”
“You were the first one here this morning.”
“One of them.”
“You had access.”
“So did forty other technicians.”
“And your signature is on the maintenance log.”
“Forged.”
“So you say.”
Maya stepped forward.
“I saw the cut surface before Frank touched it.”
Elena turned.
“You’re defending him?”
“I’m saying what happened.”
The FBI agent appeared.
“Ms. Cross, we need you again.”
Elena looked at Helen.
Then Damian.
“I didn’t touch that aircraft.”
She walked out.
Frank watched her.
He did not know whether to believe her.
Neither did Damian.
At two thirty, Damian’s phone rang.
Zurich.
The Helix Arc board.
They would extend the signing window twenty-four hours.
No more.
If Damian did not appear or execute remotely after the final lender review, Helix could accept a competing bid.
Damian hung up.
“They know we have a problem.”
Helen said, “We do.”
“No. We have a leak.”
Damian looked toward the hangar.
“Only twelve people knew my departure time changed from ten to eight.”
Frank frowned.
“Changed?”
“Yes.”
“Who moved it?”
Damian checked his calendar.
His expression tightened.
“Elena’s office.”
Maya whispered:
“Then whoever touched the aircraft expected you earlier.”
Frank looked at the red safety tag.
“Or expected me later.”
Damian turned.
“What?”
Frank’s face had gone still.
“My shift started at seven.”
“So?”
“I came in at six forty-five.”
Frank looked toward the grounded jet.
“Whoever did this may have believed the aircraft would taxi before I performed my own inspection.”
The silence that followed was interrupted by Maya’s phone.
She opened an internal inventory message.
Her expression changed.
“What?”
“Frank.”
She turned the screen.
A replacement part corresponding to the severed component had been ordered two days earlier.
Damian stared.
“Before it was damaged?”
Maya nodded.
“Who ordered it?”
She scrolled.
Then went pale.
The purchase authorization came from an aviation vendor Damian recognized.
Apex Flight Systems.
Frank recognized it too.
His reaction was different.
He sat down.
Helen saw him.
“Frank?”
He looked at her.
“You told me that company was dead.”
Damian turned toward his mother.
Helen did not answer.
Frank’s voice became harder.
“Twelve years ago, you promised me Apex would never touch another Cross aircraft.”
Damian stared between them.
“What happened twelve years ago?”
Helen closed her eyes.
May you like
Frank answered for her.
“We almost lost another jet.”
