The Airline Fired a Single Dad—Hours Later, a Jet Lost Both Engines
Chapter 8
Marcus didn’t move.
“What?”
Price looked terrified.
“Someone told Knox you were going to expose the supplier scheme.”
Marcus shook his head.
“I didn’t know about the scheme.”
“You knew enough.”
“That doesn’t explain why they wanted to kill me.”
Price’s eyes filled with fear.
“Because you were the only one who kept the original reports.”
Marcus stared.
His personal maintenance archive.
Years of handwritten notes.
Digital backups.
Photographs.
Copies of rejected reports.
He had kept them because he believed records protected people.
Now those records could destroy the people who tried to silence him.
But there was a problem.
He hadn’t taken them home.
They were stored in his old office.
The airline still had them.
Rebecca immediately understood.
“We need access.”
“I’ll get you in,” Marcus said.
The investigators disagreed.
“No.”
“You need the records.”
“We’ll get a warrant.”
“That takes time.”
“We are not putting you at risk.”
Marcus looked at them.
“People almost died because someone ignored my report.”
Rebecca sighed.
“Fine.”
That night, federal agents entered the airport with Marcus.
The building felt different.
He had worked there for seventeen years.
Now he walked through it under armed protection.
His old office was locked.
The door had been replaced.
Marcus smiled bitterly.
“They changed the locks.”
The agent opened it.
Inside, everything had been removed.
Desk.
Computer.
Files.
Empty shelves.
Marcus looked around.
“It’s gone.”
“What’s gone?”
“Everything.”
Then he noticed something.
A small scratch on the wall behind his old cabinet.
He walked closer.
Pressed his fingers against the panel.
It moved.
Behind it was a narrow compartment.
Inside was a hard drive.
Elena whispered,
“You hid that?”
Marcus shook his head.
“No.”
He remembered.
His father had taught him that trick when Marcus was a teenager.
Never leave your most important records where people expect to find them.
They connected the drive to a secure device.
Thousands of files appeared.
Maintenance photographs.
Internal emails.
Audio recordings.
And payment records.
Then Marcus found something unexpected.
A spreadsheet named PROJECT SILVER SKY.
He opened it.
It listed flight numbers.
Dates.
Names.
And outcomes.
Some were marked DELAYED.
Some were marked REPLACED.
Two were marked FAILED.
Marcus’s blood ran cold.
“Those aren’t maintenance tests.”
Rebecca studied the document.
“They’re aircraft.”
Marcus scrolled.
Flight 611 was listed.
Under STATUS:
PARTIAL FAILURE — SUCCESSFUL RECOVERY.
Another aircraft was listed for the following week.
Marcus looked at the date.
Tomorrow.
He turned to Rebecca.
“There’s another flight.”
Elena looked at the screen.
“What route?”
Marcus read it.
New York to Boston.
The departure was scheduled for 6:20 a.m.
Then another column caught his eye.
TARGET: PASSENGER.
He froze.
“Who?”
The name was blacked out.
But the seat number was visible.
12A.
Rebecca immediately called the airline.
“Stop that flight.”
Marcus looked at her.
“There’s one problem.”
“What?”
“Flight 12A isn’t the target.”
He pointed to the notes.
“Seat 12A is a decoy.”
“What?”
Marcus scrolled further.
The real target was listed beneath.
He read the name.
His own.
Marcus had never been scheduled to fly on that route.
Until that moment.
His phone buzzed.
A new message.
WE KNOW YOU FOUND THE LIST.
Then another.
NEXT TIME, WE WON’T MISS.
