Chapter 4 - THE DIVERSIONEthan Cole did not react like a guilty man.
He reacted like an investigator who had just heard something he had feared.
“Captain,” he said, “do not divert this aircraft until you confirm that order through an independent channel.”
Holloway stared at him.
“You’re asking me to ignore federal instructions?”
“I’m asking you to verify them.”
The distinction mattered.
Holloway knew it.
“Cockpit. Now.”
He and his first officer disappeared through the secure door.
Vale remained seated.
For perhaps the first time since boarding, he looked almost pleased.
That bothered me.
Cole noticed it too.
“You expected this,” I said.
Vale gave me a thin smile.
“I expect professionals to resolve disturbances.”
“You’re calling this a disturbance?”
“I’m calling you a man being manipulated into a situation you don’t understand.”
“Then explain it.”
“I have nothing to explain.”
Maya whispered, “Daddy?”
I immediately turned away from Vale.
She was holding her damaged rabbit.
“I want Mommy.”
Three words.
Nothing in the world could fix them.
I sat beside her and pulled her against me.
“I know.”
“Can we go home?”
“Yes.”
That answer might have been a lie.
I hated myself for giving it anyway.
Angela found sewing supplies in the crew kit and carefully stitched Sergeant Bun-Bun’s stomach while Maya watched.
For five minutes, the world became small again.
A needle.
Pink thread.
A child’s rabbit.
Sometimes survival means focusing on the one thing you can repair.
When Angela finished, Maya hugged the rabbit.
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome, sweetheart.”
Then Maya looked toward Vale.
“He didn’t do it.”
I frowned.
“What?”
“The man.”
“You saw who cut the rabbit?”
She shook her head.
“But he didn’t.”
“How do you know?”
“He was talking on his phone near the bathroom when I came back.”
I looked at Angela.
“Was Vale near the forward lavatory?”
She nodded slowly.
“Yes.”
That gave him an alibi for the few minutes Maya was away.
Maybe.
Unless someone worked for him.
Cole stood at the galley curtain.
“Marcus.”
I joined him.
He kept his voice low.
“You received something.”
“What?”
“After I showed you the video. Your expression changed.”
“Maybe I didn’t enjoy watching the person who investigated Aaron’s death standing beside Vale.”
“So Rebecca contacted you.”
I said nothing.
Cole nodded.
“She told you I was the leak.”
Still nothing.
“I figured.”
“You want to explain?”
“Yes.”
“Go ahead.”
“In 2015, Rebecca Shaw was assigned to investigate contract corruption. I worked under her. Six weeks into the investigation, evidence started disappearing.”
“And you?”
“I accused her.”
“Officially?”
“Yes.”
“What happened?”
“I was removed.”
“Convenient.”
“For somebody.”
“Your career survived.”
“Barely.”
I studied him.
“You’ve had eleven years to prove it.”
“I’ve spent eleven years trying.”
“And now evidence magically appears in my daughter’s backpack.”
His face tightened.
“You think I planted it?”
“I think everybody on this plane is a possibility.”
“Good.”
That answer surprised me.
“Good?”
“It means you’re thinking like the man Shaw could never control.”
Before I answered, Holloway returned.
“We verified the diversion request.”
Cole’s expression darkened.
“With whom?”
“Denver operations contacted federal aviation authorities directly. There is a legitimate law enforcement request for us to land in Boise.”
Cole cursed quietly.
“Agency?”
“Joint federal task force.”
“Names?”
“One.”
Holloway looked at me.
“Rebecca Shaw.”
Cole shut his eyes.
There it was.
The plane banked.
Passengers murmured as the route changed on seatback maps.
Vale leaned back.
Calm again.
Too calm.
“Captain,” Cole said, “when we land, do not let anyone remove Vance or his daughter separately.”
Holloway nodded.
“I won’t.”
“That won’t be your decision.”
“It will while they’re aboard my aircraft.”
For the next forty minutes, nobody relaxed.
Then something happened that changed my view of the entire situation.
A teenage boy from row six approached me.
“Sir?”
“Yes?”
He held out his phone.
“I think you should see this.”
His mother stood behind him, nervous.
“He was filming earlier.”
The video showed the moment Mercer had ordered Maya and me from our seats.
Vale stood nearby.
The footage continued after we walked into the aisle.
Before Holloway emerged, Vale’s assistant stepped toward my abandoned seat.
The assistant looked around.
Then reached toward Maya’s backpack.
My pulse jumped.
He didn’t place anything inside.
He removed something.
A tiny white envelope.
Then he disappeared behind the forward curtain.
“Can you send this to me?”
The boy nodded.
Cole watched the clip.
“That changes things.”
Vale’s assistant was sitting in 4D.
His name, according to the manifest, was Nolan Price.
Cole walked toward him.
“Nolan.”
Price looked up.
“Yes?”
“What did you remove from the child’s backpack?”
Vale said sharply, “You don’t answer him.”
Price froze.
That response answered almost everything.
Cole crouched.
“Nolan, listen carefully. If you are cooperating with Vale because you’re frightened, this is the moment to reconsider.”
Vale stood.
“I will have your badge.”
Cole ignored him.
Price’s face glistened with sweat.
“I didn’t hurt anybody.”
“What was in the envelope?”
“I don’t know.”
“You opened it.”
Price looked at Vale.
Vale stared back.
Not angry.
Warning.
Price lowered his eyes.
“It was a locker key.”
“What locker?”
“I don’t know.”
“Where is it now?”
Price said nothing.
Vale stepped into the aisle.
“This interrogation ends immediately.”
I stood too.
My prosthetic clicked softly.
Vale looked at it.
I looked at him.
“Sit down.”
His eyes narrowed.
“You enjoy this, don’t you?”
“Enjoy what?”
“Pretending you still have authority.”
That one almost hit its target.
Almost.
But soldiers learn that people usually attack the wound they can see when they are afraid of the one they can’t.
“My authority ended when I left the Army,” I said. “My ability to recognize a scared liar didn’t.”
Price looked at me.
Then something inside him broke.
“Seattle.”
Vale turned.
“Nolan.”
Price spoke faster.
“The key is for a locker at King Street Station.”
Vale moved toward him.
Cole blocked the aisle.
Price continued.
“Locker 114. I was supposed to get the key before landing.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know.”
“Who put it in the backpack?”
“I don’t know.”
Vale laughed.
“He’s inventing this because he thinks you can protect him.”
Price looked terrified.
“You said this was just business.”
Vale’s smile vanished.
Price pointed at him.
“You said nobody would get hurt this time.”
This time.
The whole cabin heard it.
So did Vale.
Price seemed to realize what he had said.
His face went white.
Cole asked softly, “What happened last time?”
Before Price could answer, every light in the cabin flickered.
Once.
Twice.
Then darkness.
Emergency lights came on near the floor.
Someone screamed.
Maya cried out.
I moved toward her.
Three seconds.
Maybe four.
The main lights returned.
Price was slumped sideways in his seat.
At first I thought he had fainted.
Then I saw blood spreading across his white shirt near the ribs.
Angela screamed for medical assistance.
Cole rushed forward.
I covered Maya’s eyes.
Price had been stabbed.
Inside a crowded first-class cabin.
May you like
In less than five seconds.
And whoever had done it was still on the plane.
Related Stories
