Chapter 7 - The Costly Mistake
The mistake was Jasmine's.
It came on the third day after the hangar — after she had given her statement to Lieutenant Colonel Reyes, after she had been placed on administrative leave, after the safety investigation board had convened — and it came because she had not slept in three days and because she had spent three days being told by everyone around her that she should let the investigators do the investigating and that she should go home and rest and that everything was going to be fine.
She did not go home and rest.
She called Noah Bennett.
She did not do it to ask him to testify. She did not do it to ask him to do anything. She did it because she wanted to hear his voice. She wanted to hear the voice of the pilot who had filed the sealed defect report. She wanted to hear the voice of the man who had almost died. She wanted to hear the voice of the person who had believed her before anyone else had.
It was a mistake. She knew it was a mistake before she did it. The safety investigation board had told her — specifically, in writing, in the memorandum she had signed acknowledging the terms of her administrative leave — that she was not to contact any witness in the investigation. Captain Bennett was a witness. She was not supposed to call him.
She called him anyway.
He answered on the third ring.
"Bennett."
"Captain Bennett. This is Staff Sergeant Cole."
There was a pause.
"Staff Sergeant," Noah said. "Are you all right?"
"I am all right, sir. I wanted to call you. I wanted to tell you that I am sorry."
"For what?"
"For the fact that you had to file a sealed defect report. For the fact that you had to fly an aircraft that I knew was unsafe. For the fact that you almost died."
"Staff Sergeant, you did not put me in that aircraft. Major Bolton put me in that aircraft. And I flew it because I did not have the authority to say no. Not because you did anything wrong."
"Sir, I should have done more. I should have gone to the wing commander. I should have gone to the group commander. I should have refused to leave the hangar until the aircraft was grounded."
"Staff Sergeant, you signed a red X. That is the strongest statement a maintenance specialist can make. The system failed you. Not the other way around."
Jasmine was crying.
"Sir," she said, "I am not supposed to be talking to you. The safety investigation board told me not to contact any witness. You are a witness."
There was a long silence on the line.
"Staff Sergeant Cole," Noah said, and his voice was very quiet, "are you telling me that you called me in violation of the investigation terms?"
"Yes, sir."
"Staff Sergeant—"
"I know, sir. I know. I know it was a mistake. I know it could compromise the investigation. I know it could reflect badly on me. I know all of it. But I needed to hear your voice. I needed to know that you were okay. I needed to know that the man who filed that report — the man who almost died because of a part I should have stopped — was alive and was breathing and was going to be okay. So I called. And I am sorry. I am sorry that I called. But I am not sorry that I needed to know."
Noah was quiet for a long time.
"Staff Sergeant Cole," he said, "I am going to tell you something. And I am going to tell it to you in a way that I hope you will remember. You made a mistake. You called a witness during an active investigation. That is a violation of the terms of your administrative leave. The board is going to find out. The board is going to ask you about it. And the board is going to determine whether your mistake rises to the level of a disciplinary offense."
"Sir, I know."
"But I also know — and I am telling you this because you need to hear it — that the mistake you made is the kind of mistake that a soldier makes when she cares too much. It is not the kind of mistake a soldier makes when she is trying to cover something up. It is not the kind of mistake a soldier makes when she is trying to save her own career. It is the kind of mistake a soldier makes when she is exhausted and scared and worried about the people she almost killed. And any board that understands what a soldier is will understand that."
"Sir—"
"Staff Sergeant, I am going to testify in front of the board. I am going to tell them that you called me. I am going to tell them that you apologized. And I am going to tell them that I do not believe your mistake reflects anything other than the fact that you are a human being who has been under an enormous amount of pressure for three weeks. And I am going to tell them that if they punish you for making that call, they are punishing a soldier for caring. And that is not what the Air Force should be doing."
Jasmine was quiet.
"Sir," she said, "thank you."
"Staff Sergeant, do not thank me yet. Thank me when this is over."
"Yes, sir."
"Do not call me again. Do not call anyone in the investigation. Go home. Sleep. Eat something. And let the board do its work."
"Yes, sir."
"And Staff Sergeant."
"Sir?"
"You signed a red X. You did the right thing. Do not forget that."
"Yes, sir."
Jasmine hung up the phone.
She sat on her couch in her apartment in Fort Walton Beach for a long time.
Then she went to bed.
She did not sleep. But she did not cry either.
She lay in the dark and thought about what she had done.
She had made a mistake. She had called a witness. She had violated the terms of her administrative leave. She had done exactly what a soldier was not supposed to do.
She had also — for one minute, for one conversation — heard the voice of the man who had filed the sealed defect report. She had heard the voice of the man who had believed her before anyone else had. She had heard the voice of the man who had said, "You signed a red X. You did the right thing."
She had made a mistake.
But she had also heard the truth.
And she was going to hold on to the truth.
Because the truth was the only thing in the entire world that was going to save her.
And she was going to hold on to it.
May you like
And she was going to be okay.
She was going to be okay.
