Chapter 5 - THE MAN WITH THE BLOODY HAND
Martin's chair scraped backward.
"I didn't."
Malik did not look away. "It says your name."
"It says my credential. That's different."
David stepped between them. "When was the last time you used JX-04?"
"Yesterday. Headquarters."
"Did anyone else have access?"
Martin laughed once without humor. "You know how many systems touch those tokens."
"That's not an answer."
"No. I did not put Malik in 2A."
David watched his oldest friend press both palms flat on the desk.
Martin only did that when he was trying not to move.
A radio cracked outside the door.
"Medical response to service corridor C. Male employee down."
Malik's head snapped up.
David moved first.
They hit the corridor at a run.
Catherine shouted behind them, "David!"
He did not stop.
Paramedics were already wheeling a stretcher through the concourse.
The man's face was swollen along one cheek.
His left hand hung off the side.
A white bandage wrapped his palm.
Blood had soaked through it.
Malik grabbed David's sleeve.
"That's him."
David stepped in front of the stretcher.
"Luis Ortega?"
One paramedic lifted an arm. "Sir, move."
Luis's eyelids fluttered.
He saw David.
Then Malik.
His fingers twitched.
"Two A," he rasped.
David walked beside the stretcher. "You hid the drive."
Luis's mouth moved.
"Not here."
Two Meridian security officers appeared from the opposite hallway.
Luis saw them and tried to sit up.
The monitor cable pulled tight.
"Keep them away."
The paramedic pushed him down. "Don't move."
One security officer held up a document. "Luis Ortega, you are being detained for theft of proprietary data and unauthorized access to an aircraft."
David stepped between them and the stretcher.
"He needs a hospital."
"He'll get one under supervision."
"Whose supervision?"
No answer.
Martin caught up, breathing hard.
Luis saw him.
His entire body changed.
His hand closed around David's wrist with surprising strength.
"Listen."
David bent lower.
"They cloned the seat trail. Don't trust the audit by itself."
David glanced at Martin.
Martin's face went rigid.
"Who cloned it?" David asked.
Luis coughed.
"Vance knew I copied the thermal logs. He knew I needed you to see them."
"Why use Malik?"
Luis's eyes filled with something David did not want to name.
"Because you'd come for your son faster than you'd come for a technician."
Malik heard him.
His mouth tightened.
Luis looked at him. "I'm sorry, kid."
"You put me there?"
"I assigned 2A using a key I shouldn't have had. I thought you'd sit there twenty minutes, call your dad, and that would be enough. I didn't know they'd put hands on you."
Catherine stopped beside them.
The words hit her harder than anyone.
Luis looked back at David. "The drive has seven aircraft. Heat events. False resets. Repairs that never happened."
"Who buried the warnings?"
"Vance had help."
"From Meridian?"
Luis shook his head.
"Your side."
David felt Martin shift behind him.
"Name him."
Luis's eyes closed.
The paramedic pushed the stretcher forward.
David kept pace. "Luis. Name him."
Luis opened his eyes one last time.
"Don't ask who owns the key. Ask who signed the Altair waiver."
David stopped walking.
Martin did too.
Luis looked straight past David at him.
May you like
"Ask Martin."
