Chapter 9 - SIX MINUTES
David ran back onto the aircraft before Mercer could stop him.
The emergency lights painted the aisle red.
Tick.
Tick.
Tick.
The sound came from beneath the forward galley floor.
Catherine followed with a flashlight from the emergency kit.
“Please tell me that isn’t what it sounds like.”
“It isn’t a bomb.”
“How do you know?”
“Because a bomb doesn’t reset on a thermal cycle.”
The captain stepped out of the cockpit.
“We lost ground power for nine seconds.”
David dropped to one knee by the galley panel.
“Kill the auxiliary system.”
“It’s already off.”
Tick.
The floor vibrated under his palm.
“Then something is trying to restart.”
The first officer brought up a maintenance diagram on a tablet.
“Power conversion relay is directly below here.”
David looked at him.
“What model?”
“R-77B retrofit.”
David’s head snapped up.
“That’s not original equipment.”
“No. Fleet upgrade six months ago.”
“Supplier?”
The first officer scrolled.
“Altair Systems.”
David knew the name.
Not the company.
The address.
Altair’s registered office sat in a Delaware building used by dozens of shell companies.
One of those companies had tried to buy a minority stake in Johnson Aerotech two years earlier.
The investor group behind it was Northlake Capital.
Elliot Vance sat on Northlake’s advisory board.
Tick.
A burning smell slipped into the galley.
Catherine covered her nose.
“That’s it.”
“What?”
“The same smell from Flight 614.”
David stood.
“How long before the relay overheats enough to fail?”
The first officer scanned the technical note.
“Depends on load.”
“Worst case.”
“Six to eight minutes.”
Malik’s voice came from the aircraft door.
“Dad?”
David spun.
“What are you doing here?”
“The lights came back on in the gate office. Lena told me to stay there, but men came in with Mesa badges and started taking computers.”
David’s blood pressure seemed to spike in one beat.
“Where’s Lena?”
“She was arguing with them.”
Catherine took Malik by the shoulders.
“Stay with me.”
David pulled out his phone.
No signal.
He looked at the captain.
“Your onboard cellular repeater?”
“Offline with ground power.”
Mercer stepped through the aircraft door.
“You need to leave. All of you.”
David stared at him.
“You should be running passengers out of this plane.”
“There are no passengers aboard except your son and crew.”
“Good. Keep it that way.”
Mercer smiled thinly.
“Maintenance has cleared the relay.”
The captain laughed.
“No one has even opened the bay.”
Mercer looked at him.
“Corporate engineering reviewed the data remotely.”
David stepped closer.
“From the same system feeding fake temperatures?”
Mercer’s phone rang.
He declined it.
Then it rang again.
He turned away.
David caught the screen.
E. VANCE.
The phone stopped.
A message appeared.
GET 227 MOVING.
Mercer covered the screen too late.
David’s voice dropped.
“Why?”
Mercer shoved the phone into his pocket.
“You saw nothing.”
“I saw enough.”
Tick.
The relay reset again.
A louder metallic snap followed.
The captain looked toward the cockpit.
“That wasn’t normal.”
The radio came alive.
“Flight 227, ramp control. You are cleared for immediate pushback. Gate conflict requires departure now.”
The captain grabbed the handset.
“Negative. We are not ready.”
Static.
Then another voice.
“Captain, this is Chief Pilot Howard. Corporate has reviewed the issue. You are cleared to operate. We need the gate.”
The captain’s knuckles whitened around the handset.
David looked through the open aircraft door.
The jet bridge began moving.
“Who authorized that?”
No one answered.
Catherine ran toward the doorway.
The bridge pulled six inches away.
Then twelve.
“Stop!” she shouted.
The gap widened.
The aircraft door was still open.
A ground worker outside looked up, panicked, and hit an emergency control.
Too late.
The bridge stopped three feet away.
Mercer pulled the aircraft door inward.
“What are you doing?” Catherine screamed.
“Securing the cabin.”
He slammed it shut.
The captain’s radio crackled.
“Flight 227, brakes released for tug connection.”
David felt the floor move.
Malik grabbed his hand.
May you like
The airplane rolled backward.
