Chapter 12 - SEVEN YEARS
Marcus reached Zara shortly after midnight.
She was asleep on a sofa in a secure police accommodation suite.
A blanket covered her shoulders.
The burgundy travel bag sat beside her.
Someone had recovered it from the first apartment.
Marcus stood in the doorway for a long moment.
Zara looked younger asleep.
Fourteen disappeared.
She looked eight.
Maybe nine.
Seven years old.
The age she had been when someone wrote daughter most effective.
Marcus sat in the chair opposite her.
He did not wake her.
At 1:17 a.m., Zara opened her eyes.
“Dad?”
“I’m here.”
She sat up immediately.
He crossed the room.
For several seconds neither spoke.
Then Zara hugged him.
Hard.
Marcus closed his eyes.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered.
“For what?”
“For not seeing it.”
“You couldn’t.”
“I should have.”
Zara pulled back.
“You’re doing the parent thing.”
“What parent thing?”
“Thinking you’re supposed to predict everything.”
Marcus almost smiled.
“That sounds like something your grandmother told you.”
“She’s very wise.”
“She’s terrifying.”
“That too.”
They sat.
Zara looked at him.
“What did you find?”
“Tomorrow.”
“Dad.”
“You were kidnapped today.”
“Technically yesterday.”
“Absolutely not.”
She smiled faintly.
Then grew serious.
“Is it bad?”
“Yes.”
“Tell me enough that I won’t imagine worse.”
Marcus looked at her.
It was such a Zara sentence.
He chose honesty.
“We found evidence Bennett’s people had been studying our family for years.”
“How many?”
“At least seven.”
Her face changed.
“Since I was seven?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“They believed threatening or embarrassing someone I care about could influence my decisions.”
Zara looked down.
“So Mercer was right.”
“No.”
“He said they chose the right company.”
“They chose a company they thought they understood.”
“What’s the difference?”
“They thought loving your family makes you weak.”
Zara looked back at him.
“Doesn’t it?”
Marcus considered the question.
“Sometimes.”
She did not expect that.
He continued.
“It gives people something to threaten.”
“Exactly.”
“But it also gives you something more important than whatever they are trying to take.”
Zara stayed quiet.
Marcus leaned back.
“When Bennett offered my father money sixteen years ago, Dad walked away because he thought the terms could hurt the airline’s employees.”
“So Grandpa knew.”
“Some of it.”
“And Stephen?”
“He knew Stephen was connected to Bennett.”
“Why did you hire him?”
“I didn’t know.”
Marcus did not defend himself.
That mattered.
Zara asked, “What happens to Stephen?”
“Investigation.”
“Richard?”
“Same.”
“Mercer?”
“In custody.”
“And the airline?”
“Still ours.”
“For now?”
Marcus raised an eyebrow.
“Always suspicious.”
“You trained me.”
“Yes.”
He stood.
“Sleep.”
Zara lay back down.
Marcus moved toward the door.
“Dad?”
“Yes?”
“Was 2A chosen because it was mine?”
Marcus stopped.
“Yes.”
“So if I had stayed in 4A…”
“It probably wouldn’t have happened that way.”
Zara looked at the ceiling.
“I keep thinking about that.”
Marcus returned to the sofa.
“Don’t.”
“Easy for you to say.”
“No.”
His voice softened.
“I’ve been thinking about every decision I made for seven years.”
Zara looked toward him.
“Should I have used visible security? Should I have stopped invisible travel? Should I have recognized Stephen? Should I have read Dad’s old file?”
He shook his head.
“That road has no end.”
“So what do we do?”
“We use what happened.”
“How?”
“We fix whatever allowed it.”
Zara thought about the security code phrase.
“The internal leaks.”
“Yes.”
“The contract process.”
“Yes.”
“Executive access.”
“Yes.”
“And first class?”
Marcus smiled.
“What about first class?”
“Maybe stop letting people think paying more means rules matter less.”
Marcus laughed quietly.
“I’ll add it to the transformation plan.”
“I’m serious.”
“I know.”
The next morning, Zara asked to speak with Elizabeth Hart.
Marcus arranged a video call.
Elizabeth appeared from New York.
“You look better.”
“I feel better.”
Zara hesitated.
“I wanted to say thank you.”
“You already did.”
“No.”
She looked at Elizabeth.
“You were the first person who treated the ticket like the ticket.”
Elizabeth smiled.
“That sentence sounds like your father.”
“That worries me.”
Marcus, off-camera, said, “I heard that.”
Zara continued.
“If you had told me to just take 2B…”
“But I didn’t.”
“Why?”
Elizabeth seemed surprised.
“Because 2A was yours.”
Simple.
Zara nodded.
That answer stayed with her.
Not because she was an owner’s daughter.
Not because she was a minor.
Not because Richard was rude.
Because the seat was hers.
Rules only meant something if they applied before identities were known.
Later that afternoon, Naomi called with another development.
Evan Mercer had agreed to cooperate.
“Already?” Zara asked.
Marcus nodded.
“People who work for powerful men usually believe powerful men will protect them.”
“And Richard isn’t?”
“Richard’s attorneys issued a statement this morning claiming Mercer acted independently.”
Zara understood.
“He blamed him.”
“Yes.”
“And Stephen?”
“Bennett says Stephen deceived him.”
Zara laughed once.
“They’re all blaming each other.”
“That tends to happen.”
“What did Mercer give you?”
Marcus hesitated.
Zara crossed her arms.
“Enough.”
He sighed.
“Audio recordings.”
“Of who?”
“Stephen.”
“And Richard?”
Marcus nodded.
“What do they say?”
“One recording is from two months ago.”
Zara waited.
Marcus’s expression turned cold.
“Richard asks what would happen if you were publicly mistreated on one of our aircraft.”
Zara went still.
“What does Stephen say?”
Marcus did not want to repeat it.
But Zara deserved the truth.
“He says I would overreact.”
Silence.
“And Richard?”
May you like
Marcus looked directly at her.
“He says, ‘Then give him a reason.’”
