He lost certification after a maintenance failure nearly killed 12 people in Nevada. I'm surprised he didn't mention it. Mara looked sharply at Caleb. Captain Reed stepped away. For the first time, Victoria felt the balance tilt.
The poor man she had been forced to trust now stood inside a shadow. Caleb did not plead. He only lowered his eyes for one second. "That report was false," he said. And you know it.
Derek's smile disappeared. Careful. Caleb looked back up. No, I was careful for 6 years, and it still cost me everything. Victoria's mind moved fast, weighing reputation, risk, deadline, fear.
The old Victoria would have ordered Caleb removed. The old Victoria trusted files, titles, and men who knew how to sound official. But the old Victoria had also let Derek stand close enough to sabotage her plane. From Caleb's jacket, a cracked phone began to ring. The screen lit with a photo of a little boy in dinosaur pajamas sleeping beside a blue toy airplane.
Caleb stared at the name and almost did not answer. Victoria heard herself say, "Take it. " Caleb hesitated, then tapped the screen. "Hey, buddy. " Ethan's small voice came through sleepy and thin. Daddy, the wind is loud. Mrs.
Bell says you're working on a big airplane. Caleb turned away, but there was nowhere private. Yeah, a very stubborn airplane. Are you coming to breakfast at school? Caleb closed his eyes.
Victoria saw the pain cross his face. I'm trying, Ethan. Mommy always came to pancake day," the boy whispered. The hangar seemed to lose all its air. Caleb pressed two fingers to his brow.
"I know, buddy. Do you think she can see me from heaven if I save her a seat? " Caleb's voice broke so gently it was almost invisible. "Yes, save her one. She'll see. " Ethan sniffled. "Can you come, too? " Caleb looked at the wounded jet, the woman whose empire was collapsing, and the black device that might prove murder.
I'll fight like crazy to get there, he said. Promise. Caleb swallowed. Promise. When the call ended, no one spoke.
Victoria remembered being 6 years old in a marble foyer, waiting with a backpack for a mother who had chosen another life. She had hated weakness ever since, but this did not look like weakness. It looked like a man standing upright while grief tried to break his knees. Derek's voice cut through the phone, smug and distant, touching. But sentiment does not change risk.
Victoria turned the screen toward herself. "No," she said, "but evidence does. " Then she ended the call. Caleb stared at her, unsure if she had saved him or doomed them both. "Can you prove who installed this? " she asked. "Maybe Caleb said.