Pay the suppliers first, he said. Already on it. Jerome first. He's been waiting the longest. Done.
He nodded. He looked at the binder one more time. Rachel, I need you to help me build a full documentation package on the Apex Vector findings. Not just the one component. Everything you pulled, the rejection records, the procurement invoices, the installation history, everything organized. so a federal investigator can pick it up and understand it inside of 30 minutes.
Rachel looked at him carefully. "Are you reporting it?" "Victoria is grounding her fleet today," he said. "When the inspection teams go into those aircraft, they're going to find what we found." "Probably more. And when that happens, the FAA is going to want a full record of when this was discovered and by whom." He paused. I want our documentation to be the first thing they see.
That could start a federal investigation. Rachel said probably will. He agreed. Into Sterling Crown into Apex Vector, he said. Sterling Crown is the customer.
Apex Vector is the supplier. The question is who knew when they knew it and whether they kept doing it after they knew. He looked at her. That's not our investigation to run, but we found it. We have an obligation to document what we found.
Rachel studied him for a long moment. You know this is going to make things complicated. She said they're already complicated. He said more complicated. Then we document it more carefully.
He said she shook her head not in disagreement in something closer to admiration and went back to her workstation. Malcolm sat in the quiet for a moment. Then he picked up his phone and called Daniel Mercer. The captain answered on the second ring. Mr.
Hayes. Captain Mercer, I understand Ms. Sterling spoke with you this morning. She did. Daniel said.
She told me about your father's rule. Malcolm said, "I didn't know." A pause on the line. Charles was a private man. He didn't advertise his opinions. He apparently wrote them down, though.
He wrote everything down, Daniel said. 30 Years of aviation, every aircraft, every facility, every mechanic he trusted, and everyone he didn't. He was meticulous. A pause. He had your name on a very short list.