There's a difference. It means either Hayward installed the device himself or authorized someone else to do it using an access credential only he controlled. Malcolm absorbed that. Who installed it? Rachel said, "We don't know yet," Cho said.
"That's what this morning is about." She looked at her files. "What we know is that the tracking device in aircraft 11 was transmitting flight position data to a receiver registered to another shell company. The shell company received data from three different aircraft over an 18-month period. Three aircraft," Malcolm said, not just 11. Three Cho confirmed.
We identified the other two last night using the transmission signatures. One is a fractional ownership aircraft that Victoria Sterling uses occasionally for personal travel. One is a midsize charter aircraft operated by a company called Meridian Executive Transport. Malcolm went still. Meridian.
That was the name of the inspection firm. Susan Okafor's firm. The one Victoria had hired to conduct the fleet audit. He looked at Delgato. Meridian Arrow and Meridian Executive Transport, he said carefully.
Are those the same company? Different companies, Delgato said. Same name, different operations. We checked at 3 this morning. Meridian Arrow is a legitimate inspection firm with no connection to the transport company.
Malcolm exhaled. But the charter aircraft being tracked, he said. the Meridian Executive Transport aircraft. Where does that connection go? Cho looked at her notes. Meridian Executive Transport has one primary corporate client, she said.
A private equity firm based in Houston. The firm has made three attempts in the past 24 months to acquire a controlling interest in Sterling Crown Industries. The room was very quiet. Malcolm looked at Delgato. Someone was trying to acquire Victoria's company, he said.
Someone was building a picture of Victoria Sterling's movements, her schedule, her patterns, Delgato said. Combined with the Apex Vector procurement fraud, which was generating significant internal compliance liability for Sterling Crown, a hostile acquirer would have a strong position. A company with documented safety violations, a grounded fleet, and federal scrutiny is worth considerably less than the same company operating cleanly. They were manufacturing the conditions for a forced sale. Malcolm said, "That is our current working theory." Delgato said, "We are not there yet on evidence, but we are building toward it." Rachel had her stylus moving on her tablet making notes.
She stopped. She looked up. The email inquiry to Hayes Arrow works. She said, "Two weeks before Sterling Crown called Malcolm. If someone inside procurement knew the restoration contract was coming and knew which contractor would get it, they would know exactly who was going to be inside that aircraft.
Delgato said for 6 weeks. Long enough to know whether the device in the primary aircraft needed to be moved. Malcolm said long enough to access the hanger and remove it if necessary, which may be why the primary aircraft's avionics bay was clean, Cho said. Not because no device was ever there, because someone removed it when the restoration started and the risk of discovery increased. Malcolm thought about week three of the restoration.