If you want to know what Adrian is really doing, check the passenger records for Flight 907. Do it yourself. Don't accept a summary.
Noelle stared.
Flight 907 was the company's flagship premium charter service departing JFK for California later that month.
She was scheduled to travel aboard it for a meeting involving potential investors and corporate customers.
Her seat had been reserved weeks earlier.
1A.
She forwarded the message through the appropriate secure internal channel and requested an independent review of its origin.
Then she asked the passenger operations team for the current manifest.
The copy she received listed fourteen travelers.
Gavin Royce was not among them.
She examined it carefully.
Then looked toward the anonymous message.
For a moment, she wondered whether someone was trying to frighten her.
But she had learned not to dismiss a concern simply because it arrived without a name attached.
She requested the underlying booking and authorization records.
Adrian's office told her there was no issue.
The manifest was complete.
The flight was properly scheduled.
And the passenger list had been reviewed.
Noelle asked again.
This time, she requested direct system records rather than a prepared summary.
Then she received another message.
The manifest you were sent isn't the one the crew will see.
She read the words twice.
For several seconds, she remained still.
Then she called the chief safety officer.
“I want an independent audit of Flight 907's passenger acceptance records.”
The officer paused.
“Is there a specific concern?”
Noelle looked toward the screen.
“Yes.”
She took a breath.
“I think somebody is trying to put a prohibited passenger aboard an aircraft I am scheduled to use.”
Claire Bennett had spent eight years working in premium aviation.
She grew up outside Pittsburgh, the daughter of a nurse and a high-school teacher. She paid her way through training, began with regional passenger service, and eventually moved into business aviation because she enjoyed the smaller crews and personal attention given to each traveler.
She liked the work.
She loved watching sunrise above the clouds.
Loved helping nervous passengers settle into unfamiliar aircraft.
And loved the feeling of reaching the end of a long trip knowing the crew had handled everything professionally.
But there were parts she disliked.
Some clients treated private aircraft as extensions of their homes.
They expected unreasonable exceptions.
Demanded services that weren't available.
And sometimes spoke to employees as though the price of a ticket erased ordinary boundaries.