“Adrian and finance.”
Noelle felt cold.
The same executive who wanted Gavin reinstated had been involved in authorizing expensive maintenance-related expenditures.
The same expenditures now appeared to be creating the financial pressure used to justify Royce's proposed acquisition.
She looked toward Margaret.
“Are these amounts based on completed work?”
The older woman opened her mouth.
Then stopped.
For several seconds, the silence was answer enough.
Finally, Margaret whispered.
“We need to verify them.”
Noelle nodded slowly.
“Yes.”
She took a breath.
“And until we do, nobody is using those projections to pressure me into transferring the company.”
Margaret looked toward her.
For a moment, she seemed relieved.
Then nodded.
“Agreed.”
Noelle wasn't satisfied.
She wanted to know why Margaret had waited.
Why the board hadn't demanded better records.
And why Adrian had been allowed to negotiate a passenger's reinstatement alongside financing discussions involving the same man.
But she could see something else in Margaret's face.
Fear.
Not of Gavin alone.
Fear that the company they had built might not survive if the numbers were as bad as they appeared.
Noelle understood that fear.
She felt it herself.
But she also understood what fear could do to judgment.
It could make a bad deal appear inevitable.
A dangerous passenger appear commercially necessary.
And a forged authorization seem like a small inconvenience.
She closed the laptop.
Then looked toward Margaret.
“We are going to examine every one of those expenses.”
The older woman nodded.
“And if the company really needs new capital?”
Noelle took a breath.
“Then we'll find an honest way to obtain it.”
Margaret studied her.
Then whispered.
“I hope we still have time.”
The emergency board meeting began at seven that evening.
Noelle sat at the head of the table.
Margaret occupied the chair beside her.
Several directors joined by secure video, while the company's general counsel, Diane Shaw, attended in person.
Diane was fifty, an experienced corporate attorney with short black hair, a precise speaking style, and a reputation for refusing to call an unresolved issue settled merely because an executive wanted to move on.
Noelle trusted her.
But until that evening, Diane had not received the full Royce restructuring presentation.
That fact concerned them both.
The meeting began with an overview of the passenger incident.
Noelle described what happened aboard Flight 907.
Gavin's refusal to vacate the seat.
His threats toward Claire.
The restricted-passenger record.
And the document falsely claiming CEO approval.