He stared.
“You’re terminating me?”
“Yes.”
“Before investigation?”
“We are terminating your provisional employment.”
“You were never guaranteed transfer.”
“The former owner?”
“His counsel will deal with any claims from prior conduct.”
“Your conduct on my aircraft today is independently enough for me not to employ you.”
He looked toward the operations director.
“What about my license?”
“That is not hers to decide,” the director said.
The CEO continued:
“Your conduct involving unauthorized compensated flights will be referred to counsel, insurer, and appropriate aviation authorities.”
The pilot’s face changed.
“Please.”
There it was.
Not anger.
Fear.
“My wife doesn’t know.”
The CEO felt something in her chest shift.
Not toward leniency.
Toward sadness.
“How long have you been married?”
“Thirty-one years.”
“Does she think the consulting company is legitimate?”
He closed his eyes.
“Yes.”
“Are the funds household funds?”
He did not answer.
She looked toward the operations director.
“Do not discuss family finances here.”
“Counsel handles.”
The pilot looked at her.
“You’re going to destroy my family over this?”
Her expression hardened instantly.
“No.”
She spoke slowly.
“You made decisions.”
“Do not put them in my hands now because consequences finally arrived.”
He looked away.
The CEO continued:
“I did not open the LLC.”
“I did not schedule Nassau.”
“I did not accept money.”
“I did not refuse my own scanner.”
His face fell.
“Do not make the person who discovers misconduct responsible for creating it.”
The operations director wrote that sentence down mentally.
He would remember it for years.
The pilot stood.
“Can I collect my things?”
“Yes.”
“Not from the aircraft unattended.”
The director said:
“I’ll accompany you.”
The pilot looked toward the CEO one final time.
“I really did think I was protecting the jet.”
She studied him.
“I believe you believed that.”
He almost looked relieved.
Then:
“That is part of the problem.”
He left.
The operations director remained.
The CEO stood beside the seat she had been ordered to surrender.
For several seconds, neither spoke.
Then he asked:
“You still want to fly today?”