He removed a small data chip.
"This may explain why."
Clara looked at him.
"What's that?"
"Backup storage."
"From the aircraft?"
"Yes."
"Can it prove anything?"
Nolan nodded.
"Maybe."
Grant immediately objected.
"You cannot use unauthorized data."
Nolan held up Evelyn's repair authorization.
"I was hired to repair the aircraft."
"You were not authorized to investigate corporate employees."
"I didn't investigate anyone."
He pointed to the chip.
"I repaired what I found."
Grant's voice became sharper.
"That data may be inadmissible."
Clara looked at him.
"You're a corporate executive, Grant. Why are you arguing evidence admissibility at three-thirty in the morning?"
Grant stopped.
No one spoke.
Nolan connected the chip.
The screen filled with data.
Timestamps appeared.
Access credentials.
Security verification.
Command sequences.
Evelyn leaned forward.
Nolan pointed.
"Here."
1:42 a.m.
Grant's account.
Then another entry.
A lockout command.
Then a second command.
The system had been programmed to trigger false safety warnings.
The board went silent.
Grant shook his head.
"That doesn't prove I did it."
Nolan nodded.
"Correct."
Grant looked relieved.
Until Nolan continued.
"It proves your credentials were used."
Then he opened another file.
"This proves something else."
A hidden document appeared.
Clara read it first.
Her face changed.
"What is that?"
"An emergency transfer agreement."
Evelyn stood.
"What?"
Clara zoomed in.
The document stated that if Evelyn failed to personally execute the Seattle agreement before the deadline, emergency authority would transfer to the COO.
Grant.
And under the attached restructuring provision, Grant would have authority to transfer forty-one percent of Hawthorne Aerolux's operating shares to Kingsley Capital at a deeply discounted valuation.
Evelyn stared at the screen.
Sterling immediately spoke.
"This is an incomplete draft."
"Then why is it in the aircraft system?" Clara asked.
Sterling didn't answer.
Grant did.
"Someone planted it."
Nolan shook his head.
"No."
"How would you know?"
"Because the file was created before the sabotage."
Grant stood abruptly.
"This is absurd."
Evelyn looked at him.
"No."
Her voice was quiet.
"This is finally making sense."
For eight years, Grant had positioned himself as the loyal executive who protected the company.
But perhaps he had simply been waiting for the right moment.
A deadline.
A technical failure.
A shareholder clause.
A buyer.
A desperate CEO.
It was elegant.
That was what frightened her most.
It was almost elegant.
Nolan disconnected the chip.
Grant's voice became cold.
"You have no idea what you've just done."
Nolan met his eyes.
"I've spent years knowing exactly what I've done."
Then Evelyn spoke.
"Clara."
"Yes?"
"Lock Grant's credentials."
Grant froze.
"You can't."
"Lock them."
Clara made the call.
Within seconds, Grant's access disappeared.
His phone buzzed.
Then stopped.
Sterling leaned toward the camera.
"Evelyn, think carefully."
"I am."
"You may be destroying the company over incomplete information."
Evelyn looked at Nolan.
Then at the aircraft.
Then back at Sterling.
"No."
She said it firmly.
"I'm saving it."
The Man Beneath the Wing
The investigation had not solved the flight problem.
The aircraft was still grounded.
The deadline was still approaching.
And Evelyn still needed to reach Seattle.
Nolan examined the systems again.
"We can fly."
Captain Rowe looked at him.
"You are certain?"
"The aircraft is mechanically sound once we replace this module and remove the false lockout."
Rowe shook his head.
"After sabotage?"
"After repair."
"That's not the same thing."
"No."
Nolan looked at him.
"That's why we document everything."
Rowe studied him.
"You're a pilot."
Nolan nodded.
"Commercial."
"Current?"
"Yes."
"Why didn't you say that?"
"Nobody asked."
Evelyn almost laughed.
The absurdity of the night had become almost unbearable.
A billionaire CEO.
A disgraced mechanic.
A suspicious COO.
A seventy-million-dollar aircraft.
And now the mechanic turned out to be a licensed pilot.
"You can fly it?"
"Yes."
"Would you?"
"Under proper conditions."
"What conditions?"
"Certified co-pilot."
Captain Rowe nodded.
"Me."
Nolan looked relieved.
"Good."
They worked until dawn.
Evelyn stayed.
At first, she stayed because she needed the aircraft.
Then she stayed because she needed answers.
Finally, she stayed because she wanted to understand the man who had entered her life wearing an oil-stained jacket and somehow exposed a conspiracy that her entire executive team had failed to see.
At 4:44 a.m., Nolan asked for a flashlight.
"The battery's dying."
Evelyn picked one up.
"This?"
"Yes."
She held it.
Nolan disappeared beneath the panel.
"Move it left."
She moved it.
"More."
She moved it.
"Back."
She frowned.
"You could be more specific."
"I could."
"You're enjoying this."
"No."
He smiled.
"Maybe a little."
Evelyn smiled despite herself.
It surprised her.
She couldn't remember the last time someone had spoken to her like a normal human being during a crisis.
"You're difficult."
"So I've been told."
"Frequently?"
"Usually by people who don't like being corrected."
"Then we have something in common."
He looked out from beneath the aircraft.
"You get corrected often?"
"Never."
"That explains it."
She almost laughed.
Then she saw something on the floor.
A small photograph.
She picked it up.
Nolan and a teenage girl stood beside an old airplane.
Avery.
Nolan reached for it.
"Sorry."
"That's okay."
Evelyn studied the picture.
"You look happy."
"We were."
"Past tense?"
He hesitated.
"Sometimes happiness changes shape."
She handed it back.
"What happened to Grace?"
Nolan stared at the photograph.
"Cancer."
"I'm sorry."
"She was sick for almost two years."
He folded the photograph carefully.
"Avery knew what was happening, but children don't understand the permanence of death."
Evelyn remained silent.