CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Bogey, Tanner, and Benji stood outside the corporate offices for Coastal Airways. It was a massive metal warehouse structure with only a few windows.
“This feels wrong,” frowned Bogey.
“I’ve damn sure never seen a commercial airline housed in a place that looked like this,” said Benji. “Let’s see if we can find Mr. Harvey.”
They were surprised that the front door had no security, camera, or alert attached to it. The three men just walked inside and stood directly in the open hangar area. There were three small jets parked inside, all getting worked on by mechanics.
“Are you fucking with me right now?” murmured Tanner. “Anyone could come in here and screw with the planes.”
“Hey! Are you guys the new mechanics?” yelled a man walking toward them. He appeared to be in his early fifties and long since removed from a gym or salad. The heavy belly hung over his belt, the buttons on his shirt straining with their last thread to hold the shirt closed.
“No. We’re here to see Daniel Harvey.”
“That’s me. What do you want?” he asked. The three men stared at one another then back at the man.
“You know, for someone who is allegedly the human resources manager for flight crews you have a shitty attitude. I can’t believe anyone would want to work here,” said Bogey.
Daniel stepped back, staring at the men.
“Who are you? What do you want? We’re not hiring for pilots right now.”
“We’re not pilots, although we’ve been known to fly a few things.” Daniel stared at him, then the other two men. “Is there somewhere we can speak privately?”
“Sure,” he nodded. He turned and marched toward an office at the back of the building.
The office had a full scape of windows with great views of the runways and all the planes coming and going.
He took his seat, shuffling papers mindlessly.
Taking a sip of what appeared to be cold coffee, he finally looked up at them.
“Okay. What can I do for you?” he said nervously. Bogey took a deep breath and stared at the man wondering how in the hell he got this job.
“We’re trying to figure out why you would fire a stellar flight attendant like April Lewis,” said Tanner.
“We’re done,” said the man standing as if to dismiss them. None of the men moved. Daniel stared at the three men, beads of sweat forming above his lip. “I said we’re done.”
“We will be done when you answer our questions and I think we’ll start with your attitude with her when she reported that she’d been kidnapped and was on the opposite side of the country.”
“You’re one of her grandfather’s minions,” he scowled. “Old man is dead but still giving me headaches.” Benji slammed his hands on the desk towering over the fat man.
“He was a decorated colonel in the United States Army and you will speak respectfully of him.” Daniel said nothing just staring at the men. “We aren’t working for Colonel Lewis, nor are we in the Army.”
“Listen, I just think it was a bunch of bullshit. She probably hooked up with some passenger and flew off to catch some sun.”
“She flies a route through Florida and Mexico. I think she’s exposed to plenty of sun,” said Bogey. “She was kidnapped and the kidnapper was dragging her on the beach when our friends found her. She was drugged, hit over the head, and obviously confused.”
“I-I don’t know anything about that,” he said emphatically.
“See, I think you’re lying,” said Tanner. “In fact, I’m sure of it. Liars give themselves away. The sweating above the lip, the trembling hands and tremors in your cheeks. Even the way you’re sitting at your desk, as if you’re protecting something.”
Daniel looked at his hands, then around the desk as if he’d find what they were seeing.
“There’s nothing to be done about it now. She’s fired. She needs to return her airline uniform and suitcase.”
“The suitcases aren’t issued by the airline,” said Bogey. “Flight attendants buy them.”
“H-hers was broken. It was broken and we think it belonged to someone else,” he stammered.
“You think? Or you know?” asked Bogey. “Never mind. It was rhetorical. You know, for someone who had one flight attendant kidnapped and another murdered in his car, you seem incredibly relaxed. I’d be worried about my own safety.”
“I have nothing to be worried about. The police are handling Jerry’s death and the issue with April is done.”
“It’s done alright. We’ve made sure of that but we’re not done. We want to know who you’re selling flight information to,” said Benji calmly.
Daniel’s face turned a pasty white and the beads of sweat suddenly became a waterfall of moisture. Bogey grinned at the other two men, knowing they’d struck a chord with Daniel.
“You have no idea who you’re dealing with,” he stammered.
“Oh, we’ve got a pretty good idea who we’re dealing with. What are you doing with the data? Where does it go?” asked Bogey.
Daniel shook his head side to side, pushing back from the desk. He unbuttoned the top button of his shirt, loosening it from around his loose waddle.
“You okay, Danny old boy?” asked Benji.
The man didn’t respond, simply pushing himself from the chair, only to fall back into it. When his face started to turn purple, the men realized he was in trouble.
“Call an ambulance,” said Bogey. “Relax, Daniel. Breathe.”
He looked up at the intruder and shook his head again. This man was dying, most likely from a stroke or heart attack.
“Do one good thing, Daniel. Tell us who wants this data,” said Bogey.
“Y-you won’t believe…”
It was the last thing Daniel Harvey said. He never finished his sentence. When the ambulance arrived, they attempted to resuscitate him but agreed that it was too late. Workers in the hangar stood outside waiting for word on the man.
“Do we question them?” asked Tanner. Benji didn’t even wait for agreement, he just walked toward the men standing on the fringes of the hangar.
“I guess that’s a yes. Let him do his thing.
I’m going to keep the first responders busy.
See if you can get into that office and find anything.
” Bogey nodded, disappearing behind the crowds.
Bogey snuck back into the office, closing the blinds and quickly downloading files from the computer that was still up and running.
He swiped through paper files but didn’t see anything that would be helpful to them.
He pulled out the bottom drawer of a file cabinet and immediately saw what he was hoping for.
A plastic bag filled with small fiber-like cables.
When he reached for them, he heard Tanner in his comms, arguing with someone.
“I’m here to see Mr. Harvey. I was with him when he had his stroke. Who are you?”
“None of your fucking business. Leave. Your reason for being here is no longer alive.”
“That seems cold,” laughed Tanner.
“Leave.”
“Make me.”
“Oh, shit,” said Bogey.
He shoved the cables into the pocket of his jacket and the slip drive containing the downloaded files into his front jean pocket. Peering through the blinds, he realized he wouldn’t be able to walk out without drawing suspicion.
Turning, he looked at the windows facing the runway and was grateful to see that they actually opened.
Pushing one open, he crawled out and then lowered the window as closed again.
He walked around the hangar and found the crowd of men that Benji was speaking with.
Mingling in with them, no one seemed to notice him.
Just as he arrived, two men went into Daniel’s office.
“We didn’t have much to do with him,” said one of the men to Benji. “He only handled the flight attendants and pilots. If you ask me, he was a dick to them. Always yelling at them, telling them they were worthless. I’d have left if I had to answer to that guy.”
“Did anyone ever report him?” he asked.
“I think a few of the flight attendants did. They didn’t last long.
That one flight attendant, I don’t know her name, I think her old man or someone was on the board.
He was in the military. Stormed in here one Tuesday morning and nearly broke the glass on that damn office he slammed the door so hard.
” The men all laughed, nodding, remembering that moment.
“Did anything happen after that?” asked Benji.
“Man, we’re so busy out here we don’t see much other than the inside of an engine.” Bogey stared at the two planes closest to the crowd of people and frowned.
“Those engines look pretty old for those planes,” he frowned.
“They’re all refurbished. The airline is cheap but they pay the mechanics well. Besides, get a few years of work here and move on. That’s the plan.”
Benji thanked the men and then walked toward Tanner who was still doing the death stare contest with one of the men that had walked in demanding he leave.
“Hey, brother, you ready to leave?” smirked Benji.
Tanner didn’t move, still staring down the man in front of him. It was a game of chicken that he wasn’t willing to lose. Bogey nudged Benji, grinning at their friend.
“Look, I don’t know who you assholes are but you need to leave,” said the man finally looking away from Tanner. Tanner raised his hands in the air screaming loudly.
“I win! I win! You blinked first!”
“What the fuck is his problem?” growled the second man.
“He’s off his meds,” said Bogey. The three men left the hangar area, climbing into their SUV.
“Good job, brother. Surely that was long enough to get facial recognition on those assholes.”