The hotel room felt lonely after Janine left. The scent of her perfume lingered in the air, and Kerri longed to hold her again. She quickly showered and dressed, then drove back to Los Angeles. The drive down the Pacific Coast was beautiful, but Kerri couldn’t enjoy it because she was worried about Janine and Molly. She hadn’t even met Molly, but she cared about her and wanted to take care of her because Janine loved her so much. Kerri was afraid for their safety with Ryan. The jangling of her phone interrupted her thoughts.
“Is this Captain Sullivan?”
“Yes, it is.”
“This is the NTSB secretary, and I’m calling to tell you to report tomorrow morning at nine a.m. to our Los Angeles office for the hearing. I’m sending you the information via email.”
Kerri was surprised this was happening so soon. “Have they found the airplane and the flight recorders?”
“I’m not allowed to talk about that subject. Just make sure you’re at the hearing tomorrow. Good-bye.”
Fear gnawed at her stomach.
* * *
Wednesday, May 14
Kerri arrived at the NTSB office five minutes before nine and was surrounded by a sea of reporters at the building’s entrance. Then she saw her friend Camille waiting for her. “I’m so glad to see you. Have they told you anything?”
“No. I thought you might’ve heard something. I’m glad you wore your uniform. You look great, Kerri.”
“Well, I don’t feel great. I just want to get this over with.”
They went inside a big room packed with people, with cameras everywhere, and sat down at the table facing the raised platform where the NTSB investigators were. Kerri took a seat next to her former first officer.
“Hi, Ray. How’re you doing?” Kerri asked.
“I’ve been better. How’re you holding up?”
“I’m okay. I just wish this was done.”
“Me too. I wanted to tell you that I’m sorry I couldn’t be more helpful at the preliminary hearing in Honolulu. I wish I could remember more of what happened.”
“Don’t worry about it, Ray. You did the best you could.”
The sharp sound of a wooden gavel stopped their conversation.
“This hearing of the National Transportation Safety Board will now come to order.”
Oh, great. It’s him again.
“I am Robert Ellsworth, vice-chairman of the NTSB, and I’d like to welcome everyone to the accident investigation hearing for the loss of Trans Global flight 401. We will present all the evidence we have acquired so far, then take statements from the crew members involved in this mishap.”
Kerri glanced around the room looking for Janine and spotted her sitting in the last row, with Ryan on one side and George Cato on the other. They made eye contact briefly, and Janine gave her a small smile. The fear in her belly dissipated when she saw Janine’s beautiful face. Ryan leaned over and said something in her ear that made Janine scowl and lower her head. Bastard.
“We will begin the hearing today by summarizing the facts we have so far, keeping in mind that we are still searching for the cockpit voice recorder and the digital flight data recorder. We will then continue with questions of the flight crew members. Please be advised that we expect truthful and complete answers. Evasiveness will not be tolerated.”
Kerri felt that last statement was directed at her. She had nothing to hide and had been completely honest with all her answers so far. She listened as panel members presented the details of the flight, up to the moment the emergency began. Then they covered the engine data transmitted just before they lost cabin pressure. They talked at length explaining the engine parameters of the high-bypass turbofan engines. Kerri saw eyes glaze over in the crowd as they went into excruciating detail of how a jet engine works.
Kerri started feeling uncomfortable as the investigators produced charts showing how reliable the Pratt and Whitney engines were, with special attention to the two engines installed on her jet. Both of her engines had been in service for years and had thousands of flight hours with no history of any significant engine malfunctions.
Ellsworth then called on the Boeing 767 chief engineer.
“The Boeing 767 is one of the safest aircraft ever built. It is highly unlikely that an engine would simply disintegrate when operating at a stable cruise altitude.”
“Is it possible for the engine to be damaged by operator error, such as abruptly pulling the throttle to idle?” Ellsworth looked at Kerri as he asked the question.
“Yes, it is.”
Ellsworth asked the same question of the Pratt and Whitney chief engineer and received the same response. He repeated his line of questions with the Trans Global chief of flight training.
Kerri realized Ellsworth was painting a picture of her as an incompetent pilot. He was planting seeds of doubt about her actions as the captain of flight 401. She was seething at the implication that she had intentionally damaged her own aircraft, especially since he had no proof she’d done anything wrong. He was setting her up to be the fall guy, and she was helpless to defend herself.
“We will recess until one p.m. Then we will continue with questions for the crew.”
Kerri was watching her entire career as a professional pilot unravel in front of her.
* * *
Janine left the hearing room with heaviness on her heart for Kerri. She didn’t understand all the stuff about jet engine malfunctions, but Kerri would never damage her own plane. She cared too much about her crew and passengers to ever harm any of them.
Janine stood with George and the other flight attendants, who all had somber expressions.
“Can I talk to you for a minute?” It was David Shapiro, their difficult first-class passenger.
“What can we do for you, Mr. Shapiro?” George asked.
“You can join my class-action lawsuit against Captain Kerri Sullivan. Her incompetence almost got all of us killed. We deserve substantial compensation for the horror we all went through because of her.”
George Cato stood up to his full height of five feet four inches and stepped into David Shapiro’s personal space.
“First of all, none of us knows anything definitive yet as to the cause of this accident. Second, I’ve flown with Kerri Sullivan for years, and she’s the best captain I’ve ever worked with. I don’t believe any of these implications about her intentionally damaging the plane. It makes no sense. So, no, I will not join your lawsuit.”
“What about you, Janine? Will you join my class-action suit?”
Janine started to answer, but Ryan interrupted her. “Yes. We want to be part of your lawsuit.” He glared at Janine to shut her up.
“But, Ryan, I don’t want any part of his lawsuit.”
He grabbed Janine by her upper arm, jerked her away from the others, and got very close to her face.
“Don’t you ever disagree with me in public. You’re too stupid to understand that this lawsuit is good for my campaign, and this will get us sympathy back home. You will join in with that lawsuit and keep your mouth shut, or else.”
David Shapiro came up next to them.
“Hey, folks. Could you keep your voices down? People are starting to stare. There’s no need for any tension. Just let me know if you’re interested.”
“We are definitely interested, Mr. Shapiro. Aren’t we, Jan?”
Janine kept her head down. She refused to betray Kerri.
“Good. Here’s my card. My office will be in touch.” David Shapiro walked away quickly.
“Well, it looks like that captain of yours really screwed up,” Ryan said.
“You don’t know what you’re talking about. You weren’t there, Ryan. I’m not suing Kerri Sullivan.”
“You’ll do what you’re told.” He stomped away, barely containing his rage.
Her desperation to get away from Ryan made Janine want to scream out loud, but now wasn’t the time. She had to pretend to cooperate with him for a little while longer.
There was a buzz in the crowd, and someone said, “Let’s get back in there. Something’s happening.”
Janine wished she could sit next to Kerri, just to comfort her. She’d been very stoic so far, but Janine could tell these accusations were getting to her.
* * *
“This hearing will come to order,” Ellsworth said as he pounded the table with his gavel.
Kerri looked around the room, hoping to see Janine. Then she saw Camille rush up to the microphone.
“Mr. Ellsworth, we’ve just been advised there is new evidence about this accident.”
“Where is it?”
“Right here, sir.”
“And who are you?” Ellsworth asked.
“I’m Lieutenant Commander Stacey Gentry, Commander of the US Navy Research Vessel Sally Ride. We found Trans Global 401.”
A collective gasp rose from the crowd.
Stacey Gentry looked magnificent in her white dress uniform as she strode up to the front of the room. She handed a disc to the audio/visual person, then rolled out a navigation chart on the table in front of Ellsworth and pointed to a marked spot. “We discovered the aircraft at this position on the sea floor.”
Kerri saw the reporters scramble out the back of the room to call in this scoop.
“How did you find it? We’ve been looking for this aircraft for weeks.”
“My ship is equipped with the latest underwater mapping technology, and we found it with our ROV—our remotely operated vehicle. Please insert the disc I gave you.”
Murmurs arose from the crowd as the video image showed a dark object on a gray background. The dark mass became larger until it was the unmistakable shape of an airplane.
“We had the ROV move all over the target to make sure we identified it correctly. We positively identified it as Trans Global 401.”
The bright headlights of the ROV moved across the tail section. Kerri made out the Trans Global logo and the aircraft tail number. She shivered at the sight of her jet lying on the floor of the ocean. It looked intact, with the plane resting on its belly, the left wing tip in the sand, and the right wing banked up, like it was in a slight turn.
Stacey continued narrating what they were seeing. “We had the ROV scan every part of the aircraft exterior. All parts of the plane are intact except for this area.” She used a laser pointer to show where the right wing was attached to the body of the plane. Then the ROV followed the leading edge of the right wing to the wing tip, and it stopped at something that didn’t look right. It was a small section, just under the leading edge of the wing, with twisted metal sticking out.
“What are we looking at?” Ellsworth asked.
Kerri jumped up from her seat and shouted, “That’s the fuel service panel.”
“Please sit down, Captain Sullivan. We’ll get to you.” Ellsworth glared at her.
“Captain Sullivan is correct. This is the access panel for the single-point refueling station located near the midpoint of the right wing. Please look closely as we have the ROV zoom in to get a better look at this.”
The entire room was quiet, everyone transfixed as they watched the eerie underwater images of twisted, bent metal.
Kerri couldn’t believe what she was seeing. They used this access panel to refuel the jet every day. It was mangled so badly it was almost unrecognizable. “Oh, my God,” she said out loud.
“This metal is torn in a way that indicates high pressure from inside it. Look at the small area on the right side of this compartment at that jagged piece of metal, bright blue in color, which shows clearly it was a can of Pepsi. This is the remnant of a bomb. An explosive device was placed inside the fuel service panel.”
The room buzzed. The torn metal was open almost like the petals of a flower.
“We then had the ROV capture a sample of the soda can. You can see the robotic arm grasp the remains of it. When it was returned to my ship for analysis, we confirmed it was filled with C4 explosive. We then had the ROV do a complete inspection of the area around the bomb blast.” Stacey paused for a moment and let the picture of the mangled engine sink in. She glanced at Kerri before she continued.
“This image is the right engine. Notice the black line on the side of it. This is where the ten-inch by eight-inch door of the fuel service panel penetrated the engine cowling and caused the engine to disintegrate.”
Everyone started talking at this incredible news. Kerri looked for Janine and smiled.
I’m not responsible for this accident. It was a bomb. That fuel guy, with the clean shirt and neat handwriting, he planted the bomb.
“Order, order.” Ellsworth pounded his gavel.
Stacey continued. “On further analysis, we found several puncture holes on the underside of the right wing, where the fuel tank is located, and we saw the remains of a cabin window blown inside the aircraft. This discovery confirms that metal shrapnel from the bomb explosion punctured the window from outside, and caused the aircraft to lose cabin pressure.”
The remaining reporters scrambled out of the room to call in this new information to the media.
Ellsworth rapped his gavel on the table again. “Order, please.”
After the room grew quiet again, he said, “Lieutenant Commander Gentry, this is a very interesting speculation, but we deal with facts, not guesses.” His tone was dismissive.
“That’s why I brought this with me today, sir. Gunny, please bring in the boxes.”
Kerri recognized one of the marines from Stacey’s ship as he pushed a cart to the front of the room holding three plastic tubs filled with water.
“This is the digital flight data recorder, the cockpit voice recorder, and the remnants of the explosive device. We were able to retrieve these using our ROV. They should have all the information from the accident.”
The room erupted in noise. Ellsworth banged his gavel, but no one was listening to him anymore. Finally, he got everyone calmed down.
“Lieutenant Commander Gentry, thank you for providing this important evidence to the NTSB. We will need to do our own analysis of this information before reaching any conclusions about the cause of this accident. This hearing is adjourned for now, and we will reconvene when our investigators complete their work with the aircraft recorders. You are dismissed.”
He banged his gavel one last time.
An enormous weight lifted off Kerri’s shoulders. She knew she hadn’t made a mistake and caused this accident, and Stacey Gentry had just saved her ass with the proof. She wanted to run to Janine and put her arms around her, but Ryan had his hand on her arm and hurried her out of the room.
Camille hugged Kerri. “Well, you’ve got friends in high places.”
“What do you mean?”
“Not everyone has their own navy research ship find evidence to exonerate them. We got real lucky, Kerri.”
“So what happens now?”
“We wait for the NTSB laboratory to analyze the data and voice recorders, and test that bomb remnant. Then they’ll reconvene and present their findings. That should take only a few days. It looks like you’re off the hook, Kerri.”
People had crowded around Kerri to congratulate her when she recognized a familiar voice behind her.
“Captain Sullivan, can I talk to you?”
Kerri was surprised to see David Shapiro standing before her with his hand outstretched.
“Mr. Shapiro, what can I do for you?”
“I need to apologize. I thought you were to blame for the accident. I can’t believe a bomb in a soda can could cause that much damage to the plane. I was wrong to accuse you. I’m sorry.”
Kerri decided to be gracious to this man who had caused her such grief. She extended her hand to him.
“I’m dropping my lawsuit, of course, but can I do anything to make up for my actions?” He sounded sincere.
“Mr. Shapiro, I accept your apology. But you know what? You could use your skills as an attorney to help people instead of hurt them.”
Kerri turned from him to look around the room, hoping to see Janine. She caught a glimpse of Janine’s golden hair. She was being shuttled out of the room, with Ryan’s hand on the back of her neck. She clenched her jaw. I have to get her away from him.