Several hours before President Harwell delivered his address of sorrowful news to Congress and those citizens of the nation watching the live broadcast, Travis Connor from Centennial Airport suddenly bolted upright in bed. It was a few minutes after two in the morning, but he wouldn’t need to report for work until six. Unfortunately Travis would be kept awake for the entire time gap due to the revelation that had just occurred to him. The truth hit him hard like a brick, and he would discuss the possible ramifications of that truth with his counterpart when reporting for work to relieve the man in less than four hours.

When hearing of the multiple attacks after the conclusion of his Saturday shift, Travis hadn’t given them much thought other than that of sadness for those citizens who had been personally impacted. Throughout the remainder of the day and on into Sunday, he watched or listened to multiple news reports and pondered over how the terrorist action might impact the nation’s airports. The events that had transpired a quarter century before on September eleventh had been well documented and used as a case study for all air traffic controllers, as aside from issues of safety for the innocent, all planes needed to be cleared from the sky over the United States as quickly as possible. No such directive had been issued in the current situation, but something with regard to procedure would surely be updated by the FAA in the near future. It was thoughts of such an action while in a dream state that caused Travis to bolt upright from a sound sleep. What he realized was that the helicopter that exploded and melted on the end of the runway at Canon City may have been the same one that he and his graveyard shift counterpart cleared for departure during their shift change early Saturday morning.

With an inability to fall back asleep, or to wait any longer before engaging in a discussion with regard to his belief, Travis finally gave in and left early for work. Once there, he ran up the stairs and bounded into the control tower at Centennial Airport thirty minutes before his scheduled start time. After looking in his direction and then at the digital clock on the wall, the graveyard shift supervisor said, “Well good morning. Are you here early to give me a jump start on my two days off, or for something else?”

While experiencing a slight shortness of breath from his hurried entry, Travis replied, “I wish that it could be for the former, but I’m afraid it’s not. If you have a few minutes to spare, I do have something important to discuss with you.”

“Sure, what’s on your mind?”

“Do you remember that helicopter we cleared for departure during shift change on Saturday morning?”

“Sure I do. You made a comment then about how the logbooks from the evening shift for its arrival were incomplete.”

“That’s right, and I didn’t like that our counterpart was lazy in that regard.”

“I remember, so what about it?”

“Well I believe that same helicopter may be the one that exploded in Canon City later in the day.”

The man’s mouth fell agape in disbelief, and then he replied, “You mean the one that authorities believe was involved in the attack at Colorado Springs?”

“That’s the one.”

After several seconds of reflective thought, his counterpart said, “Alright, I suppose that would be possible. But if we are to believe that’s true, then the authorities will want to hear your opinion. We need to contact the FAA and the local FBI so that they can talk to you, and we should attempt to call our evening counterpart to see what he has to say about the events of Friday night.”

“That all sounds good to me. Which of those calls would you like me to make first?”

Those subsequent calls made by each man were somewhat frustrating. In spite of multiple efforts, both were unable to contact the supervisor who was responsible for the helicopter being parked on the tarmac overnight. They then surmised that at the current early morning hour he would probably be sleeping for some time, and had perhaps turned off his phone. The FAA was thankful for the theory of the helicopter that was presented to them, but was more interested in continuing their investigation of the crash site in Canon City. Unfortunately they couldn’t, or wouldn’t, send an investigator to Centennial Airport for a few days. Although the most responsive, the FBI was still not fast acting. After listening to what Travis Connor had to say, the Denver field office agreed to have a pair of agents on site before the evening supervisor began his shift so that he could be questioned as well.

With no other recourse, all that Travis could do while tending to his normal work responsibilities was wait for them to arrive. Finally at one thirty in the afternoon, two men dressed in black suits with authentic FBI identification and badges entered the control tower to begin their investigation. Travis explained how the helicopter had requested and received clearance for departure at roughly six on Saturday morning, but he was unaware of specific arrival details from the previous night. With their initial questioning of Travis and a look through the logbook completed, they too waited to speak with his counterpart who would arrive for his shift at two o’clock. It wasn’t until fifteen minutes after two that the agents became concerned.

With the remainder of the morning shift having been relieved by the evening personnel, Travis turned to those whom he knew but rarely worked with. Then he asked, “Has anyone heard from your supervisor? As you already know, these two FBI agents want to speak with him. If anyone could offer some helpful information as to his whereabouts it would be appreciated, because in spite of his normal weekend habits, it’s not like your boss to be late for work.”

None of the staff could provide any tangible information, but one of them did offer to call the man’s apartment again. To that offer an FBI agent responded, “Thanks, but if he hasn’t answered at home throughout the day, then I doubt that he will answer now.”

Travis then said to the agent, “I’m willing to stay here on duty a few more hours if necessary, but the two of you need to tell us what we can all do to help you.”

“That’s good of you Mr. Connor, but can we speak privately for a moment?”

“Certainly, we can step into the hall.”

After doing so the agent’s first question was direct. He asked, “Is there anyone on duty at this time that is qualified to take over for you?”

Although somewhat surprised, Travis replied, “Yes, one of the staff on duty is the relief for the man you want to speak with. She assumes the role of supervisor two days a week.”

“That’s good. Please have her relieve you right away.”

“Alright, but can I ask why?”

“A man we would like to question has not been heard from in two days.”

“Yes, but that’s not so unusual for him.”

“Perhaps, but your efforts to contact him at his residence throughout the morning have been unsuccessful. Now he is late for his shift, and by your own admission, that is unusual.”

“Yes, that’s true.”

“Well Mr. Connor I believe that the two are somehow related, and the possibility of that merits further investigation on our part. Therefore I would like you to accompany us.”

“Alright, but where are we going?”

“The three of us are going to visit his residence.”