Chapter 4 - WHY HALE RECOGNIZED THE RABBIT
Hale should never have said it.
The moment the words left his mouth, Ethan stepped between him and Naomi.
“How do you know anything about that card?”
Hale tried to recover.
“I don’t.”
“You just said—”
“I said none of you know what’s on it.”
Daniel stared at him.
“You recognized the rabbit.”
“No.”
Naomi spoke.
“Yes, you did.”
Everyone looked at her.
She swallowed.
“When I first reached the seat, you looked at me.”
She hugged Blue tighter.
“Then you looked at the rabbit.”
Hale’s mouth tightened.
“I look at many things.”
“But you stopped smiling.”
He had.
Naomi remembered it now.
Just a flicker.
So small she hadn’t understood it.
Ethan’s voice hardened.
“Preston.”
Hale finally sighed.
“Rachel had the rabbit in a meeting.”
Daniel looked stunned.
“What meeting?”
“The compliance meeting before Flight 417.”
Naomi’s father stepped closer.
“You told investigators you hadn’t met Rachel in person that week.”
Hale said nothing.
There it was.
Another lie.
The lead flight attendant notified the cockpit and airline security through the onboard communications system.
Hale was ordered to remain in his assigned seat for the rest of the flight.
He protested.
Then noticed three passengers still recording.
He sat down.
Naomi returned to 2A.
Daniel sat across from her.
Ethan remained kneeling in the aisle for a moment.
“Sweetheart, I need you to understand something.”
“Okay.”
“When we land, people may ask questions.”
“About Mom?”
“Yes.”
“Did she do something wrong?”
“No.”
His answer came instantly.
That helped.
“Then I’m okay.”
Ethan looked like he might cry.
Instead, he kissed her forehead and returned to the cockpit.
The microSD card was placed inside a sealed evidence pouch.
The flight attendant locked it in a secure compartment.
For the next hour, nothing happened.
Then one of the teenagers from Row 3 whispered to his friend:
“It’s already everywhere.”
The video of Hale ordering Naomi toward the back of the plane had uploaded through the aircraft Wi-Fi before the crew restricted his access.
Millions of views were accumulating.
The clip showed his face clearly.
His name spread almost immediately.
PRESTON HALE.
Former AeroDyne executive.
Safety consultant.
Current candidate for a senior advisory position with Reynolds Air Group.
Naomi stared at the screen.
“Reynolds Air Group?”
Daniel looked surprised.
“You didn’t know?”
“No.”
The airline was called Horizon Atlantic.
Why would there be a Reynolds Air Group?
Daniel’s eyes softened.
“It’s not an airline.”
“What is it?”
“A safety foundation.”
Naomi frowned.
Daniel explained.
After Rachel died, families of Flight 417 victims created an aviation safety nonprofit.
Ethan helped build it.
The foundation funded whistleblower protection, engineering research, and emergency training.
“And Mr. Hale wanted a job there?”
“He wanted a seat on its corporate advisory council.”
Naomi almost laughed.
The man who had dismissed her mother’s warning wanted to become an aviation safety adviser.
Then Daniel’s expression darkened.
“But that isn’t the strangest part.”
“What is?”
“Hale wasn’t invited to today’s memorial event.”
Naomi looked toward 2D.
“Then why is he on this flight?”
Daniel glanced at Hale’s briefcase.
“I think he came because he knew the recording might appear.”
Naomi’s heartbeat changed.
“How?”
Daniel didn’t answer.
He didn’t need to.
Somebody had told him.
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And only four people knew the sealed evidence from Rachel’s case would be released in Seattle.
One of them worked inside Naomi’s father’s foundation.
