Ten

      Manhattan, New York

      Kate grabbed a strong coffee and ensconced herself at her desk, still reeling from the New York Times piece while grappling with Chuck’s expectations.

      It didn’t help that she could sense Sloane gloating.

      Kate shoved it all aside and knuckled down. She started with the key official organizations—texting, emailing and calling for reaction to the Times story and a chance to advance it.

      “We don’t comment on speculative press articles. We’ll release a preliminary report in the coming days,” Paul Murther, the spokesperson with the NTSB, told her.

      EastCloud responded by sending Kate an updated news release which was light on actual news. The airline had noted what everyone already knew—that nearly all of Flight 4990’s passengers who had been taken to hospital had been released and that EastCloud continued to cooperate with investigators.

      Kate called Richlon, the plane’s manufacturer.

      “I can confirm that we are participating in the NTSB investigation. Other than that, we have no further comment,” Molly Raskin, Richlon’s deputy of public affairs, said from its Burbank, California, headquarters.

      The FAA declined to comment, and so did most of the other agencies and groups she’d contacted. While waiting for responses Kate, in keeping with Chuck’s request to be watchful of Sloane’s work, reviewed news photos for the plane’s registration information, known as the N-Number, then used that number to access FAA records on the specific aircraft’s history.

      No problems had emerged on that individual plane.

      Kate then consulted federal records on the model, and found the Richlon-TitanRT-86 had experienced several incidents.

      While taking off for Chicago from Omaha, an improperly secured front cabin door had come loose on an RT-86, forcing an emergency landing without incident. A flight from San Diego blew a tire on landing in Phoenix. No injuries were reported. A flight originating in Boston overshot the runway while landing in Atlanta during a storm. No injuries. There were several separate cases of various emergency-indicator lights automatically activating in the flight deck, for things such as landing gear, fuel supply, someone smoking in the restroom, a small fire in the galley. Emergency ground crews were alerted and in all instances the planes landed safely.

      This is relatively standard.

      Kate checked Newslead’s legal database for civil action against the airline, scouring the summaries from the list of lawsuits. They concerned lost luggage, job action, overbooked flights, missed flights, claims alleging civil rights abuses and racism. Again, all of it was relatively standard for an airline of EastCloud’s size.

      After rereading the Times story, Kate felt stirrings of self-doubt.

      Am I wrong about hearing the crew insist there was no turbulence?

      She paged through her notes. But it was there. She’d jotted it down the moment it had crackled over the scanner. Sure, there was static, but she’d clearly heard the crew say the problem was “not turbulence” but rather some sort of malfunction.

      Kate called the news library and requested they look into possibly purchasing transcripts from one of the professional scanner listening services, even though they were not subscribed.

      It was odd. If other news outlets, like the Times or the Associated Press, had possibly consulted transcripts of Flight 4990’s transmissions before landing, wouldn’t they have reported malfunction as the issue? But there had been so much static, maybe they’d missed it.

      Kate tapped her pen.

      The only way to know what the crew said is to talk to the crew.

      But there was no way that was going to happen, she thought. Pilots rarely, if ever, talk to press about an incident while it’s under investigation—way too many policies and too much at stake for them.

      Did anyone reach out to the crew?

      Kate tapped her pen faster.

      She’d met a high-ranking official with the pilots’ union a couple of months back at a security conference at the Grand Hyatt. What was his name? Kate searched her contacts until it came up.

      Nick Benko.

      He was middle-aged, silver-haired, smart and kind of flirty, but at his core, all business and union tough. They’d had a quick coffee and he’d said to call him if ever she needed help on a story.

      Kate sent him a text, reminding him of their meeting and his offer. She asked him to call her. Six minutes later, her cell phone rang.

      “Thanks for calling, Nick.”

      “No problem. Just stepped out of a meeting. What’s up?”

      “You know that EastCloud flight from Buffalo to LaGuardia?”

      “Yes, it’s in the news. I saw your name on one of the stories.”

      “What can you tell me about the investigation?”

      “I’m not involved in that. Besides, I couldn’t tell you, even if I was.”

      “I figured. Nick, I need help reaching the captain.”

      “No can do, Kate. There’re policies, security, privacy, all that stuff.”

      “I understand, Nick, but if you were me, where would you look?”

      Benko hesitated.

      “You know I can’t give you that name, Kate.”

      “Of course, but if you were looking, say for public sources, where would you look?”

      Benko gave it some thought.

      “Some airlines post milestone pages online,” he said. “It’s possible that if you looked deep into EastCloud’s site on the ten-year page, you might find something there.”

      “Where?”

      “Under the M’s.”

      Kate jotted it down.

      “What if there are other M’s?”

      “I don’t think you’ll have a problem.”

      Kate’s keyboard clicked and she’d found the site, went to the M’s and landed on a page with a photo and bio of Raymond Brian Matson. His was the only listing under M for ten years with EastCloud. The listing was about three years old.

      “Nick, you know you have a friend here who owes you a favor.”

      “No favor, Kate.” He chuckled. “Because I didn’t give you any information that wasn’t already public.”

      “Understood. Thanks.”

      Kate read the brief bio describing Matson’s experience and time with EastCloud. Of course it didn’t list his address or the city where he resided.

      He could live anywhere