Sir, Congressman Davis from the House Transportation Committee is requesting a formal briefing. Derek held up one hand. What's the stock at? 11:42, still falling.
He closed his eyes. By noon, Sky Nation released a statement. Three paragraphs, corporate language, words like "unacceptable" and "does not reflect our values" and "we are committed to a thorough investigation." The internet ate it alive. Memes flooded Twitter.
Heather's face photoshopped onto 100 templates. Reaction videos piled up on YouTube and TikTok like snow. But the real earthquake happened at 2:00 p.m. Sky Nation's Human Resources Department, under direct orders from the board, completed an emergency review of Heather Wilson's personnel file. What they found turned a PR crisis into a legal catastrophe.
Six complaints. Six previous complaints filed by passengers of color over the past 3 years. Different flights, different routes, different passengers, same pattern. A black businessman on a Dallas to Chicago flight.
Heather had asked him to show his boarding pass three times. A Latina mother traveling with her daughter on a New York to Miami flight. Heather had accidentally spilled coffee on her lap, then offered a napkin without an apology. An elderly black couple on a Boston to Atlanta route.
Heather had moved their carry-on bags to economy class while they were in the lavatory and told them their seats had been reassigned. Six complaints, all filed formally, all documented with dates, flight numbers, passenger names, and all of them, every single one, had been marked in the system as resolved, no further action required. Buried, erased, swept under a corporate rug so thick that sunlight had never touched them. Briana received the file at 3:15 p.m. She read it in her living room in Brooklyn Heights, still wearing the same hoodie, the bruise on her cheek now a deep violet crescent.
She read every page, every complaint, every dismissal. Then, she picked up the phone. "Derek, I've read the file."
"Briana, I want you to know that I had no knowledge."
"Six complaints in three years, Derek. Six, and not one of them made it past HR. Who signed off on closing those cases?" Silence. "You did.
Your name is on the final approval for four of them." Longer silence. "We're done here. I'll see you at the board meeting."
That evening, the board of Sky Nation Airlines met in emergency session. It lasted 4 hours.