“You went through TSA?”
“Yes.”
“Any issue?”
“No.”
Emily spoke quietly.
“His boarding status is clean.”
Davies glared at her.
Sloan noticed.
“What started contact?”
Davies hesitated.
That was the first crack.
He looked at my case.
“I saw him bypassing the normal boarding queue.”
Emily immediately said:
“He’s Priority 1.”
Davies looked at her.
“That’s not what it looked like.”
I almost laughed.
Not what it looked like.
Sloan looked toward the blue carpet beneath my feet.
The sign beside it read:
PRIORITY BOARDING
Then she looked at Davies.
“So you stopped him because he was in the priority lane?”
“He looked out of place.”
Silence.
Emily stared at the scanner.
Sloan’s eyes sharpened.
“What does that mean?”
Davies realized how the sentence sounded.
“I mean he was moving quickly and carrying a locked case.”
“So are half the people in this terminal.”
“He became defensive.”
I said:
“After you demanded I open my property.”
Davies pointed at me.
“See? This.”
Sloan looked at him.
“This what?”
“He keeps challenging me.”
“That isn’t suspicious by itself.”
Davies’s face reddened.
“You taking his side?”
“I’m trying to understand why we’re here.”
That was the first moment I thought the situation might turn.
Then Davies made it worse.
He grabbed my briefcase.
Not the handle gently.
He seized it from beside my leg.
I reacted instinctively.
“Don’t.”
My hand moved toward it.
He jerked it back.
“Hands where I can see them!”
The terminal changed.
Passengers stopped.
Sloan’s posture shifted.
I froze.
Both hands open.
Chest level.
“Do not force that case.”
Davies held it in one hand.
“Why?”
“Because the internal drive is protected by an anti-tamper protocol.”
His eyes narrowed.
“What happens?”
“It wipes.”
He laughed.
“Sure.”
“I’m serious.”
“Convenient.”
Officer Sloan looked at me.
“What exactly is in it?”
“Trade-secret source code and litigation-controlled digital assets.”
“You have documentation?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“Inside my phone and in the outer sleeve of the case.”
Davies said:
“Not interested.”
Sloan turned.
“I am.”
She held out a hand.
“Let me see.”
Davies did not give her the case.
Instead he placed it on the podium.
Then reached toward the latch.
I felt genuine panic.
“Officer Davies.”
He looked at me.
“If you force that open, you may destroy evidence valued in the hundreds of millions of dollars.”
He laughed again.
“You CEOs love your numbers.”
I stepped forward half a foot.
Sloan immediately put up one hand.
“Mr. Hayes, stay there.”
I stopped.
Davies placed his thumb under the latch.
That was when I said the one sentence that finally made Sloan move.
“The case is under federal preservation notice.”
Her eyes snapped toward mine.
“What?”
Davies stopped too.
I continued.
“There is an active federal civil action connected to the attempted takeover.”
“Federal court?”
“Yes.”
“Do you have the order?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“Outer document sleeve.”
Davies looked annoyed.
“You could’ve said that five minutes ago.”
“I told you the material was under litigation hold.”
“That’s lawyer nonsense.”
Sloan ignored him.
“Can I access the sleeve without opening the locked compartment?”
“Yes.”
“With your consent?”
“Yes.”
“Okay.”
She moved toward the case.
Davies blocked her.
“I’ve got it.”
Sloan’s voice hardened.
“No. You don’t.”
That was the first time she sounded like a supervisor even though she was not.
Davies stared.
“We’re the same rank.”
“I know.”
“Then back off.”
She looked at his hand near the latch.
“Not while you’re about to destroy potentially court-preserved material without probable cause.”
His face tightened.
“You buying this?”
“I’m checking.”
That word mattered.
Checking.
Something nobody had done yet.
Sloan opened the exterior sleeve.
Inside was a document packet.
The first page contained the letterhead of a federal law firm.
The second bore a court caption.
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
NORTHERN DISTRICT OF ILLINOIS
Below it was a preservation order related to Vanguard Logistics Systems v. NorthStar Capital Partners.
Attached was a declaration describing the encrypted storage device and restricted-access protocol.
Sloan read enough to understand the problem.
Then she looked at Davies.
“Step away from the case.”
He stared.
“You’re kidding.”
“No.”
He pointed at me.
“We don’t even know if this guy is who he says he is.”
I said:
“You have my driver’s license.”
“Anybody can have a company title.”
Sloan looked toward Emily.
“Can you verify the corporate travel record?”
Emily nodded quickly.
She pulled up the profile.
“Marcus Hayes. Vanguard Logistics Systems corporate account. Ticket purchased through executive travel. Identity verified.”
Davies scoffed.
“That proves he bought a ticket.”
Sloan looked at him.
“What exactly are you trying to prove?”
He had no answer.
That was when a man standing fifteen feet away stepped forward.
He had been watching quietly for several minutes.
Mid-fifties.
Gray hair.
Black overcoat.
He held up a federal credential wallet.
“Maybe I can help with that.”
Every officer turned.
Davies stared.
The man introduced himself.
“Special Agent Thomas Brennan. FBI.”
I did not know him.
At least not personally.
But I recognized the name.
Brennan was assigned to the cyber intrusion investigation involving Vanguard.
He was not there for me.
By coincidence, he was traveling to Denver from a nearby gate.
Or what looked like coincidence.
He looked at me.
“Mr. Hayes?”
“Yes.”
“I believe we spoke by video conference two weeks ago.”
“Briefly.”
Davies looked between us.
“This guy’s part of your case?”
Brennan’s expression changed.
“That is an interesting way to phrase it.”
Davies corrected himself.
“Mr. Hayes.”
“Yes.”
Brennan looked at the case.
“Is that the isolated source repository referenced in the preservation declaration?”
“Yes.”
“Has it been opened?”
“No.”
“Tampered with?”
I looked at Davies.
“Almost.”
Brennan followed my eyes.
Then stared at the latch.
He stepped closer.
“Who attempted to access it?”
Davies straightened.
“I’m conducting an airport-security investigation.”
Brennan looked around.
“TSA flagged it?”
“No.”
“Explosive trace?”
“No.”
“Airline security report?”
“No.”
“Threat intelligence?”
Davies’s voice dropped.
“No.”
Brennan looked at Sloan.