Chapter 2 - GRANT MERCER
Airport police arrived ninety seconds later.
Not movie-fast.
Airport-fast.
They had already been nearby.
That was part of the plan.
Two officers separated everyone.
Mason tried immediately to identify himself as airport security.
One officer answered:
“We know who you are.”
That shut him up.
The woman who had intervened raised both hands.
“I saw him dragging her.”
“I understand.”
“I told him to stop.”
“Ma'am, I understand. Please stand by that pillar.”
She did.
I was asked whether I needed medical attention.
“No.”
My upper arm already showed finger marks.
Still no.
Then the man from the SUV finally stepped fully into view.
Grant Mercer.
Fifty-seven.
Former Hudson International integrity investigator.
Currently retained as special investigator by the Airport Authority Office of Inspector General.
The person who had convinced me to stand beside those luggage carts in the first place.
Mason stared at him.
“You.”
Grant looked at the officer.
“I'll give my statement inside.”
Mason laughed.
“You set this up.”
Grant did not answer him.
That annoyed Mason more.
One of the airport police officers retrieved my broken phone.
Grant looked at it.
“Decoy?”
“Yes.”
“Recording?”
“Should be cloud-backed.”
The woman beside the pillar heard that.
Her face changed.
“Wait.”
Nobody answered her.
She stepped closer despite the officer telling her to stay put.
“You were recording him?”
I said:
“Yes.”
Her expression hardened.
“You could have mentioned that before I threw a man onto concrete.”
“I didn't know you existed.”
Grant stepped in.
“Ms.—?”
“Ava Bennett.”
Grant stopped.
Not dramatically.
Just enough that I noticed.
“You're Ava Bennett?”
She frowned.
“Yes.”
Mason noticed too.
“What the hell is this?”
Grant looked at him.
“Not here.”
Mason laughed again.
“That's your whole career, isn't it? Not here. Not now. Not in writing.”
Grant's face tightened.
There was history there.
One of the officers said Mason would be removed from active duty pending review.
He was not handcuffed.
He had shoved Ava.
Grabbed me.
Destroyed a phone.
Enough for reports.
Not enough for everyone to pretend the full legal outcome had been decided on the curb.
Mason looked at me.
“You told me you had Peter Carter's original ledger.”
Ava turned.
“Peter Carter?”
I looked at her.
Her face had gone still.
“You know that name?”
She did not answer.
Grant did.
“Ava.”
She looked at him.
“You know me.”
“I know of you.”
“From where?”
Grant glanced toward Mason.
Then toward the officers.
“Inside.”
Ava looked at me.
“You knew this man was going to grab you?”
I hesitated.
“Yes.”
“You let him?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Grant said:
“Because we needed to document whether Mason would attempt an unauthorized off-books detention once he believed Claire had evidence from a 2018 property-chain case.”
Ava stared.
“That is an insane sentence.”
I almost agreed.
Grant continued.
“Mason was supposed to move Claire toward Parking Zone C. We had officers staged before the vehicle.”
“You used a civilian as bait.”
“I agreed.”
I said it before Grant could.
Ava looked at me.
“Why?”
I answered:
“Because my father lost his career over that case.”
Mason was being walked away when he heard me.
He turned.
“Your father lost his career because he changed records.”
I stepped toward him.
The officer stopped me with one hand.
Mason continued.
“Grant knows it.”
Grant's voice sharpened.
“Keep moving.”
Mason laughed.
Then looked at Ava.
“And your husband knew it too.”
Ava's face went white.
Mason was taken inside.
I looked at her.
“Your husband?”
She stared after Mason.
Then at Grant.
“You said this was about Peter Carter.”
Grant did not answer.
Ava did.
May you like
“My husband investigated Peter Carter.”
And suddenly the woman who had accidentally ruined the plan was no longer an accident.
