Chapter 9 - THE AFTERMATH AND INVESTIGATION
Three days after our arrival in Orlando, the story broke nationally.
The Federal Aviation Administration and the Department of Justice released a joint press statement regarding the arrest of Veronica Vance. It turned out that the "modified diagnostic unit" Maya had spotted under seat 11A contained encrypted schematics for the navigation systems of three major commercial airline fleets—data that had been stolen from an avionics facility in Ohio two weeks prior.
Veronica Vance was facing multiple federal counts of industrial espionage, theft of government contractor property, and interfering with a flight crew, carrying a potential sentence of up to twenty-five years in federal prison.
On Thursday morning, a legal representative from the airline’s corporate headquarters arrived at my sister’s house in a black sedan.
We sat in the living room while Maya played in the backyard with my sister’s dog.
"Mrs. Mercer, Mr. Mercer," the attorney said, laying a thick leather folder on the coffee table. "On behalf of the Board of Directors, we want to express our deepest gratitude for your daughter’s extraordinary courage. The actions of our cabin crew member on Flight 412 were unacceptable, and she has been placed on administrative leave pending mandatory retraining on passenger dispute resolution."
David, who had arrived from Texas two days prior and hadn't left my side since, leaned forward with his arms resting on his knees. "Retraining isn't going to fix what happened to my wife in that aisle, sir."
"We agree, Mr. Mercer," the attorney said smoothly. "Which is why the airline is taking full accountability."
He opened the folder, revealing three documents.
"First," the attorney explained, "the airline is issuing a complete refund for all travel expenses incurred during your trip, along with lifetime First Class travel passes for your entire family on all domestic and international routes."
I looked at the pass vouchers sitting in the folder—a benefit worth tens of thousands of dollars over a lifetime.
"Second," he continued, "the airline’s educational trust fund has established a full-ride four-year college scholarship in Maya Mercer’s name, covering tuition, room, and board at any university of her choice when she turns eighteen."
I stared at the document, my hand moving to my mouth in shock. "A full scholarship?"
"It is the least we can do for a young lady who saved our fleet from a devastating security breach," the attorney said warmly. "And third, if you agree to sign a standard non-disclosure agreement regarding the specific technical details of the avionics device—which are classified under federal law—the airline is making a direct settlement payment to your family in the amount of five hundred thousand dollars."
I looked at David. He looked back at me, his eyes wide with disbelief.
May you like
We didn't need to discuss it. The money meant we could pay off our mortgage, David could take a local job closer to home instead of traveling to distant construction sites, and our children’s future was completely secure.
"We accept," I said softly.
