I looked at the case.
Then at him.
“I do not consent to a search.”
He pressed the radio button.
“Need another unit at Gate K18. Male subject refusing inspection of suspicious container.”
Suspicious container.
That was what my company had become.
A suspicious container.
Emily quietly said:
“Officer, he cleared standard screening.”
Davies turned.
“Did I ask?”
“No.”
“Then please continue boarding.”
She went pale.
I looked toward her.
“Emily, it’s okay.”
Davies snapped:
“Don’t talk to staff.”
That surprised even me.
“I’m speaking to the airline employee handling my ticket.”
“You’re interfering with my investigation.”
“What investigation?”
“The bag.”
“What specific fact made it suspicious?”
He stared.
“That attitude.”
There it was.
Not the bag.
Not a threat.
Not a report.
My refusal.
I felt my grandfather’s watch against my wrist.
Calm costs.
I lowered my voice.
“I’m going to ask once more. What legal basis do you have to open this case?”
Davies stepped closer.
“You really want to do this?”
“I’m already doing it.”
For a second, neither of us moved.
Then another officer arrived.
Officer Rebecca Sloan.
Early forties.
Dark hair pulled back.
More tired than aggressive.
She looked from Davies to me.
“Problem?”
Davies answered immediately.
“Subject refusing to open suspicious luggage.”
Sloan looked at my briefcase.
“Was it flagged by TSA?”
“No.”
“Airline?”
“No.”
“Threat report?”
“No.”
She frowned.
“Then what happened?”
Davies looked irritated.
“He’s acting evasive.”
I said:
“I answered every question except the contents of protected corporate material, and I declined consent to a search.”
Sloan looked at me.
CHAPTER 2
“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.”