Chapter 8
Mr. Shepherd sat at the head of the conference table.
"Get me the original flight data, the apron surveillance footage, and the tower communications. All of it," he ordered.
The Head of Administration wiped the sweat from his brow.
"The original records are still being processed," he replied.
Mr. Shepherd set his briefcase on the table.
"Then let's start with the surveillance footage," he said.
The screen flickered to life.
The apron footage was crystal clear.
An emergency stretcher was waiting at the cabin door.
Claire stood at the pickup counter, took the milk tea, and snapped a photo of it.
The timestamp showed it was twenty-two minutes before takeoff.
No one spoke in the conference room.
The child's mother stared at the screen, her lips pale.
"Is that her?" someone asked.
Claire immediately burst into tears.
"I wanted some hot water, but the staff messed up and gave me the wrong drink," she sobbed.
Lisa said coldly, "So hot water comes with a milk tea label now?"
Adam spoke up.
"Even if she bought the milk tea, that doesn't prove she was the only reason for the delay. The final decision to take off was mine, and Summer, as the co-pilot, didn't propose any effective solution."
He said it calmly.
'So he's trying to shift half the blame onto me,' I thought.
Mr. Shepherd turned to me.
"Summer, why didn't you take over at that time?" he asked.
Everyone was waiting for me to slip up.
I replied, "The captain wasn't incapacitated, the instruments were working, and the tower hadn't authorized it. If the co-pilot had taken over without authorization, it would have been considered an incident."
Mr. Shepherd nodded.
"You've got the procedures down pat," he said.
Adam smirked, a trace of sarcasm on his face.
Mr. Shepherd asked again, "So what did you do?"
I replied, "I documented everything, reminded him, and asked the captain to address the cause of the delay."
Adam immediately shot back, "She didn't ask."
Mr. Shepherd flipped open his notebook.
"The original records aren't here yet. How can you be so sure she didn't ask?" he pressed.
Adam paused.
Claire's tears streamed down her face.
"Mr. Shepherd, Adam was really stressed out. He was up all night, trying to figure out what really happened," she said.
Mr. Shepherd ignored her.
He had someone pull up the second surveillance clip.
In the footage, right before the helicopter took off, I was jotting something down, and my left hand paused under the instrument panel for a couple of seconds.
Adam's expression suddenly shifted when he saw that.
Adam demanded, "What did you press?"
I didn't answer.
Mr. Shepherd spoke up for me.
"That's the standby transfer alert for Blue Hawk Seven. Once you press it, the northern backup chopper automatically goes on standby," he explained.
The conference room erupted.
Claire blurted out, "No way, I didn't hear the alarm."
She realized too late she'd let something slip.
Mr. Shepherd stared at her.
"Why should you have heard it?" Mr. Shepherd asked.
Claire's face drained of color.
Adam cut in right away, trying to shield her.
"She's a medical professional. It's not surprising she knows how the alarm works," he said.
Mr. Shepherd slid a sealed document across the table.
"The northern backup chopper took off nineteen minutes later and picked up the second medical team. Summer did everything by the book and triggered the backup plan," he said.
The child's mother froze, speechless.
"Why did my daughter still lose her leg?" she asked.
Mr. Shepherd didn't say a word.
That silence finally landed on the one who truly deserved it.
I turned to Adam.
"Because when Blue Hawk Seven landed, you cut corners and took the shortcut to save time. The impact from landing caused the fracture site to get contaminated again. The operating room records spell it out clearly," I said.
Adam's face went pale.
Claire took a half-step back.
The child's mother suddenly lunged at Adam.
"It was you. You're the one who hurt my daughter." she screamed.
No one stepped in to protect me this time.