Adventure In An Aircraft

Chapter 12

Electra and Ember headed to the engine room, Electra had removed her blazer and sported casual clothing, a light blue shirt with a yellow lightning bolt emblazoned on it while she kept her white trousers. Ember had put a cigarette between her lips, inhaled it, and blew out the smoke as grey whisps of danced in the air as it faded.

"You're going to get yourself into trouble again if you don't stop smoking." Electra warned her, as usual. At this point Ember tuned out the broken record that Electra dropped between their breaks.

"I need my fix to put up with Max." Ember put the cigarette betwixt her lips and inhaled more smoke. "Besides, I know m way around him. Don't worry about it."

"How will you get past him?" Electra asked her before Ember exhaled the smoke.

"You'll see."

They entered the boiler room and with a right turn, they headed down a hall that took the quickest route to the engine room, as they arrived to the door that said AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY. As they opened the door they saw Max McIntyre block the door that led to the engine room. The man wore a red jumpsuit, sunglasses and a mullet.

"Where have you been?!" It wasn't a question, his irate tone indicated that he knew that Ember was late for her shift yet again. The rhetorical question was met with a blunt response.

"Smoking, where else?" Ember nonchalantly replied.

"You know you can't do that in here." Her boss barked.

"Take a chill pill, Max. I already have the boss hounding me." Ember dispatched the cigarette into the trash can.

"And you wanna know what else?" Electra asked.

"She's making us work overtime while the staff from the power grid take the day off." Ember interjected.

"What?!"

"You heard me." Ember put her fists on her hips.

"Has Vargas lost it?" McIntyre ask-yelled.

"Why don't you go and ask her?" Ember pointed her thumb towards the door.

"Oh she's gonna hear me alright." Max McIntyre marched out of the boiler room, as much as Electra tried to warn him, he already slammed the door.

"Aren't you going to stop him?" Electra suggested.

"Relax, he'll figure it out." Ember smirked as she zipped up to wear her uniform and entered into the engine room. She picked up a bullhorn and walked up near the engines as they were inspecting the motors and their parts while they heard the announcement.

"Alright sissies, listen up! I received orders from the boss. The bad news is that we have to work overtime. Apparently," her coworkers caught on to her passive-aggressive tone while some took their eyes off the engines to look at her, "someone wants to hack into the aircraft to sabotage our reasources. The rest of us have to work extra for safety measures in case the idiot has the guts to sneak in here. I'm not gonna stand by and let that son of a bitch mess with my down time." While she ranted and raved, two of her coworkers murmured amidst themselves.

"Is she high again?"
"No doubt about it." 

"I already did my part." Ember stormed out of the engine room, on the way out she saw Electra glare at her. "What?"

Electra turned away from looking at Ember and said, "You're unbelievable."

"What? What?! WHAT DID I SAY?!"

The captain and her associate where in the office discussing about how where they going to tackle with the interloper without alarming the passengers.

On one hand, they had a suspect who stood out like a sore thumb, there was also the possibility of the suspect having an associate who might be one of the employees. If this supposed spy is one of the employees and remained anonymous to give intel to his contact about their movements, the enemy could switch tactics and plan the attack and ruin the operation. If the suspicions were true then the captain had to create a back up plan to lure the spy out of hiding, and if the spy predicted the captain's movements before hand, they could lay a red herring to distract the players involve and the metaphorical chess moves its pieces. The down side of this plan is the cobweb of confusion that intertwines with their current endeavor as the fragments of the strategy are scattered.

"See what I mean?" Suzy asked referring to this poorly thought out plan.

"I already knew this might happen. Why'd you think I brought her here in the first place?" Vargas referred to Ember and spontaneous personality that clashed with McIntyre's attitude, being familiar with their interactions, it wouldn't take long for Ember to push his buttons and send him to Vargas's office.

"That means Max will be here in three...two..." The manager of the powergrid counted.

"One..." Vargas finished before Max kicked the door open as the vein if his neck popped out and his nostrils flared.

"What on Earth is wrong with you, Vargas!?" Max screeched stormed in and slammed his hands on Mel's desk, barking, "Why haven't you informed me that my crew will be working overtime while the snobs of the power grid take the whole day off! That is nepotism. Nepotism I tell ya!"

"Did Ember tell you?" Vargas steepled her wrinkled fingers while she bore into him.

"About what?" Max interrogated angrily.

"About the interloper." Vargas responded before she showed the footage. A gargantuan man wearing a jumpsuit as he tresspassed the corridors.

"Damn it, Vargas! You could've informed me through a memorandum or told me in person instead of sending that rogue in the first place." Max rebuked her.

"Someone hacked the aircraft's security system in attempts to sabotage our resources as we speak. We can't afford to cause a panic with the passengers." Vargas countered.

"Our passengers deserve transparency, just like our employees demand honesty." Max stated.

"We need to be certain that none of our employees are in cahoots with the hacker nor that one of our workers are the hacker either. I need you to be discreet about this situation, you're the kind of guy who puts his heart on his sleeve. In times like these we need you to be neutral." Vargas advised him.

"Suppose what you're saying it's true. How are we going to catch whoever is hacking the aircraft?" He asked her.

"Through inspection," Suzy interjected, "my employees are being examined, if they want to get paid early, they'll have to be as transparent as they want us to be." Suzy had checked through the social media and had previously confiscated some of their phones for violating protocol and checked on their internet history. So far, none of her employees are a main suspect.