He received almost no information.
“The account has entered contractually authorized validation status,” the Nexus representative told him.
“Who authorized it?”
“That information is being handled by executive compliance and legal.”
“Our airline is stopping.”
“Your airborne operations are not affected.”
“That is not what I said.”
“We understand.”
“Turn it off.”
“We cannot until the integrity review is cleared.”
“What triggered the review?”
The representative paused.
“A transaction-integrity concern.”
Richard stared at the speakerphone.
“What transaction?”
“That information will be communicated through the designated contractual escalation channel.”
“Give me Alexander Thorne.”
“Mr. Thorne is currently unavailable.”
“Where?”
“I’m not authorized to disclose his location.”
Richard hung up.
“Find him.”
The search took eleven minutes.
A junior analyst entered the executive incident room carrying a tablet.
“Sir.”
Richard looked up.
“I think we found him.”
“Where?”
The analyst hesitated.
“On one of our flights.”
Richard stared.
“What?”
“Flight 88. JFK to Heathrow.”
“First class?”
The analyst’s face changed.
“No.”
That answer made no sense.
“Why not?”
The analyst placed the tablet on the table.
Passenger history.
Original seat.
Manual override.
Gate report.
Richard read it.