"Sir, I—"
"How many?"
Rodriguez could not answer.
"How many Black passengers?"
Again, no answer came.
Marcus tapped his tablet. A live video call appeared. Six executives in the Southwest Airlines boardroom stared directly into the camera.
"Marcus?" a woman's voice said. "We're watching the livestream. Are you all right?"
The crew's faces went ashen. This was not just a board member. This was someone the other executives called by his first name, someone they were worried about personally.
"I'm fine, Patricia," Marcus replied. "Though I think Captain Morrison and his crew have some explaining to do."
Morrison realized with horror that the executive team was watching in real time.
"Captain Morrison," the woman on the screen said. "This is Patricia Watkins, Senior Vice President of Operations. Would you care to explain why our chairman is being threatened with arrest on his own airline?"
Chairman.
Not merely a board member. Chairman of the board.
Morrison felt his knees weaken. Jessica collapsed into a passenger seat, hyperventilating. Rodriguez dropped his restraints, the plastic clattering onto the cabin floor.
"Ma'am," Morrison stammered. "We had no identification. The crew reported—"
"The crew reported what exactly?" another voice asked from the tablet, older, male, and authoritative. "This is CEO Robert Jordan. I want a precise explanation of why my chairman was treated like a criminal."
Emma's viewer count hit 100,000. Her phone was hot in her hands. News alerts appeared faster than she could read them.
Marcus turned the tablet toward Jessica. "Ms. Martinez, would you like to explain to CEO Jordan what you told me about people like me?"
Jessica could not speak.
Kim finally found her voice. "Sir, we were responding to crew reports of a disruptive passenger."
"Officer Kim," Jordan said, "we have footage from multiple angles. Mr. Williams was sitting quietly reading documents. What exactly was disruptive about his behavior?"
"The flight attendant said—"
"The flight attendant assumed," Marcus interrupted, and now his voice carried an edge. "She assumed I didn't belong. She assumed my ticket was fake. She assumed I was aggressive. Every assumption was based on one thing."
He paused.
"My appearance."
The cabin was dead silent except for Jessica's ragged breathing.
Marcus changed the screen on his tablet. Internal Southwest communications appeared in real time.
Legal Department mobilizing.
PR crisis team activated.
Stock-price monitoring initiated.
Discrimination lawsuit potential.
Marcus addressed the cabin. "Ladies and gentlemen, what you're witnessing is how quickly assumptions become lawsuits, how bias becomes headlines, and how prejudice becomes a financial crisis."
Morrison's radio crackled once more.