Chapter 1

My mother set me up on a blind date.

My date was Victoria Hale, the young CEO of Hale Airlines. She was beautiful, wealthy, and booked on the same transatlantic flight as I was.

To keep my work confidential, my employer had asked only that the airline hold seat 1A for me and add one ordinary note to the passenger manifest: DO NOT REASSIGN.

I had barely sat down when Victoria's chief assistant slapped a check down in front of me.

"We want this seat. Name your price."

When I refused, he had the crew remove me from the plane and said with a smile, "The whole airline bears the Hale name. Who are you going to quote regulations to?"

I called the person I was supposed to be meeting.

Victoria cut me off halfway through. "Don't bother me with something this trivial." Then she hung up.

Ten minutes later, Victoria boarded in person. She took one look at my plain jacket, and her first words were: "So you're the man my father set me up with?"

Then came her second: "That makes this easier. The match is off, and you're getting off the plane."

I nodded. "All right."

She thought I had backed down.

That changed when the captain heard from the tower and the taxiing plane rolled to a stop.

Airport security and federal investigators came aboard together.

The man leading them studied the forcibly altered seating manifest, his face grim. "Who tampered with a restricted seat assigned to personnel on a defense project?"

The entire first-class cabin went silent.

Only then did Victoria look at me seriously for the first time.

But it was already too late.

If my mother hadn't called seven times in a row, I would never have taken half a day off for a blind date.

"Owen, you're almost thirty."

"Mom, I'm twenty-nine."

"What's the difference? I've met Victoria Hale. She's beautiful and she's good at her job. Fly back to New York for once. One dinner isn't going to kill you."

I glanced at the schedule on the lab wall.

"I have work this week."

"You have work every week."

In the end, she even won over my supervisor, Duncan Shaw.

"Go," Duncan said, slapping the signed leave form onto my desk. "The flight-control components are going to the West Coast tomorrow anyway. Escort them on the flight and take care of both things on the same trip."

The project I worked on wasn't public knowledge.

To an ordinary person I am just an aviation systems engineer.

The real secret wasn't my name. It was the sealed silver-gray case I would be carrying onto the plane.

It was locked into a dedicated mounting point in front of seat 1A in first class.

The airline received exactly two requirements.

First, the sealed case could not be moved.

Second, seat 1A could not be reassigned.

Before I boarded, Duncan made a point of warning me, "Don't relax just because it's Hale Airlines. When people think they own the system, they start assuming they can bend the rules."

I laughed off his concern.

Fifteen minutes later, I understood why Duncan was in charge.

I had just put my jacket away when a man tapped my shoulder from behind.

"Sir, change seats."

I turned around.

He was about thirty, with a Hale Airlines pin on his lapel. His badge read: GRAHAM COLE, OFFICE OF THE CEO.

"Sorry. No."

He clearly hadn't expected me to refuse. Then he pulled a blank check from his wallet.

"Fill in the amount."

"It isn't about money."

"Then what is it about?"

"This seat can't be reassigned."

Graham laughed.

"First class has twelve seats. What do you mean, this one can't be reassigned?"

I pointed at the small red tag in front of the seat.

RESTRICTED - DO NOT REASSIGN.

He glanced down and dismissed it.

"It's a system note."

"Then talk to the lead flight attendant."

I did not want to explain any further.

But Graham simply reached for the boarding pass I'd left on the seat.

I pressed his hand down.

"Don't touch that."

His face darkened.

"Do you know who I am?"

"It's on your badge."

"Then how dare you tell me not to touch it?"

"Why wouldn't I?"

He stared at me for a few seconds, then burst out laughing.

"Fine.

"This is about getting more money, isn't it?"

He slapped the check against my chest.

"Take ten times the fare and go sit in business class."

The check fell on the floor.

I did not pick it up.

"Mr. Cole.

"I'll say it one last time. This seat is restricted.

"If you want it reassigned, you need approval from Operations and Security."

His face went cold.

"The Hale family owns this entire airline.

"And you think my boss needs your permission to sit wherever she wants?"

That was when I realized he didn't want the seat for himself.

1B was Victoria Hale's seat.

Victoria hated sitting beside strangers, so Graham meant to clear 1A.

I took out my phone.

"Then let me ask her."

My mother had already sent me my date's number.

She picked up almost immediately.

"Who is this?"

"Owen Reed."

There was a half-second pause.

"I'm boarding. What is it?"

"Your assistant wants me to give up 1A."

"And?"

"This seat can't be reassigned. I want to make sure that came from you."

She was clearly impatient.

"It's a seat. Graham will handle it.

"I'm busy. We'll talk when we meet."

She hung up.

Graham looked even more pleased with himself.

"Hear that?

"Going to get out of my way now?"

I looked down at my phone.

I suddenly lost half my interest in the blind date.