131 Henry Zachary

Henry Zachary had been having a very tough day.

He had to get to an urgent meeting in Chesapeake Bay in the afternoon, but his meeting in the morning had gone on for too long, making it so that he was just now reaching the airport.

If he knew that he was going to be this late, he might have chosen to come here with his son, who should have flown out by now in one of their commercial airlines for some meeting to Toronto.

His own private plane was on the same tarmac from where the commercial plane his son was on must have left by now, and besides, he was late. So, he gave up the idea of calling the kid, and decided to do so after he landed.

Remembering his son, a slight frown passed across Henry's face.

He had always been quite a weird kid. For some reason, he delighted in doing things, such as even stealing petty stuff, and pushing blame on others.

At one point, it had been so serious that Henry had seriously considered taking the kid to see a psychologist. However, because it would cause his family name to be tarnished by a great bit, he had taken the decision not to do that.

After entering the airport, Henry went to the expedited security check that was available to all those who had the status of owning private jets.

This was a routine checking, so when the security guard who was frisking him suddenly said "Sir, we need to question you further. Please follow me," and led him by the hand to a different room, he was very shocked.

Knowing better than to make a scene without finding out all the facts of the matter, Henry asked, "What's the matter, officer? I am very late for a meeting. If I forgot to take something out of my pockets that is prohibited, then let me do so now. I bet Jim, the security chief, will tell you to let me off if you contact him."

Henry was someone who had taken his father's modest business and invested everything in the airline business, making their family's airline service one of the best in the country. As someone who had worked hard to reach where he was now, he knew the importance of connections very well.

Hearing him, the security guard said, "Oh, Mr. Jim. He's waiting inside for you."

What?

Finding this very odd, Henry refrained from speaking and allowed himself to be taken to one of the rooms which were usually used to interrogate suspects in airports.

Inside, he found three people: the security chief, the head air traffic controller and the owner of the airport itself.

The first he knew quite well, but the other two, he had only met briefly.

In fact, the third man was supposed to be richer than him, as someone who owned multiple airports and complexes around the globe.

"Henry, I have some very bad news for you."

As Henry heard Jim say this in a very grave tone, a chill passed through his heart, making it skip a beat.

Had something bad happened?

"What happened? Tell me, quickly! Has the plane my son is on been hijacked or something?"

Hearing this, the three men looked at each other with weird expressions on their faces.

Finally, it was the owner of the airport who replied.

"It is because of your son, all right. Sit down. Someone needs to talk to you."

Nodding while puzzled, Henry sat in a chair and watched as the projector flickered on to show an empty chair, which was occupied two minutes later by a dashing man whom almost anyone in the business world could recognize.

Putting on a snivelly smile on his face, Henry said, "Mr. William, what a pleasant surprise! To what do I owe the pleasure of talking to you today, sir?"

With a small smile that only touched the corners of his lips, the CEO of Happle, Inc. replied, "Your son, Henry. Your son. Let me keep this brief. If you want your airline to not be the next one which declares bankruptcy, then you should do something. You know I am very capable of that. When no one refuses to sell you fuel or technology, and when airports around the globe start accusing you of laundering drugs through your planes, what do you think will happen? Isn't that right, Gordon?"

"Right you are, Mr. William! A single word, and I'll make sure that 2 kilos of Heroin is found on Mr. Henry's next flight, being smuggled in the cargo hold on his orders."

Sweat started to pour down Henry's back as he heard this barely veiled threat.

Why…was he being targeted like this?

He knew very well that these two men were perfectly capable of carrying out what they had just promised. He definitely wouldn't be able to do anything about, but take losses in the millions of dollars before eventually filing bankruptcy.

No. He had worked too hard. No matter what, he couldn't let that happen.

However, how could he remedy the situation without knowing why it was happening in the first place?

What had he done to provoke this monster from the Bradshaw family?

"Mr. William, sir, I am ready to whatever you wish. Anything. But please, I do not understand. I'm a careful man. I don't even take too many risks. What have I done which has antagonized you like so?"

In response, Mr. William just shook his head and said, "Oh, it wasn't you, Henry. Like I said before, it was your son. Sadly, the father must pay for the son's crimes."

….

The irritation inside Liz had been building up for quite some time,

That incident with Jackson kept appearing in her mind repeatedly, and just now, the man had even gone to the toilet in the economy just so he could gloat at Liz again.

It seemed that luck wasn't on her side at all, as the flight had been delayed for some reason when it should already have taken off by now.

Hearing something strange, she looked up to see a very, very strange sight.

Jackson, whom she wished she had punched before, was being led to her while caught by the ear like a child by an older, more dignified looking man who had an expression of fury on his face.

However, after reaching her, it changed into one of reverence, before he asked, "Hi, are you Miss Elizabeth?"