But something much darker was about to begin.
PART 3
Spanish police and emergency vehicles surrounded the aircraft immediately after it left the runway.
Passengers were evacuated while authorities detained Richard Sterling before he could disappear into the terminal.
As officers escorted him past the forward section of the airplane, Sterling noticed Laura.
He stopped.
A strange smile appeared on his face.
“Laura Vance,” he said softly. “Of all people, I never imagined you would be sitting in 8A tonight.”
Laura froze.
Captain Andrew stepped beside her.
“You know this man?”
Sterling gave a cold laugh.
“I know quite a lot about her.”
What investigators uncovered during the next forty-eight hours stunned everyone.
Sterling had allegedly been involved in a massive scheme involving falsified maintenance records and counterfeit aircraft components.
Millions of dollars had been diverted through the operation.
But an unexpected audit was approaching, and investigators believed Sterling feared that the entire scheme was about to be exposed.
