Fired for Saving a Stranger at Gate 12

CHAPTER 2 - A MAN WITH TWO VOICES

Daniel had been fired before the ambulance even arrived.

Not officially. Not on paper.

But everyone at Gate 12 had heard Claudia say it. That was enough. At airports, humiliation traveled faster than luggage.

He cleaned out his locker in the maintenance hall with hands that still wouldn't stay steady. A half-eaten granola bar. A photo of his mother at her kitchen table. A child-sized drawing from his niece that said Uncle Danny Fixes Everything.

He almost laughed at that.

His friend Malik from baggage services leaned in the doorway. "You really did it this time."

"I helped a sick man."

"You embarrassed Claudia in public," Malik said. "That's the crime."

Daniel shoved the drawing into his backpack. He needed this job. His mother's physical therapy bills were already late. His sister worked nights at a nursing home. Daniel was the extra pair of hands, the extra paycheck, the man who kept things from falling apart.

Now he was the one falling.

When he stepped back into the terminal, the old man was gone. So were the paramedics Daniel had expected to see.

Instead, three dark-suited executives hurried past him toward a private conference room near Gate 12. Claudia was with them now, pale and rigid instead of arrogant.

One of the executives, a silver-haired woman Daniel recognized from the airport website, stopped when she saw him.

"Are you Daniel Reyes?" she asked.

He nodded.

"Stay close. You may be needed."

Before he could answer, Claudia cut in. "He no longer works here."

The silver-haired woman didn't even glance at her. "That is not your decision anymore."

Daniel felt the floor tilt beneath him.

Twenty minutes later, a security guard opened the conference room door by mistake, and Daniel caught a glimpse inside.

The old man in the brown jacket sat at the head of the table.

And hanging on the wall behind him was his name: Elias Mercer, Founder and Chairman, Mercer Aviation Holdings.