Charlie wasn't doing much of anything when his walkie went off. He'd been walking through the grand ballroom, his eyes scanning the room when he heard someone key the mic twice on the security channel. "Go ahead, over," he responded once he removed it from his belt. The way the ballroom echoed his voice had him moving out the side entrance to the butterfly gardens, where it was relatively quiet. He didn't need to, but he held the walkie above waist height, the better to hear what came over next. Jai's voice flooded his ears, and Charlie listened intently. He let his friend talk, the gears in his head immediately turning in the way they had when he was a cop and it was his duty to do this sort of thing. He never really thought he fell out of the habits, and it was damn good for this particular situation.
Most of what they told the guests was a lie, a facade, and sometimes the illusion of a certain amount of control took a bit of effort in making. Charlie was better at getting through the worst of it if he just set aside his moral compass. This little setup? Was not the very first time Charlie'd heard about something like this. It took him a wild moment to respond, wherein he chose his words as carefully as he could. "Very good, Gunner. Put her on. Over."
Charlie let her talk, taking note of her name and where she said she was from as well as the details of the flight. "Copy that, Detective McKnight. The air traffic control center in Palmdale alerted us to the mishap earlier today at approximately 12:11pm. We immediately sent in a group of officers to the scene along with emergency services. Unfortunately, all communications with the team ceased nearly within an hour of sending them. Must have a tower down somewhere." He paused and gathered his thoughts, thinking fast. "It took nearly four hours for one of our squad cars to make it back to get reinforcements and arrange for transportation for the survivors." Charlie paused. "I can assure you, though, that apart from various minor injuries spread throughout the passengers and flight crew, there were absolutely zero fatalities. Our men are working tirelessly to get everyone back to civilization, but it could take the better part of the evening, over." He waited with baited breath to see what she would say, hoping like hell he remembered enough to sound convincing.