Steve Merritt #1

Steve Merritt, the Standard's star newshawk and former wartime pilot, can't seem to stay out of trouble—especially when his old flame Dinah Fraye shows up at his office with a pointed reminder of promises he'd rather forget. As Steve scrambles to dodge both his boss and the woman he left behind, he stumbles into a familiar thrill at an aviation exhibit that brings back memories of his Flying Skull Squadron days. With old friends and unfinished business circling closer, Steve's going to learn that some debts can't be outrun forever.

Steve Merritt gets assigned to document the history and inner workings of Stanton Steel with his colleague Dinah Fraye, tracing the company's fifty-year rise from John Stanton's modest shed to a modern industrial powerhouse. Through conversations with company leadership, Steve discovers how teamwork between management and labor—plus reinvested profits and strategic expansion—built American industry into a global force. By the end of his tour, the cynical newshawk finds himself genuinely convinced of the vital partnership between workers and bosses that keeps the nation's economy thriving.