My father also joined the conversation: “I want to speak to the captain.”
The plane suddenly dropped, abruptly, and a plastic cup slid down the aisle. Vance closed his laptop halfway and stood up. He looked irritated, not scared, which told me a lot.
Then the cockpit door opened.
A tall, gray-haired captain made his way down the aisle and past first class without sparing my family a glance. Chloe held out a hand to stop him, but he ignored her. Vance began, “Captain, I’m a government contractor…”
Ignored.
The captain continued walking. Down the aisle. Past premium economy. Past row twenty-five. Past a man gripping both armrests so tightly his knuckles were white.
Then he stopped beside me. The entire cabin fell silent. The captain straightened, put his heels together, and gave a curt salute. “General, ma’am,” he said.
And somewhere up ahead, I heard Chloe inhale like glass breaking in the heat.
Part 2
When the entire cabin suddenly goes silent, you can hear the plane itself.
The engines roared steadily beneath the floor. Air hissed through the vents. Somewhere in the front, a half-secured service cart creaked. Beyond that, nothing. Not even Chloe.
The captain maintained the military salute.
I slowly unbuckled my seatbelt and stood up. Habit took over before emotion: shoulders straight, chin straight, voice firm. I returned the greeting.
“Relax, Captain.”
He lowered his hand. “Ma’am, Honolulu Control has informed us that a high-ranking officer with Pacific clearance is on board. We have a navigation system failure, compounded by the weather closure of the nearest civilian airports. There is only one viable landing option.”
I already knew what it was about.
“Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam,” I said.
“Yes, ma’am. But base operations require authorization to divert a civilian aircraft into restricted airspace under current conditions.”
Around us, they began to come and whisper to us.
General?
see continuation on next page
To see the full cooking instructions, go to the next page or click the Open button (>) and don't forget to SHARE it with your friends on Facebook.
