Chapter 3 - The Hostage
Laura felt her heart completely stop beating inside her chest.
Her hands instantly tightened around the yoke until her knuckles turned pure, bone white.
Leo, where are you right now? she screamed desperately into the radio microphone.
There was a brief, violent scuffle over the audio feed, followed by a sharp gasp of pain from her son.
A calm, chillingly polite voice entirely replaced the boy's terrified, breathless cries.
Captain Vance, please remain exactly where you are in the cockpit and do not attempt to interfere, the man said smoothly.
Who are you and what do you possibly want? Laura demanded, her voice shaking with raw maternal fury.
The man sighed deeply, acting as if he were dealing with a minor, annoying inconvenience.
I am the man currently holding a loaded firearm directly to your child's head, he replied casually.
I am standing securely in the rear galley of the aircraft near the bathrooms.
If you want your son to live to see tomorrow, you will turn the main flight computer back on immediately.
Laura looked over at the First Officer, who was staring at her in absolute, unadulterated horror.
If we turn the computer back on, the suicidal dive program will instantly resume, the First Officer whispered urgently.
We will all die right here if you follow his insane orders.
Laura knew with terrifying certainty that he was entirely right.
She was hopelessly trapped in an impossible, waking nightmare.
She had to make a choice between the lives of three hundred innocent passengers and the life of her only child.
Her extensive fighter pilot training violently kicked in, suppressing her rising emotional panic with cold, calculating tactical logic.
She deeply needed a sudden tactical advantage, and she needed it immediately.
Hold the plane perfectly steady, Laura ordered the First Officer with a commanding tone.
Are you seriously leaving the cockpit? he asked, aggressively grabbing her arm.
You cannot legally open that door, it strictly violates every single airline security protocol in existence.
Laura pulled her arm away with a fierce, burning glare.
Security protocols absolutely do not apply when an armed terrorist has my son, she stated firmly.
She grabbed a heavy metal fire extinguisher from the red wall bracket directly behind the captain's seat.
It was the only viable physical weapon she could find in the confined, electronics-filled space.
She quickly entered the manual override code to unlock the reinforced cockpit door.
Wait just a second, the First Officer called out suddenly, his voice rising in panic again.
The analog radar screen just lit up with a massive, rapidly approaching proximity warning.
Laura turned back to look at the glowing green circular screen on the dashboard.
An unidentified aircraft was closing in on their exact position at incredible supersonic speed.
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It is a military interceptor jet, Laura realized with a heavy, sickening sense of dread.
And they just locked their active targeting missiles directly onto our engines.
