Rick Mofina - Free Fall

“Without this precaution, we risk lives until the suspects are apprehended and the threat is removed,” the transportation secretary said.

“I understand that,” the commerce secretary said, “but we haven’t identified a specific target, have we?”

“Nothing specific,” the FBI director said. “The two stricken aircraft had Richlon-Titan flight systems, and the suspects are linked to Richlon-Titan.”

“Have the manufacturer and airlines been advised, or asked to ground these aircraft?” the Homeland Security secretary asked.

“Those discussions with industry are taking place as we speak.”

“How close are we to arresting the suspects?” the president asked.

“We’re tracking two in Colorado now, and we believe we’re close. One is believed to be here in the Washington area.”

“Washington?”

“Yes. We’re going to make a public appeal shortly, with photos, and place them on our Most Wanted list.”

“Do we have conclusive evidence confirming the suspects interfered with the flights?” the president asked.

“No, but we have mounting evidence that points to that conclusion,” the FBI director said.

“We’ll move into a higher stage of readiness,” the president said. “I want the FAA to immediately put out alerts to the airline industry. In particular, advise commercial crews to be vigilant and to immediately report any anomalies. We’ll have NORAD and the National Military Command Center stand by. I want State to advise other countries of our situation through intelligence protocols.”

“What about a ground stop?” the transportation secretary asked.

“No ground stop will be undertaken at this point. We’ll allow law enforcement time to apprehend the suspects and remove the threat. If stronger evidence surfaces to confirm direct interference with the flights, we’ll take appropriate action.”

The president took a quick look around the table.

“Finally, I want to be kept abreast of any developments. Thank you.”

Mobile, Alabama

Some thirty-four thousand feet above Mobile Bay, NorthSun Airlines Flight 118 was a little over an hour out of Miami when a bell sounded in the cockpit, indicating a flight advisory.

First Officer Sam Zhang’s brow creased as he studied the console screen.

“What is it?” Will Miller, the captain, asked.

“It’s an alert from the FAA advising extreme vigilance concerning any control anomalies. We’re to alert ATC if we experience any unexpected incidents beyond SOP. It arises from the Shikra crash at Heathrow and the EastCloud flight into LaGuardia.”

“Let me take a look.”

Miller had been a fighter pilot with the US Air Force prior to logging twenty-five years as a commercial pilot, the last fifteen as a captain. Zhang had flown cargo planes around the world before joining NorthSun, where he’d been a first officer for ten years. Miller read the alert on the screen, shook his head slowly then resumed looking into the sky.

They were flying on autopilot.

Their aircraft was the Brazilian-built Startrail AV600, one of the largest passenger jetliners in operation with a seating capacity of six hundred. Today they had a full flight, mostly European and Asian tourists who’d come off a Caribbean cruise for the second leg of their trip-an Alaskan cruise out of Seattle.

“So what’s your take on the advisory, Will?”

Miller raised his shoulders in a subtle shrug.

“To be honest, I think they’re overreacting.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

“There’ve been some recent news reports speculating on the causes. Maybe the FAA or NTSB’s got new information that gives them reason to be cautious?”

“Maybe. But this stems from Richlon-Titan’s systems and we know RT’s a penny-pincher with a penchant for cutting corners. Anyway, my buddies in the UK are hearing that Shikra was a computer malfunction, not a cyber breach.”

“What about what happened to EastCloud?”

“Word is that was clear-air turbulence and a distracted pilot.”

“So you have no concerns?”

“No, I wouldn’t say that, but our bird’s a long way from anything RT makes. It’s got a solid safety record, so I’d say we’re okay, Sam.”

Zhang nodded but failed to quell the slight twinge in his stomach over the advisory. He concentrated on monitoring readings on the flight deck, eyeing every parameter. The autopilot did its job, making minor self-adjustments for latitude, longitude, speed, course and direction as they continued their slow climb toward thirty-six thousand feet, the altitude they’d be at for much of the long flight.

Zhang took a soft breath.

All looked good.

Los Angeles, California

Kate couldn’t shake her sense of unease, feeling that somewhere, something major was breaking on the story.

And I don’t know what it is .

Her anxiety had arisen from what Nick Varner had told her when she’d called to alert him to Robert Cole.

We’re on the same track and things are unfolding.

What was unfolding? What had Nick meant by that?

Something was up. Kate could feel it in her gut, and it tormented her as she inched along the security lines at Los Angeles International Airport for her return flight to New York.

She needed more information from Varner. She’d tried contacting him again last night and today but it was futile. She’d also reached out to Erich for help but so far he hadn’t responded. Her worry deepened with each passing minute because once she was on the plane she’d be incommunicado for at least five hours.

Maybe she should alert Chuck.

Alert him to what-my failure to advance the lead we got on Cole? No, I’ll handle this my way. Once I get back to New York, I’ll go flat out to find Cole and I’ll press Nick to tell me what the FBI’s doing. He’s got to give me something. We put out the story with the appeal like the FBI wanted, and I told them about Cole.

At last, Kate reached the front of the line and the scanners, where she hefted her carry-on bag to the table, removed her laptop from its case and presented her boarding pass.

Once she’d cleared security and made it to the preboarding area of her gate, she immediately went online, checking for any reports on the story by other major news organizations.

Nothing so far.

But that did little to calm her feeling that the story was about to bust wide open.

Linthicum, Maryland

At that moment, across the country in the Defense Cyber Crime Center, Keith Dorling’s breathing quickened.

“Let’s go over this again. Look at the bus crash.” He was on the phone with a British cyber analyst working on the Zarathustra email that had been received by the Kuwaiti Embassy in London.

“See?” Dorling said. “There was a power outage in London.”

Dorling read the notice aloud: “‘A double-decker bus crash has caused a disruption of power southeast of Hyde Park for the Brompton Road area.’”

“The Kuwaiti Embassy is in the area on Albert Gate,” said Lynn Utley, Dorling’s colleague.

Dorling and Utley scrolled through supplemental information from the Kuwaitis.

“The Kuwaitis said that the crash caused the embassy’s system to go down,” Dorling said. “But the crash happened around midnight. Look at the time shown on the Zarathustra email and the date stamp.”

“How did everyone miss this?” Utley said.

Dorling checked and rechecked.

“See? When power was restored, the system’s time stamp failed to reset correctly,” Dorling said.

“This means the email warning of pain and sorrow was sent before Shikra Airlines Flight 418 crashed at Heathrow and can’t be a wild, after-the-fact boast,” Utley said.