Rick Mofina - Free Fall

In the cabin, passengers, in shock over the near collision with another plane, began protesting and pleading.

“Please land this plane now! Get us down now!”

The jet bumped and jolted. Overhead storage-bin doors shook open, spilling luggage onto passengers as the plane shimmied and rocked.

Kate squeezed Willa’s hand in one of hers while gripping the armrest with the other.

Suddenly the plane rolled hard, the left wing tipping upward. People screamed. The jet reversed its position, rolling right with the wings in a twelve-and-six-o’clock position.

Then the plane lunged violently to the left, dropping and banking.

In the cockpit, Captain Quinn and First Officer Krenski battled for control of their plane as it entered a steep dive.

Washington, DC

A live radar tracking map filled the big screen at one end of the NTSB meeting room where security had brought Robert Cole.

In the screen’s bottom-right quarter, a live video feed showed Jill LaRose and Chet Meyer working on Seth and Veyda’s laptops in Colorado.

They were linked in real time to Reed Devlin, Jake Hooper and other top NTSB investigators, along with national security experts and air industry engineers, on teleconference. They’d been feeding calculations to Colorado in a frantic bid to unlock the cyber grip on the two flights.

One by one, each attempt had failed.

Robert Cole was handcuffed and under guard in a corner chair, but he was indicating that he needed his briefcase.

At that moment, four men in FBI Windbreakers entered the large room. One of the building’s security people approached them.

At the same time, the joy over the miracle that the two airliners had not collided died as NORAD’s situational update was patched to the group. While Flight 118 and its escort were intact, one of Flight 2230’s escorts had sustained damage in the crossover maneuver, forcing the pilot to eject.

And more alarmingly, in the wake of the near collision, Flight 2230 had begun to experience excessive pitching and banking before entering into an uncontrolled vertical descent.

“With this angle of descent, terminal impact is in three minutes!” a voice warned through the teleconference speakers.

“Jake!” Cole called out. “The codes you need to regain control of the planes are in my briefcase!”

Hooper seized the case from one of the guards.

The FBI, while being briefed by the security supervisor, watched coldly.

“The blue pages will undo the hack, Jake,” Cole guided him.

“I’ve got them!”

“Tell your people in Colorado to submit my codes into-into my-” Cole choked on his emotion. “Did they find my daughter? Is Veyda okay?”

“Robert, I don’t know-please, how do we submit the codes?”

“Focus on the decision logic of the Omega Protection system and mind the variables. Veyda found a back door into the kill switch network.”

“Jill-” Hooper turned to the big screen “-did you get that?”

“Yes, we’ll do it! Give us the coding!”

Hooper began entering the lines of code.

“Stop!” The lead FBI agent pointed at Cole. “That man’s wanted for threatening national security! The two planes missed each other, but he could be giving you information to sabotage your rescue! Everyone take your hands off your computers and end your calls, now!”

Hooper kept going, entering the last line of code before hitting Send. He lifted his hands from the keyboard when Jill LaRose in Colorado said, “Got them, Jake!”

Colorado

The jetliner’s nose-down drop continued with increasing speed.

Kate gripped her armrests, the plane’s momentum crushing against her as yellow oxygen masks dropped.

Passengers shrieked. Tears streamed from Willa Neal’s clenched eyes.

One of the flight attendants suddenly smashed down the aisle. Passengers reached in vain to catch him before he hit a counter in the galley.

Laptops, books, coffee cups, soda cans and bags pelted the passengers and bounced through the cabin.

The jet was pointed straight down, rocking and shaking while plummeting. G-forces had turned Kate’s body into a stone weight. Rivets came loose, popping like popcorn and hitting the cabin walls. The whining engines were deafening, mingling with the thudding against the fuselage as parts of it began tearing away.

Kate’s stomach felt like a giant hand was forcing it through her mouth. Turning her head against the pressure, she grabbed hold of her most important thoughts and calmly braced for her death.

I love you, Grace. I love you, Vanessa. Thank you for a good life.

The cabin lights began flickering and one passenger screamed.

“Jesus, please help us!”

It was futile.

Battling the g-forces, Captain Quinn and First Officer Krenski submitted commands for control, but nothing worked.

They’d managed to pull on their oxygen masks, remaining conscious and alert as alarms buzzed and horns blared warnings. The console ignited with flashing lights; counters and dials went haywire.

Quinn and Krenski strained against the intense g-forces as the earth raced toward them with frightening speed.

“Twenty thousand!” Krenski shouted as the plane shook. “The VSI and the altimeter are going crazy!”

Quinn reached for the throttles, shoving them all the way down.

“Respond! Get your nose up you son of a- Dammit! Respond!”

“Fifteen thousand!”

Quinn held tight to the yoke.

“Twelve thousand! Lloyd, we’re not going to make it!”

The immense Colorado plain loomed like a waiting graveyard as they rocketed toward the earth.

Quinn’s knuckles whitened on the yoke.

“Eleven thousand! Oh God, this is it, Lloyd… Our Father who art in heaven…”

Quinn’s arms vibrated against the bucking. He took one last glance at the photo of his wife and daughters, gritted his shaking teeth and begged God for mercy. That’s when the lights of the instrument panel blinked then lit up with a different pattern, and the big jet’s nose began inching up.

“Something’s happening!” Quinn shouted. “Something’s happening!”

“Ten thousand!”

The velocity shifted the g-forces, flattening Quinn and Krenski to their seats, quadrupling their body weight. Quinn summoned all of his strength, pulled back on the yoke and the nose continued inching up.

“We’ve got control, Shawn! We’ve got control!”

Quinn continued pulling the yoke back.

“Pull back on the throttles, Shawn. Easy!”

Slowly, smoothly, gracefully, the plane began leveling.

In the cabin screams gave way to gasps and sporadic cheers as the plane pulled out of its dive.

The speed decreased and once the jet leveled a funereal calm fell over the passengers.

Brushing tears from their eyes, Kate and Willa embraced. Most people were shaken, sobbing and trying to aid others when the public-address system was activated.

“Ladies and gentlemen, this is Captain Quinn. I’m happy to report that we’ve regained control of the plane. We’ve been cleared for a priority landing in Denver. We’ll have you safe on the ground as soon as possible.”

His words were met with soft applause before he continued.

“Please report injuries to the attendants. We request that anyone aboard who has medical training provide assistance and that everyone else please remain seated and belted.”

A doctor and a nurse helped the injured attendant and the other passengers who were bleeding from being struck by falling items. Parents comforted terrified children, while strangers consoled each other. Observing the compassion of her fellow passengers, Kate acknowledged the palpable tension that was still in the cabin.