MAXIMUM REACH
BY
CAPTAIN ADAM HAMEDI
Copyright 2011 Adam Hamedi,
All rights reserved.
Published in eBook format by eBookIt.com
ISBN-13: 978-1-4566-0397-7
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the author. The only exception is by a reviewer, who may quote short excerpts in a review.
PROLOGUE
The Boeing Business Jet was plunging down through the skies like a free falling star. There was an immediate urgency to get the aircraft on the ground as soon as possible. Mere minutes could spell disaster. Everyone in the cockpit was quiet and absorbed in his or her own thoughts. Bill, the co-pilot at the time, was worried that the wings would be shearing off the fuselage any minute, even though he had complete confidence in Austin’s abilities as a pilot. He had known him a few years now and they had flown together on several occasions with a previous company. If he had to trust someone in the cockpit of an airplane, it would be Austin. Today, however, he had his doubts for Austin was pushing the aircraft beyond its limits and exceeding every design parameter, but he accepted they had no other choice. He had faith, of sorts, and was praying that God would protect them.
How many people have to die because of me, Austin was thinking as he hand flew the midsize jet?
Austin had had to disengage the autopilot and disconnect the auto throttles to manually operate the aircraft because the automated flight systems would not allow the autopilot to exceed the safety parameters. The Mach airspeed indicator was hovering right at point nine five, only a half decimal point from the speed of sound, the aircraft was shuddering intensely and the Mach airspeed warning bell was chirping continuously warning him that his speed was excessive and corrective action had to be made.
Austin had to monitor the speed very closely, for exceeding the speed of sound would most definitely shear off the wings. He could have shut the warning system down by pulling the circuit breaker, but opted to keep it on as a reminder of the disastrous situation. Besides, that was the only noise in the aircraft other than the whistling sound of slicing through the air at such an excessive speed. He knew that everyone would be distracted by the noise and become a little annoyed. He would much rather have them annoyed than sitting in silence and becoming panicked. It allowed him to concentrate on the problem at hand.
He knew that the Boeing Aircraft Company built the best aircraft in the world. He ought to know, he had been piloting Boeings for most of his flying life, more than any other make of aircraft, and today he was depending on them. He knew that any other airplane would probably have broken apart by now and they would all have been dead, but with this airplane there was a chance of survival. He was praying he’d make it. He had to make it.
“I plan on keeping the speed up until ten miles from the airport” Austin told Bill, who was himself a captain but acting as co-pilot for this trip.
“When I deploy full spoilers I want you to watch the speed very carefully and extend the gear and flaps just as we reach their maximum limits. Let’s pray that uncle Boeing knew what he was doing when he built this baby, and maybe we’ll make it in one piece.”
“I’ll go along with your plan, Austin, but I don’t really think we can slow down quickly enough from only ten miles out.”
“Let’s hope we can Bill, but let’s use maximum braking just in case we are a bit too fast at touchdown,” referring to the automatic brake selector.
We have to make it; Austin thought to himself, I can’t let anything happen to Emily, his wife, the woman who had brought him back from the verge of insanity after he lost his first wife Megan and daughter Miranda. Emily is a wonderful person, she would do anything to help others, and how can she be put in a situation like this?
Emily and her daughter, Presley, had brought living back into his life. Thankfully, Presley was not on the flight, Austin thought. Although Presley would still have her Grandmother, she would grow up an orphan and he knew all too well what that felt like. He was not about to let that happen, not if he had any control over the situation. And Mrs. Johnson, Emily’s mother, how could he again put her through the suffering she had known for fifteen years? She had just found her daughter after years of pain and anguish. He didn’t want her dreams to be taken away from her now. What about the Russian girl, Tatyana? What would her father, the Chief of Customs at Moscow‘s Sheremetyevo airport, think of him? . The man would be devastated. He had trusted Austin and Emily to take good care of his daughter, yet here they were putting her life in jeopardy and for what? That girl had recently been instrumental in saving his life. How could he let anything happen to her?
He couldn’t let those assholes win, but if he didn’t make it to the ground soon, they would win and all the people that he held so dear would be dead, and God knows how many more people would die with them.
He was sick of scumbags killing Americans just out of envy. They would call this disaster a success, and hide behind their disparate religions, but it all boiled down to envy and believing that killing innocent Americans made them look heroic to themselves and their fellow assassins. Scum the lot of them.
A situation like this was not unfamiliar territory for him. How many times had he attacked a target when he was in the US Air Force? The only difference was if he missed the target during the practice runs in the Air Force there was no harm done and he always had the opportunity to make another run. Not here though, this was a one shot deal and he was mentally trying to calm himself. He could not afford to be nervous in this type of situation. This was the ultimate test; the test of his life. He knew he was up to the task but had to rely on luck to be on his side. He cleared his thoughts and tried to relax.
Austin glanced back to where Emily was sitting on the jump seat behind him in the cockpit and gave her a reassuring smile.
Emily smiled back trying to convey a brave attitude even though she was terrified. She somehow knew that she could not disguise her fears from Austin, no matter how brave and calm she tried to look.
She would have preferred to have Jason and Rebecca with her in the cockpit, letting them watch this extraordinary man at the controls of his aircraft rather than have them in the passenger section with the body of a dead Al-Qaeda operative. Rebecca was the friend she had cherished through their college years, the friend that sacrificed much for her and helped her build her advertising business in Chicago. She was the only family she had known for many years and it had been Rebecca who nursed her through her ordeal with the brutal orchestra conductor in London. Jason, the man Rebecca married, had helped her and Austin build their business into a world-renowned empire; but, unfortunately, the cockpit was not large enough to accommodate all of them safely. She had to smile at the thought, because Austin actually looked collected whilst handling the controls and discussing plans for the situation. Besides, Jason was too busy trying to tend his wounds and she knew Rebecca would not leave his side. The fight that sonofabitch put up was a little more than Jason could handle alone, finally Austin had come to help, but Jason had still taken a good beating. What about Tatyana, she would love to have her watch Austin handle this tense situation. The girl had become a member of their family and they loved her as much as she loved them. Emily wanted the whole world to see what she saw in her husband; her man! Her savior! Her lover! The smile did not go unnoticed.
How, in hell, did I manage to get myself in this predicament, Austin was thinking just as Bangor, Maine airport was becoming visible, with his speed still reading three hundred and fifty miles per hour.
Dear God, we are going to make it Austin thought, while Bill was almost certainly fearful of a negative outcome.
One thing they both knew was in their favor, the weather was perfect and the airport