Free Fall

Seventy-Two

Washington, DC

Jake Hooper gripped his laptop computer under his arm like a football as he joined his supervisor, Anson Fox, and the new IIC, Reed Devlin, in running upstairs to the NTSB chairman’s boardroom.

The alert that two in-air jetliners had confirmed flight-management control trouble moments ago had impelled top national security officials to convene an emergency teleconference to assess the facts and take action.

The NTSB chairman and several board members, along with chiefs from Major Investigations, Research and Engineering, and Aviation Safety were already at the large table. Hooper, Fox and Devlin found seats as the teleconference call got underway.

Speakers crackled on the line as the FAA led the teleconference with a short roll call. The same array of national security offices from earlier calls and meetings were represented.

“Here are the facts, people,” Estevan Diaz, chief operating officer of the FAA’s Air Traffic Organization, began with a lightning-fast summary of NorthSun Airlines Flight 118 and Trans Peak Airlines Flight 2230, nonstop to JFK.

“One Eighteen out of Miami is Seattle-bound. It’s a Startrail AV600. The crew count is sixteen. The passenger count is six hundred. The second plane, Twenty-two Thirty out of LA, is headed for JFK. The plane is an Ultra Supreme 880. The crew count is fourteen. The passenger count is four hundred ninety-five. In total, we have eleven hundred and twenty-five souls aboard these two planes.”

Diaz gave the course coordinates for each jet, which Hooper recorded in the notes he was making in his laptop.

“Given our current situational concerns, we believe that the flight systems of both aircraft have been breached. Both aircraft employ aspects of Richlon-Titan’s fly-by-wire systems. We’re also taking into account our new intel-that the Zarathustra email was sent to the Kuwaiti Embassy in advance of the Shikra Airlines crash, confirming that the suspects have the ability to undertake cyber hijackings. We’ve alerted NORAD and the National Military Command Center to the flights, as well as all national security organizations, and we’re consulting the planes’ makers and the airlines on the situation.”

The White House national security advisor was the next to speak.

“So we have two remotely hijacked planes in two different regions of the country. Are there any others reporting trouble?”

“No others,” Diaz said.

“What’s the status of action to bring them down safely?” the White House advisor asked.

“Yes.” Cord Bolton, office deputy director for operations for the military command center at the Pentagon, cleared his throat. “At this time we’re scrambling fighters to the aircraft for escort or other operations.”

“And our pursuit of the suspects?” the White House advisor asked.

“We’re poised to launch an arrest operation near Galeton, Colorado, where we’ve located a vehicle rented by two of the three suspects,” Kal McClure, with the FBI director’s office, reported.

“How much time before we have an arrest?”

“I’m advised that we’re within half an hour, maybe less,” McClure said.

“And the third suspect?” the advisor asked.

“We’re still in pursuit. We believe he’s in Washington, DC.”

“Any other actions before we brief the president?” the advisor asked.

“The FAA is recommending an immediate national ground stop of all nonmilitary and nonemergency aircraft,” Diaz said.

“We’ll brief the Oval Office. Anything else?” the advisor asked.

“Oh, no,” Hooper said aloud.

“Excuse me? What was that?” the White House advisor asked.

Hooper, who’d been working as fast as he could making calculations, turned his laptop computer to Reed Devlin and whispered, “Reed, look. Of over five thousand flights in the air, only two have reported control issues. Given their present courses, these two aircraft will intersect somewhere over Galeton, Colorado, within forty minutes.”

Devlin’s face whitened and he tapped the shoulder of the supervisor next to him. Soon, the NTSB chairman spoke.

“Yes, this is the NTSB. Inform the president that our rough estimates show that these two aircraft are on a collision course that will end in about forty minutes over Colorado.”

“You’re certain?” the White House advisor asked.

The NTSB boss looked at Hooper, who nodded.

“We’re certain,” the NTSB chairman said.

“Deputy Director Bolton?” the advisor said.

“Yes?”

“What’s the ETA before the fighters reach the jetliners?”

The director did a quick calculation then said, “They should reach the respective aircraft within fifteen minutes.”

“We’ll brief the president. If we can’t restore control of the planes to the crews, we’ll be forced to consider the option of engagement.”