Chapter 2 - The Man Who Should Be Dead
"Who is transmitting?"
Laura demanded.
Mercer stared at the communication panel.
"I don't know."
"Where is that voice coming from?"
"Not from air traffic control."
The captain groaned.
A flight attendant appeared with a physician carrying a medical bag.
Laura stepped aside while they examined him.
"He's breathing," the doctor said.
"But I need room."
Mercer looked at Laura.
"I need you up here."
"I'm not qualified on this aircraft."
"I know."
"Then understand what you're asking."
"I need someone who can help me manage an emergency while I fly."
Laura glanced at the captain.
She understood.
Mercer wasn't asking her to become an airline captain.
He needed another trained aviator who could remain calm, read information, communicate clearly, and recognize when something didn't make sense.
She had done those things in combat.
But the last time she'd trusted her judgment in an aircraft, someone had died.
"Laura."
Mercer's voice softened.
"Please."
She looked through the open cockpit door.
Beyond it, rows of sleeping passengers had become rows of frightened faces.
A little girl clutched a stuffed rabbit.
A young man whispered into his phone even though he had no signal.
An elderly woman held her husband's hand against her cheek.
Laura thought of her own daughter.
Sophie.
Nine years old.
Waiting in Madrid with Laura's sister, Rebecca.
Sophie had called before boarding.
"Mommy, promise you'll be there when I wake up."
"I promise, sweetheart."
Laura had never broken a promise to her daughter.
She wasn't going to start now.
"Tell me what you need," she said.
Mercer moved toward the right seat.
"Help me organize the information."
Laura took the observer's position.
The physician and flight attendant carefully moved the captain away from the controls.
Mercer concentrated on maintaining stable flight.
Laura began asking questions.
"When did the first anomaly occur?"
"Twenty-one minutes ago."
"Weather?"
"Moderate turbulence."
"Other failures?"
"Intermittent communications and unreliable navigation."
"Anything affecting the engines?"
"Not at the moment."
"Any reason to believe the aircraft itself is uncontrollable?"
"No."
"Then we still have an airplane."
Mercer looked at her.
It was a simple sentence.
But something about the way she said it changed the room.
Laura studied the displayed messages.
"Why did you mention Kandahar?"
Mercer's expression tightened.
"What?"
"I heard you when the door opened."
He looked away.
"My older brother served in Afghanistan."
"What was his name?"
Mercer didn't answer immediately.
"Thomas."
Laura felt a chill.
"Thomas Mercer?"
He nodded.
"Captain Thomas Mercer."
She remembered him.
An intelligence officer attached to the air operations center.
One of the last people who had seen her husband alive.
"Your brother testified at the inquiry."
"Yes."
"He said my husband disobeyed orders."
Mercer stared at her.
"I know what he said."
Laura leaned closer.
"Was he telling the truth?"
Before Mercer could respond, the cockpit speaker crackled.
The mysterious voice returned.
"Don't trust the first officer, Laura."
Mercer's face went white.
The voice continued.
"His brother helped bury the truth."
Laura looked from the speaker to Mercer.
"What truth?"
A brief silence followed.
May you like
Then the voice answered.
"The truth about why your husband was killed."
