“No. He brought coffee from the airport.”
“Anyone else sick?”
“No.”
Laura studied the instruments.
Her uniform was gone.
Her military career was supposedly finished.
But the instincts built during years inside fighter cockpits returned almost immediately.
The aircraft suddenly drifted right.
Andrew pulled against the controls.
“Don’t fight it,” Laura warned.
“I have to stop the bank.”
“No. You’re fighting bad computer input. The system is correcting against you.”
Andrew looked at her.
Laura pointed toward the control system.
“Isolate one of the secondary flight channels.”
For half a second, Andrew hesitated.
Then he trusted her.
He disconnected the channel.
The aircraft gave one violent shudder.
Then the vibration disappeared.
Andrew stared at her.
“You were right.”
Laura didn’t respond.
They still had bigger problems.
A powerful storm covered the radar ahead.
Fuel reserves were shrinking.
Their first officer remained unconscious.
Then a doctor who had volunteered from the passenger cabin appeared at the cockpit entrance.
