The Lazarus Moment (10 page)

And he
shouldn’t be looking.

Yet he
couldn’t help it.

What he
had done was gnawing at his gut and he was sick with guilt. He had to do it, he
knew that, otherwise his family would die. Yet he also knew he shouldn’t have
done it. What made his family’s lives any more important than the lives that
could be lost should the stolen classified information harm Americans or their
allies?

He
glanced over at Cornel, wanting to tell him what he had done. He’d come clean,
tell them everything, and maybe they could find his family before they were harmed.

Maybe.
Maybe. Maybe!

What if
they couldn’t? He’d never be able to live with himself if anything happened to
Cecilia or Janice.

Tell
him!

It was
the right thing to do. It was what he had to do. He opened his mouth to speak
then snapped it shut when Agent in Charge McNeely entered the server room.

He
didn’t like the way the man was looking at him.

He
knows!

The
smile was forced. Fake.

It’s
time to come clean.

He
pushed back from the terminal and stood, raising his hands. Cornel swiveled in
his chair and stared at him.

“What
the hell are
you
doing?”

“Step
aside, Airman.” Cornel swung to see McNeely approaching, one hand on his
weapon. Cornel cursed and leapt to his feet, quickly squeezing past the Secret
Service agent.

Lennox
nodded toward the gun. “That won’t be necessary. I surrender.” His shoulders
slumped in relief knowing the truth was now out and the virus could be detected
and deactivated. It hadn’t been very long and depending on how it worked,
perhaps no data had been compromised yet.

Two
other men advanced quickly toward him. He recognized them as special
assignments, probably Delta or some other branch of men who could kick his ass
with one finger. McNeely grabbed him by the arm and jerked him forward, pushing
it up behind his back. Handcuffs were quickly clasped around his wrists and he
was patted down before being led out of the server compartment and into a
meeting room, out of sight.

“What
did you do?” asked McNeely, the room quickly filling with security personnel.

He tried
to reach into his pocket but couldn’t. “In my right front pocket there’s a
memory stick.”

McNeely
tossed the handcuff keys to one of the Delta guys. “Uncuff him.”

The man
rounded the table and removed the cuffs, sliding them and the keys across the
table to McNeely. Lennox rubbed his wrists then reached into his pocket,
pulling out the memory stick. The Delta operator took it, handing it to
McNeely.

“What’s
on it?”

Lennox
shook his head. “I don’t know. They just told me to insert it, bypass the
security protocols, then remove it. I’ve been monitoring the systems and
nothing’s happened so far.”

McNeely
handed the memory stick over to Cornel. “Examine it on an isolated computer.” Cornel
nodded and disappeared from the room. McNeely turned back to Lennox. “Why did
you do it?”

“They
said they’d kill my family.”

“Who
said?”

“Some
man. I was drugged, the food I ordered, I think. I woke up late last night in
another room at the same hotel. They showed me video of my wife and kid, then
let me talk to them for a minute. They told me to plant the virus or they’d
kill them.”

McNeely
pursed his lips, shaking his head. “You should have come to me.”

Lennox’s
chin sagged to his chest. “I know, but they said they’d kill them, and they
said they’d know if I did.”

“How
would they know?”

“They’ve
got a man on board.”

“Sir,
you’ve gotta hear this!” All eyes turned to the doorway where a man was holding
out a cordless phone.

“What is
it?”

“They
said there’s been a threat and we have to land immediately!”

Suddenly
all the lights turned out and the distinctive sound of engines winding down was
heard in the stunned silence.

Until
the screams.

Lennox
finally realized that this had nothing at all to do with monitoring
communications.

And
everything to do with killing the President of the United States.

Cockpit, Air Force One

Over Mozambique

36,000 feet and dropping

Colonel Mitch Lacroix grabbed the yoke, his heart slamming into his
chest as he struggled to maintain control. Everything was dead. Everything. All
their newly installed gadgets were blank and his engines were dying behind him.

They
were essentially a million pound glider.

“What
the hell happened?” he shouted as alarms suddenly sounded, his co-pilot
switching to the auxiliaries and backup power, a few displays glowing again but
showing no data.

“Looks
like we lost everything,” replied Lt. Colonel Rich Pliner as he flipped switches
and toggles back and forth with limited success.

“Reboot
the system.”

“I tried
that, there’s nothing there.”

“What do
you mean there’s nothing there?”

“It’s
like something wiped it. It’s just a damned blinking cursor!”

Lacroix
activated the emergency frequency. “This is Air Force One, we are declaring an
emergency. We have lost—”

“It’s no
use, Mitch, it’s dead.”

“Shit!”
Lacroix turned to the flight engineer, Chief Master Sergeant Michael Hawkins.
“Get down there and find out what the hell is going on!”

“Yes,
sir!”

Hawkins
unbuckled and quickly disappeared, the sounds of screams from the cabin heard
as the cockpit door opened.

“Leave
that open, I want to be able to hear what’s going on behind me!”

“Yes,
sir!”

Lacroix
turned to Pliner. “We’re going to have to dead stick this thing. Find me a
place to land.”

“Nav
computer is down.”

“Then
get out the charts!”

“Yes,
sir!”

Someone
burst into the cockpit. “Captain, what’s going on?”

Lacroix
stole a glance over his shoulder to see the President’s body man standing
there, terror written all over his pale, sweating face.

“We’ve
lost all power and communications. Make sure everyone and everything are
strapped in and down. We’re going to try to find a place to land but it could
be rough.”

“You can
land it without engines?”

“This
isn’t a car, we’re not going to drop from the sky. As long as I can maintain
lift, we should be able to glide her in. The problem is we’re over the damned
jungle. Finding a spot to land could be tough.”

“You
mean we could die?”

Lacroix’s
head spun toward the man.

“Nobody’s
dying today, not under my watch! Now tell everyone to remain calm and prepare
for an emergency landing!”

“O-okay.”

The man
disappeared and Pliner gave Lacroix a look. “Did you really just say that?”

Lacroix
shrugged. “Seemed like a movie moment.”

“So we’re
dead?”

“You
tell me. Anything on the charts?”

Pliner
shook his head.

“Then
we’re dead.”

Main Deck, Air Force One

Over Mozambique

25,000 feet and dropping

Thulas Zokwana sat calmly, his eyes closed as he prayed for
forgiveness for what he had done. He had no regrets except that his family
would be left alone. If Khomenko was true to his word, however, they would
never want for anything. If that meant being condemned to eternal damnation for
his small part, then so be it.

He could
live with that.

Clearly
the others weren’t at peace with their impending doom. Screams, sobs and
whimpers surrounded him, though not as many as he thought. Orders were being
barked, gear being stowed, passengers strapped in, safety procedures being
announced. Even the President had made a brief appearance appealing for calm
then leading everyone in prayer.

It had
been moving, even for him.

He stared
out the window and could see the jungle below growing closer and closer. The
virus had apparently been coded to activate at this very part of their trip.
With no power, the plane could easily glide a hundred miles, though with
nowhere to land, it wouldn’t matter.

They
were crash landing no matter what happened, and hard, tree covered ground would
be unforgiving.

The job
would be done.

And his
family would receive their payday.

“There
he is!”

Zokwana opened
his eyes and smiled as several Secret Service agents raced down the aisle
toward him.

I
guess he talked.

It was
actually a bit of a surprise. Why Lennox would talk made no sense, it pointless
to confess to what he had done at this point. There was nothing that could be
done, and there had only been minutes.

Could
they have found out before?

He
couldn’t see how, though anything was possible. He shrugged and stood. It
didn’t matter now. Even if they were to torture him for information, they had
no way to transmit it, and his pain would only last for several more minutes.

“Come
with us, now!” said the first man, his weapon aimed squarely at Zokwana’s
chest.

Zokwana’s
smile broadened. “There’s nothing you can do to save yourselves now.”

The man
grabbed him, fastening Zokwana’s hands with cuffs. “Then you’ll die with the
rest of us.”

Zokwana snorted.

“I’m already
dead.”

Lower Deck Server Compartment, Air Force One

Over Mozambique

23,000 feet and dropping

Cornel hammered at the laptop’s keyboard. He had jacked into the
server to try and access the solid state drives holding the system’s operating
system and data files, though as of yet had found nothing beyond the core
operating system.

Everything
else has been completely wiped!

As was
the memory stick Lennox had used to sabotage everything.

He
cursed his former friend but shoved the anger aside as he realized it was just
a waste of time. There was only one thing he could do to try and get things
back up and running. Reinstall the software.

Which
would take hours and they only had minutes.

He
rushed past the other techs and up the stairs, bursting into the room where
Lennox was still sitting, being interrogated. “He wiped most of the system.”

“What do
you mean?” asked the Secret Service Agent in Charge.

Cornel didn’t
have time to explain, instead searching for something the man might understand.
“Imagine someone reset your iPhone. The operating system is still there, but
none of the apps are. We use apps to control everything from comms to nav
computers to engines. Those apps aren’t there.”

“Can you
reinstall them?”

“Yeah,
but it will take hours.” He turned to Lennox. “Why the hell did you do it?” Lennox
looked crestfallen, shaking his head slowly as if he truly regretted what he
had done, yet Cornel had zero sympathy for the man. He turned to Agent in
Charge McNeely. “There’s no way I can fix it, there’s not enough time.”

“Then
we’re dead.”

Cornel
felt bile fill his mouth as a knot formed in the pit of his stomach. He was
right. They were dead. They were all dead, he having heard the update from the
pilot that there was nowhere to land. He glared at Lennox.

All
because of that bastard.

“We
don’t need to reinstall everything.”

The look
of revelation on Lennox’s face angered Cornel even more, the man far too happy
for the situation. He felt his hands clench.

Then he
realized what Lennox meant.

“Holy
shit! I never thought of that!”

Lennox
rose from his chair. “Let me help you, please!”

“What?
What’s going on?” asked McNeely.

Cornel turned
from Lennox, he now sharing in the excitement, to McNeely. “We don’t need to
reinstall everything. Just the things that matter. It’ll take time but we might
be able to get enough key systems going that we can get the engines back on.”

Hope
washed over the faces in the room. “Then don’t just stand there, do it!”

He
pointed at Lennox. “I need him, it’ll go twice as fast.”

“No ’effin’
way, he stays here.”

“Please,
let me help. I swear I never would have done it if I had known. I thought they
just wanted to tap the comms.”

McNeely
chewed his cheek for a moment then nodded. “Go.” He turned to one of the
security team. “I want a gun on him at all times. If he does anything to
interfere, shoot him. Dead.”

“Yes,
sir!”

Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, Kenya

“Sorry, sir, repeat that?”

Master
Sergeant Mike “Red” Belme raised a hand, quieting everyone in the room. He was
sure he had heard Colonel Clancy incorrectly, though in his heart he knew he
didn’t. “Did you say Air Force One is going down?”

Everyone
turned toward him.

“Yes.
The fighter escort reports they’ve lost all comms with the aircraft and it’s
losing altitude. They’ve got a visual on the pilot and he’s signaled there’s no
power.”

Red
swirled his hand over his head and his team immediately began to pack their
gear, he covering the mouthpiece. “Get the flight crew!” He removed his hand.
“Is there a safe place to land?”

“Negative.
It’s all jungle. If they can’t get their engines back, they
will
crash.”

“Jesus
Christ! Where are they?”

“Over
Mozambique.”

“Our
briefing indicated that there’s rebel activity in that country. That could be a
problem.”