Tears poured down Khomenko’s cheeks as he realized everything he had done had no meaning. The humiliation of failing in his mission to kill the President was nothing compared to the collapse of his entire world. Every memory of his wife was now suspect, her smiles, her kisses, her tender caresses, were all tainted.
Was it all just an act? Could there have been something still there?
He looked up at the man. “Get it over with.”
The man nodded and aimed the gun at his head, then quickly drew it away. “Oh, I almost forgot. I have a message for you from the President.”
Khomenko’s eyes narrowed slightly. “What?”
“Burn in hell.”
Kane squeezed the trigger twice, a double-tap to the head, then followed it up by emptying the magazine into the chest, a message being sent to anyone who would dare mess with the First Family. The request had come through Dawson a short while ago, it unofficial, though something he had been more than happy to deliver on.
The First Lady was dead.
A husband was grieving.
A husband with people like Kane at his disposal.
So a message had been delivered, there no doubt in Khomenko’s final thoughts who was killing him. Not Kane, but the President himself, Kane merely an instrument to exact revenge.
Kane stepped out of the stall and grabbed the carry-on, dragging it inside. He locked the door from the inside then slipped under and out. He stuffed the gun in the garbage bin embedded in the wall then strode out and past the janitor, mopping the floor in front of the bathroom. He pulled out his cellphone as he headed for the airport exit, dialing a number from memory, it immediately answered.
“Hey BD, it’s me. Tell him his message was delivered.”
Maggie Harris Residence
Lake in the Pines Apartments, Fayetteville, North Carolina
Burt “Big Dog” Dawson, a Command Sergeant Major in America’s most elite fighting unit, was scared. Terrified. He actually was trembling as he extended a hand to knock on the door. Spotting his ailment, he jerked his hand back and sucked in a deep, slow breath through his nose, holding it then exhaling though his mouth, using some of his battlefield training for something other than combat.
He had arrived last night but hadn’t told Maggie, there too many things to take care of after his debriefing. But the plan had been put in motion, meetings and phone calls with the Colonel and Maggie’s doctors just the start.
It had been the call to Maggie’s father that had been the most terrifying thing, more so than anything he had faced in Mozambique.
Until now.
He held out his hand.
Okay, we’re good.
He knocked gently on the door, it opened almost immediately, Red’s wife Shirley grinning at him, tears in her eyes. “I guess you got medical clearance?”
He nodded. “Uh huh.”
“You look terrified.”
Is it that obvious? “I’d rather face ISIS singlehandedly. At least I know what they’re going to say.”
Shirley reached out and took his hand in hers, it trembling again. “You’ll do fine.” She stepped inside the apartment and grabbed her purse off the kitchen counter. “I’ll leave you two alone. She’s taking a nap in the bedroom.”
Dawson nodded and stepped aside as Shirley stepped out. She reached up and pulled his head down, giving him a peck on the cheek, then hurried toward the elevator.
Dawson entered the apartment and closed the door, suddenly painfully aware his hands were empty.
I should have got her flowers.
He shrugged.
Nothing you can do about that now.
He patted his pocket then headed for the bedroom. The nightstand light was on low, Maggie lying on her side, her back to the door, her breathing gentle and steady, her scar visible, the hair still not yet hiding it. The scarf she wore to hide it from herself lay nearby, it either having come off on its own, or Maggie having removed it to be more comfortable.
He stepped inside and gently sat on the edge of the bed, leaning over and kissing her cheek. She moaned, inhaling suddenly as she rolled toward him. Her eyes fluttered open and she smiled.
“BD!”
She reached up and grabbed him, wrapping her arms around him as he did the same. “Hey, babe, howya doing?”
She squeezed him tight then kissed him, a kiss that fired him up every time. She broke it, instead staring into his eyes. “So much better now that you’re here.” She straightened, pushing herself into an upright position, resting against the headboard. “I thought you were dead,” she said, her voice cracking. “When I saw the news reports they showed the file footage and saw you guys in the background so I knew you were with him.” Her eyes flooded with tears, one spilling out and down her cheek. “I thought I’d never see you again,” she whispered.
He smiled at her gently, reaching out and wiping the tear away with his thumb. “I’m alive, and so is the rest of the team. You know I’m never going to let anything happen to me now that I’ve got you in my life.”
She smiled, reaching for a Kleenex then dabbing at the corners of her eyes. “Look at me, I’m such a woman.”
His smile spread. “Yes you are. An incredible woman.” He tried to remember the words he had memorized, but he suddenly found himself blanking. He stared at her, the overwhelming feeling of being a raw recruit under fire for the first time, disturbing.
“What is it, sweetheart?” She took his hand in hers, lifting it to her lips and placing a gentle kiss before clasping it to her chest.
He inhaled deeply then decided to wing it. “We’ve been together a long time.”
“Some might not call it that,” she replied with a wry grin. “But I would agree.”
“And I’ve been doing a lot of thinking, you know, after what happened in Paris and the other day, and it made me realize some things.”
“What, darling?”
“Well, it made me realize I love you.”
“And I love you.”
“And that when I’m not with you, I think about you all the time. Trapped on that airplane, as we faced what I thought was certain death, I found myself worried not about dying, but about leaving you alone. And when I survived, I realized that the biggest reason I was relieved was that I’d get to see you again.” She squeezed his hand, he returning it. “When I thought I had lost you in Paris I decided I didn’t want to go on living. I just wanted to take out as many of them as I could and die right then and there so I could be with you again, then when you survived, I wondered if we should remain together because I was a danger to you.”
She gasped, her eyes opening wide as she gripped his hand tighter. “You never told me that before!”
He nodded. “I know. But I realized that I didn’t want to be without you, that I needed you in my life.” He paused, staring into her eyes. “I love you more than I have ever loved any woman in my life. More than I thought I could love any woman in my life. It wasn’t until I met you that I understood why guys like Red were always so happy, even when they were in the mix. They knew what they were fighting for, and they knew what they had to go home to.” He wiped away another of her tears. “The other day, when I realized we were going to survive, I realized I wanted that feeling too, I wanted to know I had a family to come home to when it was all over.”
He rose, pulling a small box out of his pocket, then dropped to a knee, opening the most expensive thing he had ever purchased besides a car. Maggie gasped, her hand darting to her chest as her cheeks flushed.
“Oh my God!” she cried as she realized what was about to happen.
Dawson stared up at her, finally remembering something he had rehearsed.
“Maggie Alyssa Harris, will you marry me?”
THE END
Acknowledgements
The idea for this book came from news reports about hackers being able to access flight computers. Having worked in the computer business for over twenty years before becoming a fulltime writer,
I was pretty confident that John Q. Public sitting in their seat couldn’t crash the plane using the onboard Wi-Fi, though the research would have me avoiding older planes for a while, the designers not as paranoid when this tech first arrived. Now with modern methods, everything would be isolated—or it should be!
What spurred this story on were the reports of the Airbus A400M crash in Spain, where they discovered that the software for the engines hadn’t been installed properly, the result of which was the engines going into idle and the plane crashing, killing four.
So it was possible to crash a plane through computer error.
Which meant hackers could do the same thing.
If they had access.
Air Force One is probably the most famous plane in the world, its passenger certainly fairly well known, so if you’re going to crash an airplane, you crash this one. The only problem with the scenario was that Air Force One is old. Very old. It’s due for replacement, the first plane to be in service by 2023.
So how to get around this little problem of there not being the modern computers that could be hacked?
Easy.
An upgrade!
Artistic license is of course taken, though I think a little less so than that fantastic Harrison Ford movie. Contrary to what was shown there, there is no emergency escape pod and there are no parachutes.
Which was good, as it would have made this story not nearly as eventful.
Whether or not hacking a plane with someone on the inside, and subsequently crashing it, is even possible, is up for debate. Note that in this book the idea wasn’t to crash the plane by overriding the flight controls, it was simply to shut everything down. Contrary to what our Looney Tunes tell us, planes that run out of fuel or have their engines cut don’t come to an immediate halt and drop from the sky, they glide. A skillful pilot can glide a massive 747, exactly as was done in this book, and has been done far too often through history.
It works great, as long as you have a place to land.
Crashing over a jungle sort of solved that plot point.
The incredible skill shown by Captain Chesley B. “Sully” Sullenberger when he landed an Airbus A320 on the Hudson River in New York City after his engines shut down proves that landing safely on a body of water is possible, and the plane will float.
I hope you enjoyed this torn from the headlines story, and yes, it was just pure coincidence that the real President travelled to Kenya just this week, the destination of the fictional Air Force One before it crashed.
One note about the dedication. In this book, we saw the misguided actions of parents who had either lost a child or were trying to secure a better future for their children. While they truly loved their children, obviously their actions couldn’t be condoned. True love for your child was graphically illustrated on July 27, 2015. Before googling Xiang Liujua, be forewarned that the videos online are graphic and not for the faint of heart. For those who don’t want to see the moment a person dies a horrible, terrifying death, do not view the videos. For those who do view it, you will see a selfless, almost instinctual act of a mother who thinks not of herself, but her child. This brave young mother was killed in an escalator accident recently, and in her last desperate act, she saved her two-year-old son by pushing him to safety as she was drawn into the machine.
It is a sobering reminder of just how precious life is, and how quickly one life can be saved while another is snuffed out, doing something mundane like shopping at the mall.
As usual, there are people to thank. My father for the research (the Air Force One stuff was fascinating!), Marc Quesnel for helping me determine the location for the crash and who the bad guys were, Brent Richards and Ian Kennedy for some military tactics help, and Greg “Chief” Michael for some Navy help. As always, I’d like to thank my wife, daughter, and mother, along with all my friends and family for their continued support.
To those who have not already done so, please visit my website at www.jrobertkennedy.com then sign up for the Insider’s Club to be notified of new book releases. Your email address will never be shared or sold and you’ll only receive the occasional email from me as I don’t have time to spam you!
Thank you once again for reading.
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The Bravo Team will return!
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While waiting, why not see where it all began? Bravo Team was first introduced in the James Acton Thrillers. Get started with The Protocol (Acton #1) today!
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About the Author
USA Today bestselling author J. Robert Kennedy has been ranked by Amazon as the #1 Bestselling Action Adventure novelist based upon combined sales. He is the author of over twenty-five international bestsellers including the smash hit James Acton Thrillers series of which the first installment, The Protocol, has been on the bestseller list in the US and UK since its release, including occupying the number one spot for three months. He lives with his wife and daughter and writes full-time.
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Books by J. Robert Kennedy
The James Acton Thrillers
The Protocol
Brass Monkey
Broken Dove
The Templar's Relic
Flags of Sin
The Arab Fall
The Circle of Eight
The Venice Code
Pompeii's Ghosts
Amazon Burning
The Riddle
Blood Relics
Sins of the Titanic
Saint Peter's Soldiers
The Delta Force Unleashed Thrillers
Payback
Infidels
The Lazarus Moment
The Special Agent Dylan Kane Thrillers
Rogue Operator
Containment Failure
Cold Warriors
Death to America
Black Widow
The Detective Shakespeare Mysteries
Depraved Difference
Tick Tock
The Redeemer
Zander Varga, Vampire Detective Series
The Turned
The Protocol
A James Acton Thriller - Book #1
For two thousand years the Triarii have protected us, influencing history from the crusades to the discovery of America. Descendent from the Roman Empire, they pervade every level of society, and are now in a race with our own government to retrieve an ancient artifact thought to have been lost forever.
To sample or purchase, please visit Amazon: US, UK, Canada, Australia, or click here for additional purchase options.
Return to book list
Brass Monkey
A James Acton Thriller - Book #2
A nuclear missile, lost during the Cold War, is now in play--the most public spy swap in history, with a gorgeous
agent the center of international attention, triggers the end-game of a corrupt Soviet Colonel's twenty-five year plan. Pursued across the globe by the Russian authorities, including a brutal Spetsnaz unit, those involved will stop at nothing to deliver their weapon, and ensure their pay day, regardless of the terrifying consequences.
To sample or purchase, please visit Amazon: US, UK, Canada, Australia, or click here for additional purchase options.
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Broken Dove
A James Acton Thriller - Book #3
With the Triarii in control of the Roman Catholic Church, an organization founded by Saint Peter himself takes action, murdering one of the new Pope's operatives. Detective Chaney, called in by the Pope to investigate, disappears, and, to the horror of the Papal staff sent to inform His Holiness, they find him missing too, the only clue a secret chest, presented to each new pope on the eve of their election, since the beginning of the Church.
To sample or purchase, please visit Amazon: US, UK, Canada, Australia, or click here for additional purchase options.
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The Templar's Relic
A James Acton Thriller - Book #4
The Vault must be sealed, but a construction accident leads to a miraculous discovery--an ancient tomb containing four Templar Knights, long forgotten, on the grounds of the Vatican. Not knowing who they can trust, the Vatican requests Professors James Acton and Laura Palmer examine the find, but what they discover, a precious Islamic relic, lost during the Crusades, triggers a set of events that shake the entire world, pitting the two greatest religions against each other. At risk is nothing less than the Vatican itself, and the rock upon which it was built.
To sample or purchase, please visit Amazon: US, UK, Canada, Australia, or click here for additional purchase options.
The Lazarus Moment Page 25