The gray-haired man looked like a guy who was used to being in charge. “I’m Bill Todd, and I’m a cop in Medford, Oregon. I don’t know what happened, but whatever those blasts were wasn’t an isolated occurrence. I’m confident our country is under attack.”
Tom whispered. “That’s my guess also. Maybe EMP blasts? I’m Tom Clark from Ashland.”
“Damn, that was my guess. We must have been far enough away, or we’d have crashed by now. If some enemy nuked San Francisco, we wouldn’t have air traffic controllers to help us land. If there’s a place to land.”
Suddenly, a hand reached over Bill’s shoulder, yanking him around to confront a furious man. The man yelled, “Stop scaring my wife and kids!”
Bill grabbed the man’s hand and flipped the mad man to the floor after bouncing him against the seats. “Don’t grab me again, or I’ll drop you to the floor and kick you in the nuts.”
Tom helped the man up and stood between them. He placed a hand on the man’s chest. “Now, shut up and listen. We are in danger and need to make a plan for what happens after we land. We have about five hours before we arrive above San Francisco.”
The man clearly didn’t understand. “Why? That explosion was behind us. We just need to land and go on with our lives. You two need to stop scaring everyone.”
Tom’s face flushed, and his hands drew into fists. “Shut up and move your family up to the front, now! We will be making plans and don’t want to scare your candy ass or your sensitive family.”
Tom heard, “That’s telling the SOB, son.” He turned and saw Granny B cheering for him.
“Bill, we’re from the Ashland area. We might want to ask for others from our area to come back here and …”
The overhead speakers buzzed and sounded ominous as the pilot spoke. “I’m sure you want to know what the bright flash was behind us. The truth is we don’t know, and it would be unwise to speculate now. We’ve lost communication with the control tower. Still, I promise we’ll give you more information as soon as we know something. Stay calm. We have plenty of fuel and will land on time in San Francisco. That’s all I have right now. Thanks, and enjoy your flight.”
Bill’s eyes were wide open, and his face turned pale. “This is worse than I’d thought. To lose communication with the control tower is a major problem. I wonder if the plane’s GPS is working. Those blasts could have knocked our satellites out.”
Jackie had joined the conversation. “Other people are trying to figure out what happened, and we might have a riot on our hands.”
Bill nodded. “That’s a possibility. Perhaps you could lead the group in some songs or something to give us time to work on our plans?”
Jackie said, “I can’t sing, but I have an idea. I’ll be right back.”
Jackie calmly walked to the front of the plane and talked with the flight attendant supervisor. She was walking down the aisle to return when one of the flight attendants started singing over the intercom and then invited everyone to sing along with her. Bill gave Jackie a pat on the back and then left to see if he could find any other passengers who originated from the Ashland area.
*
Chapter 2
The Pacific Ocean – United flight 4242 - Hawaii to San Francisco
The Boeing 957 cruised along at thirty-five thousand feet with three hundred-fifty-six of the five hundred seats filled. There were six seats across in the middle and two seats on either side of the aisles outside the center aisle. The colossal jet was mainly used for intercontinental flights and was usually full. The connecting flight from China didn’t arrive by the scheduled departure time, so the flight left with a light load. The plane was almost empty just before the flight attendants closed the doors. A sudden influx of an additional group of people upset the passengers because it was already a half-hour late. Many complained about their chartered flights having been canceled. Tom didn’t think anything of the issue because he’d only flown once before this flight.
The woman looked like a movie star as she walked to the back of the plane, towing a young girl behind her. She was dressed from head to toe in expensive white clothing and shouldered a large gold and white purse. Her red lipstick, gold belt, and white sunglasses perfectly accessorized her outfit. She bitched, moaned, and groaned all the way down the path to the back of the plane. The small woman’s fiery personality matched her red hair. However, her daughter was quiet but dressed exactly like her mother.
Tom recognized the lady as the same one who’d pitched a fit when she couldn’t get two first-class seats at the last minute. The woman had cursed the clerks who’d tried their best to get any first-class seats for the unappreciative lady who fumed, making everyone around her uncomfortable. The clerk had finally offered four free round trip tickets to any destination United serviced to get someone to give up their first-class seats.
Tom couldn’t help looking at the gorgeous, albeit horrible behaved lady with the red hair, piercing green eyes, and shapely figure. He hated the type and thought she needed a good spanking. She might be the bitch from Hell, but she was a beautiful bitch and apparently knew she was gorgeous.
Granny B caught him gawking at the woman in white. “Boy, you lost the love of your life, and this woman ain’t a pimple on Gwen’s ass.”
Tom’s head rose, and he stared at his grandma. “Granny B, what the heck did that mean?”
“You can do much better than that bleach blonde hussy.”
The words
