The down angle of the plane’s nose shifted suddenly, and they began to lose altitude. Star screamed. He heard shouts, calls, screams throughout the plane, and then thumps and bangs as luggage fell and people toppled.

Moore said, his voice still calm, “Sir, I regret to tell you that we have no control of the plane. Repeat, we have no control. You’re going to want to put on your life vest, sir. We’re going down.”

71

KING TO F1

George Washington University Hospital

Nicholas watched, helpless. The glide slope of the plane had changed dramatically. The horizon shifted hard, and he realized what was happening. No, he couldn’t let the plane go down, couldn’t. He had to do something. Adrenaline burst through him, and there was Mike beside him, asking, “So it was Matthew’s job to assassinate the president. What exactly is happening, Nicholas?”

“Someone has control of the autoland. I don’t know if they’re trying to land the plane somewhere, or crash it into the ocean. We need to find a way to override the system, but this bastard has shut down all the electronic controls. I don’t know how to stop it.”

She said, all calm certainty, “Yes, you do, Nicholas. What do you need to do first?”

He looked up at Mike. “I need to find a route in through their wireless system before the plane lands or crashes. From the heading, it’s the latter, and I have about two minutes before it’s in the water.”

She cleared the space, waving people back, then came back, hunkered down beside him, saw the fierce concentration. “Tell me what you need.”

And it hit him. “I need secure comms with the plane. Get me through, Mike. Now. They’ll need to be ready to take over if I can dismantle the attack.”

He closed his eyes in a brief prayer. Seventy-eight souls were in the palm of his hand.

Mike didn’t hesitate, she pulled out the private card and called the vice president directly.

Callan answered, “Agent Caine, what’s going on there—”

“Ma’am, we need immediate access to Air Force One. It’s being attacked. Audio, cell, radio. Anything we can get, and we need it right now.”

Callan said, “Hold.” The phone went quiet. Ten long seconds later, she came back on. “You’re being patched through.”

Mike put the phone on speaker, set it by Nicholas’s left hand.

“This is Special Operations Command, Captain Reynolds here. Who am I talking to?”

“Agent Nicholas Drummond, FBI. Air Force One has been compromised. I need to overtake their flight controls.”

“Can’t be done.”

“Someone already has done it, mate. Did you alter the software for the controls in the last thirty days?”

Silence, the man disappeared for a minute. “Come on, come on,” Nicholas said under his breath, typing hard and fast on the computer. Mike watched code stream from his fingers onto the screen like he was something from the Matrix.

Captain Reynolds came back. “Yes, about ten minutes ago, in flight. They had an electrical issue, we pushed an update to get them back online.”

“We need to push a new update. The one they pushed in was compromised.”

“Can’t do it, the controls are down. Wait, wait, the readings are offline. Drummond, the plane is going down!”

“I know this, Captain Reynolds. We have less than a minute left. Lift the firewall. I can break through it, but we can’t waste any more time. I’ll take it from there.”

“This is Vice President Sloane. Captain, do as he asks. Right now. That is a direct order.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

The screen in front of Nicholas changed. Mike saw him take a deep breath and she gripped his shoulder. “Go, Nicholas.”

“Captain Reynolds, listen carefully. I’m going to create a new wireless network, and we’re going to log off Air Force One and put the plane’s communications onto the new network. Then you’ll push a fresh update. Backdate to the one prior to the one you sent.”

Reynolds said, “Are you crazy? I don’t have enough time—”

“Do it,” Nicholas said. “I’ve already founded the new wireless and I’m ready to override the attack.” And to Mike, “What’s my countdown?”

“You have forty-five seconds.”

He clicked on his other screen and the plane’s cockpit came up. The altimeter read eighteen thousand feet. They were going down fast.

“Are you ready?” he said to Captain Reynolds.

Reynolds stressed voice, “I need thirty more seconds.”

“This is over in twenty. Get the bloody firewall down now! Crash the system, don’t be nice to it. Force it!”

A pause. “It’s down, it’s down. Go!”

Nicholas started to type fast, strings of numbers. Everyone in the immediate area was creeping close again to watch. It was so quiet, Mike could hear herself breathe. She watched the clock over Nicholas’s shoulder, and she prayed.

“Nicholas, twenty seconds,” she said.

“I know, I know.”

The code was done. The altimeter still spun crazily downward. “I need the pilot now, please,” he said, more calmly than he felt. If he’d missed one letter, one number, one iota of code, the plane and all the people inside were dead.

“This is Colonel Moore. You’re the one trying to fix this?” The man’s voice was steady as a rock.

“Yes. When I say now, I want you to take the plane back, execute all evasive maneuvers. Three, two, one, now!”

He typed EXE and hit return. Stopped. Didn’t move an inch.

There was nothing more he could do.

The code fed directly into the plane’s database. In a perfect world, it would take fifteen seconds to take over the computers. They had five.

Four.

Three.

There was complete silence on the line.

He’d failed. The plane had hit the water, ripped apart, and now it was sinking and everyone was dead. His closed his eyes. Please, forgive me.

He didn’t see the altimeter stop moving and level out at thirteen hundred feet.

Mike leaned down, hugged him tight. “Nicholas. Look! You did it!”

He opened his eyes as Colonel Moore’s voice came over the phone’s tinny speaker. “I have control of the plane. Repeat, I have the plane. Climbing to ten thousand feet. That was rather close. I thank you, Drummond, my wife thanks you, everyone on board thanks you. The president especially.”

72

KNIGHT TO G3 CHECK

Nicholas heard the cheering but shut it off, too much more to do. “Colonel Moore? I don’t know how long the patch will hold. You need to land, right now.”

“We’re in contact with the TRACON in Halifax, Nova Scotia, will be on the ground in less than ten. Can’t wait to shake your hand, young man. Drinks are on me, dinner’s on my wife. Thank you. This is Reynolds, out.”

The vice president’s voice came over the line. “Special Agent Drummond? I see you do live up to your reputation. Good job. How did this happen?”

“It was Spenser, ma’am. Mike was forced to shoot him, but not before he started the countdown to blow up Air Force One. As he pressed the button, he yelled, ‘I’m the beginning!’ There must be more coming. All I can think is that Spenser was to kill the president, which means Damari is still out there, gunning for you.”

A brief pause, then, “I understand. I will speak to you soon.”

Then Savich was at his side. “Everything is stable now, Nicholas?”

Nicholas turned to look at Savich. “Yes. Thankfully, the plane will be landing shortly. Now I have Matthew Spenser’s phone. I’ll continue decrypting it and find if he was also involved in killing the vice president. We do know this was his goal, and, hopefully, his finale.”