The man beside me stared. “You?”

I didn’t answer him.

I was already on my feet.

Chapter 4 — The Cockpit

The flight deck smelled like every cockpit I’d ever been in — hot electronics, old coffee, and under it the sharp animal smell of a small space full of fear.

The captain was in the left seat, pale, his whole attention nailed to the flight display.

In the right seat the first officer sat slumped and unconscious, an oxygen mask strapped over his face, his hands loose in his lap.

The captain glanced back and took in the sweater, the blanket-creased travel clothes, the ordinary tired woman standing where a savior was supposed to be.