For one terrible second, the nose began yawing left.
Marcus applied right engine power.
The aircraft straightened.
Speed dropped through eighty knots.
Sixty.
Forty.
Twenty.
Then nothing moved.
Marcus remained gripping the throttles.
The cockpit became so quiet he could hear Foster breathing.
Neither man spoke.
Finally Foster looked through the windscreen.
“We stopped.”
Marcus closed his eyes.
“Yeah.”
Foster laughed once, then covered his face with both hands.
“We actually stopped.”
Behind them, Dr. Shaw checked the captain.
“He’s still with us.”
Marcus finally released the throttles.
His hands began shaking immediately.
The emergency disappeared from his body all at once, leaving behind exhaustion so deep he felt almost hollow.
Sarah opened the cockpit door.
Noise poured inside.
People were crying.
Some were cheering.
Others were calling family members.
Sarah looked at Marcus, and for the first time that night she no longer looked like a flight attendant managing a crisis.
She looked like someone who had just survived one.
“Evacuation?”
Marcus nodded.
“Get everybody out.”
The emergency slides deployed.
Fire crews surrounded the aircraft while passengers moved toward the exits. Marcus stayed near the cockpit while paramedics boarded for Captain Harris, who was conscious again but unable to stand.
Foster turned toward Marcus.
“You realize what you just did?”
Marcus shook his head.
“What we did.”
“I had eight hundred hours before tonight,” Foster said. “I thought that was a lot.”
“It is.”
“Didn’t feel like it.”
Marcus gave him a tired smile.
“That’s aviation.”
When he finally entered the cabin, passengers recognized him immediately.
A woman carrying a toddler reached for his hand.
“My little boy gets another birthday because of you.”
Marcus opened his mouth.
Nothing came out.
An elderly man touched his shoulder.
A college student hugged him without asking.
Even the passenger who had earlier demanded to know who was flying approached Marcus near the exit.
“I owe you an apology.”
Marcus looked at him.
The man swallowed.
“I said they were crazy for putting you up there.”
“You were scared.”
“So were you.”
Marcus nodded.
“Very.”
Colonel Whitmore waited near the door.