That's a workable problem. " "That's not a workable. It's workable because we're going to work it," Ethan said. Get me that radio and Kalin. He glanced at her. You're doing good.
You hear me, Doyle would be proud of you. She bit her lip hard enough to bleed and turned to the radio and she flew to behind them in the cabin. A small voice, "Mr. Mister, are we going to crash? " Walter looked down. A boy, maybe eight, in seat 14, C alone, gripping the armrests with both small hands.
No parent beside him, an unaccompanied minor, the kind the airline promises to watch and then forgets in a crisis. Walter's old knees screamed, but he lowered himself into the empty seat beside the boy. What's your name, son? Tyler. Tyler.
Good, strong name. You flying by yourself, Tyler? The boy nodded, chin trembling. I was visiting my dad. I'm going home to my mom.
She's going to," his voice hitched. "She's going to be so scared if I don't come home. " Walter put an arm around the boy's shoulders, and something in his chest cracked wide open because he was thinking of his own boy, gone 40 years now. A boy who'd never gotten to grow up. You listen to me, Tyler. You're going home to your mother.
There's a man flying this airplane who is very, very good at his job. He flew fighter jets. You know what those are? The really fast ones. The really fast ones and this big slow airplane.
Easy for a man like that. Easy as pie. Walter squeezed his shoulder. So, you hold my hand and we'll be brave together, you and me. Can you be brave?
Tyler looked up at him with enormous wet eyes. Are you scared? And Walter Hensley, who had buried a son and a wife and 11 good men in his long life, looked down at this small stranger and told him the truth, because the boy deserved the truth a little. But being brave doesn't mean you're not scared, Tyler. Being brave means you're scared and you hold on anyway.
Can you do that? Tyler slid his small hand into Walter's big one. Yeah, good man. Mayday, mayday, mayday. Kayn's voice was iron now.
All the shaking gone because she'd found the thing that saved her. She'd found purpose. Any station. Any station. This is Meridian 447 Heavy.
We have lost our captain to a medical emergency. We have a hydraulic failure and an engine malfunction. We are declaring an emergency and diverting to Thuli. Requesting immediate assistance. Over.