Free Mayday at Two Thousand Five Hundred by Frank Peretti Page B

Adair when Dr. Cooper’s voice came over the scanner. “Boeing Tower, can I speak to my sister on this frequency?”
    â€œStand by,” they heard Ben Parker reply. “Adair, how about it?”
    Adair realized Dr. Cooper was using the tower frequency, the one Jay would not be able to hear. He told Joyce, “Go ahead. It’s 121.5, same as your scanner.”
    Joyce twisted in the new frequency. “Jake, this is Joyce.”
    Her brother’s voice was gentle but grim. “We’re in a bad situation, sis.”
    Joyce drew upon all the courage she had as she replied, “I understand.”
    â€œSomehow . . . if we can just get Rex to wake up—”
    â€œJacob,” she said so strongly she was almost scolding, “I don’t expect any miracles from you, you hear me? That’s God’s department. You and your son just do your best. Rex belongs to the Lord, and the Lord will take care of him.”
    Now Dr. Cooper’s voice was choked with emotion. “We’ll do our best. Talk to you soon.”
    â€œGodspeed, Jacob.”
    Joyce handed the radio back to Adair and then collapsed in tears.
    â€œThey’ll be all right,” Lila whispered as they embraced.
    Dr. Cooper drew a deep breath and moved on to business. “Boeing Tower, where would you like us to ditch the plane?”
    Ben Parker’s voice came back, “Just off Alki Point would work. Close to shore. We’ll have emergency vehicles on hand.”
    â€œRoger, Alki it is.”
    Dr. Cooper looked ahead and could see the skyscrapers of Seattle on the horizon. In just a few minutes they would be over Puget Sound. “All right, Jay, two things we have to do: slow down and start a descent. We’ll get the speed down first just like we did before.”
    Brock told Jay how much to throttle back, and they both trimmed their airplanes, then repeated.
    Time passed and Seattle drew closer as they went through the sticky, finicky process of getting both aircraft down to seventy knots—the airplane’s recommended speed for approaching a landing. That was slow for a Skylane, and Brock could feel the sluggishness of his controls and the shaky, swervy feel of his slow-moving airplane.
    Dr. Cooper studied the chart in his lap. “About ten nautical miles to Alki from here . . . about eight and a half minutes.”
    Brock did some figuring in his head. “We’ll have dropped seventeen hundred feet by the time we get there. We’re at twenty-six hundred now. That’ll do. Once we get there we’ll have him circle down the remaining nine hundred.”
    Dr. Cooper radioed, “All right, Jay, we’re headed for Alki. You need to get ready for ditching. Are there any loose objects in the airplane that could fly around and hurt you if the airplane flips?”
    Jay sighed at the fact that he couldn’t see to answer the question. “Probably. We had some cameras and stuff. I don’t know what Uncle Rex has stowed in the luggage compartment.”
    â€œHow about your coat?”
    â€œI’ve got that on the backseat.”
    â€œSee if you can reach back and grab that. You’ll want to wrap it around your head right before landing to protect your face.”
    â€œOkay.” He reached back with his left hand and felt his coat. He pulled that through the space between the front seats and set it in his lap. “Okay, got it.”
    â€œWhat about Rex? Is there anything to protect his head?”
    â€œI think maybe I can reach his coat. Hang on.” Jay reached back again and felt Rex’s coat. He pulled that forward. “I’ve got his coat.” There was no answer. “Hello?”
    Dr. Cooper hesitated, then said quickly, “Okay, stand by, son.” He spoke to Brock, “He’ll try to get Rex out.”
    Brock nodded. “I know. An injured, weakened, and blind kid is going to try to pull a