The President's Man

By Tucker Jackson

Jack Devlin is the President's Man. An off the books operative responsible only to the President of the United States.

After an airliner has a total power blackout and crashes into the Washington Monument Devlin is dispatched to find a pathological millionaire before he can strike again.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Travane
• Release date: Jul 3, 2019
• ISBN: 9781393252368

Tucker Jackson

Tucker Jackson is the author of five novels and a book of poetry. He lives with his wife and dog Wyatt in Jacksonville, Florida.

Book preview

Chapter One

The Pulse

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Captain Rick Owens had made this flight many times. Miami Air Flight 47 from Miami International to Washington, DC. It had been an uneventful flight except for a large flock of seagulls over Jacksonville, Florida that Owens had feared would get sucked up in the jets. He and his co-pilot, Chuck Smith, settled in for the approach to Dulles. The spire of the Washington Monument appeared on the horizon.

There was a whump and the aircraft seemed to rise in the air and then settle back down. What was that? Owens said.

Smith looked at the Engine Indicating and Crew Alert System panels. There’s a drop in the hydraulic pressure.

A warning prompt came on the screen.

And then every needle, dial and gauge on the control panel went to zero. The whine of the jets turned into a whisper and then died. The only sound was the rustle of wind outside the cockpit.

Owens stared slack jawed, momentarily frozen, questioning what he was seeing. What the hell just happened?

They both began scrambling just below the level of panic. Flipping switches, turning knobs, trying to get to backup power.

Owens found himself yelling. Everything’s dead. Everything.

They could feel the plane start to lose altitude, the beginning of a downward spiral.

Smith got on the radio. Dulles control tower. This is Flight 47 Miami Air. We’ve lost all power. Repeat. Lost all power.

The radio’s dead! Owens tried to remember the emergency procedures that he had learned in the flight simulators. Somewhere at the edge of his consciousness he realized that they were over the ellipse in Washington, DC and just beyond that the Washington Monument. Owens frantically gripped the yoke trying to get the plane headed out over the Potomac but realized it was futile.

The intercom keyed and they heard the voice of one of the stewardess’s coming through to the cockpit. Captain!  What’s happening?

Owens heard the terror in her voice and the screaming and yelling of the passengers. Everything seemed to go into slow motion, like a dream. He heard Smith still yelling into the dead radio, Mayday, Mayday!

He realized then that they were on an unavoidable collision course with the Washington Monument. A sudden peace enveloped him. The chaos something that was not a part of him. He relaxed and settled back into his seat, just watching.

He looked at his co-pilot. It’s okay Chuck. It’s going to be alright.

And then the white marble blocks of the Monument filled the windscreen, the plane striking with the force of a missile. There was a thunderous sound as the jet fuel ignited, quickly spreading red-orange flames along the sides of the obelisk. Fire and debris showered the ground like a rain storm from hell.  

The people on the ground saw the plane and had time to escape but those in the tower were incinerated along with the crew and passengers of Miami Air Flight 47.  

In addition to the resources of the District of Columbia emergency vehicles from neighboring Maryland and Virginia began pouring into the devastating scene of carnage.

Standing on the outer perimeter of the ellipse a tall, muscular man with a shaved head stood unemotionally watching the events. He had been there for an hour, waiting impassively as if he knew something was about to happen. When the plane impacted he began taking pictures with his cell phone then sent them to an international number. Removing the memory card from the phone he dropped