Nightmare at Noon

By James Campbell

The reason the author wrote this book came from visiting air traffic control system at Milwaukee, Wisconsin, with a student. No one checked their identity; nor were there any security people present. The author went home at lunchtime and wrote the first ten pages, showing his concern of what just happened.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Jan 13, 2017
• ISBN: 9781635257144

James Campbell

James Campbell decided to be a writer when he was seven, once he had decided that he could not be a duck. James travels around primary schools telling stories and encouraging children to write their own stuff. He lives in an off-grid farm in a field between Colchester and Ipswich and is passionate about demystifying the importance of saving the planet for children - while making them laugh too!

Book preview

1

A light mist was falling as Derek Steele eased his six-foot-two frame behind the wheel of the rental town car at Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport and thought, It’s been six years since I’ve seen my brother Dan and his wife, Marsha. Can it already be 1998? Dan was thirty-six years old the last time I saw him. I won’t tell them that I am here in my official status yet. They think I’m here for a meeting with Georgia Pacific at the Majestic Hotel.

As he slid into light traffic on Howell Avenue, the wipers hummed on and off a tune clearing the windshield. He glanced into the mirror with those steel-gray eyes checking for anything unusual and thought, It’s a bit too early to drive out to Greendale to see Dan. it looks like Dodie’s is a good place for coffee. A quick left turn took him into the parking lot. His build, as he exited the car, belied his two hundred pounds packed on his six-foot-two frame with long, lean muscles as tough as a rodeo cowboy. He was not one to smile much, still, as the hostess showed him a table, his quick smile broadened over a strong chin and somehow gave an air of mystery to the slight scar under his left eye, which traveled over the damaged bridge on his nose. His mind did a double take when the waitress commented, Where’d you get that? He hadn’t ducked soon enough in the attempt on his life, but the man never saw nor felt the blow that crushed his windpipe. So much for the would-be assassin. What’s your special today? The waitress purred, You look like you could use some scrambled eggs, hash browns, bacon, and coffee. He remarked, That sounds perfect. Derek sat for a half-dozen minutes, thinking about this trip, waiting for the order to come. All the years have slipped by, and how he had missed Dan. Why have six years disappeared from the earth? Can anything be more important than family? They grew up together, literally. Dan, the younger, was much more philosophical and spiritual yet every bit a competitor. It is not unusual for the younger to lead out spiritually while trying to emulate the older brother. He and Derek carried on a friendly feud over the most baskets made throughout school. Derek, of course, had the advantage of being older and taller. Dan was proud of Derek when he graduated from the naval academy at Annapolis. All the years spent in Guatemala and South America for the CIA hardly prepared Derek for the shock of suspected terrorism closer to home. Twenty-five years, muses Derek, have passed since the academy. The years of hot and cold war had left him a bit uneasy about the real and phony threats to the security here at home. Many months ago, he had become aware of the lack of concern on the part of the establishment about such matters. Top brass is quick to point out that security is the best ever. After all, Flying Cloud Airport in Minneapolis, so small and insignificant that it is not even hooked up to municipal water and sewer, now has electric gates, even though they are never locked. Rock County Airport has fences and gates that require a code to enter. No commercial flights in or out, but the sheriff has a substation there for security. Squad cars are parked there day and night, but no officers on duty round the clock. All of this type security ought to prove to the public that everything is perfect. Derek thought more about terrorism as such. No final agenda, no ransoms in many cases of terrorism. Questions abound about Pan AM in Scotland, the basement bombing of Trade Center in New York, TWA 800, and Oklahoma federal building. It seems like the underlying goal is simply TERROR !

2

Matt Macaulay. Captain for FedEx on a Boeing 767 is a mixture of contradictions. At five feet nine, he was considered too small for the NFL, much like another. It didn’t matter that he was the all-conference quarterback for the Volunteers two years in a row. All his life, sports was the focus of who he was. The military became his outlet, which led to flying a tanker during Desert Storm. That’s quite a jump for the son of a tobacco farmer from Kentucky. Surely, his Scottish ancestors who had immigrated to Kentucky one hundred years ago would not have dared dream of such things. To live through a war without being shot at was unheard of by ancestors who had served with the Black Watch all the way through North Africa against Rommel. Matt was concerned about international unrest. His trips to steamy places like Bangkok, Jakarta, Taipei, Tokyo, and hot, arid Saudi Arabia increased his insight into a world that was poised on the verge of terrorism at almost any moment anywhere.

Matt was at the controls of Porky Pig, his name for 812 PAPA PAPA. This flight in from Tokyo would earn him a much-needed two weeks’ rest. All that remained before that vacation were a couple of short domestic flights to check out a new crew. He thought, Piece of cake, as his mind drifted to Lee, Alicia