Excerpt of Headwind by John J. Nance

Gate 35, Athens International Airport, Greece -Monday -
2:00 P.M.

"Captain, I think you'd better get back here!"

The chief flight attendant said as she burst into the
cockpit. Captain Craig Dayton snapped his head around and
began reaching for his seat belt as soon as he saw the
worried expression on Jillian Walz's face.

"What's the matter?" Dayton asked, aware that his copilot
had shifted around in the right seat to look at her as
well.

Jillian shut the door and stood in the tiny space aft of
the center console, breathing hard and signaling him to
wait. She watched a police car pull up on the ramp of the
newly opened airport and stop in front of their Boeing
737, its blue lights flashing. Dayton followed her gaze
and spotted the patrol car.

"We're about to get in the middle of a diplomatic crisis,"
Jillian said. "The gate agent ..."

A voice on the overhead speakers cut her short. "Flight
forty-two, operations."

The copilot lifted his handheld microphone. "Go ahead,
ops."

"We will have to hold you at the gate for a while, forty-
two."

"Why?" the copilot asked sharply, noting the arrival of a
second police car on the ramp.

"Forty-two, there is an of official order ...ah ...wait,
please ..."

The microphone in the operations of office remained on
while urgent voices conferred in the background. "Ah ...we
will have to remove some of your passengers."

Jillian nodded rapidly, her words tumbling out. "Craig,
they're here to arrest President Harris!"

Craig Dayton clasped Jillian's right elbow as he searched
her eyes. "Slow down, Jillian, and tell me precisely
whatyou're talking about."

The day had started in Istanbul with the exciting news
that a former President of the United States would be
riding with them in first class through Athens to Rome.
Fresh from delivering a speech to an international
conference on hunger, President John B. Harris had come
aboard with an attractive young female aide and an
appropriately dour Secret Service agent, greeting the crew
warmly at the door and even sticking his head into the
cockpit to say hello. Impeccably groomed, and wearing a
well-tailored dark business suit that made him seem taller
than his five-foot-ten height, Harris had proven to be as
friendly and gracious as the Washington press corps had
always described him during his almost legendary single
term in office.

"Our agent ...gate agent ...I know her," Jillian was
saying. "She came down the jetway all upset and said the
Greek government has a warrant for his arrest."

"Why? What for?"

She shook her head, creating a moving blur of chestnut
hair. "She didn't know."

First Officer Alastair Chadwick whistled and inclined his
head toward the ramp, where a third and fourth police car
had parked, all with their top lights flashing
frantically. "Something's definitely up, mate."

"This is a foreign flagged airliner," Dayton said. "No
one's removing any passenger without my permission." He
motioned to Jillian to reopen the cockpit door as he moved
the captain's seat back on its tracks and prepared to get
up, filling the air with the aroma of peanuts as the
contents of an opened snack pouch scattered on the metal
floor.

"Damn."

"I'll take care of that," Jillian said..

The copilot caught his arm.

"Craig, you remember I'm a solicitor in my other life in
England, right?"

"Yes, I know," Craig said, his eyes on Jillian as she
stepped out.

"A little free legal advice, okay? You're an American
national with a European work visa, you're the master of a
German flagged airliner, and that airliner is currently
sitting on Greek concrete. You're not the U.S. ambassador.
They could arrest you for getting in the way."

The captain shook his head impatiently. "This is Greece,
Alastair. They've been civilized for at least a few ears
now. About two or three thousand, in fact."

"Craig?" Chadwick tightened his grip on the captain's arm,
and Dayton responded with irritation.

"WHAT?"

"Be careful, okay? I know he's your President, but you
can't protect him."

"No?" There was a flurry of movement as Craig Dayton
resumed the process of hauling himself out of the seat."
Just watch me!"