CHAPTER THIRTY ONE
7:50 a.m.
Somewhere in the Sky, United States
The F-18 Super Hornet screamed across the sky.
Luke slumped in the rear seat, usually reserved for the weapons system officer. He was fitted with a helmet, a flight suit, a g-suit, and on top of that a parachute harness and a survival vest. Inside the cone of the fighter jet, the sky was wide open all around him. He glanced at the instrumentation just in front of his knees. They were traveling just under 1,000 miles per hour.
The pilot was a lieutenant, a guy named Reginald Maxwell. People called him Max. As in Mad Max, and Max Airspeed. His voice came over the intercom.
“You feel all right back there? I usually get more from guests.”
“More what?” Luke said.
“I don’t know. Excitement… War whoops. Terror. Sometimes peo
