Wu thought about the visit to the Consulate yesterday, and wondered if the latest fire would help him in his rendezvous with Ford. He wondered if Liu actually considered a divert airport, an unscheduled landing, because of the fire? Wu slowed down the aircraft in the Descent checklist, but his mind was wondering, for sure. He worked the Landing Checklist with Liu and performed a number of different items inside the cockpit before lowering the gear and flaps, but was thinking hard now. How could we land someplace else… because when Ford comes, he will fly in Liu’s seat. Would Ford have to kill Liu to get him out of the seat or aircraft itself? Wu was a pilot, not a killer of a fellow innocent pilot. What Ford would have in mind? he thought.
“Good speed. Flaps 50 percent,” Wu announced.
Wu did not want to have to take out Liu. Maybe a gunshot wound? Maybe push him off the hotel balcony? Wu shook his head slightly, talking to himself in his mind, answering that those ideas wouldn’t work. He coughed a bit, but still maintained control of the aircraft in the descent.
“Sorry, yeah, good speed. Gear down,” Wu said, instructing Liu to put the handle down to lower the gear.
Wait a minute, Wu thought! Got it! He figured he had a pretty good idea brewing on what to do with the jet and how to get Ford on board. He simmered the idea some more, but was less than a minute from landing. Centerline was good, runway was clear. He repeated in his head… aim point, airspeed, aim point, airspeed.
Would this new idea work? he wondered.
“Cleared to land,” Liu announced over the intercom.
The Gulfstream Special Missions Service Center Program Office was the bulls-eye for modifying business jets. About 200 Gulfstream built aircraft supported government and militaries around the globe, including jets being flown for executive transportation, airborne early-warning systems, and even in support of open ocean coastal surveillance. Beginning nearly 50 years ago, Gulfstream had served all five branches of the U.S. military and other government agencies. From training astronauts to fly the space shuttle to special electronics/signals intelligence to target towing, Savannah has been part of it.
Gulfstream’s Special Missions Program Office was stocked full of program managers, engineers, and pilots, all with a unique understanding and expertise of solving the most demanding aircraft requirements. The highly skilled, experienced technicians for interiors, exteriors, avionics and heavy metal structures do detailed modifications to the aircraft, along with an extensive aerodynamic analysis and computational fluid dynamics to determine the proper placement of the modification. Reggie and the Savannah team took great pride in coordinating and designing aircraft modifications, as well as the install of their state-of-the-art equipment.
The U.S Army C-12 King Air taxied onto the ramp at the Fort Belvoir Army Air Field in Northern Virginia, and picked up Ford, Robert, Emily, and Mark for their trip to Savannah. Just to the southeast, and close to the airfield office, was the tarmac to drop and pick-up VIP passengers. The two Chief Warrant Officers wasted no time getting them on board for their two hour and 2 minute flight to the Savannah Airport in Georgia.
The quick flight to the south was uneventful, and the four of them napped nearly the entire way. The murmur of the two prop driven, turbine engines were at the right frequency to enable a quick snoozer, refreshing the DIA team for their upcoming meetings. Savannah Airport was shared by private business jets, the massive Gulfstream complex full of new hangars and ramps, the Georgia Air National Guard C-130’s, and commercial air traffic. The Warrant Officer pilots parked in front of Gulfstream Aerospace on the north end of the airport, just off Runway 1/19, and a nine-passenger, three row, blue and white golf cart pulled up greet them.
“Hey, y’all. Welcome to Gulfstream,” said Barbara ‘Babs’ Ferry, of the Gulfstream Customer Service team. Ford, Mark and Robert all noticed her pretty, long blonde hair, cute southern accent, tight blue Gulfstream polo, and a white mini-skirt. And curves. Babs looked to have more curves than a mountain road in the French Alps. Emily noticed the reaction from the boys on her team, more than anything. Ford was quick to look away, then whispered to Emily that he wasn’t looking.
“Sure you weren’t,” Emily replied back, knowing him better.
They all got into Babs’ golf cart and she drove them up to the customer service counter. Babs showed them inside where free snacks and cold drinks were served. There were meeting rooms available, showers, a small gym, computers and printers, a flight planning room, large leather seats and couches to relax in, and enough aviation and news magazines to fill a bookstore rack. There was also a whole wall of the Continental United States in aviation charts, from Seattle to Miami, showing all the highways of the air, called airways, from one coast to the other.
“Thank you, Babs. We appreciate your fine hospitality,” Mark said with a huge grin, knowing that Babs was hired there for a reason. The only thing Mark said to himself was no wonder Gulfstream is number one.
“Wish y’all could have been here last night. We had our weekly dinner out in town and all them boys came out. All them boy pilots are real nice. Had a real fun time, too,” Babs shared.
“Slag. I bet they did,” Emily said out loud.
Slag was another one of Emily’s British terms, this one meaning ‘promiscuous woman’.
“I’m sorry, sugah, what was that?” Babs asked, not hearing Emily’s snide remark.
“I said I bet everyone had a great time. Well, anyway… we are here to visit your Corporate Offices. Mr. Reggie…,” Emily started, then got cut off.
“Oh, my Lord. Oh, my. I had no idea you were here to see Mr. Reggie. I’ll call up there right now in a jiffy,” Babs said in her Georgia peach accent.
Mark and Robert both looked at each other and smiled. Emily stuck her finger into Ford’s rib cage, and made him laugh. “What?” Ford said laughing. They were all silently making fun of Babs, her hair, her accent, her outfit, and other parts of Babs, but she had no clue.
Babs walked them, red pump heels and all, over to the Corporate Office where Reggie’s personal assistant greeted them in a more business-like way. Wearing business attire, Ms. Linda Grey brought them into Reggie’s office, where they sat at his conference table inside his office. Linda shared with them that Reggie was still out on the manufacturing floor looking at paints and interior woodwork, and would be with them shortly.
They sat at an enormous wooden table, surrounded by attractive high backed black leather chairs. Reggie’s outsized office had an entire glass wall that faced the manufacturing floor, where the final assembly of Gulfstream jets in that hangar were visible. He also had a private bathroom, a separate couch and coffee table area, an entire wall bookcase full of books and mementos, in addition to an impressive line-up of hand-carved jet models on pedestals. Some of them were Gulfstream jets, and others were military aircraft, which must have been Mr. Reggie Bryant’s first career.