Rickards had studied hundreds of hijacking scenarios during his career, from planes to ships to virtually any form of public transportation—exactly as every other investigator in the NTSB had.

But it was never that cut and dried.  Or almost never.

Usually, the situation devolved into chaos when the action began, especially in tight quarters where hundreds of variables could change the outcome.

For Rickards’ part, he knew the blows from the heavy, oversized bottle would have to be single strikes, hard and fast, enough to neutralize an attacker in one fell swoop.  There would simply not be time for another swing—not before the others reached the back of the plane.

And he did make each hit count.  All three, in fact, starting with the gunman and then followed by the next two.

Enough, in the end, to even the odds.

However, the greatest asset without question was the marshal, who was not just aboard the plane, but who also had a great deal of training and instinct.  Immediate and sure, he acted without hesitation, especially after watching two of the hijackers himself.

Things just didn’t go that smoothly.

Even more to Rickards’ surprise was the lack of hesitation exercised by the marshal in knocking the last two men unconscious.  None whatsoever.  He clubbed them both with the bottle and enabled all five to be bound and gagged with zero resistance.

And with the help of the male flight attendant, all five were quickly and individually hauled up the secret flight of stairs to the aft crew rest compartment or CRC, which was sleeping quarters for the plane’s crew during unusually long flights.  These were compartments most flying passengers never knew about.

In the CRC, all five assailants were laid out on narrow beds with both hands and feet firmly secured.  Rags were stuffed in each of their mouths.  The marshal, watching over them, left Rickards with the distinct impression that he would lose no sleep at all if some of the men accidentally suffocated.

And yet, the true miracle was that only a few passengers witnessed the event, at least before being immediately silenced by the crew, two of whom were given Valium and strict instructions before being guided back to their seats several minutes later.

There was, of course, a stirring amongst the passengers until a flight attendant explained over the loudspeaker that someone had fainted at the rear of the plane, requiring brief medical attention.  But fortunately all was well, and the passenger was in good condition.  There was no mention of just who the passenger was, of course, and in the distraction, few remembered to notice the five seats remaining empty until touchdown.

For his part, Joe Rickards returned to find both Angela and Townsend awake, looking around along with many of the others.

“Did you see what happened?” Angela asked.