"Tim LaHaye & Jerry Jenkins - Left Behind Series 1 - Left Behind" - читать интересную книгу автора (LaHaye Tim)

The executive next to Buck snored. Before drinking himself into oblivion soon after
takeoff, he had said something about a major meeting in Scotland. Would he be
surprised by the view upon landing!
All around Buck, people cried, prayed, and talked. Flight attendants offered snacks
and drinks, but few accepted. Having preferred an aisle seat for a little more
legroom, Buck was now glad he was partially hidden near the window. He removed
from his computer bag a tiny tool kit he had never expected to use, and went to
work on the phone.
Disappointed to find no modular connection even inside the housing, he decided to
play amateur electrician. These phone lines always have the same color wires, he
decided, so he opened his computer and cut the wire leading to the female
connector. Inside the phone, he cut the wire and sliced off the protective rubber
coating. Sure enough, the four inner wires from both computer and phone looked
identical. In a few minutes, he had spliced them together.
Buck tapped out a quick message to his executive editor, Steve Plank, in New York,
telling of his destination. “I will bang out all I know, and I'm sure this will be just
one of many similar stories. But at least this will be up to the minute, as it happens.
Whether it will be of any use, I don't know. The thought hits me, Steve, that you
may be among the missing. How would I know? You know my computer address.
Let me know you're still with us.”
He stored the note and set up his modem to send it to New York in the background,
while he was working on his own writing. At the top of the screen a status bar
flashed every twenty seconds, informing him that the connection to his ramp on the
information superhighway was busy. He kept working.
The senior flight attendant startled him several pages into his own reflections and
feelings. “What in the world are you doing?” she said, leaning in to stare at the mess
of wires leading from his laptop to the in-flight phone. “I can't let you do that.”
He glanced at her name tag. “Listen, beautiful Hattie, are we or are we not looking
at the end of the world as we know it?”
“Don't patronize me, sir. I can't let you sit here and vandalize airline property.”
“I'm not vandalizing it. I'm adapting it in an emergency. With this I can hopefully
make a connection where nothing else will work.”
“I can't let you do it.”
“Hattie, can I tell you something?”
“Only that you're going to put that phone back the way you found it.”
“I will.”
“Now.”
“No, I won't do that.”
“That's the only thing I want to hear.”
“I understand that, but please listen.”
The man next to Buck stared at him and then at Hattie. He swore, then used a pillow
to cover his right ear, pressing his left against the seat back.
Hattie grabbed a computer printout from her pocket and located Buck's name. “Mr.
Williams, I expect you to cooperate. I don't want to bother the pilot with this.”
Buck reached for her hand. She stiffened but didn't pull away. “Can we talk for just
a second?”
“I'm not going to change my mind, sir. Now please, I have a plane full of frightened
people.”
“Aren't you one of them?” He was still holding her hand.
She pursed her lips and nodded.