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

“Wouldn't you like to make contact with someone? If this works, I can reach people
who can make phone calls for you, let your family know you're all right, even get a
message back to you. I haven't destroyed anything, and I promise I can put it back
the way I found it.”
“You can?”
“I can.”
“And you'd help me?”
“Anything. Give me some names and phone numbers. I'll send them in with what
I'm trying to upload to New York, and I'll insist that someone make the calls for you
and report back to me. I can't guarantee I'll get through or that if I do they'll get back
to me, but I will try.”
“I'd be grateful.”
“And can you protect me from other overly zealous flight attendants?”
Hattie managed a smile. “They might all want your help.”
“This is a long shot as it is. Just keep everybody away from me, and let me keep
trying.”
“Deal,” she said, but she looked troubled.
“Hattie, you're doing the right thing,” he said. “It's OK in a situation like this to
think of yourself a little. That's what I'm doing.”
“But everybody's in the same boat, sir. And I have responsibilities.”
“You have to admit, when people disappear, some rules go out the window.”


Rayford Steele sat ashen faced in the cockpit. Half an hour from touchdown in
Chicago, he had told the passengers everything he knew. The simultaneous
disappearance of millions all over the globe had resulted in chaos far beyond
imagination. He complimented everyone on remaining calm and avoiding hysterics,
although he had received reports of doctors on board who handed out Valium like
candy.
Rayford had been forthright, the only way he knew to be. He realized he had told
the people more than he might have if he'd lost an engine or his hydraulics or even
his landing gear. He had been frank with them that those who had not had loved
ones disappear might get home to discover that they had been victims of the many
tragedies that had ensued.
He thought, but didn't say, how grateful he was to have been in the air when this
event had taken place. What confusion must await them on the ground! Here, in a
literal sense, they were above it all. They had been affected, of course. People were
missing from everywhere. But except for the staff shortage caused by the
disappearance of three crew members, the passengers didn't suffer the way they
might have had they been in traffic or if he and Christopher had been among those
who had disappeared.
As he settled into a holding pattern miles from O'Hare, the full impact of the
tragedy began to come into view. Flights from all over the country were being
rerouted to Chicago. Planes were reorganized based on their fuel supplies. Rayford
needed to stay in priority position after flying across the eastern seaboard and then
over the Atlantic before turning back. It was not Rayford's practice to communicate
with ground control until after he landed, but now the air-traffic control tower was
recommending it. He was informed that visibility was excellent, despite intermittent
smoke from wreckages on the ground, but that landing would be risky and
precarious because the two open runways were crowded with jets. They lined either