Fire In The Sky

A surface to air missile falls into the wrong hands, is launched by a civilian out on private boat, on a lark with his girlfriend, and brings down a Brazilian airliner on its way to Rio. Al-Qaeda takes responsibility for it, and a terror plot starts to unravel, with at its center, the President of the United States. A book with innocence, blackmail, murder, suspense and intrigue
A surface-to-air missile in private hands fires off a chain of events that leads to the uncovering of the world’s largest terror network, about to pull off the most unimaginable attack on the United States of America.
With one goal in mind - to turn it into the United States of Islam.
No one should have to fear their neighbor or getting on a plane for a business or pleasure trip. Yet, it’s possible both could kill you. There’s this scenario: In the late 90s, a group of terrorists were caught trying to bring surface-to-air-missiles into Newark International, arguably one of the country’s busiest airports. Now word in that some 20,000 SAMs have been ‘lost‘ in Libya, taken from unguarded Army warehouses.
ABC News describes the missing missiles as “four to six-feet long and Russian-made, they weigh just 55 pounds with launcher. They are accurate within a range of more than two miles. That a terrorist could sit on a boat off JFK airport and shoot down a passenger plane as it ascends could now be a real possibility.”
Senator Barbara Boxer, of the Senate’s Commerce, Energy, and Transportation Committee said that “matching up a terrorist with a shoulder-fired missile, that’s our worst nightmare.”
How can this be stopped? Unfortunately, it cannot. It is impossible to get people who have these to “turn them in.” People who would want these in the first place either want them for nefarious acts, or for resale on the black market.
There is still a swirl of speculation surrounding the crash of TWA 800 in 1996. One school believes the plane fell because of a center gas tank explosion. Another group, feels it exploded because of a missile strike. One scenario - the former one - is fixable. The second, unfortunately is not.
Oh, and as for your neighbor? There are those who would get one of these things and shoot it off like a firecracker to impress their friends. There’s no telling what damage could result from that, but the potential for unintentional murder is a powerful thought.
These are highly sophisticated, dangerous weapons, meant only for military use.
This is dedicated to the 230 souls who perished on July 17, 1996 when they were blown out of the sky on TWA’s Flight 800 over Long Island Sound.
While this is a work of fiction, unless many things are changed in the way we do things, this novel could become a horrid reality.
We pray that never happens.