Mom had just finished a phone call and her face beamed with excitement.  Her face lit up and there was a huge smile on her face.  She seemed that she was going to jump with joy.  Suzanne had just invited our family to fly with her on their private jet to see my older brother, Cole, play baseball in San Diego.  We were just instructed to pack our bags and head for the airport now.  We arrived at the Allaire airport around 4:20 p.m. One of the perks of flying private is that there is no wait time!  You just get on the plane and go.  The flight was scheduled for 4:30, so we were just in time.  I’ve been on this plane before; it is an astonishing Gulfstream V, one of the premier, luxury planes on the market.  Because we have traveled with them quite a bit, I know the pilot Stewart very well and I was looking forward to seeing him.  On one trip, he actually let me be his co-pilot for a while!   As I was walking onto the plane into the c***pit to say hello to Stewart, a man in a uniform accidentally bumps into me.  “Excuse me,” he says with an odd grin.
“I’m sorry.” I replied.  He was wearing a pilot’s outfit.  Actually, it looked like Stewart’s exact blue jacket because of the pin on the lapel with the NY Giants logo.  I know that was Stewart’s jacket.  Why is he wearing Stewart’s jacket?  I gave it to him the first time I went on the plane.  Stewart is a diehard Giants fan as I am.  One time we talked for hours about Eli and Mike Strahan.  I walked to the couch to greet Mr. and Mrs. Cardiner.  “Mrs. Cardiner, that’s not Stewart.”  Mr. and Mrs. Cardiner are extremely wealthy people; Mr Cardiner made it big on Wall Street with his tech company in the late 90’s.  Their names are Suzanne and Jeffery.  I have known them since I was born because their son and I were born on the same day, three hours apart.  The fact that I was born on the same day with their child, Nicco, is just a coincidence.  That is not how my family knows them.  My family knows them because my mother worked with them while they built their company.  She was their banker and helped them with credit and investments and other financial needs.  Our families have known each other for a long time and we have been on numerous trips together since I was young.
“Yea, sorry sweetie that’s a new pilot, Stewart called in sick.”
“That stinks.”
“Yea, I know.  Hey, you know, there’s a seafood buffet over there?  Go have a bite with Nicco.” While Nicco and I were born on the same day, we have different interests; I am more sporty while Nicco is more into technology like his dad.  I wouldn’t be surprised because his father made all his money from developing software.  Although we have our differences we get along remarkably well.
“S’up Nicco, how ya been?”
“Pretty good, but I’m kinda bummed cause Stewart is not here.”
“Yea, me too. Anyways, wanna grab a bite to eat, your mom said there was seafood.” 
“Yea sure.”  We walked over to the bar and there were pounds of fish. I couldn’t wait to dig in. The seafood was imported from the Virgin Islands, fresh off the boat. Their chef always got fish from the Fulton Fish Market for special occasions. The crabs were as big as one of the pillows and lobsters as big as your arms. This whole plane was breathtaking not just because of the food; the seats were made of the finest, softest, Italian leather. They had couches as big as beds all over and flat screen TVs in every corner.  After my last bite of the shrimp, I was stuffed. I told Nicco I was going to take a nap.
As I plumped down on the reclining bed, the sun was shining directly in my eyes. It was reflecting off the wing of the plane.  At first I was annoyed but then all of a sudden I said to myself and I don’ t know why it struck me but, Wait a sec, I was thinking, shouldn’t the Sun be above us since we are going west?  The sun was behind us and that meant we must be heading south.  Am I delirious or is the sun actually behind us and we are going south?  I didn’t give it a second thought; maybe we were just turning because of the flight pattern.  I started to doze off.  I woke up in what seemed like two hours but in reality, but was only twenty minutes.  I felt a little better and I gazed out the window to see if we were flying above the clouds.  I loved the view of the sky; it was like a sea of white and blue pillows. I did notice however that the sun was still behind us to the right. The sun was definitely behind us; I knew it for sure.  Now I wanted to bring it to someone’s attention but didn’t want to look like a fool.  “Suzanne, I notice something and I’m not sure what it means,” I said hesitantly.
“What honey?, what?”
“hmmm, it appears that we are flying south, not west.”
“Chase, come here,” my mom explained, “Don’t embarrass yourself like that.  We are going west, the pilot knows what he is doing.”
“Wait Sher, I think he’s right,” Suzanne jumped in as she glanced out the window.  She told Jeff to open the compass on his phone. 
“It appears that we are going south.  It’s okay; we’ll just ask him why we are going south, that ‘s all.” 
As Suzanne reached up for the radio she said, “Excuse me, Paolo, are you there?” No one answered.  She asked again.  “Excuse me sir, are you there?” This time the tone of her voice went up and you could tell that she was getting frustrated.  She wanted to go up to the c***pit.  As she hurriedly walked up we were right behind her.  She knocked, “Hello, Hello!  I knew Suzanne’s tone; she was getting pissed.  I had witnessed her berate employees for poor service before.  It was silent.  We tried opening the c***pit.  It was locked!  Now everyone was confused and there was absolutely nothing to do.  They were all trying to think of ideas on how to contact the pilot.
Ding, Ding.  “Whose phone is ringing?” Dad asked.
“Oh mine,” Nicco replied, “It’s Paul.” Paul is the private butler for the Cardiners.  He has a strong English accent and is an absolute gentleman and caters to every need for the family.
“Master Nicco, I have been frantically trying to reach your father and mother.  I have received call from a man who says that they are holding you ransom for 50 million.  And if you do not wire them the money within two hours they will blow up the plane en route to Mexico.”
Now, everyone started to really panic.  It certainly explained why we were flying south.  Now Mr. Cardiner who had been quiet until now, started to speak.  “No questions; I will make arrangements with Paul to have the money wired as soon as possible.”  Nicco was upset, “No way, Dad; don’t give in to these people!”
  Forty minutes passed without a word.  Jeffery was busy making arrangements with Paul and his accountants.  No one had thought of an idea until Nicco screamed with excitement, “That’s it, I have an idea.”
“What’s the idea, Nicco?” Jeff asked.
“I will go onto my computer and try to hack into the c***pit controls.  I will try to make a circuit trip that will cause a spark and some smoke.  We can use this as a way to storm the c***pit.” 
“Don’t be silly Nicco,” his dad exclaimed.  “This isn’t a 007 movie and you’re not Q.”  
“I can do this dad; I know this plane better than anyone.”  I believed him.  Nicco had spent his summers either at MIT or robotics camp while everyone else was playing baseball and swimming.  For the next hour Nicco tried to hack into the system so that they wouldn’t have a ransom for 50 million.
“I’m done,” Nicco squealed, “Now all I have to do is hit this button and an electrical shortage will occur in the oxygen control tank and create a small fire which will cause the pilot to panic.  Hopefully, there will be enough smoke that he is forced to open the c***pit door!”
“Jeffrey, let him do it; what’s the risk?,” said Suzanne.  After a brief pause we could hear a commotion behind the door.  The pilot was mumbling and we could hear multiple buttons being pressed.  For safety reasons, the fire extinguisher was located outside the c***pit.  After about 15 seconds the pilot came rushing out, followed by a rush of black smoke.  He had no choice but to come out.  Nicco, Jeffrey and I jumped on him and tackled and pummeled him with all our might.  When I was done with him he had two black and blue eyes, his hands were trembling with blood and fear, he had a big scar across his chest, and his legs were aching with pain.  You could tell that I really wanted to hurt this guy.  Now the only problem was taking control of the plane.
Jeff ran to the c***pit and quickly reengaged the autopilot controls.  But there was one more thing – the bombs!  We frantically searched every inch of the plane that we could but couldn’t find anything.  We had no choice but to make an emergency landing.  We waited for Jeff to receive instructions from the nearest control tower so we could land the plane safely.  Because of the risk of explosion; we were directed to an open air field far away from any buildings or people.   For twenty minutes, we all held hands and prayed.  Every minute seemed like an hour; no one spoke.  There were silent sounds of sobbing like you would hear at a funeral for a close friend.  Finally, we heard the roar of the engine and the screech of the landing gear touching the ground.  We grinded for half a mile on thick gravel and mud until we came to an abrupt stop.  We had made it!  Awaiting outside the doors were emergency vehicles, firemen and paramedics rushing us away from the plane to safety.   We were gasping for air and were relieved.  Suzanne yelped, “Is everyone okay?”
“Yes, we are fine,” we all replied.
“That was scary,” I nervously whispered to Nicco; “You really did it.  I can’t believe it.  That was so freakin’ unbelievable.”