Ice tinkled against glass as he lifted his drink. No, stop! It won’t help. Be strong. Keep your mind clear. He set the drink down without tasting it. Still, the images of the crash haunted him and guilt crept into a frightened corner of his heart. Fifteen people dead. In the days that had followed since the Heathrow crash, he’d gone online, scrutinizing every news report he could find, examining every image, absorbing every published detail. Speculation in the British press on the cause had ruled out a terrorist act, pointing instead to a double engine failure, even though such occurrences were rare. Some reports referred to an earlier incident—the crash landing of a Shanghai-to-London charter jetliner at Heathrow sixteen months ago. In that case, ice buildup had choked fuel flow to both engines on landing, resulting in loss of power. Dozens had been injured, but no one killed.
