LOTF: Before and After

Phase 2: Chapter 3

Back in Bainbridge, Georgia, the academy's President, retired army veteran Kenneth Stone, entered his office on the morning of September 6th just after 1015 hours. He was returning from the dining hall where he enjoyed breakfast with his staff team, as usual. He now pushed the voicemail button on his office's telecom phone as he sat down in his chair. The first message that played caused the blood to stop moving through the man's veins. He froze as he listened to the recorded words of the Air Traffic Controller from the Lawson Army Airfield, the ATC that was to be communicating with Johnathan Benson as he flew Unit 8 from Fort Benning, GA to Menwith Hill, England. What haulted President Stone's blood was that the plane had dropped off the radar just over three hours before they were scheduled to land at Menwith Hill Station. The ATC team had spent the past couple hours trying to make contact with and locate the plane, to no avail. All that was definitive was that Benson last checked in at 0721 hours, and at 0757, the plane disappeared; just like that.

After spending twenty minutes on the phone with the ATC, President Stone brought Head Officer Ronald Bailey, the Direct for Business Operations, the Commandant of Cadets, the Deputy Director for Transportation and Security, then the boys' JROTC instructors and classroom teachers in to inform them of the situation. By the end of the school day, every staff member at Bainbridge Military Academy knew that something had gone wrong on that flight. President Stone and Officer Bailey worked together to contact Menwith Hill Station's headmaster for the International Military School Training Program, who confirmed that the boys had never arrived. The academy then got in touch with the military and government in hopes of getting more detailed tracking information on the plane. The radar tracked them on route and on schedule for the first five and a half hours of the flight, and then all of a sudden, the plane simply disappeared from the monitor. There were only three hours left in the flight, and they would've been somewhere over the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean when contact was lost.

Two days after the plane disappeared, Head Officer Bailey sat in his office at Bainbridge Military Academy compiling a list of all the Unit 8 boys. He then began pulling their emergency contact information when a knock came at his door.

"Officer Bailey, sir?"

The man looked up from his desk and saw little Dylan Mirren of Unit 7 standing in front of him, a pained look on his face.

"What is it, Dylan? I'm up to my knees in work right now" he replied flatly. None of the boys back at the academy had any idea yet that the Unit 8 squadron hadn't made it to England.

"I have a concern I'd like to address with you, sir" he said softly as his hands shook by his sides.

"Can it wait? I am dealing with matters of great importance, my job doesn't do itself, you know" Bailey insisted.

"No sir, it can't" Dylan spoke bravely.

The man met the boy's eyes and could physically see the worry seeping through him. He gestured for Dylan to sit down in one of the chairs parked in front of his desk.

"I'm worried about Simon" Dylan confessed.

"Simon?" the man questioned. He wasn't familiar with the shy, quiet boy who tended to stay out of trouble and keep to himself.

"Simon Bennett. 6th Grade. Unit 8."

Officer Bailey lifted his head from the computer on his desk to meet Dylan's eyes again. His mention of Unit 8 had certainly gotten the officer's attention, although Dylan didn't know that or why.

"I know it sounds stupid but he promised me he'd call as soon as they got to Menwith Hill Station. I know that they're busy with training and everything, but Simon is one of my best friends and has been for years. He's never broken a promise before. Not once. I know you probably don't understa—"