Under Suspicion - The Legend of D.B. Cooper

“Rick, come in, Rick, over,” Jim said into the radio. There was no answer. Jim’s voice filled the cockpit of the plane but Rick ignored it. His knuckles turned white as he gripped the yoke tightly. “Why are you still here?” he cried in the empty cockpit as the laughter filled his mind. “You’ve never followed me into the air before. Leave me alone.”

  “Rick! Please come down. You’re not going to jail. I promise. Everything is going to be fine,” the radio squawked.

  Rick couldn’t think. It was too loud, there were too many distractions. The laughter, the engines, the radio. They were all too loud. He needed to calm down. He told himself he needed to get a grip!

  Rick reached up and turned off the radio. Good, one distraction gone. “Now what do I do?” he asked himself. I can run! Fly to Canada, I don’t know, anywhere, he thought hopefully. No! That won’t work, he finally decided. Wherever he went, they’d catch him.

  Rick started to panic again and he began to talk to himself. “I’m going to jail!” His body shook and as the laughter filled his head he thought it would explode. “No! Everything is still too loud!” Rick reached over, pushed some buttons and the engines cut out. All he could hear was the air flowing past him. He let out a sigh of relief. That’s better, he thought.