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137 pages

English

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With his lift stuck in a rut, it took a breakup to make
Chris realised he had not been in control of his life
for the last forty years.
Now living the life he had spent so long dreaming about,
suddenly he was the prime suspect in a double murder
that he couldn’t have committed.
Should he stay to defend himself or spend the rest of his
life on the run, hoping that the police would someday find
evidence that pointed to someone else.

Sujets

Psychological

Thrillers

Fiction

Informations

Publié par	AuthorHouse UK
Date de parution	08 août 2021
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781665592253
Langue	English
Poids de l'ouvrage	1 Mo

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0250€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

FLIGHT FROM DUBAI

CHARLES LEMON

AuthorHouse™ UK
1663 Liberty Drive
Bloomington, IN 47403 USA
www.authorhouse.co.uk
Phone: UK TFN: 0800 0148641 (Toll Free inside the UK)
UK Local: (02) 0369 56322 (+44 20 3695 6322 from outside the UK)

© 2022 Charles Lemon. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 09/27/2022

ISBN: 978-1-6655-9226-0 (sc)
ISBN: 978-1-6655-9225-3 (e)

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.
Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.
Contents
Prologue
Book 1
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Book 2
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Prologue
The sound of the wind and the thud , thud , thud as the helicopter rotor blades spun round in full flow, cutting through the air, always got Chris excited; it made the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. Chris, at 13 years of age, loved attending these air shows with his dad. The smells of the barbecues and smoke from the grills wafted through the air as father and son made their way through the stalls that sold memorabilia and, for some reason, car parts. He never did understand that, but there seemed to be plenty of people buying.
When they finally got through the crowds and to the display area, he would stand and watch the helicopters, like the Lynx navy display team or the big yellow Sea King as it hovered impossibly a few hundred feet off the ground, like a giant bumblebee.
Everyone else seemed to be waiting for the fast jets that made you want to cover your ears and sent vibrations through your body as they ripped past. But he was eager for the arrival of the mechanical hummingbirds. His dad stood there too, a smile on his face, looking down at him and knowing exactly why he wanted to be there. Then the announcement came over the speaker telling everyone to look to the left of the runway as the navy helicopter display team flew in, always in close formation side by side. He always got goosebumps, completely in awe as he watched these wonderful machines, never taking his eyes off them.
he probably didn’t even blink. He tried not to miss a single thing as they flew around completing their performance. They were always in close formation, so close you thought their rotor blades would touch.
They flew in at full speed. Then the two helicopters would split away and head in opposite directions before turning around and heading towards each other at high speed. Then at the last second, they would both bank to their right as they crossed each other in front of the crowds— narrowly missing, or so it would seem from the ground.
He admired the pilots and their skills, the way they flew these great machines with such gracefulness. They made sure they were close enough to wow the crowds but not too close that they were in danger of colliding with each other.
Then the two helicopters after finishing their performances separately, would come back together and face to face and with such precision, they would dance in the sky together, like two ballroom dancers, facing each other as they slowly spun around. They would then fly side by side, flying backwards until the tails rose higher towards the sun and then hovering in a nose-down position, until gravity took over. Then the front of the helicopters would drop forwards, and they would continue their slow flight paths, running parallel with the crowds, giving everyone the opportunity to take their photos. They would then stop at the end of the crowd and fly slowly backwards before reaching the centre marker of the runway, where they would hover and turn towards the crowd and take a bow before they split and flew away in different directions, ending their display.
Sometimes, there would be aircraft that the public could get into, allowing them to sit in the pilot’s seat. The queues were always busy, and most of the time, these would be for the jet planes or Vulcan bombers. Once, he’d gotten the chance to sit in a Sea King helicopter. But being as short as he was, he couldn’t see out the windows. His dad had told him not to worry. If he ever got the chance to fly one, they would get him a booster seat. They had both laughed.
As Chris grew older, he still had the same reaction whenever he heard a helicopter flying overhead. Whether he was walking down the street or in his garden, he always stopped what he was doing to watch them. Standing there for ages, he would stare until they were just a speck on the horizon. He would imagine he was the one sitting in the cockpit with the controls in his hands. In his fantasy, he was the one wearing the white captain’s shirt, dark trousers, and dark sunglasses. His stomach ached, as he knew he would never be smart enough to join the RAF. He had thought he would never be able to find the money for flying lessons while working as a customer service administrator within a call centre, a job that barely paid his bills. He felt totally helpless, as he had no control over his life and how it was just passing him by.
Now, as an adult looking back on that time, Chris missed his dad, who had done so much for him. He realised that these trips to the air shows had been precious times together.
Nearly three decades after that first air show, as he sat in the captain seat of this Augusta 109a and listened to the rotor blades above his head, that little boy’s dream had come true. As he surveyed the skyline of skyscrapers and hotels throughout Dubai, he needed no booster seat to see out the windows.
The construction that had started around a decade ago had changed the face of this skyline beyond recognition, even in the short time he had been there. He wondered what his dad would have thought and whether he would have been proud of him.
He smiled as he sat in the pilot’s seat and slowly raised the collective, changing the rotors’ angle and the way the wind flows over and under them. As the wheels slowly lifted, the helicopter rose up from the helipad on top of the Burj Al Arab hotel, 212 metres above sea level. The sun was shining, and the sky was clear. His heart raced, not with fear but with joy, and he felt a big grin spreading across his face. Yes, pursuing this dream had been worth it.
To fly helicopters as a career, as a job—someone was paying him to wake up in the morning, excited to go to work and fly these magnificent machines every day. The fact it had taken him twenty-nine years was now irrelevant.
The cityscape was beautiful from up there, the perfect turquoise of the Persian Gulf to his left and the glint of the skyscrapers’ steel and glass ahead and to his right. Every day, they seemed to be a new architectural masterpiece being born from the Arabian sands.
He changed the heading and headed back to HQ with that same big smile. Having just dropped off his passengers, he was in this great machine on his own. He couldn’t have wiped that grin off his face even if someone had paid him.
Book 1
Chapter 1
Three years ago
Chris knew exactly when his life had changed—the moment when, at age forty, life had given him the jolt he needed to leave his disappointing life behind and launch himself towards his dreams.
Chris had come home from yet another long boring day at the dead-end job he hated so much. He could never understand why other people who worked there enjoyed it so much. He walked through the front door and hung his keys on the hook, and as he looked into the kitchen, he saw Becky sitting at the dining table.
“Just another day in paradise” he said as he walked into the kitchen.
Becky didn’t move or say anything for several seconds.
“I think I need a beer after today.”
“I’m leaving you,” Becky said
“In that case, I definitely need a beer” he joked, thinking she was as well.
Then he saw the engagement ring on the table next to her. She seemed so cold, like a stranger sitting in his home.
He felt empty, like someone had drained all the air from his lungs; he felt like he couldn’t breathe. He stood there. Had she said what he thought she had? Had he misheard her? But no; she stood up.
She’d been out with her friends on a Thursday evening the week before and had apparently met someone else—just like that.
Chris asked her, “How could she be so sure if you only just met this other man? Isn’t it easy to just think you want to be with someone when you first meet them, the excitement of that new relationship?”
She hadn’t answered that question, saying instead, “I’ve already packed my bags and put them in the car. So, there’s no reason for me to come back here anymore.” And with that,