KarenBrandin

STORY STATEMENT: 

Air Force fighter pilot Captain Beth “Mustang” Ford chases her dream of becoming an AF

Thunderbird pilot as she tries to live up to her legendary grandmother, and be successful in her own right, while battling some of the same sexist obstacles her grandmother did during her career. Female pilots, past and present, must be twice as good as their male peers to be seen as half as good.

ANTAGONIST/ANTAGONISTIC FORCE:

Major Garth “Vader” Lane Beth’s squadron commander at her first assignment. An Instructor Pilot (IP) during Beth’s F-16 training, he hates Beth and does all he can to ruin her career as she was instrumental in the loss of his IP job. Doesn’t conceals the fact that he thinks women should be relegated to ferrying aircraft versus flying in fighter aircraft. Large framed for a fighter pilot, he frequently uses his physical size to intimidate women and verbally abuses them to discourage women from staying in the Air Force in anything but an administrative capacity. The culture during the grandmother’s career was blatant sexual harassment, verbal and physical, which was largely ignored. The same culture exists to some degree, but has gone “underground” and relates more to prejudice against female pilots continuing to fly if pregnant or after they become mothers.

TITLE:

Twice As Good

COMPARABLES: 

Difficult. Many non-fiction, including memoirs, have been published about the trials women have faced in the military, “Twice As Good” is a fictional combination of a modern female fighter pilot navigating sexual harassment and discrimination while living up to family expectations (grandmother-granddaughter relationship). I found nothing like this concept. 

LOGLINE:

Air Force fighter pilot Captain Beth “Mustang” Ford fights sexual discrimination and harassment as she chases her dream of becoming a Thunderbird pilot while trying to live up to the expectations of her legendary grandmother.

PROTAGONIST’S INNER CONFLICT

Every day is a struggle to maintain confidence in her abilities in the face of daily sexual harassment and discrimination, both blatant and subtle.

EXAMPLE SCENARIO:  During a training flight, a substitute male instructor pilot tells Beth she’ll never be an instructor, or Thunderbird pilot; that the only reason she got into pilot training was because of her family’s influence. He throws jibes at her throughout the flight, including stating that if she does graduate from F-16 training it will be because she’s banging her instructor – untrue, but a common accusation encountered by female pilots.

SECONDARY CONFLICT

Beth and her grandmother, one of the first females accepted to the Air Force Academy and an outstanding instructor pilot, have always had an uneasy relationship. Raised by her father and grandparents after her mother’s death when she was eight, she always felt the need to be perfect in everything, like her grandmother. Discipline was required in the grandparents household for both Beth and her brother Simon throughout their childhood. Expectations have always been high as the siblings made their way through childhood and into their professions.

Her life is further complicated when her two past loves show up, and try to become a permanent part of her future. When her dreams come true, only one of the men in her life supports her achievements. Pressured to choose between love and children, or flying, both grandmother in the past and granddaughter in the present must be twice as good to accomplish both, as they prove day after day they are equal to their male peers.

HYPOTHETICAL SCENARIO:    

Beth declares an in-flight emergency when a bird strike renders her instructor unconscious and damages her F-16. Beth flashes back to her grandmother’s stories of aircraft emergencies, but must block out her feelings of inadequacy to focus on landing the plane. Her training kicks in and she successfully lands on a foamed runway, saving her instructor and herself. Most peers celebrate her extraordinary piloting skills but as always, there are those who call it luck.

SETTINGS: 

-  “Oh, I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth, And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings.” Flying sequences in the skies.

-  Luke Air Force Base (AFB), AZ F-16 training base and range, both in the air and on the ground. Interior and exterior cockpits of aircraft. The tarmac and hangers on the ground.

-  Nellis AFB, NV:  Beth’s first assignment after training. Off duty socializing is in the bars of Vegas and physical competitions in nearby hills.

-  Forward Operating Base in wartime. American has been sucked into Middle East conflict where Beth, and her peers, get combat experience, including dealing with losses.

-  18^th Aggressors Squadron, Eielson AFB, AK:  Beth uses her combat experience to fly as an aggressor against AF units to provide experience to other pilots. Dealing with the extreme cold is a major obstacle for all, but when Beth and two friends are stranded in a freak snowstorm her leadership and cold weather survival skills save their lives.  

-  Nellis AFB, NV, Thunderbird training:  Beth achieves her dream of becoming a Thunderbird pilot. All Thunderbirds have a two-year assignment travelling to many bases and civilian airports as ambassadors for the AF. After the assignment Beth realizes she has chased the wrong dream and returns home to the Upper Peninsula (UP) of Michigan to teach flying and follow in her Grandfather’s bush pilot footsteps.

Flashback settings:

-  Small flight school in Michigan’s UP owned and run by her fraternal grandfather, “Pops”, who famously “runs the rivers” flying below tree lines. He taught teenage Beth to be a daring pilot.

-  The United States Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs, CO:  Grandmother’s trials as a member of the first class with female cadets in 1980, as well as Beth’s experiences there decades later. The Academy is set in the beautiful Rockies, where upperclass cadets ski, hike and run in the mountains. Parachuting and glider training are available to cadets – Beth is chosen for glider training.

2021 Algonkian Pre-conference assignments:

 

#1, Write Your Story Statement:

 

            Solve two murders, one in present day and one 85 years ago, that are somehow connected to the same WWII plane.  

 

#2, 200 words or less, sketch the antagonist or antagonistic force in your story. Keep in mind their goals, their background, and the ways they react to the world about them.

There are two antagonists working together.  One is seen as a suspect, but the other one works behind the scenes.  Their goal is a cache of items hidden on a WWII plane, including: jewels; a map to lost Nazi loot; and a list of names of women who were impregnated by Hitler in his last days.  Hitler’s progeny, and their descendents, would be seen as Nazi royalty that would then lead a takeover of the U.S Government.  

They murder in the opening scenes, and make several attempts to murder/injure the protagonist to get her out of the investigation.  Both of the antagonists are intelligent and disciplined.  The main antagonist is charming, but the protagonist senses it’s not genuine.  The hidden antagonist is a perky extrovert on the outside, but a psychopath on the inside.  She cares nothing for anyone, including her partner.  During the whole book the protagonist believes that her husband’s parachuting accident was murder, and in the final scene, she’s proven right when the hidden antagonist gloats about the fact that she rigged the husband’s parachute and got away with it.  She laughs that she enjoyed ruining the protagonist’s perfect life and watching her grief. 

 

#3, Breakout title:

 

            1.  Angle of Attack

            2.  Diamonds in the Sky

            3.  The Last Flight

 

#4, Comparables:

 

1.  Mercy and Elvis mysteries by Paula Munier:  (A Borrowing of Bones (Book 1); Blind Search (Book 2); and The Hiding Place (Book 3).   

The protagonist, Nicole, is ex-military, like Mercy, but Nicole does not have a service dog.  Both Mercy and Nicole are overcoming the trauma of losing their husband/partner to violence.

2.  Rachel Hatch thrillers/mysteries by L. T. Ryan and Brian Shea:  Drift (Book 1 in the series) and Aftershock (Book 7 in the series.)  Nicole investigates her husband’s death while as Rachel searched for the killer of her sister.  The cases are hampered by the fact that everyone else thinks the deaths were not murders, but accidents.  Both women are ex-military.   
 

 

#5, Hook line/Log line: 

 

While being hunted herself, former Air Force security officer Nicole Burnette must stop a murderer killing their way to a secret cache on a WWII plane, or America may not remain the Land of the Free.

 

#6, Conditions for the inner conflict your protagonist will have.

 Next, likewise sketch a hypothetical scenario for the "secondary conflict" involving the social environment.

1.  The protagonist, Nicole, saw her husband die in a parachuting accident, which she believes to have been a murder.  All the dark feelings of loss come back, as she has to notify the widow of the murdered modern-day victim that her husband was also murdered.  Nicole knew the victim, and his widow, as the victim worked for Nicole a couple of years ago.  Only Nicole’s professionalism and military training keep her from sobbing along with the widow.  When the widow begs Nicole to find the killer, she says yes even though she’s no longer an Air Force Security Forces Commander.

 

2.  Her brother-in-law, who is also her next-door neighbor, goes missing on deployment along with the rest of his unit.  Nicole’s coping skills are tested as this event is layered onto the murder investigation, in addition to the attacks on her, which have occurred over the last few days. She only has two more days to find the murderer before the VIP suspects leave the area.  Now, in the midst of the investigation, she must keep her nephew and is Mother calm, while dealing with her own anxiety over the possible loss of her dead husband’s brother.

 

#7, Scenes:

 

Scene by scene for Angle of Attack:

Timeline:  Chapter 1 - Event 10 months ago; Chapter 2 forward - Wednesday night (first murder) to Sunday

 

ACT 1

 

1.  Chapter 1:  Horrible things happen on beautiful, sunny days.  It’s a blue-skied, sunny day at Greene County airport.  Spectators on the ground are watching a group of skydivers.  Nicole Burnette, a former Air Force Security Forces Commander and aerobatic pilot is among the small crowd.  One by one the parachutes open – until one doesn’t.  Nicole realizes it’s her husband Thomas’s parachute.  She’s running toward him before he even gets to the ground.  Nicole begins CPR, even though it’s obvious to everyone there that he’s gone.  When the EMTs arrive, she steps back, blood smeared on her face from her attempts to revive him.  Almost immediately, the EMTs pronounce Thomas dead.  She says nothing, just starts walking to the hanger for Thomas’s things.  Friends won’t let her drive.  She says nothing as a close friend drives her home.  Thomas’s death is declared an accident, but Nicole knows that Thomas, a master skydiver, would not have made a mistake packing his chute.  Her instincts tell her it’s murder.

 

TEN MONTHS LATER, ON A THURSDAY MORNING:

2.  It’s early morning at Nicole’s house where she’s on her deck, looking out toward the runway that sits between two rows of houses at the airpark.  She’s just finished a workout with her five-year-old nephew Nico, her namesake, when she gets a call from the Base.  There is an emergency at the National Museum of the U.S Air Force’s (NMUSAF) Annex on Wright- Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio, where she works.  Her nephew walks back to his house next door as Nicole gets ready for the day.  When she pulls out of her garage, she looks over at her plane parked on the far side and decides to do a night flight later.

 

3.  Before heading to the Annex, Nicole stops at the end of her long driveway to check her mail.  A rattlesnake shoots out of the mailbox.  She manages to not get bitten, and it slithers into the brush before she can kill it.  She sends Nico’s Mom a text to keep him away from the front of their shared property, and tells her why.  As she drives to the Base she tries to figure out who would have put the snake there.  She has no idea who she’s ticked off enough to want her dead, or at least injured. 

 

INCITING INCIDENT

4.  Nicole drives to the huge aircraft hangar used by the NMUSAF for former Presidential aircraft, and is told there’s been a murder.  She knows the victim – he used to work for her when she commanded the Security Forces.   Her friend J, an OSI agent, asks her to help with the investigation, which the museum security chief, Ryan Jeffries, doesn’t like.  He says she’s an amateur.  Nicole agrees to help because she knows the victim and his family.

 

5.  J and Nicole walk over to the office area of the hangar to talk with Doris, Nicole’s godmother.  Nicole says, just like 9/11, another horrible event on a beautiful sunny day.  Doris says she’s being superstitious.  Doris introduces Nicole to Beckett Jamison, a Flight Surgeon, who examined the body before the techs got there.  Doris wants to fix up Nicole with Beckett.  The surgeon is interested but knows she’s a widow and may still be grieving.

 

6.  Beckett leaves and J finds out that Doris worked late last night.  Nicole is happy that Doris left before the murder occurred so that she wasn’t hurt.  It comes out that Doris keeps a .357 Magnum, which she calls “Tommy” after the actor Tom Selleck, in her trunk even when on the Base, which is against regulations.  Jeffries overhears that and wonders if Doris did it, but keeps that to himself.  J gently tells Doris that when she gets home to take the gun out of her vehicle, and never bring it on the Base again.  Unhappy, Doris agrees and stomps outside.  As she passes Jeffries, she says hello Dipstick, her pet name for him.  J is upset at Nicole because she probably knew about her Godmother having the gun on Base.

 

7.  J’s partner Brown walks up and tells them that it looks like someone was trying to get into the B-17, the Champagne Lady, but were unsuccessful.  The two Security Forces (SF) patrolmen did a routine check on the Museum Annex and interrupted the murderer.  One troop was killed and the other one is in the hospital unconscious from a gunshot.  Brown expresses his condolences to Nicole as he hasn’t seen her since her husband passed.  Although she tries to keep the grief from her face, J sees it.  J, Nicole and Jeffries are told to report to the Director of the NMUSAF.  As J and Nicole walk toward the open hangar doors, he talks to Nicole about seeing a therapist to help her deal with her grief.  He tells her that she has to accept that Thomas’s death was an accident.  Nicole states that Thomas was murdered and that she’ll never stop trying to prove it. 

8.  Nicole, Jeffries and J arrive at the main Museum to brief Director Burch on the investigation progress.  The Museum is filled with both U.S. and international visitors. Nicole and J walk through the Lobby and past several entrances to the various Museum wings before getting to Director Burch’s office.  He has worked with Nicole in her past life as an SF Commander, and overrules Jeffries when he wants Nicole out of the investigation.  Nicole knows that Jeffries will do everything he can to keep her in the dark as the investigation progresses.  Jeffries’ attitude doesn’t matter to her, as J will keep her informed. 

 

9.  Jeffries goes to his office to pull lists of museum employees for the interviews that afternoon.  J walks Nicole to the Museum’s Public Affairs (PA) office.  On the way they talk about the American Nazi rally that was in downtown Dayton the weekend before, and that there’s going to be a bigger one this coming weekend.   Given the WWII veterans and their families attending the donation of the Champagne Lady this weekend, Nicole is concerned they’ll be upset by the rally.

 

10.  J leaves, while Nicole goes into the PA office to talk with her friend, Shelly, who is in charge of publicity for the Museum.  She says that the VIP guests arrived the day before and were given access to the Base early.  Shelly asks Nicole if she’s packed up Thomas’s stuff yet?  She says it’s past time to do so, since it’s been almost a year since Thomas died.  Nicole gets visibly upset, and stares at Shelly.  After shaking her head no, she says she’ll see Shelly at the luncheon and walks out.

 

11.  On her way to her car Nicole texts J and Jeffries that the VIPs are suspects because they were given Base access the day before.  So, any of them could have gone to the Annex and committed the murder.  Museum employees and Base personnel are thought to be the most likely  suspects.

 

12. Nicole goes back to the Annex where the OSI is finishing up.  The SF Commander Harmon, and the Chaplain, ask her to go with them to make the official notification of the SF troop’s death to his widow, since Nicole knows the family.  Dreading the notification, but always feeling responsible for her troops, even though she no longer commands them, she says yes, and that she’ll drive separately.

 

PLOT POINT ONE

 

13.  They arrive at the house of the victim’s wife, who breaks down as soon as she sees the Chaplain, Scott and Nicole at her door.  All military spouses know what it means when a notification team shows up at the door.  Nicole comforts the widow, who asks Nicole to find the killer.  Nicole replies that she’ll do everything possible to put the murderer in a box.  Commander Harmon and Nicole leave when a few of the widow’s friends and neighbors arrive to be with the widow.

 

14.  As they walk out it becomes obvious that Harmon is interested in Nicole, but she’s oblivious to his interest.  She hasn’t let Thomas go yet.  Harmon asks if there are any suspects in the investigation yet.  Nicole tells him no, but that the OSI begins the interviews this afternoon.  She gets uncomfortable when he gets her to agree to take him on a flight that night.  They arrange to meet at her house at 5:30p.m.  Nicole leaves, upset at herself for saying yes to the company on the flight.

 

THURSDAY MIDDAY:

 

15.  Nicole arrives back at the museum for the VIP luncheon.  Nicole meets the VIPs for the first time while socializing with them before and during lunch.  A couple of them stick out as possible suspects, including an obnoxious family, the Staffords.  On the other hand, Nicole immediately likes the Hertenstein family, especially the Patriarch Al, who was a member of the Lady’s crew.

 

16.  Nicole, Jeffries, Brown and J interview all of the VIPs and the museum workers.  A couple of the VIPs mention that before they flew out of Germany they were interviewed because of a murder, and that this feels just like that.  The body was near the Lady, and they were also questioned about some jewels.  One in particular, called the Bavarian Star, seemed to be the focus of the questions.  Although it seems unlikely, Nicole suspects there may be a connection between the old murder and the current one.  History repeating itself?  Jeffries says that is idiotic, that it’s probably just teenagers.  J says, with a gun on the Base?

 

17.  Nicole, J and Jeffries discuss the interviews and whittle it down to a few suspects from the VIPs, but none of the museum employees stand out.  The VIPs are prime suspects since the plane has been at the Annex for a week with no issues until the VIPs arrive in town for the donation of the plane to the Museum.  Nicole and J only have three days to catch the murderer before the VIPs leave town on Sunday afternoon.

 

18.  A rattlesnake slithers down Nicole’s arm when she gets in her car to leave for home.  As the snake coils up in the front passenger seat, she’s barely able to push her car alarm.  J and his partner Brown hear it and run over to her car.  They see the snake inside, get it out and find another one in the glovebox when they check the rest of Nicole’s SUV.  Additional SF patrol cars show up on a report of shots fired, after J shoots the snakes.  J wants Nicole to have protection, but she refuses, as she thinks she can take care of herself.  They think there is some connection to the break-in and murder, but don’t see what it could be.  She thanks J and Brown for keeping her from being snakebit and heads out for home.

 

THURSDAY NIGHT:

 

18.  Nicole stops over to get her nephew and tells her sister-in-law, Indigo, about the murder.  When she takes Nico to her house Harmon is there.  The three of them do a pre-flight check on Nicole’s plane and then takeoff on the runway behind the house to go to Grimes Field for dinner.  The half hour flight to Grimes gives Harmon a chance to get to know Nico a little.  By the time they land at Grimes, Nico is bragging about his aunt’s flying skills.

 

19.  When they arrive at the Grimes Field Café, they join experts from the WWII museum there.  Nicole tells them about the Annex break-in, murder and asks them what someone would be after on the Lady.  They all start talking over each other, giving opinions.  One member of the group is a WWII history buff and says he’ll check with his friends at the National Archives for information on the murder near the Lady during WWII.  During the conversation it’s mentioned that the plane will go into the restoration section of the museum and be taken apart starting Monday.  Nicole realizes the murderer has a deadline to retrieve what they’re looking for on the plane. 

22.  When they arrive back at home, Nicole takes her nephew to his house while Harmon waits on Nicole’s deck.  She finds out that her brother-in-law, who is deployed, called via video chat.  He says might not be able to call for several days but not to be concerned.  Nico is disappointed that he missed his Dad’s video chat.   Before Harmon leaves, he makes it clear that he’s romantically interested in Nicole.  He hints at a second date, but Nicole remains noncommittal. 

After Harmon leaves, Nicole relives memories of her marriage to Thomas.  Looking at his picture on the night stand, grief overcomes her.   She sobs until sleep comes.

 

FRIDAY MORNING:

 

23.  J calls Nicole early to let her know there was another break-in.   Jeffries was hit over the head, but he refused medical treatment.  This time the murderer got into the plane.   Nicole arrives at the annex to see swastikas spray painted on the fuselage and on the underside of the wings.  J, Jeffries and Nicole look at the inside of the plane but don’t see anything broken, etc.  Given the American Nazi Party gathering in nearby Dayton coming up this weekend, Nicole and J think it’s likely that group is somehow connected to the murder and break-ins.  They discuss the fact that if the murderer is a VIP most of them will lose access to the Base on Monday.  So, the VIPs only have the weekend to get whatever it is they want off the plane. 

 

24.  Nicole heads to the museum to help escort the VIPs to the replicas of the Wright Brother hangers at Huffman Prairie on a different part of the Base.  While on the bus ride to the hangers Nicole is able to talk to many of the VIPs.  So far, only two stand out as possible murderers:  the obnoxious Stafford family; and Charles Peterson.  As people leave the buses, Shelly reminds everyone not to go too far out into the grass because of the massasauga rattlesnake population there.  Nicole tells her about the snake in her mailbox.  Shelly says that she’s not afraid of snakes, but hates spiders.  She asks Nicole if she reported it to the police.  Nicole says no.

 

25.  The tour moves to the Wright Bicycle Shop and downtown Dayton where they see swastikas put on buildings during the Nazis rally the previous weekend.  VIPs are angry to see that, saying they beat the Nazis once and they can’t believe Nazis are in the U.S.  Nicole doesn’t tell them that swastikas were painted on the Lady.  They end the tour with lunch at the historic Engineers Club on the river in Dayton.  The engineering accomplishments of Daytonians are discussed, along with the 1913 flood.  During lunch Nicole gets a sense of who has a solid alibi and who is a viable suspect.  Several of the VIPs say they want to go to the American Nazi march on Saturday so they can tell people what being under Nazi rule is really like.  Nicole and Shelly try to talk them out of it.

 

26.  Nicole drives back to the Museum with Doris.  They discuss all of the VIPs and their families.  Doris asks how Nicole’s date with Harmon went, which annoys Nicole.  She denies it was a date and says good-bye as soon as they’re in the Museum parking lot.  As she’s walking back to her vehicle, she notices that she has five missed calls from Indigo.  When she calls back Indigo is crying and just says “come home”, then hangs up.

 

27.  When she gets home, Indigo tells Nicole she was notified that her husband Chip’s unit is missing.  Nicole comforts her, but doesn’t let Indigo know that if they’ve been notified, it doesn’t look good for the unit.  She manages to get Indigo calmed down before Nico gets home from a friend’s house.  Nicole tells her to stay positive, that the unit may just be lost, or making their way back to the forward operating location.  When she leaves to get ready for the VIP dinner Indigo is still worried, but smiling while playing with Nico.

 

ACT TWO

 

FRIDAY NIGHT

 

28. Nicole returns to the museum for a meeting with all the escorts.  Shelly goes over the itinerary for the rest of the weekend, culminating in the donation ceremony for the Lady at midday on Sunday.  Nicole realizes she only has 2 days to find the murderer.  Before they go in for dinner, Nicole asks Shelly what she knows about the Nazi looted artifacts and murder that Nicole heard about at lunch with the VIPs.  Shelly says yes, the looting is common knowledge, but a group called the Monument Men has searched since the end of the war and she thinks they’ve found everything taken.   Shelly says she got her love of WWII history from her great-grandfather, who was in the war.

29.  At the cocktail hour before dinner Nicole tells J about her missing brother-in-law and asks J if he can use his contacts to check on the status of Chip’s unit, which he agrees to do.  Beckett, the Flight Surgeon, escorts Nicole to her seat and takes a seat next to her.  He admits he arranged that seating.  Nicole’s attraction to Beckett and his deep, blue eyes gets stronger the longer their converse. 

 

30.  At the start of dinner, the Director gives a welcome speech and gives out his coin to the crew of the Lady.  He also talks about how the plane ended up in the hands of its former pilot at the end of the war.  He ends his remarks saying the plane will go into the museum restoration shop on Monday to be torn down and rebuilt.  At dinner Nicole hears two of the guests talking about the murder again and missing Nazi loot, including paintings and jewels at the end of WWII.

 

32.  After dinner Beckett asks if she’d like to dance.  She does, after Doris happens to be standing behind her, and answers yes for her.  There are sparks there, which makes Nicole feel guilty because of Thomas.  In spite of herself, as they dance she feels a strong attraction to Beckett.  It’s the first time she’s felt that way since Thomas.

 

33.  Toward the end of the evening, Director Burch, Nicole, J, Brown, and Jeffries meet in a side room away from partygoers, so the Director can be updated on the investigation.  Jeffries says that he’ll be guarding the plane for part of the night, but Security Forces troops will take over around 0100.  Beckett waits in the Museum lobby to walk Nicole to her car.  Nicole invites Beckett to go on a flight with her early the next morning, so she can pick up the research material from her friend at the WWII Museum at Grimes Field.

 

34.  Nicole gets home and is relaxing in the backyard when she’s startled by Charles Peterson coming into the backyard through the garage.  Her combat training has her on full alert.  He walks closer and says he wants to get to know her better, that they didn’t have enough time to talk that day.  Nicole’s gut is telling her to be careful.  She’s polite but firm, saying that they’ll have to talk at the Museum the next day.  She watches him get in his car and drive away.

 

35.  That night there is a third break in at the museum.  The Security Chief turns off the alarm because he or J will be there.  J gets there during the break-in, hears the noise and gets off a shot.  He hears what sounds like marbles falling near the plane.  He is grazed in the head, making him unconscious, but the murderer heard him call for backup, so they leave.

 

SATURDAY MORNING

 

36.  At 7am Nicole takes off for Grimes with Beckett and Nico.  They meet the WWII expert, Roger, for breakfast.  He gives Nicole the materials his friend dug up at the National Archives, which include information on Nazi loot as well as the murder near the Champagne Lady at the end of WWII.  Roger says it might be a good idea to look through the pictures included, even though they’re grainy.  On the flight home, Nicole’s plane’s engine starts sputtering and stops completely while still a short distance from her home base.  Beckett and Nico brace for a possible crash landing, but Nico is completely confident that his aunt can land a plane no matter what is wrong with it.  They brush the trees on approach, but Nicole successfully glides her plane to the airpark runway.  Neighbors rush out with fire extinguishers, which turn out to be unnecessary.  Nicole calls her mechanic and he says there was nothing wrong with the plane when he checked it the month before.  He says he’ll be out later that day to find out why the engine quit. 

 

37.  Nicole goes to the museum and sees that there’s been yet another break-in, in spite of Jeffries, J and the SF troops guarding the Annex.  SA Brown and crew find jewels scattered inside and outside of the plane.  There is some blood just inside the hatch entry, so the murderer must be at least wounded, but got away.  J was grazed and lost consciousness for a short period.  After the crime techs are finished, J, Brown, Jeffries and Nicole go inside the plane.  An expert from the restoration unit joins them.  They see that an inside the panel just before the cockpit entry was taken off and left on the floor of the aircraft.  Nothing was left inside the open panel.  The restoration expert says that if there’s anything left, it will be found when the plane is stripped down during restoration.

 

38.  Walking to the empty office area at the back of the hanger, Brown, Nicole, Jeffries and J now know the murderer was after the jewels.  They know the murderer must be one of the VIP guests, as they were the ones who were on-scene when the jewels were put into the plane at the end of WWII.  But most of the crew was now gone or in their nineties.  J says that he and Brown will go to the suspects and interview them to get additional information.  Nicole receives a text from Shelly saying some of the VIPs went to the Nazi rally in Dayton, and that they are at the Dayton Police Station.

 

39.  Nicole goes to the Dayton PD station where the Staffords, Al Hertenstein, and JC Nelson are making statements to the police.  JC, great-grandson of a crewmember, says the Nazis didn’t do anything, those protesting against them started the trouble.  The Staffords agree.  These comments incense Al, and a shouting match resumes among all of the VIPs and their families.  The police officers say they won’t press charges against any of them if Nicole will just get them out of the station.  She encourages them all to go to back to the Base.  Nicole lets J know they’re all headed back to the Base.

 

40.  The VIPs are patched up before returning to their hotel rooms on Base for a break for the afternoon.  The formal celebration dinner is to be held that night at the Club on Base.  The next day is the donation ceremony at the Annex, formally closing the weekend for the VIPs.  So, time is getting short to catch the murderer and find out why they keep breaking into the plane. 

 

ACT THREE

 

SATURDAY AFTERNOON

 

41.  Nicole goes to the Annex to make sure that everything is set up for the donation ceremony on Sunday.  Shelly is there too, working with volunteers, including Beckett.  Nicole sits in the Lady imagining what it was like at the end of the war, how things got into the plane.  Beckett joins her.  Nicole becomes convinced that the jewels weren’t the only items hidden on the plane.  She believes there are important documents, discussed by the archivist and her WWII expert at Grimes. She’s anxious to see what the restoration team finds when they start working on the bird.  As they come out of the plane Shelly and Doris come up.  Nicole tells Shelly about the attack and Shelly says Nicole should drop out of the investigation so she doesn’t get hurt.  Shelly again offers to help Nicole clean out Thomas’s things from the house.  Nicole says maybe soon, but not right now.

 

42.  Doris doesn’t seem to have a reason to be at the Annex, other than hoping to see Nicole.  She digs to try to find out if Nicole knows who the murderer is, and when she hears about the close call with the plane, tells Nicole to let the OSI and SF troops handle it.  Nicole says the most likely suspects are Peterson, JC Nelson or one of the Staffords.   The problem is, the investigation team still needs to get hard evidence. 

 

43.   Nicole gets the documents from the Archives from her car and pours over them with Doris and Beckett.  Jeffries walks in and joins them.  The photos in the documents are grainy, but they see a picture of the crew by their plane, as well as a picture of the dead man.  The dead man was identified in recently declassified documents as a double agent for Germany and America.  There is one document in the stack which talks about Hitler having children, but Roger put a note on it saying no credence has ever been given to that theory.   Roger’s expert archivist believes there is a missing list of locations where the Nazis stored their stolen artifacts toward the end of the war.  Some artifacts have been found, but there have been persistent rumors about this list, which could lead to the location of the rest of what Germany took from Governments and citizens alike during the war.  One grainy picture shows a man who looks exactly like JC Nelson.  The picture’s caption said it was his great-grandfather standing by the Lady, talking to what looks like investigators.  J texts Nicole to meet him at his office, that he and Brown have some information which might solve the case.  Doris and Beckett remain at the Annex when Jeffries and Nicole head to J’s office.

 

44.  At J’s office they go over the suspects, clues, and what they still need.  Nicole realizes while any of the crew could have done it, a flight engineer or mechanic might be the most logical suspect.  J briefs Nicole and Jeffries about the interviews from that afternoon.  Brown says that he found something very interesting in his research.  He uses a large briefing screen to bring up a booking photo.  It’s of JC when he was college age.  JC was at a Nazi rally, and he wasn’t protesting the rally, but participating in it.  J said that they’ve crossed the Staffords off as suspects, because their alibis have proven rock solid.  They can’t say the same for Peterson or JC.  J doesn’t believe Peterson is a murderer, but Brown says he gives off a creep vibe.  Nicole agrees, but Jeffries is reluctant to cross him off the list.  Nicole sees a call come in on her phone and steps out of the room. 

 

45.   The call is from Indigo who calls to say Chip has been found.  He’s injured and is on the way back to the US, arriving that night.  She wants Nicole to watch Nico that night and on Sunday so she can be with Chip when he arrives.  Nicole says of course, even though she’ll have to keep Nico with her at the dinner that night, as well as the next day for the donation ceremony.  Nicole assumes that Doris will help her watch Nico.

 

46.  Nicole goes to the main Museum to go over the agenda with Shelly for the next day.  She runs into JC Nelson and his grandmother leaving the Museum. Nicole sees a Nazi tattoo on his arm when his grandmother bumps it and a band aid falls off.  JC hurries away when Nicole tries to question him about it.  As they walk away, JC’s grandmother looks Nicole in the eye and gives her a small smile.  Nicole calls J with the information about JC’s tattoo and defensiveness as she’s walking to Shelly’s office.  She and Shelly go over the agenda for the donation ceremony the next day.  Nicole tells Shelly that Nico will be at the dinner and the activities the next day.  Shelly says her staff is running the dinner that evening, so, she’ll be glad to help watch Nico.  Nicole has tried several times to reach Doris, but she hasn’t answered her phone.

 

47.  Nicole goes home to dress for the formal dinner and to pick up Nico.  She tells him he’s her date for the evening, which tickles him.  Dressed in his best shirt and kakis he has a bomber jacket on with a patch from the Air Force Test Pilot School.  It’s his pride and joy given to him by a test pilot friend of Nicole.  They talk about the evening, and that he might have to be with Shelly at some points during the night.

 

48.  JC and his grandmother show up just when dinner is being served.  He makes sure they sit far away from Nicole and leave right after dinner.  Nonetheless, J follows him out as he’s walking his grandmother to their car.  JC gets defensive when J questions his ties to the American Nazi Party.  He says it’s a free country, and he can support any organization he wants.  J doesn’t have enough cause to arrest him for anything, so let’s them go.  Several of the VIPs ask Nicole about the investigation.  The Collins family is upset that the events over the last few days have marred their Father’s donation of the Champaign Lady to the Museum.  Nicole placates them, saying the actual donation ceremony tomorrow will go well.  After dinner Nico stays with Shelly, who says she can take him to Nicole’s place while Nicole is with J.  Nicole and J head over to the Annex to take the first shift guarding the plane.  The SF troops have been pulled off of guarding the Anne because their Commander believes the murderer has what he wanted, and that there will be no more break-ins at the Annex.

 

49.  Nicole and J turn off all of the interior lights in the hanger, except the emergency lights, hoping the murderer will assume that no one is there.  They hide behind a power unit, and wait.  J tells Nicole that if someone shows up, as they believe will happen, they should remain hidden until the person comes out of the plane.  A half hour later, they see someone come into the hanger and go directly to the Lady.  They can’t see who it is in the darkened hanger.  Sounds of metal clattering in the plane come through the open hatch in the Lady.  J and Nicole move toward the hatch, waiting for the murderer to come out.  As the person climbs out of the plane, J tells them to stop and lay on the ground.  The murderer fires toward J, then points a gun at Nicole.  It’s JC.  Threatening Nicole if J doesn’t put his gun down, JC moves closer to Nicole, but J is already laying on the ground, motionless.  JC has two rolled up documents in his hands. 

 

50.  Nicole keeps talking to JC, who answers with arrogance and sneers.  As soon as he’s close enough Nicole drops to sweep him off of his feet, punches him across the jaw, and takes his gun.  A voice echoes in the hanger.  It’s Nico, calling Nicole.  Nicole turns to see that Shelly has her arm around her nephew’s shoulders, and is walking him toward Nicole.  J stays on the ground, still.  Shelly has a gun pointed at the side of Nico’s head.  She tells JC to take the gun from Nicole.  He does and picks up the two rolled up documents from the floor of the hanger.  Shelly asks him if that’s all that was in the panel.  JR nods.  JR says, you were right cousin, that the map to the Nazi treasures will support the Party’s takeover of the U.S.  He says, the other document listing the names of the mothers of Hitler’s children will lead to a worldwide Nazi takeover, as millions follow Hitler’s progeny.  Cousin? Nicole asks.  JR says, Shelly was born on the wrong side of the blanket, that’s why no one knows they’re related.  Shelly responds that there’s no need to explain.  You’re a liability now.  She shoots JR.  As she turns back to Nicole, an arrow whistles through the air, just past Shelly’s ear.  Shelly looks over to see Doris holding a crossbow.  Before she can reload with Shelly orders Doris to toss the crossbow and lay on the ground, face first.  Glancing at Nicole, Doris complies.

 

51.  Turning back to Nicole, Shelly says that Nicole had the life Shelly always wanted, including Thomas.  She loved him and tried to get him to leave Nicole.  Shelly said he refused and felt sorry for Shelly, who had no one.  Nicole is stunned with shock.  Thomas never told her about Shelly’s advances.  Shelly laughs, I thought those snakes would get you out of my hair and away from the investigation.  But even though you didn’t get bitten, I enjoyed hearing you talk about your fear and how it was a close call when the snakes were in your car.  Pausing before hitting Nicole with the biggest shock, Shelly continues, remember that I was there at the airport when Thomas died?  She smiles, and tells Nicole, you were right.  Thomas didn’t pack his chute, I did.  I made sure that your perfect little life would turn into misery.  As Shelly confesses, Nicole’s fury at Nico being threatened turns to ice inside of her, and quiets into a deadly combat mode.  Shelly continues, saying, for a while that’s what happened, but now you have another great guy attracted to you.  Who wants you.  I’m going to make sure that you don’t get a happy ending, Miss Perfect Pilot.  Not you.  Not any of your family.  Nicole looks into Nico’s eyes, and says, SIGN now!  Nico elbows Shelly, stomps on her foot, hits her leg, and tries to hit her in the nose.  All of which sends Shelly’s shot at Nicole wide.  He breaks free of Shelly just as Nicole gets to her.  Nicole knocks her to the ground and takes her gun.  She stands over Shelly pointing the gun at her.  Nicole is surprised that her hands aren’t shaking.  She has a cold calm as she continues to point the gun at Shelly.  Rage and grief willing her to pull the trigger. 

 

52.  Nicole says to Shelly, I want you dead.  You deserve to be dead.  Doris and J have come up behind Nicole, but are standing a few feet away.  Shelly tells them to stop Nicole, that they can’t let Nicole kill her.  Doris has her arm around Nico, and they all stand still, silent.  Nicole takes a step closer to Shelly’s head.  Nico says, Aunt Nicole?  Pausing, Nicole steps back, still pointing the gun at Shelly.  Disgust on her face, Nicole says to Shelly, the only thing saving you is that little boy.  The one you pretended to care about for two years.  The one you threatened and held a gun on minutes ago.  Nicole hands the gun to J and, picking up Nico, walks toward a corner of the hanger just as the Security Forces arrive.  Doris follows her to make sure they’re both alright.

 

53.  Away from the other people in the hanger, Nico cries on Nicole’s shoulder, saying he thought Shelly was going to kill Nicole.  Letting him get the tears out while she rubs his back, Nicole says, you know you and I are a team.  No one can hurt us when we’re together.  Nico smiles at his aunt and says she can put him down now.  He’s ok.  Nicole gives him one more squeeze, and a kiss on the cheek, before putting him down.  She turns to Doris, and says, an arrow?  That’s the best you got?  Well, you made me keep Tommy at home.  Shaking her head, Nicole says, your 357 is fine locked away at home.  The crossbow did the trick, distracting Shelly.  J and his partner Brown walk up.

 

54.  Doris said to J, you weren’t much help just laying around on the ground with that crazy woman pointing a gun at Nico.  J says he didn’t have his gun, nor the advantage, already being on the ground.  He thought it best not to escalate the situation in hopes he’d have a chance to tackle her if she tried to leave with Nico.  Doris simply responds with a grunt.  Brown has the documents that Shelly and JC were after.  He rolls them out on a nearby table.  Although the writing is a little faded, the map identifying locations of artwork, important documents, jewels and more is easily read.  They all look around at each other.  This is big, says Brown.  It will hit the papers shortly and it’s anybody’s guess how using the map will play out.  Nicole says that it will probably be an international panel of historians and art experts who will work at finding the items, as well as returning them to the rightful heirs.  Although Germany may make a case that it’s their responsibility to return the treasure, and there would be something to be said for that, said J.   

 

55.  Brown rolls up the treasure map, and they all turn their attention to the other document, which is clearly a list of women’s names and addresses.  Each line also has a date next to a woman’s name.  The title at the top of that column is “date pregnancy confirmed”.   My God, said Nicole.  Nazi organizations around the World would give anything for this list of names.  They could make Hitler descendants Nazi leaders, giving validity to Nazi organizations now.  There are enough disgruntled people in the world right now that conceivably millions of people would join them, even here in the U.S.  Everyone was quiet, thinking of the ramifications.  J rolled the list back up and said, I’d assume that this document will be classified and not released.  So, you may want to just forget you saw it.  At the very least both of these documents are now evidence of what those two were up to when they killed Sergeant Scott.   Nicole and J looked at each other.  Nicole quietly said, at least his wife will know why she lost her husband.  J nodded and said, as usual, you’ve done great work. 

 

56.  Doris said, here comes Dipstick.  Jeffries heard her and gave her a scowl before turning to J and Brown.  So, you caught the two murderers?  Would have been nice if you’d let me in on what you were going to do tonight.  Just luck that you caught them tonight and that I didn’t the other nights.  Yeah, said Doris, you didn’t.  Jeffries ignored her and asked about the two ducments found and reached out for them.  Sorry, said J, these are evidence, and walked away to talk with the SF personnel.  Grudgingly Jeffries said to Nicole, I’m glad your nephew is safe.  But unable to resist making a snide remark, he said, maybe you should have had him here in the first place.  Hopefully in the future you’ll keep better friends.  Before Nicole or Doris could say anything, Jeffries smirked, and walked away.

 

57.  Nicole tells Nico it’s time to head home.  J had already said that both she and Doris could give their statement the next day.  Doris hugged both of them, and they all walked out of the hanger, waving to Brown and J. 

 

58.  Nicole takes Nico back home and they find his dad there.  He’s bandaged up, but says he’ll be fine.  No more deployments for him for a while.

 

59.  The next day, all are at the museum for the donation ceremony, including Scott’s widow.  She thanks Nicole, saying she knew Nicole would do it.  All of the VIPs congratulate Nicole on stopping the murderers.  JC’s Grandmother shakes Nicole’s hand and says JC was on the wrong path, just like her father was.  That when she sees her father in the nursing home he’ll be disappointed that his plans didn’t work out.  But she smiles and tells Nicole, thank you for stopping them.  I saw more than they thought I did.    

 

DENOUMENT

60.  Nicole is on her deck the next morning, but can’t get into her normal morning routine.  Nico was sleeping in, having stayed up late with his dad.  She closes her eyes, the morning breeze blowing.  She feels Thomas is close to her in spirit, but that he might not be soon.  Nicole dreamed of him the night before, and clearly remembers him saying to her, time to move on Flygirl.  Live each day.  She whispers, I knew it wasn’t anything you did that took you from me.  Almost against her will, she could feel her heart start to heal, knowing she’d found the truth about Thomas’s death.  She turned from the view of the runway and other houses under a blue sky, to go inside and get ready for Sergeant Scott’s funeral.  Another horrible thing happening on a beautiful, sunny day.