Now and Then a Hero

Something was missing. Captain Sharon Russell was a decorated war vet, a commercial pilot, a burnished redhead with legs up to here -- but she felt incomplete. Where was the man who could make her heart soar, her body tingle, her life whole? Then came the phone call, a wrong number -- but the right voice. Keith Carver. And just when Sharon's life was about to do a happy 180, she ran into turbulence, the violent kind. A terrorist hijacking left her bleeding on the floor of her 777 bound for Beijing, though by her actions she had saved all the innocent people on the plane.

Her body was scarred, but she was buoyed by Keith's devotion and the support of the people who owed their lives to her. She was now less of a woman, but Keith's desire never waned. Like a phoenix, she rose again, to a future she could never have charted.

In a world shaken and confused by 9/11, Sharon proved that we can stand fast, fight back, and never, ever give up. When it was revealed that among the passengers on her plane were the grandparents of the president of China, Sharon was pushed onto the international stage; now she was a hero not only to her countrymen, but she had touched a nerve that ran all the way to the far outreaches of Asia.

Impressed by Sharon's steel, integrity and warmth, the President of the United States, with keen perception, set the brave pilot's career on a new course. With Keith and kids at her side, Sharon throttled up until she was reaching for the stars.