Hamza picked up the latest edition of Al Jazeera in the airport as well as US News and World Report. He liked to compare and contrast the perspective of the articles. Obviously both the newspaper and the magazine presented articles the other did not deem news worthy, but Hamza was more curious about the stories they both paid attention to. It was almost comical how the Americans who wrote the articles for US News and World Report almost always got it wrong.

A young woman, maybe eighteen or nineteen years of age, preened herself in a small mirror. She was beautiful. Everyone knew that. [i]'slut,'[/i] Hamza thought to himself. [i]'Just another impure infidel in a less than holy land. They will all burn in hell.'[/i] The young woman held up a smart phone and smiled as she took several photographs of herself. Hamza tried so hard to contain his laughter. The young woman looked completely foolish performing this self glorification. It was disgusting. This person obviously believed they were the most precious creature on the planet. The arrogance of this person could cause Hamza to vomit. [i]'Such pitiful display of abysmal behavior,'[/i] Hamza shook his head and returned to reading the magazine.

Eventually the flight attendants called for the passengers to board the flight. Hamza stood up, straightened his tie and draped his suit coat over his left arm. He picked up the carry-on luggage, after placing the periodicals inside and slid the strap over a shoulder. He then got into the weary procession of travelers to take their seats on the Boeing 777. His first way point prior to returning home was a tourist trap in the South Pacific. From there, he would make his way to Indonesia and then on to Tehran. But today, he was traveling under the name, [i]Habib Najafi[/i]. Mr. Najafi was a warehouse manager outside Tehran and had been studying American Operations. It was all mundane to Hamza, happy to be going home.

A few hours into the flight, Hamza fell asleep. When the aircraft buffeted through rough winds, he started awake. He looked out the small window next to the seat. The starboard engine flamed quickly, the aircraft buckled under the explosion. It shook the aircraft, which then leaned toward the now non-functioning turbine. Black smoke poured from the exhaust as the seventy-four meter aircraft plummeted toward earth.

The vision of the plane going down caused Hamza to rethink his priorities. He quickly fastened his seat belt. Maybe it was a reaction to the vision of the fiery engine, maybe it was a reaction to training he'd received in the Army or maybe it was the flashing light above his seat. He closed his eyes and began praying to Allah. He knew he would be all right, but the realization that his life could be ending in the next few minutes overwhelmed his senses. He closed his eyes.