Targeted: Air Force One

Terrorists are attacking airliners using an unknown weapon that one surviving passenger described as a "missile with wings." Deaths and injuries are in the hundreds. Rumors of extraterrestrial visitors have the public in a panic. People are afraid to set foot on an airliner. Experts wonder if TWA 800 might have been the first of the attacks. The airline business is in danger of folding unless the terrorists are caught.

An ex air traffic controller turned lawyer, Kyle Matthews, a man the FAA once wanted to fire, is asked to investigate. But when Air Force One is attacked, and pieces of the weapon are found in the cockpit, Matthews realizes that no terrorist group would have the resources to fund such a weapon. He shifts the focus of his investigation to one of several government agency heads, and narrows his suspects down to one particular official who he feels is stonewalling him.

Matthews sets a trap to force his suspect to confess. After boarding the flight, the suspect is led to believe that the flight is about to be shot down. The suspect confesses, but the flight is attacked anyway.