SIX MINUTES TO FREEDOM
Chapter One
The American Airlines jet banked hard to the left, revealing
the lush jungle landscape below. Still too high to make out individual
people on the ground, Kurt Muse could nonetheless make out the
major landmarks of the Panamanian countryside. Over there, the island
of Taboga rose out of the murky waters of the Pacific. If he squinted
and used a little imagination, he thought he could see the ranch his father
had cut by hand from the dense tangle of undergrowth. That body
of water he could see in the far distance-actually, it looked more like
an extension of the overcast sky, but Kurt knew it was there-was the
Atlantic Ocean. It was the rare visitor to his adopted home who didn't
find it thrilling to swim in two oceans on a single afternoon.
The floorboards rumbled as the pilot lowered flaps and slats, marking
the beginning of their final approach to Panama City's Omar Torrijos
International Airport. Kurt looked away from the window and
scanned the faces around him. He'd made this trip dozens of times,
and over the past couple of years, it see ... read full excerpt from Six Minutes to Freedom: How a Band of Heros Defied a Dictator and Helped Free a Nation ebook
