Beau Johnston

The Red Hat: an Adventure and Romance Beau Johnston

The Red Hat is a novel of adventure and romance. The hero is a 47-year-old 'top gun' jet fighter pilot in the Russian air force. He is one of two pilots sent up to interdict the progress of Korean Airlines Flight 007 in 1983. The flight had strayed off its course into soviet air space. His name is Colonel Yuri Lwoff. Yuri realizes the aircraft is not a spy plane and fabricates an excuse so he doesn't have to shoot it down. However, the other pilot destroys the Boeing 747 with the loss of 269 innocent lives. The two pilots are told to lie at a hastily called news interview. When they are exposed as not being truthful the interview is abruptly terminated and both pilots are transferred back to Moscow and put under the 'control' of the KGB. In Moscow Yuri is reunited with his best friend who he originally entered basic training with. They have remained close friends over the years. More importantly, Yuri meets the ' love of his life', Stasha. Yuri plans to take early retirement and raise strawberries at a farm he owns in his native Ukraine. Stasha is an army nurse. Unbeknownst to her the director of the hospital she works at, Dr. Yagoda, harbors a salacious obsession for Stasha. With the help of his friend, KGB director Beri, Dr. Yagoda is able to 'control' Stasha. Is there some way for Yuri to break this control?