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Chapter 9
"Good afternoon Ladies and Gentlemen." Came the voice over speakers. He looked around for the source of the speaker, at the same time scanning round to see just how many people had disembarked from the plane. He caught screen out of the corner of his eye as the voice continued.
"I would like to thank you all for co-operating so well up to this point, I'd have been most disappointed if I had lost any of you good people before we'd even got acquainted."
He moved through the airport lounge to get nearer to the screen so that he could see the face of the man speaking, and as he did so others followed suit, and pretty soon all of the passengers were near the screen.
The voice continued, "I am sorry to have interrupted your normal lives, but if I had invited you all to come to a get together and told you the reasons why, then I'm pretty sure that the majority of you would have declined, and would have written me off as a crank. As yet I cannot divulge just why you are all here, but let me state with all earnestness, that I wish no harm to a single one of you, as you all have something very important to offer, and I hope to be able to make the best use of your talents. Unfortunately, I am not there to join you, therefore in a matter of minutes there will be another plane arriving to bring all of you to me. My helpers there in Nyuk will be joining you on the final part of your journey, and despite the fact that I need all of you, they are under instructions to prevent you from leaving, and they are all very efficient men. So please take a seat and relax for a few minutes until your next plane is available."
The voice stopped and the screen went blank. Most of the other passengers wandered off in silence to find a seat, but he just stood there still looking at the screen. He was sure that he recognised both the man who was speaking, and what was even more striking was the voice. He was sure that he'd heard that voice a number of times, but as he stood there he couldn't dredge up the information needed to place the details together. Perhaps if he spoke to some of the others they could help. He finally looked away from the screen and turned around, and noticed that talking to the others may be difficult. Everyone else sat and stood around in total silence.
He looked around to see if he could see where either of the women he wanted to talk to were. He noticed them on the other side of the lounge sat on benches opposite each other, and they appeared to be just staring at each other. He walked across the room to where they were sat and stood so he was between them but not blocking their view of each other. He looked from one to the other, and it looked as if they were both in a trance. They were looking in each other's direction, but he didn't think that they were actually looking at each other, it was as if they were looking through each other to some distant point far behind them.
He took a step forward so that he was stood between them, and still their gaze didn't change focus. It was as if they had both retreated into their own little worlds, deep down within themselves, and nothing around them mattered. He stepped back to come out of their direct sight line, and took the opportunity to look around at everyone else. As he scanned the room, he could see that nearly everyone was in the same kind of state, just being still, and staring into space. In fact as he looked around he could see that the only movement came from the hijacker's team, as they slowly circulated the room, and exchanged the odd word.
He cleared his throat, and said "Excuse me". Neither of the two women even so much as blinked. Somewhat disconcerted, he tried again, only this time both a little louder and in a sterner tone, "Excuse me".
This time, the woman who was the double of Claire blinked, and automatically responded. "Sorry, I was miles away." She looked up at him, and recognition spread over her face. "Oh, it's you!"
"You!", someone from behind him shouted, "Be quiet, there is to be no conversing between the hostages until we reach our final destination. There will be plenty of time for talking once you are there."
He looked over his shoulder and wasn't even surprised to see that it was the hijacker that had been in control on his plane. He shook his head and moved to sit down next to the woman. Just as he sat down he heard the voice again.
"No, it's not a good idea for you to sit there, I wouldn't want you to have the temptation of talking so close to you with your track record."
Again he shook his head and made a show a wearily getting to his feet, before asking "Is there anywhere you'd prefer me to sit or stand? Perhaps you've got a deaf mute somewhere that you could put me next to?"
The hijacker let out a small laugh, before replying, "No, there are no deaf mutes here, so bearing that in mind, I think the best place for you is sat just here in front of me, seeing as there seem to be a lack of your fellow passengers over here."
He walked over to the seat indicated and wondered just what had got into him today. He had always been sarcastic, but had normally kept this to himself, and yet all he'd done all day was be sarcastic to people with guns, that were threatening both himself and every one else here. He found that he just couldn't help himself, and that the words were out of his mouth before he could stop them. Perhaps he should ask for the gag that he had been threatened with on the plane, at least that way his mouth couldn't get him any more trouble today.
He sat down on the seat, and within seconds found himself doing what he's noticed every other one of the hostages doing. He was just sat there staring off into the distance in front of him. He shook his head and focused his vision out into the airport. He could see a number of people moving around on the tarmac outside, and it looked as if they were preparing the refuelling lorries, and the sets of steps that are used for embarking and disembarking planes. Pretty soon he could see the reason for the activity. Coming in to land was a strange looking plane, which although he recognised it from films, he couldn't think what it was called. It just looked like a long cardboard box with some wings stuck on as an afterthought.
It took a few minutes for the thing to land and taxi up to virtually outside the airport lobby. The men outside sprang into life, and the refuelling rig was hooked up in double quick time. The steps were rolled up to the side door of the plane, but someone from the plane opened the door, and gesticulated for a few seconds, before closing the door again. The steps were towed away out of sight.
A voice broke through his watching the goings on. "Ladies and Gentlemen, could you all please stand and move to the doors. You are about to embark on the last part of today's journey. Yet again, let me stress that if anyone tries anything then we will shoot."
As if to emphasise the point, one of the hijackers fired once, and the TV screen at the far end of the lounge disintegrated in a pop of shattering glass.
The man continued. "All the men are extremely accurate, so it is best not to try their patience. Just walk out to the rear of the plane and up the ramp, and the men on board will show you to where you are to be seated."
With that the doors to the tarmac were opened, and the hostages began their walk out to the plane. Nobody tried anything, and nobody said anything. They all just got onto the plane and headed to the indicated seats.