PULAU MATI Read online

  “What do you guess is the relationship of those two?” Lex asked as he watched the leggy young woman walking away.

  “I haven’t a clue. They could be lovers or recent acquaintances.”

  “Maybe they are royalty. She is regal hot,” Lex said.

  Melanie rolled her eyes. “They are definitely in the beautiful people category. Come on we need to find the aero train.”

  Bayani Isagani’s stomach churned with acid and there was little doubt the pilot and the observer who sat behind him in the cockpit smelled his sweat. This tragic disaster was his worthless brother’s doing. How else could Abu Sayyaf have known anything about him, anything about the inaugural flight, about its schedule, its destination? His brother had converted to Islam two years ago and since had caused strife in his family, criticizing his cousins, his brother and sister, his father, and his own mother, calling them godless infidels. What did he know about godless, associating with the criminals who had subverted him?

  Bayani regretted bragging to his family about being given the honor to fly second seat on the maiden flight of Emirates new 797. But how could he have imagined his own brother betraying him and his entire family? Only his wife and brother knew he could carry a firearm on board, having passed a course prescribed by Emirates. His wife was not one to share such information so it could only be his brother. That was the only explanation for the call he received from a man in Manila claiming to belong to Abu Sayyaf and holding Bayani’s family hostage. The man had put his wife on the phone for a brief time and she had said they had his mother and two children. The man claimed to have his sister Alania and had killed her husband as evidence of their willingness to carry out their threats. The man’s demands were simple; shoot the pilot, fly the aircraft on a path designed to disguise its destination and then fly to the coordinates he was given and land. The instructions had come in three phone calls, the last one telling him arrangements had been made to delay the flight’s departure so it would arrive at the island sometime just before sunrise as they wished the aircraft to fly an absolute minimum of time in daylight before landing.

  The man had told him they only knew the approximate details and timing of the route so he had to make the calculations himself to determine when he was to take over the aircraft. If he failed to arrive at the coordinates, they would kill his entire family. If he arrived more than ten minutes after sunrise, his mother and one child would be killed. Any longer than fifteen minutes was like not arriving. The Abu Sayyaf man said if Bayani delivered the aircraft successfully but an aircraft or ship approached the island within 10 days, Bayani had obviously informed the authorities and sentenced his family to death.

  When Bayani loaded the coordinates into his flight software, no airport was identified as nearby. He loaded the coordinates into Google Earth on his laptop and discovered it was an island in the northern part of the Timor Sea. It did appear to have a landing strip at least a mile and a half long which was ample for the lightly loaded aircraft, the loading a result of Emirates management’s plan to occupy only the first class section. The island was unnamed, mostly flat and covered with jungle. He could not tell much more about the island because the map became blurry at the eye height of twenty five kilometers.

  Bayani called a cousin in Manila and learned that the Abu Sayyaf man had told the truth about killing his sister’s husband. With a feeling of total helplessness, Bayani hand wrote a letter giving the location of the island and the circumstances forcing him to comply with the Abu Sayyaf man’s demands. He addressed it to the trusted cousin in Manila and mailed it from his hotel in Kuala Lumpur the morning before the scheduled flight. Experience told him the letter would take at least a week to reach his cousin. In the letter Bayani requested that his cousin wait another week after receiving the letter to contact his family and the authorities or Abu Sayyaf would surely kill the rest of his family. At least his friends and colleagues would know he had performed this heinous act under duress.

  Before leaving his hotel for the airport, Bayani loaded the flight’s data into the software on his laptop. He added four hours delay to the current departure time which was roughly what the Abu Sayyaf man had promised and made the calculations for arriving at the island at sunrise using about three quarters of the aircraft’s maximum speed which gave him some slack if needed that he could use by varying the speed of the aircraft while en route. Once in the cockpit and until he had killed the pilot and the observer he could not access his laptop nor use the aircraft’s computer to recalculate the flight parameters so he had to memorize the times and checkpoints. The second delay at the gate put him near the midpoint of his calculations but now a third and legitimate delay had occurred and was eating into the slack.

  Gray and Anna lingered over their Malaysian seafood dishes and cold beer. Gray found himself enjoying the young woman’s company as he had expected from the brief times spent with her, usually at meals with Alyson. She could be blunt, and her dry sense of humor caused him to pause at times but he considered asking if they could sit together on the flight since there would be so many vacant seats. At 11:30 Gray paid for dinner and they left for their flight’s gate only to learn there was a further delay but thankfully it was less than an hour.

  Twenty minutes after midnight passengers began boarding and each was given an impressive gift basket. Gray’s and Anna’s seats were in first class but she was four rows back in the center section and he at a right hand window. Lex and Melanie were last to board and both stumbled in, obviously intoxicated, and took seats in the left hand row. The visible cabin crew, four women in very smart beige, gold and red uniforms that included sheer half veils, went through a welcoming ceremony after the door was closed but before push back. Two of them spoke in English about the many glorious aspects of the Boeing 797. The aircraft featured the latest technology to provide a quiet flight, stability in turbulence, unmatched fuel efficiency, a range of 18000 kilometers and in Emirate’s configuration a seating capacity of 280.

  Gray believed the flight attendants had been carefully screened for this flight. Each possessed an exotic beauty and each a distinct ethnicity. Despite their beauty and lovely voices, their performance appeared forced, perhaps due to lack of enthusiasm from the tired passengers or simply from their own exhaustion after a long day. Gray scanned the cabin and counted twenty one passengers not counting the attendants. Out of those twenty one, he spotted two more that he recognized; both were tennis players from Australia. Beside Anna, Lex, Melanie, the two tennis players, a polished Latin looking man, and a wide eyed, athletic looking young man, the rest of the passengers were his age or older and included a very old Japanese man and woman dressed formally and three well dressed middle eastern looking men seated together that were likely airline management.

  The acceleration at take off was impressive but remarkably quiet and the climb out very smooth. When they were at altitude the captain welcomed them aboard in a British accent and then a flight attendant gave a safety briefing. Another attendant explained the operation of the first class seats. When the seat back was reclined horizontally into a privacy niche and a footrest swung up, the seats became comfortable beds. Before most of the passengers were done experimenting with their seats the attendant announced they were free to tour the aircraft and change seats if they wished.

  Gray swiveled to glance back at Anna and saw that Lex had just taken a seat beside her. He turned back, feeling a tinge of disappointment. He dropped his seat back a few degrees and opened the gift basket, curious as to what a Muslim owned airline would bestow its passengers. The basket held a number of tasty appearing food items, fruit, cheeses, nuts, crackers, candy, tea bags, a compact toothbrush with toothpaste and some high end toiletries and lotions along with a very fine leather zippered pouch embossed with the Emirates logo. He set the basket aside and picked up the flight magazine to see if it showed the route the aircraft would take from Kuala Lumpur to Brisbane. He had been disappointed that the majority of the flight would be durin
g night hours as he enjoyed studying the marvelous variations of the earth’s surface as it slid beneath a plane in flight. He was a commercial pilot and instrument rated but flying using maps and visual landmarks or VFR was still one of his greatest pleasures. He had only cracked the flight magazine when a voice asked, “May I join you?”

  “Melanie! Of course. How was your dinner?”

  “Thanks. This empty plane kind of gives me the creeps.” Her pronunciation hinted at intoxication and her eyes seemed to go a little out of focus. She did not respond to his question about dinner, instead she hunted for the button to let her seat back. When the seat dropped nearly flat before it stopped she let out a whoops. She grabbed Gray’s arm and pulled herself up and then brought the seat up about even with his. Still holding his arm she snuggled against his shoulder and closed her dark eyes. “Grayden, was that your name?”

  “Yes, or you may call me Gray.”

  “Okay, Gray.”

  Her eyes remained closed and in a few minutes her breathing was slow and regular. After a few more minutes, Gray signaled a flight attendant and asked for pillows and blankets. When the attendant brought pre-warmed blankets, he disengaged his arm from Melanie’s grasp, lowered her seat to horizontal, pulled the leg rest out, placed a pillow under her head and spread a blanket over her. He picked up the flight magazine and found the route map he had expected but it was not long before he lowered his seat flat and spread a blanket over himself. The aircraft’s flight was hypnotically smooth and quiet and the cabin lights had been lowered. Fatigue from the long day washed over him and sleep came in seconds.

  Alan Devanwood, a fit 45 year old Brit and left seat on the flight, glanced over the readings of only the important items displayed on the five LED screens of the 797 before taking a bathroom break and getting a cup of coffee. All the readings were perfect or in the middle of their tolerance spread but something was far from right with Bayani the co-pilot. Even the observer sensed something amiss with the co-pilot, twice catching Alan’s attention and rolling his eyes in the co-pilot’s direction. Bayani was jittery and sweating like a pig but when Alan asked him if he was feeling all right the man had dismissed it as perhaps a fast acting case of flu and apologized profusely for possibly infecting Alan and the observer. Alan noticed Bayani was obsessively checking the progress of the flight on one of the screens that depicted their route. If he had not flown routes with Bayani before and found him very competent, he would have considered requesting him to leave the cockpit.

  Alan unlatched the secure flight deck door and went into a bathroom reserved for crew. When done he stepped out, accepted a cup of coffee from a flight attendant and went back to the flight deck but took the spare seat next to the observer to drink his coffee. Perhaps showing Bayani that he trusted him to command the aircraft would have a calming effect on the man. He turned to the observer and asked, “Have you flown this aeroplane?”

  The observer glanced up from his magazine. “Short hops.”

  “Is this not the most magnificent machinery you have ever flown?”

  The observer did not look up this time. “Perhaps.”

  Alan gave up. He had his eyes down and was blowing on his coffee when blasts of flame came from the front of the airplane and then he was viewing the cockpit as if it had tilted to vertical and he was pressed against what had been the floor. He soon understood he was lying on the floor and bleeding profusely rather than the airplane having tipped onto its side.

  Chapter II Hijacked

  A series of half remembered noises stirred Gray before weightlessness brought him fully awake. The aircraft stabilized but the engine note, which had been barely detectable before, diminished further. The cabin lights were still dimmed but he could make out two of the flight attendants up front gripping a handhold. One was speaking loudly into the intercom. Other passengers were stirring and bringing up their seat backs. The movements of the flight attendant with the intercom were now looking urgent. She switched to another language. After a moment, pressing the intercom to her breast, she turned to the other flight attendant and shook her head. The other flight attendant turned up the lights and stepped over to the three well dressed men Gray had suspected were airline management and whispered something into one of the men’s ear.

  The man rose and took the intercom from the flight attendant. He spoke in English and then a second language as he stared toward the door to the flight deck. His physical movements showing frustration, he jammed the intercom into its bracket and stepped to what Gray had thought the flight deck door but obviously was not because it opened easily and the man went through it and then Gray heard banging like someone pounding on a door with their fist.

  Gray had the sensation that the plane was quickly loosing altitude. He could not confirm they were in a nose down attitude by looking out the window into the darkness but the way the man and the two flight attendants were standing revealed the deck was tilted forward. The other two men rose and joined the first. Apparently the intercom buzzed or flashed because all five of those standing turned toward it and a flight attendant reached for it only to be brushed aside by one of the men. The man yelled something into the intercom and then listened a moment and grimaced. His part of the conversation was limited and, by the way he glared at the intercom, it ended before he was ready. After he hung up the three men talked animatedly for a minute or two until one went back to a seat and plopped into it. One of the men paced and the older man that remained standing bowed his head and leaned forward, supporting himself with a straight arm against the paneling. A flight attendant consoled another that was crying. The two missing flight attendants appeared and after talking with the others began crying.

  Melanie was still asleep. Gray glanced back at Anna who looked as if she had just awakened. After motioning for her to come forward, he climbed over Melanie and took the second seat from the aisle in the center section. Wild eyed, Anna slid into the seat to his right.

  “What is going on?” she whispered.

  Grey replied in a low voice. “I was awakened by some noises and then a feeling like the aircraft had banked and nosed over. I’m sure we are descending and it appeared the flight attendants were out of contact with the flight deck for awhile. And now that they have heard from the pilots, they don’t like what they are hearing.”

  “What do you think it means?”

  “Trouble. And I think the crying and the men’s reactions confirm that. I’m just not sure what kind of trouble but what I would guess I best not say.”

  The young woman gazed at him a moment and then put a hand on his shoulder and leaned very close, her lips to his ear. “Hijack?” she asked as softly as possible.

  “I’m thinking it a possibility. They are going to have to tell us pretty soon.” He pulled out his cell phone, turned it on and brought up the compass function. They were headed due south. He checked the time, put away his phone and opened up one of the flight magazines to the route map. The maps were likely not to scale but far better than a guess. After some rough calculation he said, “We’ve been in the air about three and a half hours so we are probably over the eastern end of the Indian Ocean. But we are heading due south, for northern Australia, instead of eastern Australia as we should.”

  Gray rose and slid by Anna to the aisle and went to the side of the airline representative who was seated. He bent close and asked in a low voice, “Are they going to tell the passengers what the trouble is?”

  The man steepled a hand to his forehead and turned away like he could not deal with the problem. He did nod toward the man leaning against the paneling. Gray rose and approached the man standing. “Are you going to tell the passengers what the trouble is?”

  The man’s jaw clenched and he eyed Gray a moment. In an even but heavily accented and gravely voice the man asked, “What do you think has happened?”

  Gray pulled out his phone and showed him the compass. The man did not comprehend for a moment but then said, “And?”

  “We are
rapidly descending and it is hours too early for that and we are heading south, not south east as we should. That is all I know for a fact.”

  “Are you a pilot?” the man asked.

  Grey nodded. “Yes.”

  The man paused briefly and said, “Take a seat and a flight attendant will make the announcement.” The man turned and motioned to the man who had been pacing and at one of the flight attendants. Gray went back and sat beside Anna who had moved inboard one seat.

  “We’ll get an announcement in a moment,” he said to her. The fear on her face prompted him to raise a comforting hand to her shoulder. She leant toward him and grasped his other hand with both of hers.

  The shaky voice of a flight attendant came over the intercom. “Passengers, the co-pilot informed us that he has shot the pilot and an observer that was on the flight deck. We are currently descending on a southerly course. That is all we know at this moment. We will keep you informed.”

  Shrieks and shouts of disbelief erupted from the newly awakened passengers. Melanie sat up and Gray stepped across the isle and explained what had transpired. She held a hand over her open mouth and stared wide eyed about the cabin. She was making a keening sound when Gray rose and walked back into the business section behind first class. The lighting in that section was dimmed. He worked his way over to a window on the left side of the aircraft. A cold blue light showed on the horizon. A sparse few pin points of light shown from the blackness below the horizon. Ships or maybe islands he thought and then it dawned on him that the aircraft’s strobes and navigation lights were not on. If the co-pilot simply wanted to crash the plane, he could have put it into a steep dive and it would be all over by now. So he wants to fly somewhere under the radar and the lack of lights also means he wants the plane to be invisible to the eye. They were descending to the south while on radar. Gray would place a big bet that the aircraft made a turn once it was on the deck and below normal radar. He rose and went back to first class and the representative he had spoken to earlier who was now standing just in front of the first class seats.