Snowflakes were falling daintily and as the last of the cargo was unloaded. Cole conceded that for the moment he no longer had any desire to apply for a posting in Antarctica. No, there was a cargo route he’d flown in a DC-3 from the horn of Australia over the Torres Strait to Port Moresby that he was going back to as soon as this walk was out of the way. At fault or not, an airman who crashed in China was effectively finished. We’re sorry sir, no hard feelings, etc… He’d seen it before with some damn fine airmen. The Chinese were extreme perfectionists and never cared to be in the position of having to explain anything to a potential customer. He felt sorry for Xi especially. He looked east across the tundra and snorted, becoming annoyed. The pay in northern Oz had never been great, but the route was a milk-run and he thoroughly enjoyed showing up to work in shorts and Pom Town was a quite a howl if one knew where to look. Maybe he might even bring Xi along if he wanted to come. It wasn’t their fault someone had tried to blow them up.
No one had yet noticed the satellite phone still clipped to his side and when he realized the plane had indeed survived a bomb blast he quickly switched it off and gave the battery to Xi. The young Chinaman said nothing and only nodded knowingly. Whoever had done this had wanted no survivors. It was only luck that they’d managed to bring the plane down in a recognizable fashion. He reckoned the tired ground crew in Gunsa, who would have been near the end of their shift and in no mood to unload a diverted wide-body jetliner, had unknowingly loaded the device. Again, by sheer luck, the explosive was directional and blasted the cargo doors off along with a good section of the port passenger seating and made a mess of the tail. No, whoever had hatched the plot had planned for the explosion to move forward through the passenger cabin and ignite the center fuel tanks and kill everyone in one great fireball at nine-thousand feet. Shit happens. Even when the business is murder he thought grimly and almost laughed.
Cole checked his watch and looked around. He knew his survivors were likely carrying cell phones and other GPS-sensitive devices. Not that they would have a signal, but those items could still be tracked by unscrupulous characters. They all needed to be turned off, immediately. They were going to have questions as well. Namely, why had Xi and himself had changed into clothing belonging to some of the deceased passengers? They had also placed two of the bodies in the cockpit with their old uniforms. It wasn’t the most reverent activity in which he’d participant and he made sure no one noticed them. Those and other queries would get answered along the way. For now, they needed to get a move on, however he knew the rest of this rabble would expect some sort of explanation. He wasn’t the most eloquent and neither were the words as they came out. “If you haven’t noticed by now, some buggers tried to blow us all to hell…and damn near succeeded.” The words were like a dump-truck unloading a ton of stone at the quarry. Oh well, you’re in it now dumbass, don’t make a total cock-up of it. He thought as the rest of the words came. “Fortunately, there’s an abandoned observatory about twenty miles to our east. That’s going to be our first stop.”
He rested the golf driver on his shoulder that he’d been holding as he started to feel more confident in his words. “I know all of you have got a lot of questions and that’s fine, we’ll answer them, but for now just let my first officer and I help you get the essentials together so we can get away from this aircraft.” His tone was suddenly cutting enough that he surprised himself a little. “Whoever brought this plane down is going to come looking to make sure the job was done. We don’t want to be here when they arrive.”
No one had yet noticed the satellite phone still clipped to his side and when he realized the plane had indeed survived a bomb blast he quickly switched it off and gave the battery to Xi. The young Chinaman said nothing and only nodded knowingly. Whoever had done this had wanted no survivors. It was only luck that they’d managed to bring the plane down in a recognizable fashion. He reckoned the tired ground crew in Gunsa, who would have been near the end of their shift and in no mood to unload a diverted wide-body jetliner, had unknowingly loaded the device. Again, by sheer luck, the explosive was directional and blasted the cargo doors off along with a good section of the port passenger seating and made a mess of the tail. No, whoever had hatched the plot had planned for the explosion to move forward through the passenger cabin and ignite the center fuel tanks and kill everyone in one great fireball at nine-thousand feet. Shit happens. Even when the business is murder he thought grimly and almost laughed.
Cole checked his watch and looked around. He knew his survivors were likely carrying cell phones and other GPS-sensitive devices. Not that they would have a signal, but those items could still be tracked by unscrupulous characters. They all needed to be turned off, immediately. They were going to have questions as well. Namely, why had Xi and himself had changed into clothing belonging to some of the deceased passengers? They had also placed two of the bodies in the cockpit with their old uniforms. It wasn’t the most reverent activity in which he’d participant and he made sure no one noticed them. Those and other queries would get answered along the way. For now, they needed to get a move on, however he knew the rest of this rabble would expect some sort of explanation. He wasn’t the most eloquent and neither were the words as they came out. “If you haven’t noticed by now, some buggers tried to blow us all to hell…and damn near succeeded.” The words were like a dump-truck unloading a ton of stone at the quarry. Oh well, you’re in it now dumbass, don’t make a total cock-up of it. He thought as the rest of the words came. “Fortunately, there’s an abandoned observatory about twenty miles to our east. That’s going to be our first stop.”
He rested the golf driver on his shoulder that he’d been holding as he started to feel more confident in his words. “I know all of you have got a lot of questions and that’s fine, we’ll answer them, but for now just let my first officer and I help you get the essentials together so we can get away from this aircraft.” His tone was suddenly cutting enough that he surprised himself a little. “Whoever brought this plane down is going to come looking to make sure the job was done. We don’t want to be here when they arrive.”