Erik excused himself and left the cockpit to go to the toilet. He had to get away from Karim for a while, try to gather his thoughts in peace. He also wanted to try to get hold of his father, ask for advice. Without Karim overhearing the conversation.
Outside the cockpit, he ran straight into Fatima, the stewardess who had found the note.
‘We have a problem,’ she said, moving towards the door to indicate that she wanted to discuss the matter in the cockpit.
‘We have a number of problems,’ Erik said, gently putting his hand under her arm. ‘Come with me.’
The toilets in first class were empty. Erik hesitated for a second, then opened one of the doors and went inside, pulling Fatima along with him. She looked as if she was about to protest, but then gave in.
‘What’s this about?’ she said when Erik had closed and locked the door.
These ridiculous little toilets. Erik had tried to have sex on a plane only once, when he and Claudia flew to Sweden for the first time. He had been so nervous about going home that when Claudia had giggled and suggested that they should try joining the mile-high club, he had immediately got to his feet and headed for the toilets, with Claudia trailing along behind him. The cubicle was tiny and smelly, and it took almost ten minutes before they found a position that worked. By that time the stewardess had noticed that the toilet had been engaged for some time, and started knocking on the door. It had been really bad sex, but an entertaining experience on the whole. And it had made Erik considerably less nervous.
Fatima was not Claudia. They were far too close together inside the cubicle. Erik thought about climbing onto the toilet seat, but then he would bang his head on the ceiling. Instead, they remained standing by the washbasin, chest to chest.
‘You first,’ Erik said.
‘Several crew members have noticed that some of the passengers are fiddling with their mobile phones. When we point out that they’re not allowed to make calls or use the Internet on board, they say they’re just listening to music. But of course we already know that many passengers simply disregard those rules, and they’re doing the same thing today.’
‘So you’re afraid one of them will use their phone and find out what’s happened?’
‘Yes.’
‘It’s not a problem, you know that. At thirty thousand feet, the phones connect to a hundred networks at the same time, which is why they don’t work.’
Admittedly, there was always a margin of error in that particular argument, as Erik well knew. There would be chaos if the news that the plane had been hijacked spread among the passengers. On the other hand, Erik was convinced that the flight was going to be considerably longer than the passengers were expecting, so they were going to have to make some kind of announcement anyway in order to explain the delay. And inform everyone that they might not arrive at all. He made a decision.
‘Keep moving up and down the aisles, keep having a go at people. Remind them of the regulations, tell them it’s dangerous to have their phones switched on.’
Fatima looked uneasy.
‘We’ll deal with that problem if and when it arises,’ Erik said.
‘Okay. But you said we had a number of problems?’
Yes, Erik thought. Our captain has gone crazy.
He searched for the words that would best express what he was thinking.
‘Have you noticed anything odd about Karim?’
‘No, I don’t think so. Then again, I’ve hardly spoken to him since we took off. We bumped into one another outside the toilets just before we started boarding the passengers; he seemed a bit stressed, but he was perfectly pleasant.’
Erik raised his eyebrows.
‘You bumped into him outside the toilets? Before we let the passengers on board?’
‘Yes, what’s strange about that? I expect he’s like everyone else – he has to go to the toilet now and again.’
Erik couldn’t hold back any longer.
‘Was it the same toilet where you found the note containing the bomb threat?’
He had to stop himself from shaking Fatima.
‘What the hell are you suggesting?’
Fatima moved back a step, away from Erik, and bumped into the door. She put her hand on the lock.
‘I’m not suggesting anything – just answer the question.’
He had frightened her, and that wasn’t good. But he had to know, because during the past hour, Erik had become increasingly convinced that Karim could be involved in what had happened. He had to know whether Karim was the person who had left that note in the toilet.
‘I don’t know.’
He could see that she was telling the truth.
‘I just assumed he’d been to the toilet, since that was where we met. I don’t know which one it was, but it doesn’t matter. You can’t seriously believe that Karim, of all people, would be a part of all this? He’s a good person, Erik!’
Erik leaned back against the wall. He was so bloody tired. Already.
‘I don’t know,’ he said. ‘I just don’t know. But he’s not himself. He’s not behaving rationally, he’s making the wrong decisions.’
Fatima moved a step closer to Erik; she was no longer so afraid of him.
‘For God’s sake, that doesn’t necessarily mean that he has anything to do with the hijacking! Something could have happened at home, or whatever. Something that’s stressing him out, making him anxious, and this terrible situation just makes him feel worse.’
Erik heard what she said, but her words had no effect.
‘We know one another, Karim and I,’ he said. ‘We hang out together. Our families spend time together. And I know there’s something else on his mind.’
Fatima reached out and stroked Erik’s arm.
‘In that case, you need to talk to him. Tell him there’s no room for personal problems, if he can’t see that for himself. Talk to him. Tell him what’s on your mind.’
Tell him what’s on your mind. How would that work? If Karim was involved, he was hardly going to want to discuss it with Erik.
In fact, several things were bothering Erik.
‘He requested extra fuel before we took off. What if he did that because he knew what was going to happen, knew we were going to need more flying hours?’
‘You mean he made up the fact that there’s going to be bad weather in New York? Oh, come on, Erik!’
Erik felt a sudden spurt of anger.
‘Of course he didn’t fucking make it up, we get weather reports! What concerns me is the amount of extra fuel he asked for. Five extra flying hours is far more than we usually request.’
Fatima knew that too, but she simply shook her head. ‘You’re imagining things,’ she said. ‘That’s all.’
‘I’m going to call my father,’ Erik said. ‘From one of the empty seats in first class – I can use the phone in the armrest. He’s a police officer, and apparently he’s working on the hijacking.’
Fatima grabbed his arm.
‘You’re going to ring your father and tell him you think the captain of the plane is involved in the bomb threat? Erik, do you realise what you’re saying? You’ll be putting Karim in a really difficult position, if you do that. You’ll be putting all of us in a really difficult position. Dangerous, in fact.’
Perhaps she was right. Perhaps he was being too hasty. The toilet suddenly felt very small; he had to get out of there.
‘Speak to Karim first,’ Fatima said. ‘Then you can decide whether you still want to call your father.’
Erik thought for a moment, then made his decision. He would do as she said.
31 STOCKHOLM, 15:45