‘He’s the one who’s executing the whole thing,’ Dennis said.
‘Yes, but why?’
Fredrika couldn’t keep quiet any longer.
‘Could it be that he has no choice?’
Eden put down her pen in frustration.
‘How is that possible, Fredrika? I hear what you’re saying. You think Karim is a victim rather than a perpetrator. But the fact remains – it’s Karim and no one else who constitutes the greatest danger on board that plane right now. If he’s not doing it of his own free will, what kind of pressure has he been subjected to?’
Fredrika had no answer to that question. She had asked it herself, over and over again. What would it take to make a man sacrifice the lives of hundreds of people, including his own, against his will?
She didn’t know, couldn’t come up with a sensible explanation.
At that moment, Alex’s phone rang.
It was Erik.
65 FLIGHT 573
At first, he hadn’t been able to work out what was wrong. Everything had happened so fast. So incredibly fast.
The fork.
The fork in Fatima’s hand, dripping with blood when she opened the cockpit door and fell into Erik’s arms. Lydia had to step back quickly.
‘Oh, God, I think I’ve killed him.’
Fatima’s voice was no more than a faint whimper, but Erik heard every word. He let her sink to the floor, took the fork out of her hand and stepped over her body into the cockpit. Lydia knelt down beside her.
Karim was lying on the floor clutching his neck as the blood spurted out across the carpet. Erik hesitated before bending down to check if he was conscious. He gripped the slippery fork as he touched Karim’s shoulder.
Karim raised his head and looked at Erik. He was weeping.
‘Forgive me, Erik, please forgive me. I had no choice.’
Erik felt the rage explode in his body.
‘No choice? Are you crazy?’
His voice belonged to someone else. It was deeper and louder than it had ever been before.
‘My family,’ Karim whispered. ‘They said they’d kill my family. It was them or me, so of course it had to be me.’
Erik didn’t understand what Karim was saying. He could hear the words, but they didn’t mean anything.
‘Who said that?’
Karim coughed and choked. His head sank back.
Erik looked at the wound, then straightened up. Resolutely, he got out the first-aid box and found a dressing. The wound looked horrible, but he didn’t think it was life-threatening.
‘Who, Karim?’
‘Forgive me, I had no choice.’
Karim’s voice was fading. Ironically, he looked calmer than he had done all day – as if he had found peace.
‘But I do,’ Erik said, applying the dressing with rough hands.
Karim groaned.
‘Just so you know, I’m taking command,’ Erik said. ‘We’ll be landing shortly.’
‘Forgive me,’ Karim said again. ‘I’m so sorry.’
But Erik had neither the desire nor the capacity to forgive him. Not here, not now. He found a short strap in one of the lockers and bound Karim’s hands behind his back. Lydia appeared in the doorway.
‘Is everything okay?’ she said.
It was a stupid question, but Erik thought he knew what she meant.
‘Yes,’ he said. ‘Everything’s okay now. Get someone to take care of Fatima, then come back in here. Close the door behind you.’
When Lydia had left the cockpit and closed the door, Erik bent down so that his face was close to Karim’s.
‘Answer me,’ he said. ‘Who told you your family was going to die?’
‘I don’t know. They’re being held hostage.’
‘Your family?’
‘Yes.’ His speech was becoming disjointed. ‘Don’t know where. You have to do as they say, Erik. Don’t divert away from Washington or my family will die.’
Was he out of his mind? Did he really think Erik was going to let hundreds of people die, himself included, in order to save Karim’s family?
‘No chance,’ Erik said. ‘Absolutely no chance.’
He slipped into Karim’s seat. So they were close to Washington, DC; if he had to make an emergency landing, it would have to be there.
Karim managed one last sentence before he lost consciousness.
‘She said it was for Flight TU003.’
Erik was barely listening.
‘Who said what?’
But Karim was gone – and soon, Erik realised that he had fresh problems.
Big problems.
‘This can’t be happening,’ he whispered.
Someone rang the bell; Lydia was back. Erik let her in and yelled at her to keep an eye on Karim.
‘Are we going to land?’ she said.
‘Too bloody right we are,’ Erik said. ‘We’re almost out of fuel.’
The colour drained from Lydia’s face as Erik made an emergency call.
‘Mayday, Mayday, this is Co-pilot Erik Recht.’
The words came automatically, almost as if he had pressed ‘Play’ on a recording.
A flight controller in Washington, DC responded.
‘Erik Recht, we have received clear orders to deny your flight permission to land.’
‘I know that,’ Erik said. ‘But Captain Sassi is no longer in command.’
‘Where is Captain Sassi?’
Erik hesitated.
‘He’s lying on the floor, seriously injured.’
Silence.
‘I will pass on what you say to a higher authority,’ the voice said eventually. ‘Until you are given permission to land, your plane is still not allowed to enter US airspace.’
‘Hang on, listen to me! We have hardly any fuel left; you have to give us permission to land right away!’
‘I’ll get back to you.’
And the voice was gone.
Erik tried to keep his fear and stress in check. Then he addressed the passengers and crew:
‘This is your co-pilot speaking. For various reasons we have experienced a considerable delay, but it now appears that we will be landing very shortly. I would therefore ask all passengers to return to your seats immediately and fasten your seatbelts.’
How much time did they have?
A jumbo jet with no fuel could glide a very long way, but Erik didn’t want to end up in that situation. Attempting to land with failing engines would end in disaster. They had to land now, without delay. Anything was better than an emergency landing.
The loudspeaker crackled into life:
‘Co-pilot Recht, you are speaking to Andrew Hoffman, US military air surveillance.’
It was the same man who had called earlier, the one who had said they didn’t have permission to land.
Erik answered.
‘I understand that Captain Sassi is no longer in command.’
‘That’s correct.’
‘Are you alone in the cockpit at the moment?’
‘The answer is no, I have a stewardess by the name of Lydia with me. And Captain Sassi, but he’s unconscious.’
‘No one else?’
‘That’s correct.’
This was followed by silence, and Erik realised he hadn’t given Hoffman the answer he wanted.
‘Co-pilot Recht, I repeat: is there anyone else in the cockpit apart from yourself, a woman called Lydia, and Karim Sassi?’
‘No.’
What the hell was this all about?
‘How did you get back into the cockpit?’
Erik was in despair. He didn’t have time for an interrogation.
‘Another stewardess who was in the cockpit with Captain Sassi managed to put him out of action, then she opened the door for me.’
‘Did anyone apart from yourself try to gain access to the cockpit at any stage?’
Fuck. The American Erik had knocked out.
‘Yes, a man. He was behaving in a threatening manner; he said he would help me if I could just get him into the cockpit, but for a start I couldn’t get in there myself, and secondly, I didn’t know who he was.’
‘I understand,’ Hoffman said. ‘Where is this man now?’
‘He’s lying on the floor outside the cockpit door.’