The cockpit door swung open and Nick stormed in. He handed Darren a piece of paper with handwritten coordinates. “There has been a change of plans—I need you to land.”
When Darren computed the coordinates, his face filled with confusion. “You want me to land on the Mediterranean Sea?”
“It’s either that or strapping on parachutes.”
While a water landing was unappealing, to say the least, parachuting out of a commercial airliner at this altitude was a certain death sentence, no matter what the DB Cooper enthusiasts like to think. He was certain that Nick didn’t just get the sudden urge to plunge a plane into the sea. It was a calculated decision determined long before the plane lifted off the runaway in New York, just like the choice to make Darren and Lilly the scapegoats. But one that would likely end in a fiery death for all.
“That’s crazy,” Darren proclaimed.
“Maybe, but also plausible.”
“I have been trained to ‘ditch’ an airline, but in the history of aviation no wide-bodied plane has ever had a successful water landing.”
“Then I guess I didn’t really watch the heroic Captain Sully land his plane on the Hudson River.”
“I really hope you didn’t base your end game on the Miracle on the Hudson. This isn’t remotely the same thing—they had just taken off and he landed on a smooth river. We are at full cruising altitude, and using the Mediterranean as our runway would be like landing in a mountain range, except that the mountains would be moving.”
“Please don’t bullshit me, Darren. We both know that in 1996 a 767 out of Ethiopia ditched after being hijacked. Not only can it be done, it has been successfully completed.”
“I’m not sure what your definition of success is. Ethiopian-961 caught its wing on the water, causing the plane to shatter into three different pieces and over a hundred people died.”
“But fifty-two passengers did live, and many of the deaths were because of the failure to evacuate quickly enough. We only have five on board.”
Darren was good at math. Six minus one equals five. He had seen Nick, Natalie, and Zubov since the gunshot. That would leave Dava and Lilly, and according to Natalie, Dava was working with them…
“Even in the best circumstances ‘ditching’ a plane is not pretty. Planes crumble like soda cans when hitting hard surfaces at high speeds. And like I said, it’s not like we will be landing on a calm pond. We will have to deal with wind and high waves, and even if we live through it, and perform a flawless evacuation, we will probably end up as shark food.”
Nick patted Darren on the shoulder. “I have faith in you, Darren. Even if you don’t have it in yourself. Your record as a pilot is fantastic. That is one of the reasons we picked you.”
“I won’t do anything until I see that my wife is okay.”
“I can assure you that Lilly is far better than okay. She’s the best I ever had.”
Darren pushed the yoke in and headed straight into a nosedive, thrashing Nick to the floor. When he felt he made his point, he straightened the plane out. Nick shoved a gun in his ear and threatened to shoot him. But despite all his bluster, he agreed to Darren’s terms. As long as they remained in the air, he had some bargaining power.
Zubov brought Lilly to the cockpit and strapped her into the first officer seat. With confirmation that his wife was alive, Darren agreed to land the plane on the water, which meant that she likely wouldn’t be alive much longer. He ordered them all to strap themselves into the seats in the middle of the plane—the cockpit and tail were the most dangerous areas. He should have had them all strap into straightjackets—this was certifiably nuts!
Lilly refused to go. She looked Darren in the eye, and then reached her arm across to touch his hand. “I’m staying with my husband. Until death do us part, right?”
Darren couldn’t break her stare. And her touch was as dazzling as ever to his senses. But the eyes never lie. Her devotion wasn’t about their marriage, it was about her attraction to danger.
And as Darren began their descent to destruction, he got the feeling that it would be a fatal attraction.
Chapter 90
Darren dropped the speed of the plane to a minimum. His one advantage was the knowledge of where and when they were landing. The other times a water-ditch had been attempted, it was a last resort emergency situation that had little planning or forethought. Even so, Darren still felt the weight of the world on his shoulders. Lilly was with him, but for the first time since he laid eyes on her in that casino, he felt all-alone in her presence.
He found a comfortable glide speed. The flaps helped slow the plane to the lowest possible speed without stalling. As they approached the water, he used the intercom to address the passengers. He had only done this in a simulator, but he knew they were going to experience a jarring impact the likes of which they probably couldn’t even imagine. They also had to be prepared for flippage, fires, and explosions. Once they landed, they needed to get out of the plane as fast as possible, but he warned against inflating their life jackets prior to removing themselves from the plane—a common cause of death in small planes during water-landings. And once they escaped the wreckage, it was imperative that they stay away from the explosive engines that would be floating nearby.
Darren guided the plane over the top of the sea. He was lining up the waves for the safest landing spot when he was rocked by the loudest bang he’d ever heard. Lilly screamed at the top of her lungs, yet he could barely hear it.
Darren kept his calm—he knew what happened. The wind tilted the plane too far to the left, clipping the wing against the unforgiving water. The wing came off, as it was built to do, causing the plane to fight any attempt to control it. It was like swimming against the tide, and it was all happening too fast. To make matters worse, the left engine acted like an ice cream scoop in the water and had ripped off.
Instead of gripping tighter, Darren eased off. He tried to “horseback ride” on the yoke to keep the nose up as long as possible. He used the flaps to reduce speed, desperately trying to avoid a “slam.” He raised the nose—not sufficient to climb, but enough to bleed off any air speed. Lilly’s screams continued to be drowned out by the hissing sound coming from the gaping hole left by the missing engine.
Darren placed the belly down on the water as gently as possible. He thought he had lucked into finding a “meadow” between the waves, but just when he thought this might actually work, he was overwhelmed by the sound of crunching metal.
The plane shook from side to side as if it had landed on an earthquake, and he could feel the thousand pounds of thrust spraying water like a geyser. Darren was sure they were about to flip over, or worse, rip into pieces.
Just when it seemed hopeless, the plane miraculously skidded to a halt.
But there was no time to send a thank you note to the heavens. Darren un-strapped himself and tried to stand, at least as well as his wobbly legs would allow. He viewed the cockpit. It looked like a bomb had hit—the control panel was torn from the console and the windshield was shattered. Glass was everywhere.
He found Lilly curled up on the floor. She had been completely dislodged from her seat-belt.
She was barely conscious, her face leaking blood and bruised like a plum. She was still breathing, but she would not make it out on her own. He tried to pull her to her feet, but she couldn’t put any weight on her leg. So Darren picked his wife up and carried her. Pain shot through his ankle, which had jammed into the console during impact.
He winced in pain, as he kicked open the door to the cockpit just wide enough so they could fit through. But then he was hit with another troubling reality. The electric had shorted and the airframe was broken. The cabin was filling with water, and there was no sign of life.
Staring to the back of the plane, Darren realized what caused that horrific sound that had stabbed his ears. He had clipped the tail off, causing a gaping hole in the back of the plane! He understood the likelihood that all passengers were su
cked through the hole to an unpleasant death.
He waded through the waist-high water in the cabin—seats had been ripped right out of the floor—it was worse than any hurricane footage he’d ever seen. With Lilly still in his arms, he headed for the bright sunlight shooting through the tail.
He put Lilly onto his back and used all his remaining strength to swim from the plane. The first thing to hit him was the smell of jet fuel. He also noticed the huge engines floating nearby—a Rolls Royce Trent-900 model that was bigger than a small truck. But what most attracted his attention were the survivors floating in a life raft with dazed looks. They were alive!
Darren had been trained in water simulators, so he wasn’t disorientated like the others. He swam Lilly to the life raft and handed her over to Zubov—a scary thought.
When Darren tried to climb into the raft himself, he was met by the point of Nick’s gun. “You messed up and now you’re going to pay for it!”
Darren was confused. He was pretty sure he’d pulled off the miracle of all miracles. He landed a wide-bodied commercial jet in the Mediterranean Sea with no loss of life. But when he did a headcount, he realized that someone was missing.
“Either you find Audrey or you will die the most painful death I can think of,” he screamed at him.
Darren was in leader-mode. He remained calm, asking, “What happened to her?”
“When the tail ripped off the plane, her seat came unhinged and she was sucked out. Find her!”
Darren began to swim toward what he recognized as the tailpieces. He slogged through the cold water and sifted through the pieces of wreckage. He was skeptical that Audrey Mays had escaped death this time. Even if she survived the impact, she likely would’ve been badly burned.
Then he witnessed his second miracle of the day. He located her, or at least her body. She was bobbing in her seat, being held above water by her life-jacket. Her gold dress had been torn to shreds and a blonde wig ripped from her head, exposing short-cropped, brown hair.
Darren moved closer, not expecting her to be alive. But he found her semiconscious—her breathing was shallow, and she appeared dazed, but she was alive. He felt momentary relief.
He swam Audrey to a piece of the wing and lugged the groggy pop star up on it. As he did, he noticed a large speedboat slicing through the swells of water. At first, he thought it was a rescue crew who’d seen the plane go down. It came to a sweeping stop right in front of Darren and Audrey, hanging on to their wing and a prayer.
Darren implored them to radio for help, as both Lilly and Audrey would need immediate medical attention. But the only response he received was a machine-gun pointing in his direction.
“We’ve come to take you to Mr. Sarvydas.”
Chapter 91
The boat took them to the point where the sea met the cliffs of Netanya. They were loaded into a Jeep and driven up the rugged terrain until they reached the Sarvydas mansion.
They were rushed inside and shown to separate rooms by machine-gun-toting guards. Darren’s room rivaled the size of his home in Arizona. A fresh suit was laid out on the bed and he was instructed to clean himself up for dinner. The guard promised to return in half-an-hour.
Darren put on the dark suit, but wasn’t sure if he was dressing for a formal dinner or his own funeral.
As nightfall crept through the large bay window of the room, the guard returned. He escorted Darren through a maze of grand rooms and staircases to a breathtaking dining room. One side of the room looked out at a beautiful city skyline. But when Darren looked closer, he realized it was a mural of St. Petersburg. The opposing wall had a cliffside view of the dark sea. This one wasn’t a painting, and neither were the armed guards on the balcony. It was all too real.
A television newscast was being projected on the glass wall, making it the biggest TV Darren had ever seen. The news anchor—thankfully not Jessi Stafford—was reporting that the Israeli government had confirmed that the hijacked Air Israel flight had crashed into the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Israel. There was no word on survivors, but the prognosis was bleak. They displayed the first photos of the mangled plane before it sunk to the bottom of the sea, the wings and tail ripped away. Divers were currently at the crash site searching for survivors, and they planned to do so through the night.
In between coverage of the many Natalie Gold vigils being held around the world was a report on the three suspected hijackers. Darren’s photo was from his pilot license, and as usual, he didn’t smile, making him appear menacing. Lilly’s photo was from her school yearbook, while Dava’s photo came courtesy of the US Attorney’s Office. The photo of Darren, Dava, and Ron Treadwell together in the bar was also shown, linking the “hijackers” together in infamy. The motive of the crime had yet to be pinpointed, but it had been linked to the Sarvydas trial and the Sarvy’s shootout.
The others joined Darren in the dining room. His eyes first went to Lilly. He was relieved to see that the color had returned to her bronzed skin. They were all dressed for dinner—men in dark suits and women in black evening gowns. Lilly also sported a pair of crutches, her leg set in a cast.
Her eyes appeared hazy, probably the result of pain medication. She gave him a cloudy smile. He pulled his eyes away before her look trapped him. He planned to die with his dignity intact, as best he could.
Audrey had turned back into Natalie Gold, including the blonde wig. Her fans could extinguish their candles and save their tears. It was a miracle she didn’t at the least suffer severe burns or head trauma, and with the wonder of make-up, her facial abrasions could barely be detected. Darren was the only one who was informed enough to understand the odds they beat to survive the crash landing. But the group seemed to comprehend that the odds of surviving Sarvydas were much steeper.
The most surprising guest was Nick. He stood next to Natalie like they were posing for prom photos, which led Darren to again think of Becks. He was worried for her, but wherever she was, it was less precarious than being at this dinner party, especially since they’d likely be the main course.
Viktor entered the room, flanked by a limping Zubov and a handful of bodyguards. The moment called for trumpets to play, but the room was pin-drop silent. He was shorter than Darren expected and wore a flamboyant purple suit. He seemed more like an eccentric musician than a feared international gangster.
As he got closer, Sarvydas locked eyes with Nick. The intensity between them made Darren uncomfortable. They stood in silence, and then Nick rushed toward him.
Surprisingly, Zubov and the guards didn’t make any move to restrain him. The two men embraced. Not a good sign.
“It’s so good to see you again, my son,” Sarvydas said, his words choking with emotion.
The two words hung like a dark cloud over the room—my son.
“Oh my god,” Natalie exclaimed.
Viktor viewed the room, before resting his eyes on Darren. He felt a chill down his newly found spine.
Chapter 92
“I’d like to welcome you, Mr. McLaughlin. Your work in getting all parties safely here tonight was nothing short of heroic. But this is not surprising to me—it’s why you were chosen.”
Darren didn’t acknowledge the words.
Sarvydas’ eyes traveled down Lilly’s body until they arrived at the cast. “How is your leg feeling? I employ only the best doctors, and they tell me that you’ll be back to new in no time.”
“What’s the difference? I already died in a plane crash, or at least that is what my obituary will state,” she replied with defiance.
Sarvydas didn’t try to reassure her. He turned his attention to Natalie. “It appears I didn’t know you as well as I thought I did, Audrey. A relationship can’t be built on lies. Lies always get you in the end.”
She fired back, “You would be speaking from experience. You tried to murder me once, and used me to lead Alexei to his death. What kind of monster murders his own son?”
“I made you a star, and this is how you
repay me?”
Natalie turned to Nick, and seemed to turn back into Audrey. “I don’t understand, Nick. This is the man who killed your mother.”
Sarvydas boiled. “I never did anything of the sort! I have spent my life protecting Nick and his mother.”
He looked deep into Nick’s eyes. He might have been talking to the group, but his words were meant for Nick. “I loved your mother and I wouldn’t allow her to be harmed by my enemies. And when I found out she was pregnant, it wasn’t just her I had to protect, it was also you. So I encouraged Paula to pursue a relationship with Karl, which she did. When Paula informed Karl that she was pregnant, they rushed to marriage, and you were born soon after. I made sure that Paula’s doctor indicated for the record that you were born prematurely. But I doubt that Karl would’ve questioned it, anyway.” He looked at Audrey. “Sometimes we want to believe something so bad that we make ourselves believe that lies are truth.
“After the marriage and child, my enemies backed off Paula. And Karl took a more behind-the-scenes role in my organizatsiya—a role he would thrive in, resulting in our worldwide economic dominance. My enemies knew a simple fact—if Paula Branche belonged to Viktor Sarvydas, then he would never allow his subordinate to impregnate her and live. I was counting on such a response. It pained me everyday to think of Paula with another man, raising my son, but when you love someone you have to make the ultimate sacrifice.”
Darren looked at Lilly. It was clear to him that making these ultimate sacrifices for the one you love is not always enough.
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