by Sam Fintz
“You can’t bring my husband back, or my son,” she said.
“I know, Rose. I know. But please, we are all innocent, we had nothing to do with that,” he pleaded.
“Aiden Harrington had everything to do with it and so did his father. It’s just your bad luck that you are here,” she said.
The Captain was aware that Aiden was on the flight.
“Rose, Aiden is on this flight. I will go and get him. You can talk to him. Tell him why you did this,” he said.
“They won’t do a thing. Now leave the controls!” she shouted at him.
The Captain had no choice, he let go of the controls. The plane lurched and with nobody controlling it started to descend. The Captain had a terrified look on his face and the co-pilot was sobbing now.
Meanwhile at Harrington Aeronautical Max received a call and when he was done, he turned to Mike and said: “It’s Rose Winters, the hijacker is Rose Winters.” He was visibly shocked by this news.
Mike ran to the boardroom to tell Malcolm.
“Who the fuck is Rose Winters and why has she hijacked my plane?” Malcolm asked.
Chapter 95
In the main cabin of the plane the passengers screamed as the plane lurched forward. The engines were whining in protest. The oxygen masks fell from overhead and this just added to the panic. The cabin crew were employing emergency protocol and getting everyone ready for a crash landing. They were screaming at the passengers to wear their masks and assume the brace position. Equally, the passengers were screaming in fear.
Aiden was back in his seat and he was terrified. He had strapped himself in and with one hand he was gripping the armrest. He put the oxygen mask over his nose and mouth. He didn’t bother with the brace position. He was too busy with the mask and with getting his mobile out. He got Jason’s number up again on WhatsApp. He pressed the call icon.
Jason answered straight away.
“Aiden, what’s going on? Are you ok?” he shouted down the line, which was really poor, probably due to the turbulence the plane was encountering.
“Jason!” Aiden shouted, lifting the oxygen mask. “We were hijacked, I am scared! I don’t want to die!” he shouted. Aiden started to cry. He never cried, in fact the last time he had cried was his mother’s funeral. He secretly felt this was about to be his time to go. Anna was a distant thought now. All he could think about was Jason and how he would give anything to be held by him one more time.
“Aiden, you will be ok, you have to be. I am sorry we rowed, forgive me,” Jason said.
“Jason, Jason?” Aiden shouted as the line went dead. The turbulence had knocked out the Wi-Fi completely so there was no signal. They had been cut off.
Aiden slumped back, put the mask back in place and started to pray. He hadn’t prayed since he was a child. He figured it wouldn’t hurt to start again. There was so much screaming and crying going on behind him, he just wished they would all shut up!
Chapter 96
At Harrington Aeronautical Malcolm’s PA whispered to him discreetly: “It’s the PM on the line, sir.”
Malcolm left the room and went into the small conference room off the boardroom to take the call.
“What’s going on?” he asked the PM. “The news is saying there is an RAF jet flying next to my plane. My plane! I hope I don’t have to remind you what will happen if my plane is shot down. My boy is on that flight.”
He hung up after being reassured that the plane wouldn’t be shot down. Deep down he didn’t know if the PM was bluffing or not. With a deep breath he returned to the boardroom where everyone was gathered again. He didn’t say anything about that. He was glad they were there.
“Malcolm, Rose Winters is the woman whose husband was killed in that car crash with Aiden,” Mike reminded him.
“Ok, so what does she want?” he asked. “I will pay anything.”
“We don’t know yet, Malcolm,” Mike told him.
“Get me my car,” Malcolm told his PA. “I want to go to the airport. To air traffic control. Then I can talk to this woman. Talk her down.”
“Malcolm that really isn’t a good idea,” Mike told him.
“I don’t care, Mike. I am going,” he said.
“Fine, but I am coming with you,” Mike told him. Sometimes it wasn’t worth arguing with Malcolm.
“No, I am going on my own. You stay here where I need you,” Malcolm told him and left the room.
Chapter 97
In the main cabin of the aeroplane it was very noisy. People were screaming and crying. Some were just sitting in shock. The crew were still trying to get people to assume the brace position but hardly anyone was listening. They were terrified. The plane was lurching about and one of the overhead lockers burst open and the cases fell out. One case landed on a mother whose screaming child was sitting right next to her. The case knocked the mother out cold, just missing the child and this made the child scream more.
At the front of the cabin Aiden could be heard screaming. The attendant had opened the curtain now, so people could see him.
“Shut up, shut up!” he was yelling hysterically through the oxygen mask.
Suddenly the locker above Aiden also burst open and a bag fell out of there, hitting Aiden on the head and silencing him briefly. Ironically, it was Rose’s bag. If only she knew, she would probably have laughed at that.
Chapter 98
Fat Pat was at home watching the news about the hijack. When she heard it was a Harrington plane, she called Rose to tell her the good news. She didn’t get a reply, and this was not like Rose. She kept calling and when she didn’t get an answer after fifteen minutes, she decided to drive over to Rose’s flat.
She was listening to the news on the radio in the car and she was thinking to herself that Rose was probably sleeping but would be happy to hear about the Harrington’s problems.
When Fat Pat got to Rose’s flat and she got no answer after she had buzzed the intercom, she let herself in. When she was inside, she called Rose’s name and there was nothing but an eerie silence in the flat. She went into the lounge and on the table she saw the two letters addressed to her and Ben. She suddenly realised what was going on. She rushed to the bathroom and threw up. She went to the kitchen and got some water and when she was a little more composed, she called Ben and told him he needed to come to the flat urgently. The tone of her voice alone told Ben that he should hurry, she didn’t need to say any more.
Fat Pat hung up and just collapsed on the floor in a heap, sobbing. She hadn’t opened the letter yet, but deep down she felt like she knew what it would say. Opening and reading it would only make all this real.
Chapter 99
In the cockpit the Captain was pleading with Rose. She still had the gun pointed at him. She wasn’t interested in anything he had to say. The plane was going to crash. Her heartache and living hell would soon finally be over.
Unbeknown to Rose, an RAF fighter jet was flying parallel to the plane. The pilot of the jet had just been given the go-ahead to shoot down the plane.
Amelia had come around and all she could hear was the screaming and noise coming from the cabin.
Suddenly the plane lunged just as Amelia was again trying to get up from the jump seat. She fell back against the door forcing it open. Instinctively she had reached out to grab something to break her fall. Her hand grabbed Rose pulling her back with her.
Chapter 100
Malcolm Harrington had just arrived at Manchester airport. He was finally let into the air traffic control tower after he had screamed all sorts of threats at the staff. Max had called ahead, but the message to let him in had only got through after Malcolm had started his yelling and threats.
Malcolm had no idea the fighter jet had been given the order to shoot his plane down. Unusually the control room was noisy, and not the normal calm it usually was.
“I want to talk to the mad cunt who’s hijacked my plane,” Malcolm told one of the controllers.
“Language lik
e that won’t help,” he told Malcolm, who just punched him in the face, sending him straight to the floor.
“Put me through to that plane now!” he yelled at one of the other controllers.
Chapter 101
Rose hadn’t anticipated the sudden lurching of the plane or that Amelia would grab at her. She lost her balance and felt herself falling backwards. The spray bottle went flying across the cockpit and landed on the floor where the co-pilot was sitting.
Suddenly aware of what was going on and after he had stopped being hysterical, the co-pilot finally did something. Little did he know that if he didn’t act now, the plane would be shot down.
The fighter jet pilot had just confirmed the order and that he was getting into position.
Rose was clinging onto the door frame. She only had one hand to hold on to the frame. She was using her other hand to desperately hang onto the small gun. Amelia was still pulling at her and had a firm grip on the back of Rose’s jacket. The co-pilot grabbed a fire extinguisher and bashed Rose’s fingers. She let go of the door frame, and her and Amelia fell back into the main cabin. She landed on top of Amelia, knocking her out again.
Without even thinking, the co-pilot got himself up and tried to close the cockpit door.
He shouted to the Captain: “Pull up, pull up! Come on!”
The Captain didn’t hesitate. He pulled back on the controls and the plane started to correct and began its ascent with the engines screaming again at the sudden change in direction.
Whilst the Captain was struggling with the plane, he heard Malcolm’s voice in his ear demanding to speak to Rose.
The co-pilot was still struggling to close the door. Something was stopping it from closing completely. He stopped for a second to pull the pin on the extinguisher. If this woman was coming back at him, he would spray her with foam. If he couldn’t lock the door, he could at least try and stop her with that.
Rose had managed to get up, but she was unsteady on her feet. It was just sinking in what had happened. She headed back to the cockpit minus her wig that had been knocked off when she fell back. The door was closed, but not completely. She saw that her wig was keeping the door open! She kept pulling at the door, trying to get it open fully. Suddenly, as the co-pilot was about to lose his battle to close the door, she lost her grip on the handle. He quickly kicked the wig out the way, pulled the door closed and locked it.
The cockpit was finally secure!
Chapter 102
Ben had arrived at Rose’s flat and the two of them were sitting together silently staring at the TV.
Like Fat Pat, Ben did not want to open the letter from Rose. Curiosity finally got the better of him and he ripped open the envelope. He read the letter three times and quietly stood up and went to the bathroom.
Not believing what he had read, he broke down in tears and started chanting the Jewish mourner’s prayer, the Kaddish.
When he came out of the bathroom Fat Pat was standing there, her letter still unopened in her hand.
She looked at him standing there shaking. He passed her the letter to read.
“Did you know?” he asked.
“No, of course not,” she replied, thinking he was asking about the hijack. She read the letter Ben had just passed her.
“Oh my God, Ben. I am so sorry. I had no idea,” Fat Pat told him. The shock on her face was obvious. She’d had no idea of anything.
Fat Pat decided to open and read her letter, dreading the contents. What other secrets did Rose have?
Chapter 103
As the Captain announced to air traffic control that he had control of the plane again, the fighter jet pilot was about to hit the button to bring down the plane. At the last possible second, he got the command to abort and pulled his jet away from the plane. It was close. There was literally a second to spare.
The Captain had ignored Malcolm’s demand to speak to Rose. He had bigger things to attend to. He switched to an alternate frequency and explained in full that he had control back and that the cockpit was now secure. He requested permission to return to Manchester. After all that he just wanted to go home.
Bang
Bang
Bang
Bang
Click, click, click, the gun had jammed and wasn’t firing. Rose threw the gun to the floor in frustration.
Four shots had been fired at the cockpit door. Thankfully the armour-plated door was impenetrable to the bullets in Rose’s small gun.
The Captain relayed that shots were fired but he was still in control and there didn’t seem to be any damage to the plane. He requested Armed Police for landing. He was given the go-ahead to return to Manchester to land. He was told a full police response would meet the plane and in addition the Fire Brigade would be present just in case. In safety at the side would be ambulances. No-one knew the status or condition of the passengers.
Rose locked herself in the toilet. She knew it was over. She was cross with herself that she had wasted the chance to shoot that murdering bastard. She had used the bullets before the gun had jammed to try and penetrate the cockpit. She could kick herself. It was an old gun so that was probably why. Also, Rose wasn’t sure if she had been to blame. Perhaps she had done something wrong when she was cleaning it. Either way, she had failed again!
The pilot performed a textbook landing in Manchester. As soon as the plane was stationary, the crew opened the cabin doors and evacuated the passengers, much to the annoyance of the police. They would have preferred this to be a controlled evacuation. They didn’t want Rose getting away. They were told she was still on board by one of the cabin crew.
The police entered the plane from the rear doors. They swept the plane quickly, checking the rear toilets first and then moving forward row by row. In the distance they saw a door opening and a hand came out. It was Rose. She was surrendering. She listened to the commands of the heavily armed police and she complied. She was led away from the plane in cuffs.
The last people to disembark from the plane were the Captain and the co-pilot, still dumbfounded by what had happened. They had stayed in the cockpit with the door closed, waiting for the police to clear the plane.
They had survived!
Chapter 104
As soon as the chaos was over and Malcolm had got Aiden out of the airport, he bundled him into the back of the Bentley, and they sped off in the direction of the Harrington mansion.
Meanwhile a less glamorous ride was ahead of Rose in the back of the police van.
In the Bentley, Aiden turned to his father and asked: “Can we do a quick detour? You can drop me off, you don’t need to wait. I will come and see you later. There is something I really need to do!
Chapter 105
At Aiden’s apartment Jason had turned off the news. They were saying that there were reports that the plane was out of control and looked like it was going to crash. He couldn’t watch anymore. He just stood for ages at the large window looking down on Manchester. His stomach was in a knot.
Jason didn’t know how long he had been standing there when he heard the lift doors open. He turned around and couldn’t believe his eyes.
“Aiden!” he shouted and ran towards him grabbing him and hugging him. “You’re alive! You’re alive! I thought you were dead for sure,” he said holding him tight.
“It will take more than some mad cow to kill me!” he said. He pulled away from Jason and just looked at him.
“I am sorry, mate. I have been a real bastard to you lately and you don’t deserve it. Let’s not row. We’re mates, we should behave like mates. How does that sound?” Aiden asked.
“Sounds good to me! Anything you want. I am just so happy to have you back,” Jason said as they went to the large sofa. Aiden collapsed on the sofa and Jason went to get them both a drink.
“What do you fancy doing tonight then? I promised to go and see my Dad for a bit, but after that I’m all yours. You can come with me,” Aiden said when Jason returned with the two drinks.
Chapter 106
At Styal Prison in Cheshire, a gaunt looking Rose was sitting at the booth behind glass. This was a new precaution since a recent security incident. Rose had received a mere ten-year sentence. The sympathetic judge had considered that she had lost everything and cited diminished responsibility when handing down that sentence.
Rose had been told that she had a visitor. She had sent out a visitor’s request to Ben and to Fat Pat but had no idea which one would show up.
She had spoken to them both since the plane incident and they had forgiven her. She could tell things were strained though. She was just grateful they were still speaking to her.
The door opened. Rose’s face lit up. Standing in the doorway was Ben and he was smiling.
He sat down in front of her and picked up the phone. She did the same.
“Rose, I came to tell you something,” he said.
“Ben, thank you for coming. What is it?” she asked in anticipation.
“Rose, I forgive you. I am still struggling to understand, but after all you have been through let’s leave it at that. I will understand eventually. I have something else to tell you. Oh, before I forget, Pat has let your flat to a nice gay couple with a cat,” he started to say.
“Tell me Ben!” she said.
“Sorry, I am babbling. I’m a bit nervous. It turns out I have found the woman I deserve,” he said.
She looked deflated. She thought she was about to lose him too.