The Mystery of Flight 2222

by Thomas Neviaser

  Some of the group gasped quietly.

  “That plane we heard a while back? I think that’s their contact, and they will be back now that they know we’re on board,” Frank said.

  “How do you know this?” asked Kimberly, surprising everyone.

  “I speak Spanish, but they don’t know it. I was able to hear their communications to the plane.”

  “Oh, God, I’m going to be raped and beaten and sold?” Kimberly blurted as she jumped back away from the group.

  Helen hurried and held her to her side. “Not if we can help one another.”

  “We have to be calm and resolute here,” Frank said forcefully. “All of our lives will depend on what we say and do in the future. Do not let them know we know anything. Don’t tell them I understand Spanish. Act accordingly. Follow their orders and don’t give them anything to get them mad at us. If one of us goes nuts, no telling what they will do to all of us.”

  Irving once again listened at the door intently then turned to the others. “We will need to overpower these guys somehow. We will need to pick the place and time, but time may not be on our side. They are taking us to land as far as I can tell. This could be good or bad. Bad because there may be more of them to get away from, or good in that we will have more options to choose from if there are only four of them there. We need to keep attention on that plane when it returns, and Frank needs to hear the transmission from the plane to translate their intentions. Everyone here needs to be on their toes, so if anyone hears the plane, somehow you must let Frank know.”

  “How?” Yuto asked.

  “We need a sign to let him know if he doesn’t hear it first. If you hear the plane, find Frank as soon as possible and place your hands behind your head as if massaging your neck and slide your hands over your ears like this. Got it?” Irving said, looking at each person, and it was obvious he was specifically awaiting any negative response as he repeated the signal motion three times.

  “What if we not together when plane come?” Soo Mi asked.

  “Use the sign to others, and, hopefully, we can get the message to Frank. He then has to get near the radio room to hear at the same time, so it won’t be easy, but it is the only way we can know their plans,” Irving answered.

  A key was turning in the lock. They all scurried to their bunks, each pretending to be curled up and sleeping. Frank pocketed the napkin and settled on his back with his hands clasped behind his head as the guard entered the room.

  “Levántate!”

  Frank knew the others did not know he wanted them all up, so he raised his head and motioned to the guard and said, “No Espanol.”

  The guard responded by raising his hand up and down, the up signal being more prominent. “Levántate!”

  Shrugging as if guessing what he meant, Frank got up and told the others to get out of their bunks. They were herded out the door one by one and down the corridor past the radio room and the other living quarters. Irving appeared to be counting the number of steps to the radio room. Just in case he needed to get there in the dark?

  The passengers had been so engaged in their scheming that they didn’t notice the weather had subdued, and the boat was now again at full speed to a destination. They were ushered into another cabin where the boss was sitting behind a fancy desk with his feet up on its right side, smoking a cigar and smiling.

  “Buenas tardes, amigos (Good afternoon, friends)! You like dis boat ride mucho?”

  No one answered, and suddenly he sat up, dropped his feet to the floor, and yelled, “Buenas Tardes, amigos! You like dis boat ride mucho?”

  Surprisingly, Yuto responded before Frank could think. “Where we go?”

  “Ah! Alguien ahora habla (Someone now speaks)! You no American, eh? De Japon, eh? Where we go?” The leader laughed in a sinister manner. “How you say? Me know, you not know? Pero sabrás pronto (But you will know soon),” he said between heavy laughter.

  So this bastard isn’t going to tell us. Either he knows or he’s waiting for his orders.

  “You son of a bitch!” Kimberly screamed. “Who the hell do you think you are? Where the hell are we going? You have no right to abduct us, you bastard.” She quickly approached the man whose laughter suddenly halted as he stood and smacked her in the face. Kimberly lost her balance and fell against the edge of the desk.

  “Cállate mujer (Shut up, woman)! Estoy a cargo aquí (I’m in charge here). Eres mi prisionero (You are my prisoner)!”

  Helen rushed over to help Kimberly to her feet as the boss pushed both of them back into line.

  Christ! No doubt about it now. He’s a prick, not going to take any guff from anyone, and we are indeed now officially his prisoners.

  Helen gathered up some rags off a shelf nearby to apply some pressure to the small bleeding cut on Kimberly’s head. One of the guards, obviously emboldened by their boss’ actions, ripped one of them from her hand, but she was able to hold on to the other, burying Kimberly’s head under her arm so the guard couldn’t get to it.

  “Ahora que sabes quién está a cargo, me escucharás a mí y a mis hombres (Now that you know who is in charge, you will listen to me and my men). Harás exactamente lo que te digan y nada más (You will do exactly what they tell you and nothing else). Lo entiendes (You understand)?”

  “Please,” said Irving. “No speak Espanol!”

  “Me boss. You do what I say! Entiéndeme? You know?”

  “Yes, we understand,” said Irving as he held out his arms in a submissive posture, indicating that all of them understood. He then said to the rest, “He’s the boss. No arguing.” And then he turned to the commander and nodded in the affirmative.

  “Bien, todos somos amigos ahora (Well, we are all friends now)?” the boss said.

  Yeah, sure, we are all your friends, asshole, but only until we can get the hell out of here somehow.

  They were once again roughly ushered back to the sleeping quarters with Helen still attending to Kimberly’s head. Soo Mi and Yuto were first allowed to use the toilet within their cabin, but as soon as they were finished, the guard checked all of them visually, slammed the door, and locked it.

  “Kimberly. You okay?” Frank asked.

  “Those bastards. What else do we have to endure? The fucking crash, eating each other, starving half to death, sharks, and now these idiots. I want to kill them. I hate them. You understand?”

  “We all feel this way, Kimberly, but if we all act like you, they will have no qualms about eliminating us all. Get yourself together. Calm yourself down, please,” said Irving, hugging her as Helen let her loose.

  “I’ll get those bastards, if it’s the last thing I do,” Kimberly said.

  “Kimberly, please!” Helen said softly.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Banging on the locked door woke the survivors. It was time for breakfast. The usual coffee with thick grinds at the bottom of the cup, powdered eggs, and orange juice were served every morning. Frank guessed that it was around seven or eight o’clock. The guards had taken anything worth money when they’d been rescued, including Irving’s watch. Frank had slipped his into a secret pocket in his cargo pants before they’d confiscated their valuables. He never looked at it unless he was alone.

  As they lined up to go out the door, the guard halted them from exiting and pointed to Frank and Yuto to come with him. Again, they walked down the corridor past the radio room. Frank tried to estimate the area of their cabin where he could choose as the best place to hear the communications if he were in their cabin by counting the steps again from their door.

  They entered the boss’ cabin and were placed in front of the desk. The guard left them there alone.

  They both looked at each other, Frank questioning himself.

  The boss finally entered with great fanfare. “Buenos dias, amigos!”

  Having witnessed his displeasure before when no one answered, Frank faked a terrible Spanish accent and repeated, “Bunos dyas!”

  The boss laughed
, amused instead of angered by the response.

  “You never see America again, you know?”

  “What?” Yuto asked.

  “No see America! We sell you!”

  Frank didn’t want to converse in Spanish as severely as he wanted for fear of exposing his ability to understand their plans. He almost blurted out a long answer in Spanish but held back.

  “America has more money for you,” Frank finally explained. “We have amigos with dinero, much dinero!”

  The boss laughed and snickered. “No good America dinero. Escupo sobre eso (I spit on that),” he said in a nasty manner as he spit on the floor.

  “What now?” Yuto asked.

  “You know today. Tell la mujer shut up or…” The boss put his index finger to his temple and pulled it back like a trigger.

  “Please—” Frank said but was cut off.

  “No. No. You no talk! Tell all shut up!” the boss demanded.

  After getting back to their quarters, Frank let everyone know that they were truly in trouble and that their plans would have to be made up quickly. He did not voice his deep concerns about Kimberly because he knew if she spoke up one more time, it would be a disaster for her and all of them, really.

  He sat on the lower bunk with Irving and asked, “Well, what’s your plan?”

  “We’ve been hauling ass for a long time and not near shore. I’m wondering if there is a rendezvous with another ship. I still think we need to wait for the plane’s instructions,” Irving said.

  “Jesus, this is nerve-racking for us. I can’t imagine what is for the others,” Helen remarked.

  A noise at the door distracted them from their conversation. Another guard opened the door and motioned them all out of the cabin. They entered the breakfast area, all looking at one another, wondering why they were here in the middle of the afternoon.

  The commander entered, this time with a jovial demeanor. “Es hora de celebrar a nuestros amigos (It’s time to celebrate, our friends). ¡Saca la cerveza (Take out the beer)!”

  Celebrate what? Beer?

  The other guards brought bottles of beer in cases, opened them, and gave one to each person. Everyone imbibed while questioning the motive of the boss. He, too, was drinking and flirting with Kimberly and Helen, both of whom were obviously standoffish with him, but he didn’t seem to care. Hector tried to flirt with Soo Mi, but Yuto stepped between them and offered a sip of his beer. The guard backed off after seeing the boss motioning him away.

  Irving moved closer to the boss and asked, “Why we celebrate?”

  “Ah ha, we soon know pedidos and dis will be over!”

  Soo Mi suddenly bumped into Irving, the closest person to her, and put her hands behind her head and slid them over her ears. Irving stood still and listened. It was a little difficult to hear because of the noise from the celebrating crew, but Frank thought he heard it, too. Irving elbowed Frank, who was passing by, and gave the same signal. Frank lifted his head and, yes, he heard it again. As if on cue, he maneuvered toward Helen and said, “It’s plane time. I’m gonna pretend to get sick and need to go to the corridor.”

  Frank then turned his back to the group, put his finger down his throat after taking three quick large swigs of beer, and immediately threw up and dropped to his knees. Helen reached for him and pretended to be very concerned for his health as the guards stood around laughing. She helped him out of the room and down the corridor, where Frank dropped to the floor outside the radio room and heaved up some more beer and faked passing out. Helen started to cry and consoled his now-still body. One of the guards, who followed, watched intently and, seeing Frank pass out, laughed, swigged some beer, and returned to the mess hall.

  The sound of the propellers of the plane became quite obvious now as it was attempting to circle the boat, and the radio’s speaker spouted a fast-speaking Spanish voice. “Procede a Playa de Redinha, luego al norte veintiocho kilómetros a lo largo de la costa. Llegue a la hora asignada fuera de la costa, a un kilómetro de la costa y confirme con la señal. Transferirá a los prisioneros a la orilla. ¿Entender?”

  The radio operator responded, “Si!” and repeated the directions word for word.

  All the while, the ‘unconscious’ Frank was listening and recording the words in his mind. Proceed to Playa de Redinha, then north twenty-eight kilometers along the coast. Arrive at designated time off the coast, one kilometer from the coast and confirm with signal. Will transfer the prisoners to the shore. Understand?

  Shit, that means we’re somewhere near the coastline of South America. Brazil. We’re going to be transferred, and that ain’t good!

  He opened his eyes, caught a glimpse of Helen but no one else, and, making sure he was correct, he waited a few seconds before moving and said, “Ain’t good. We’re going to Brazil and being transferred to land.”

  “Oh, my God!” Helen whispered. “When?”

  “Didn’t get a time. Was probably already designated before the transmission.”

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Once the ‘celebration’ was over, the boss commanded his goons to return the captors to their cabin. The door was closed and locked. Irving, as usual, placed his right ear on the door. He had done this so many times that the rest of the passengers probably didn’t even give it a second thought. He never listened and heard anyone, so why now? As he changed his position, he stopped at one place on the door, pressed closer, and with his left hand kept violently waving it in silence until he had everyone’s attention. Then, in the stillness, he turned and leaned quietly on the door.

  He pointed to it and held up two fingers and then pretended to shoot the ceiling.

  Two goons outside the door. They’re listening to us.

  Frank raised his index finger to his lips, pulled the napkin out of his pocket and shook it, and then motioned to Irving by placing his index finger and thumb together and putting them on the flat surface of a bunk rail. Irving reached into his pocket and retrieved the pencil. Frank folded the napkin and wrote exactly what he’d heard so everyone understood the severity of the situation. They weren’t sure what time it was, but they were certain that this night their lives would change big time.

  Irving listened to the door again and again, and finally signaled all clear after being doubly sure no one was outside the door. He approached Frank. “Here’s the thing. Somehow they need to get us on something to transfer us. If it is a little boat, a Zodiac or smaller, then I would think we are being taken to land, but if they come out with a larger vessel, then that could mean we are being shipped somewhere.”

  “So what can we do?” Frank asked clearly and decisively.

  “Once the door is opened by one of the goons, I’ll pull him into the room, break his neck, and take his AK. If there are two of them, we might have a problem. So far, we have only had one goon come, but this is the transfer, so we may have two. I will need you and Yuto to help with the first one I drag into the room if there are two. You will need to cut his throat.” Irving stared straight at Frank and then Yuto.

  “What? With what? How?” Yuto gasped quietly.

  Irving pulled his pants leg up and retrieved the scalpel he had used on the raft from his sock.

  “This! It has to be a deep cut right away so there isn’t any noise from his throat to warn anyone else. The throat needs to be cut clean through. I really mean clean through, got it? If only one guy, I can take care of that, and then we will take each guy one at a time. I’m sure the boss will be driving the boat and his helper should be communicating with the pickup vessel. That gives us time to kill two of them, get two AKs, and deal with the other two. From there, we hijack the boat and get the hell out of here.”

  No sooner had Irving finished speaking, the door flew open, shocking everyone.

  The boss man was standing in the doorway. “Get in bed, stay! Bad rain come. Nobody move!” The door slammed shut, the lock clicked, but not before Frank noted only one guard behind the leader.

  “Bad weather go
od for us. It make their job a more hard, I think,” said Yuto.

  Irving smiled and nodded. Yuto was right. The irregular rocking boat made it more unsteady for the guards since they needed to tote their AK-47s with them wherever they went and also needed to carry heavy magazines as well.

  Irving put one hand on Frank’s shoulder and the other on Yuto’s back and said, “If I pull the guard in it is because there are two of them. You must make sure the AK is vertical, not across his chest, otherwise the gun will block him from getting into the room. It won’t fit through the door being horizontal. This is a small entrance,” he said, pointing to the locked door.

  They both nodded in the affirmative.

  Helen and Soo Mi were intently listening to every word spoken. Kimberly was bent over in bed.

  “What can we do?” Helen asked.

  “Use this knife to cut up long pieces of those extra sheets over there so we can use them to tie them up if need be,” Irving said. “Be sure to hide any extra pieces so they don’t see any remnants of the sheets. Then give everyone as many as you can equally. Don’t forget to get the knife back to me.”

  Helen and Soo Mi immediately started their task and soon had multiple strands of sheets distributed to the others and returned the knife to Irving. He neatly replaced it inside his sock after wrapping the blade to protect him from the sharp edge. The boat rocked back and forth, an indication for the worsening weather ahead.

  Frank and Yuto went over the physical activities they may need to silence one of the guards. They had never killed anyone in their lives, they said. The idea of slashing a person’s throat as deeply as Irving described was something out of some horror movie. Of course, in the movies, the blood spurting out of the neck was the center of the viewers’ attention, not the throat being cut in half. What if they were unable to do it? Did one of them have to slash the throat again? How was one to know if the breathing tube was cut enough? They both had questions, some of them easy to answer and others so difficult to imagine. Their conversation came to an end as they were thrown out of their bunks against the hull next to the door. Each passenger crawled back into their bunks and held on for dear life.