On Fire

by Thomas Anderson

“Take Wojewodzk Droga. Zachod or West,” says Gilly, struggling with his pronunciation, trying to help Zak navigate their way off the E75. They’re on the S6, which is what E75 turns into in the Tri-City area of Gdansk. A major limited access freeway, it serves Gdansk and two companion cities. All stretch North along the Bay of Gdansk on the Northern Baltic Coast of Poland.

  Zak and Gilly strain to see. It’s night and the snow is falling heavily, whipsawing across their windshield. They have trouble making out the sign directly ahead, obscured as it is by snow freezing in blotches on its face. Their bright headlights reflect against the snow.

  “Is that it?” asks Zak.

  “Yeah, that’s it,” Gilly replies, his voice betraying the exhaustion he feels after a day of virtually non-stop driving.

  Zak prepares to turn off the lanes heading North onto a freeway ramp to his right.

  “Could it snow any harder?” asks Gilly.

  “Or blow any harder,” Zak finishes the thought, slowing the car to avoid skidding on the snow pack.

  The phone goes off and before it has stopped ringing the first time Zak has switched it on. It feeds to the vehicle’s onboard screen and resolves very quickly into an image of Rashida.

  “Turn left,” she says. She, Megan, Kina and Sophie have been tracking the vehicle’s progress across Europe.

  Zak applies the brakes, only to have the car slide to a stop at Wojewodzk road. While the intersection is lit, the snow has cut visibility, trapping them in a cone of falling snow so narrow that they can barely see across the road in front of them. Zak notices a sign across the way partially covered up that says something about a nearby shopping center, Matarnia, to their right. It also indicates that Lech Walesa Airport is to the left. There is no traffic and Zak fish tails the car around the turn for the Airport.

  “Where are they?” Gilly asks.

  “They’re further from the Airport than you are, but they’re coming in, losing altitude,” Rashida says.

  “Man, I don’t know how they can land in this stuff. They’re going to run off the end of the runway,” he says.

  Zak gives him a look.

  They’re on a four lane, two lanes in each direction, separated by a small uncurbed median now lost in the snow. They can barely make out the tall forest on either side of the highway, even with the help of freeway lights. Their headlights pierce the curtain of snow and make some of the fast descending snowflakes sparkle in their glare.

  “The plane was off course a bunch of times. I don’t know what was going on,” Rashida says.

  Somehow this doesn’t come as a surprise to Zak.

  “She wants the plane to be met by officials and emergency crews,” he says.

  “Are you kidding?” Rashida asks.

  “You think she took over the plane?” asks Gilly.

  “I don’t know,” Zak replies. “I wouldn’t put it past her.”

  The trees give way as they enter the lit up airport.

  “It’s snowing like mad here,” Gilly informs Rashida. He is studying details of the airport layout on his pad while he says this.

  “You’d think they’d close the airport,” Rashida says.

  “Well, they just might,” Gilly looks up from the e-pad. “You’re going to want to take a left into their parking areas before we get to the terminal buildings.”

  They pass a lighted parking lot on their right with a gate and a booth looking very abandoned in the mounting snow.

  “Here, on the left.”

  They turn a corner at the management office of the airport, confront a key card device in the middle of the drive and zoom past it.

  “There’s the parking lot over there,” Gilly points to their right.

  The lot is separated from the runways beyond by a high security fence.

  But Zak is already slowing the car. In front of them is a driveway that angles left, guarded by retractable bollards.

  “That’s it. It’s the security zone that leads onto the tarmac by charters,” says Gilly.

  “Shit, that was the reason for the key card!” Zak exclaims.

  Gilly places a hand on Zak’s arm.

  “Hold it a second. If this is their emergency access somebody is going to be coming through here any minute. We’re not the only people trying to get to that plane.”

  Zak pulls to the side and contemplates how deep the snow might be if he should try to take the car around the bollards, which run in a line all the way to tarmac. There seems to be a spot up against the building before the bollards begin that could get them through. Would they get stuck if they tried it?

  “Can you see if they have any emergency vehicles out there?” Zak asks, looking but not seeing anything.

  It is snowing harder, at times almost horizontally. They can barely make out the high powered lights illuminating the runways.

  “Guys, they’re landing,” says Rashida.

  “Crap,” says Zak, pulling up his collar.

  “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” Gilly grins, following Zak by pulling up his collar as well.

  The two of them grab their packs, pulling them over the top of the rear seat.

  “See ya, Rash” says Zak, grabbing his phone.

  “Good luck!” replies Rashida as he disconnects it and the image of her face goes blank.

  He sticks the phone in his pocket and reaches for the door.

  “Roll!” yells Zak.

  “Banzai!” Gilly yells back.

  The car door, released, flies open, pushed by the wind. There’s a swirl of icy air and it hits Zak full on, turning his face numb in an instant.

  Zak charges past the bollards and onto the service road to the runway, Gilly at his side. Both are propelled by the wind, now at their backs. As they near the edge of the taxiways they see a business jet rolling to a stop. Tall light standards engulf the plane in glare. Surrounding vehicles flash their emergency lights in a crazy out of sync pattern.

  Gilly shouts something at Zak, but the howling wind swallows it.

  Zak sees among the cars and trucks some that are drab green. Looking further, he sees men dressed in military fatigues, soldiers standing by those same drab green vehicles. Finally, he notices the many guns clasped in the hands of those soldiers. A hot flush invades him, despite the cold.

  Chapter 75