It was a dark and stormy night, over the pacific ocean flew a plane.
Hovering at about 33,000 feet the plane pushed through the storm that pounded against it.
Rain pattered the windows and sharp thunderclaps could be heard inside the commercial airliner.
The dark night stretched endlessly on the horizon.
Inside the brightly lit plane, slightly over a hundred passengers and crew sat peacefully.
Some bickered with each other quietly, while others slept.
In the back row of the plane, sat a man.
He wore a black tailored suit with a black tie on top, his light brown hair was neatly brushed back and a pair of sunglasses adorned his piercing blue eyes.
In his lap lay a black briefcase that he kept quite close to him.
Suddenly he pulled out of his jacket pocket a slim black envelope.
Leaning over the sleeping person next to him, he waved at the stewardess who sat at the back in the same row as him.
She peered at him curiously, it was quite bizarre that he wore sunglasses in the dead of night, but she was curious about the envelope so she hastily snatched it from his hand.
The man then leaned back in his seat as if he had gone to sleep.
This further intrigued the stewardess, therefore she quickly ripped open the envelope and peeked inside.
I have a bomb, if you do not want me to detonate it, bring me 4 parachutes and 200,000 dollars in US dollars, then I want you to open the back stairway.
The stewardess was shocked, her hands started trembling and the envelope slipped out of her hands.
She glanced back at the man and saw him looking at her with his sunglasses still on.
He then tilted his head in the direction of the cockpit and then leaned back in his seat, hands held tightly on his briefcase.
With trembling hands and a shaking figure, the stewardess hastily picked up the envelope and hesitantly walked down the aisle.
As she passed by the seats she saw a mother and son playing battleship on the monitors attached to the seats.
The boy looked no older than 10 as he gleefully swiped on the screen, not really playing.
The mother just smiled at the boy as she hugged him lovingly.
“Excuse me.” whispered a voice to her right, breaking her from her reverie.
She looked over to see a woman and a man looking over at her.
They had a pair of headphones with one stuck in each of their ears as they watched a cheesy rom-com on the monitor.
“Can I get some water?” the woman asked with a smile.
The stewardess hesitated for a minute before nodding her head in affirmation.
Proceeding through business class, she noticed this flight didn’t have that many people in business, there were only 7 people who were all sleeping but one.
The one who was awake seemed to be fidgeting with a briefcase he was carrying.
On it was an emblem of a company she recognized.
The company was a biotech company, it had made the news recently for having been able to develop a type of nanotech that would release tiny little nanomachines into your bloodstream, it could supposedly cure disease and a whole host of other medical related issues.
According to the news, they were supposed to begin holding human trials soon.
The man carrying the briefcase held it tightly as his eyes darted around constantly.
He seemed nervous about something.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
The stewardess shook her head, remembering what she was supposed to do.
She then quickly proceeded to the cockpit where two other stewardesses sat.
“What’s wrong?” asked one of them, a young blonde girl no more than 18 years old, having just graduated high school she had become a flight attendant to earn some money, her father was the pilot of the plane so it was easier for her to get the job.
Having noticed the stewardess’s panicked look, both of them looked at her with concern.
She shook her head at them and picked up the phone sitting on the wall.
“I need to come in, it’s an emergency,” she said into the receiver.
A second later a response came and the door to the cockpit opened.
The other girls stared at her confused as she walked inside and shut the door.
The pilot and co-pilot looked at her with concern.
“What happened?” asked the pilot.
The stewardess pulled out the envelope and handed it to the pilot.
The pilot quickly read through the envelope as his eyes widened in shock.
“What’s wrong?” asked the co-pilot.
The pilot ignored him and quickly reached for radio air traffic control.
“Air Traffic Control, come in, come in, this is CACTUS 1631.”
Crackle!
Crackle!
“We read you CACTUS, what can we do for you?”
“There’s someone with a bomb on the plane threatening to blow it if they don’t get 4 parachutes and 200,000 in cash.” said the pilot hastily.
Silence.
Crackle!
“CACTUS, can you tell us what this person looked like?” came the response.
The people in the cockpit looked at each other confused, how would that help them now?
“Ummm, he had light brown hair, white skin, and was wearing a black suit with black sunglasses.” said the stewardess.
A tense silence ensued as they waited for the response.
Crackle!
“Ok CACTUS, please confirm, have you seen the explosive device?” came the voice.
“Uh, no I haven’t…” said the stewardess awkwardly.
Silence.
This time the silence stretched for several minutes.
Finally, a crackle was heard.
“Alright CACTUS, if you confirm the explosive device, you have permission to use the emergency parachutes and cash.”
Sighs of relief were let out by the crew.
The pilot nodded at the stewardess to go back.
She nodded and hastily exited the cockpit.
On the way, she passed by the couple that was watching the rom-com.
She realized she had forgotten to bring the woman her water.
Arriving at the seat upon which the man sat silently, she saw that his briefcase was already open and pointed towards her, the passenger next to him still sleeping silently.
Inside the briefcase lay a small black box with multiple wires connecting it to a remote that sat in his hands.
The stewardess stood there awkwardly for a minute, how did he know that she had come to see the bomb.
His closing the briefcase caused her to snap out of it and she quickly rushed back to the cockpit.
She passed by both stewardess’s who still looked confused and quickly buzzed the cockpit.
Hearing a click she entered quickly and nodded her head.
The pilot sighed and rubbed his face with his hands.
Reaching over and tapping to connect to ATC he waited.
Crackle!
“CACTUS, this is ATC, please confirm.” came the voice.
“ATC, this is CACTUS, over.” responded the pilot in a shaking voice as sweat poured down his face.
“We read you CACTUS, report.”
“The device has been confirmed, should we give him a dummy chute?” asked the pilot.
Silence.
“No, he is most likely planning on taking a hostage.” came the voice.
The pilot sighed.
“Get him what he wants,” he said to the stewardess.
The stewardess trembled as she walked down into the cargo bay and collected the emergency items.
Quickly walking through the island with a big burlap sack dragging behind her, she finally arrived at the back row amidst the stares trailing behind her.
The man gestured for her to go to the bathroom as he got up.
She nodded silently as she made her way there.
Behind her, she heard the quiet footsteps of the man as he arrived behind her.
“Unpack it,” he said in a calm tone.
She quickly took out all the items from the bag and handed them to him.
He grabbed one of the parachutes and expertly unpacked the one on the front.
He then proceeded to stuff the bag of money where the parachute used to be.
Expertly putting the parachute on himself, he then said.
“Go open the back hatch and release the stairway.”
The stewardess trembled, she didn’t want to do it however she had no choice.
She quickly walked to the back and strapped herself to the wall with a belt attached to it, she then pressed a button against a wall.
A loud rumble was heard over the sound of the storm as a small entrance in the back of the plane extended outwards, stairs lining it.
Turning around she was startled as the man pushed past her and quickly walked down the stairs before jumping off into the stormy night.
She quickly pressed the button to close the door and sighed in relief once it was closed.
However then she realized something odd.
The man wasn’t carrying his briefcase when he jumped out.
Her eyes opened wide as a loud boom entered her ear.
Then everything went black.