Dave Barry - Big trouble

"She wasn't with the suitcase," said Eliot. "She was with me. This guy was with the suitcase." Eliot pointed to Puggy, who had just trotted up.

Greer turned to Puggy.

"Who're you?" he asked.

"Puggy," said Puggy.

"You were with the suitcase?" asked Greer. "A metal suitcase? You saw it?"

"I carried it," said Puggy. "It's heavy."

"You carried it?" asked Greer. "Where?»

"To the plane," said Puggy.

"It's on the plane?"

"Yeah," said Puggy.

Greer thought for a second, then said, "Did anybody open the suitcase?"

"Over there," said Puggy, pointing toward the security checkpoint.

"They opened it there?" asked Greer.

"Yeah," said Puggy. "They made him turn it on."

Greer's face went pale.

"How did he turn it on?" he asked.

"There was these, like, switches, that he… " Puggy made a hand motion, flipping up imaginary switches.

"Then what happened?" asked Greer. "Did anything happen when he did that?"

"Lights," said Puggy. "Little numbers."

Greer glanced at Seitz and Baker, who were both listening. Seitz's face was blank. Baker looked sick.

Greer looked back at Puggy. "When did this happen?" he asked. "How long ago did he turn it on?"

Puggy thought about it.

"It's been a while now," he said.

Monica's legs ached from crouching in the tiny space allotted for legroom in front of the seat. She was trying to think, but it was hard with the horrendous roar of wind and engines coming through the open door.

Twice, very carefully, she'd moved her head just enough to look around the seat in front of her toward the front of the plane. Both times, Snake was facing forward. Once she'd heard him say something to the pilot, but she couldn't make out what it was.

From time to time, she made eye contact with Matt, crouching across the aisle. She tried to look confident, but she definitely didn't feel confident. She had no plan. The only thing she'd thought of was to jump Snake from behind, but he'd almost certainly fire his gun, and there were passengers — Monica didn't know how many — in front of him. And of course the pilots. If he shot them, everybody would die. On the other hand, if she didn't try to grab him, he might kill everybody anyway. He was definitely crazy.

Monica looked over at Matt, gave him another confident expression. He stared back. He was clearly scared.

Monica thought, He's right.

Greer was standing at the edge of the main concourse traffic, next to an abandoned airline counter, talking into his special phone. Seitz and Baker were next to him. A few feet away were Eliot, who had his arm around Anna, and Puggy, who was holding hands with Nina.

"Still nothing from the pilot?" Greer said to the phone. "OK, and his location is… OK. How about Homestead? They're… right, OK, good." Greer looked at his watch. "Right, that's affirmative."

"I don't understand," Anna said to Baker. "Why aren't you going out to the plane? Why aren't there police out there?"

"Mrs. Herk," said Baker, "the plane took off."

"Oh my God," she said, putting her hand to her face. Eliot hugged her tight, imagining how awful he'd feel if Matt were in that plane.

"But they're tracking it," said Baker. "They have it on radar. That's what he's talking to them about now."

"So what happens?" asked Eliot. "When the plane lands, they arrest him?"

Baker looked at Seitz.

Seitz said, "They'll do whatever it takes."

The noise was driving Snake crazy. He decided to try to close the door. Facing the cockpit, he walked backward slowly toward the rear of the plane.

Baker pulled Seitz aside, close to where Greer was talking on the special phone.

"What do you mean, 'Whatever it takes'?" asked Baker.

"Just what I said."

Baker stared at Seitz. A few feet away, Greer was saying, "Has that been cleared? Can I talk to… Sorry, I didn't realize. Yes, sir. I understand, sir. Yes, sir, they've acquired it."

"Who's acquired what?" Baker asked Seitz.

"Keep it down," said Seitz, nodding toward Anna.

"It's fighter jets, isn't it?" said Baker, his voice low. "From Homestead. You're gonna shoot this plane down, aren't you?"

Seitz said, "Whatever it takes."

Snake was backing slowly toward the rear of the plane, keeping his eye on the pilot. He was now even with the third row from the last. And now he was even with the second from the last. One more step, and he'd be right next to Monica and Matt; he'd see them for sure. Monica saw she was going to have no choice.

"We got no choice," said Greer. Baker was right in his face. They were talking quietly, so Anna and Eliot couldn't hear.

"There are innocent people on that plane," said Baker. "This woman's daughter is on there."

"With a nuclear weapon that's gonna go off," said Greer. "If it goes off in Freeport, many innocent people die, you understand? Many. We have to get it now."

A man wearing an official Greg Norman golf shirt, official Greg Norman hat, and official Greg Norman slacks tapped Baker on the shoulder. He tapped several times before Baker turned to him.

"What?" Baker said.

"Which way is Northwest Airlines?" the man asked.

"I don't know," Baker said. He turned back to Greer. "Can't you signal to them somehow?" he asked. "Tell them to…»

The man tapped Baker's shoulder again, and said, "Is there some kind of…»

"NOT NOW," Baker said.

"Well, you don't have to shout," the man said. He went back over to his wife, who was wearing a muumuu the size of a wedding tent, to tell her how rude this jerk was.

"Can't you tell 'em the situation?" Baker said to Greer. 'Tell 'em throw the suitcase out of the plane?"

"We tried," said Greer. "We're still trying. Pilot doesn't respond."

"But how can you just… " Baker held up his hands, let them drop.

"We have to," Greer said. "We fucking have to, that's how. Listen, nobody likes this. Nobody wants this. But this has been discussed, believe me, as high as it can be, every scenario, and this is the only way outta this."

Baker looked over at Anna. She was watching him and Greer, the representatives of Law and Order, waiting for them to tell her that her daughter was OK. Baker looked back at Greer.

"When does this happen?" he asked.

"When the plane's over the middle of the Gulf Stream," said Greer. "Over deep water."

"How long is that?" Baker asked.

Greer looked at his watch.

"Three minutes," he said.

Snake had stopped one row in front of where Monica crouched. She could see the back of his legs; he still hadn't turned. He was yelling something Monica couldn't quite hear to die pilot, something about the radio.

Monica looked across the aisle at Matt, nodded her head toward Snake, and made a grabbing gesture with both hands, to indicate, We're gonna jump him. Matt nodded. Monica held her right hand out with the forefinger and middle finger pointed down, like legs, then tapped upward between the legs with the forefinger of her left hand, to indicate Kick him in the balls. Matt puzzled over that one for a moment, then got it and nodded again. The thought flashed through Monica's mind, just for an instant, that Matt was a lot quicker on the uptake than her partner, Walter.

The F-16s carried both the AIM-9M heat-seeking missile, known as the "Sidewinder," and the AIM-120 AMRAAM, or advanced medium-range air-to-air missile, which is radar-guided. Because they were at close range, and because Flight 2038 had turboprop engines that generated enough heat, the pilots had elected to go with the Sidewinders. They radioed this decision in and were told to go ahead and arm.