Passenger List

by John Scott Dryden

  Allegations were made of the systematic use of torture on innocent citizens, those passengers of Flight 702, and psychological techniques similar to those used during the Iraq War and at Guantanamo Bay.

  MARIA ELIAN: There were times when I wished I had died in the crash. I’m being given counselling, along with many of the other passengers. But this trauma will not go away easily. All of us will take a long time to recover.

  New York Magazine Podcast

  VALARIE VENNIX: It’s very difficult to see how heads are not going to roll for this, General Myers.

  GENERAL MYERS: We did nothing wrong. Every decision we made was in the national interest, to protect the American people. I’m afraid in the end, national security must always trump personal freedoms.

  VALARIE VENNIX: We’re talking about US citizens here, General. Not all of them were US citizens, admittedly. But these were people who had done nothing wrong and who were effectively imprisoned and tortured – and then potentially murdered – by our own government.

  News Report

  NEW ANCHOR: The wedding of the British spy at the centre of the Flight 702 scandal took place today at the Episcopal Church in Topeka, Kansas.

  REPORTER: It was a simple service between a former spy and the computer expert who managed to live-stream to the world the truth behind what had happened to the passengers of Flight 702. Thomas Rider had earlier been cleared of involvement with a Russian hacktivist group.

  THOMAS: I’m so glad this is all over and that the truth has come out. The people responsible are going to pay for this.

  News Report

  NEWS ANCHOR: The FBI agent at the centre of the Flight 702 scandal received an official apology from the Bureau and was awarded a special commendation for his investigation into the missing plane. His daughter was by his side to receive it.

  SENATOR TOM HACKETT: What can we learn from this? We’re living in a new age of truth, where it’s getting increasingly difficult to tell the difference between what’s really there and what is illusion. We all need to adapt, and fast.

  31

  The Big Apple’s streets sparkled with the lights of the holiday season. Kaitlin eased through the throngs inspecting the window displays in the crisp late afternoon, half hearing the laughter and chatter. She still found it hard to be merry, as if a shadow were always a few steps behind her. It would pass, she’d been told. Soon, her life would be back to normal.

  ‘I know, Mom,’ she said, pressing her cell closer to her ear to stifle the festive din.

  ‘Because if you want, I can come to New York to be with you,’ her mother was saying.

  ‘No, Mom, Dad needs you there. Besides, I’m heading back to Vassar soon. I’ve got an interview with the dean’s office on the last day of semester, to make sure they’re letting me back in the spring.’

  ‘Of course, of course. You’ve got a lot of catching up to do.’

  ‘Yeah. Thanks for reminding me.’

  ‘So, you are working hard to catch up on all that work you missed, I take it? Because you’ve been given a second chance, you know. You don’t want to waste it. The college has been very reasonable.’

  ‘I know, Mom. And don’t worry. I won’t fuck it up again.’

  ‘Kaitlin! You know I hate it when you use those words.’

  ‘Yeah, sorry. Anyway, gotta go. I’m meeting up with an old friend.’

  When the crossing blazed green, she hurried across the street and weaved her way to Rockefeller Plaza. The Christmas tree towered in a blaze of light and skaters whirled around the ice rink in front of it.

  Rory was waiting near the stall selling mulled cider, his hands shoved in the pockets of a camel-hair coat. He was growing a moustache, for some reason. His face lit up and he threw his arms wide when he saw her.

  He’s going to hug me, isn’t he? Kaitlin thought.

  He did, lifting her off the ground.

  ‘It’s so good to see you!’ he said, setting her back down. ‘The woman who everybody’s talking about! Magazine covers, newspaper articles, podcasts, blogs by the thousand. You’re an inspiration to many.’

  Kaitlin shrugged. ‘I’d happily settle for being invisible. So, how have you been doing, Rory? How’s the case going?’

  ‘Good. Probably be resolved in about … I don’t know – seven years.’

  Kaitlin laughed.

  ‘The wheels of the law grind slow but hard. But with any luck, I may be moving to a new office – one with a more fragrant atmosphere.’

  Rory’s face softened and Kaitlin felt surprised to see some real warmth there.

  ‘And my daughter’s home, staying with me, which is probably the best Christmas present I could have asked for.’

  ‘And how’s your wife?’

  ‘Ugh, which one? Oh, and congratulations on your brother’s wedding. I saw the pictures on the news. How are they?’

  ‘Thomas has got out without being charged. I mean, he was dismissed from MI6, but he’s relieved to be out of the intelligence business. They just want to put all this behind them.’

  Rory bought a couple of plastic cups of the mulled cider and handed one to her.

  ‘Your parents OK? I know there were some tensions there.’

  ‘I think they’re beginning to accept Conor for who he is. They might not be there yet, but they will. In the end. Maybe in about seven years.’

  This time, Rory laughed.

  As they sipped their drinks and watched the skaters spin, they chatted like old friends. At one point, Kaitlin looked along the cross street and glimpsed the red lights of a passenger jet in the distance, beyond the water. For the first time, she didn’t ache with memories of her brother.

  32

  The smell of freshly baked cookies drifted through the dorm as Kaitlin pushed open the door. The apartment had been decorated with fairy lights and tinsel and a tiny silver Christmas tree glimmered in one corner.

  Amelia stepped forwards with a tray of the cookies balanced on one hand and said, ‘Ta-da! I bear festive treats to celebrate the return of the prodigal room-mate.’

  Kaitlin grinned. ‘Crazy.’

  ‘It’s not been the same without you, babe. Although I did enjoy being able to take a shower whenever I wanted.’ Her grin faded. ‘So, you’re back?’

  ‘Yep.’

  ‘For good?’

  ‘For good. Just got the all-clear from the dean’s office. Need to tidy up one final thing and then I’ll never have to think about Flight 702 again. Hello to the future.’

  Amelia set the cookies down. ‘OK, give me a yell when you’re done. I have wine. Lots of wine.’ She slipped on her headphones and lounged on her bed.

  Kaitlin jumped on her own bed and pulled out her laptop. One last thing: shut down the Flight 702 hotline. No more conspiracy theorists, no more attention-seekers. Finally.

  But when she tapped in her password and the mailbox popped up, she saw one unplayed message waiting there. She stared at it, feeling the unease rise, remembering when her life had been haunted by mystery and when all she’d had was a desperate hope.

  Her finger hovered over the key and then she smiled to herself and closed the laptop. She didn’t need to listen to it now. She didn’t need to listen to it ever again if she didn’t want.

  She’d got her life back.

  ‘OK,’ she called, waving so Amelia would see her. ‘Let’s get moving. We’ve got a lot to catch up on and I’m in the mood for the best night of my life.’

  CREDITS

  J.S. Dryden and Trapeze would like to thank everyone at Orion who worked on the publication of Passenger List:

  Agent

  Euan Thorneycroft

  Editor

  Marleigh Price

  Copy-editor

  Claire Dean

  Proofreader

  Clare Wallis

  Editorial Management

  Charlie Panayitou

  Jane Hughes

  Audio

  Paul Stark

  Amber Bates


  Contracts

  Anne Goddard

  Jake Alderson

  Design

  Debbie Holmes

  Rabab Adams

  Joanna Ridley

  Nick May

  Finance

  Jasdip Nandra

  Tom Costello

  Ibukun Ademefun

  Marketing

  Lucy Cameron

  Production

  Claire Keep

  Fiona McIntosh

  Publicity

  Will O’Mullane

  Sales

  Jennifer Wilson

  Victoria Laws

  Esther Waters

  Lucy Brem

  Frances Doyle

  Ben Goddard

  Georgina Cutler

  Jack Hallam

  Ellie Kyrke-Smith

  Inês Figuiera

  Barbara Ronan

  Andrew Hally

  Dominic Smith

  Deborah Deyong

  Lauren Buck

  Maggy Park

  Linda McGregor

  Sinead White

  Jemimah James

  Rachael Jones

  Jack Dennison

  Nigel Andrews

  Ian Williamson

  Julia Benson

  Declan Kyle

  Robert Mackenzie

  Imogen Clarke

  Megan Smith

  Charlotte Clay

  Rebecca Cobbold

  Operations

  Jo Jacobs

  Sharon Willis

  Lisa Pryde

  Rights

  Susan Howe

  Richard King

  Krystyna Kujawinska

  Jessica Purdue

  Louise Henderson

  Copyright

  First published in Great Britain in 2021 by Trapeze,

  an imprint of The Orion Publishing Group Ltd

  Carmelite House, 50 Victoria Embankment,

  London EC4Y 0DZ

  An Hachette UK company

  Copyright © John Scott Dryden 2021

  The moral right of John Scott Dryden to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act of 1988.

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

  All the characters in this book are fictitious, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

  A CIP catalogue record for this book is

  available from the British Library.

  ISBN (eBook) 978 1 3987 0452 7

  www.orionbooks.co.uk