JC finished the thought for him. “Or something supernatural is going on. I began to think about that, when the island appeared at exactly the right spot at exactly the right time to bring the plane to the surface. Look at them down there! Both appear unhurt and not anxious about anything. We saw what condition the plane is in. How could they be like that? Walking around, checking things out, not caring about waving anymore. And, I might add, how did they know the exact direction to point and wave? And how could they have gotten that baby out alive?”
Captain Palova had been pondering the images of the two survivors. “It seemed they were staring at us. But since they were still for a while, it gives us the opportunity to identify them, by comparing their images to the passport photos of everyone on the plane. We have the passenger list. Would Air World already have their photos?”
Bob volunteered to contact the right persons to get the identities if Air World had trouble. But Phil, consulting the passenger list as well as the cargo lists, had some more immediate information. “The passenger list notes one passenger boarded with an infant-in-arms. In other words, just one seat for them both. Rachel Trillbey, from the UK, in seat 4A. The annotation shows the infant’s name is Jennimore Trillbey. And from the cargo list, if I’m not mistaken, that is a pallet, one of several, with three caskets strapped to it, from the Hardwood Casket Company. Something doesn’t look quite right about it, though.”
“Hi, this is Dusty Mae Watt, FBI Chicago. Seat 4A is a window seat. Perhaps that’s how she got out. I suppose it is also possible that a different woman escaped and the mother died, bless her heart. The picture should confirm it though. Were there any other Trillbeys on the passenger list? And can the camera zoom in on the pallet of caskets? Maybe we can get a better look.”
The “better look” revealed a fourth coffin on top of the three strapped down.
After a few minutes, “We have a match!” Bob’s monitor went blank briefly, and the mesmerizing effect was broken. Everyone breathed again; they hadn’t realized how much they all had been holding it in. Those visible in their monitors, which now included Jon Whitaker, FBI, started to relax and move around after being rigidly unmoving for the past several minutes.
The blank screen was replaced by three sets of two pictures each, the pictures from the satellite next to the nearly-identical passport photos. “Ladies and gentlemen,” Bob said dramatically, “may I present Matthew Carven, Gary, Indiana, seat 21E, Rachel Trillbey, Bristol, UK, seat 4A, and her daughter, Jennimore Trillbey. Positive IDs on all three!”
Phil Henry’s mind was racing, and he was clicking on all cylinders. “That’s wonderful,” he started. “Let’s not waste time speculating on how they got out. I’m sure they will be glad to tell us in a few hours. We have received calls from all of the others. They are on their way in and should all be in place by around 9 a.m. Eastern. I am having my VTC controller replay all of this as soon as everyone is in place.
“Captain Palova, has your 53K taken off yet? If so, what are they bringing? And how long will it take them to get there?”
“They are still on the ground. Mr. Smalley’s suggestions were good. We were already implementing them when he made them. The anti-aircraft section is making their ammunition draw. Camp Lejeune is sending two EOD teams, and they will have explosives with them for possible disposal actions. We do not have a coroner at Lejeune who can go, but a coroner from Bethesda will be flown to Lejeune to make the second lift. We are also sending a small engineer section and an armed infantry platoon. They expect to be off the ground by about 7:30 Eastern. At max cruising speed, it may take them six hours to get there.
“I would like to add at this point, that my higher-ups are considering this support to be a courtesy. Military support to a civilian endeavor of this sort is generally not allowed by Department of Defense regulations. However, we are selling it on the basis of the possible toxic chemical agent threat we received from a source reliable to the CIA. We haven’t convinced them yet, but they are very practical senior leaders who will realize that the US will need to do something, and only the military has the tools to do that something.
“I am assuming there will need to be a second lift to get more necessary folks there. We have no capability to bring back three hundred corpses in body bags, and there is no place to land a fixed-wing aircraft. Or to dock a boat, for that matter. And I’m sure Air World will want their plane back at some point. Was there mail on that plane?”
Phil consulted the cargo list. “Nope, no mail. I’m hoping that a foreign military plane firing explosive bullets would help convince your bosses, too.
“These two survivors are also eyewitnesses. The National Transportation Safety Board’s Go Team will probably not make our second lift if we have one. We need to decide if we need to request the Marines to send another of their 53Ks before we break up this morning. At any rate, we will need to ask the questions the Go Team would ask, as well as any other pertinent thing.
“As you know, the board’s jurisdiction ends when it becomes obvious the crash is based on criminal activity. It then becomes an FBI issue. I may lead that team myself. We know the flight was shot down. The rest of the world doesn’t know that yet, and the board may think it has the responsibility. I think they will mostly be interested in the black box. We are too, to find out the last words of the pilot. But the Marine team en route should be able to tell what shot them down.”
The group spent the next several minutes discussing what information might be needed from the survivors as well as from the first group to arrive from Camp Lejeune. Phil finally took charge again. “So much of our next actions will be determined by what we find out from the initial reports coming in from the island. If they leave at 7:30, they should be there by 1:30. They should be able to give us an initial assessment immediately, and a fairly thorough, but not complete, report within an hour of arrival.
“Our communication with the senior Marine officer should go through military channels, of course. What would be best is for them to send us a collection of digital files including audio and video, text and still photos.”
“The King Stallion will have satellite communication capability and the Internet-style ability to send files,” Captain Palova said. “I will find out who the Marine commander on board is, and start dialoguing with him to express our concerns and find out what capability he has to create those files. I’d like to invite you to listen in, to participate, if you have a secure military radio. I’ll get you the frequency when I get it.”
“Thanks, Louis. Jon Whitaker and I are both located here in DC. We’re strictly admin headquarters type of offices without that type of equipment. Dusty Mae, how about you?”
Dusty Mae knew Phil needed only to go downstairs two floors and he could have all the equipment he needed, and so did Jon. Was he just throwing her a bone? No, in this case it would be the whole skeleton! He must really trust her. Or maybe he had JC in mind. “Yes,” she said, “we have that radio, and between JC and myself, we will represent the FBI until you get there.”
“No, I have something different in mind for JC. He will be taking a trip soon and needs to get ready. It will be just you and your team.”
“Roger.”
“Now back to the matter at hand.” Phil started to become anxious to end this meeting. “By now the world knows about the missing Air World flight. We are the only ones who know it was shot down, and only we know about the island. The rest of the world will find out soon enough, though, and we need to be prepared.
“On that note, we received transcripts from our London contacts, from interviews they had with the Russians who made the previous Chicago-to-London flight, but whose luggage was delayed until flight 94. Without saying any more, we need to find their luggage, so we need to get the luggage list to the Marines. If they cannot receive the whole list electronically, we need to give them the ID tag numbers and descriptions of just the Russians’ luggage.
“Once the Marines get there, we will
need to provide a satellite view of the area to the press. One in enough detail to show the airplane as well as the fact that there is protection for it there. However, it needs to be zoomed out, slightly out of focus, and enlarged in order to not give away our satellite capability, location, or identity.
“The manifests I got show that this is also a Britannia Airlines flight, as a partnership airline. We need to talk to Air World and BA to find out what they plan to do, now that the plane is out of the water. The fact that one of the survivors—actually two—are British may encourage BA to take some action as well as Air World. My office here will do this. They will need to know as soon as possible about the island. Does anyone object to my letting them know about this right off?”
No one did. They discussed the requirement to send an additional helicopter to the island. No one could justify sending the flight just to bring a coroner; perhaps Air World or Britannia Airlines could get one there? Captain Palova recommended they wait to see if the first contingent needed reinforcements or resupply, then decide. In the end, this was accepted as the appropriate course of action.
“Lastly, we need to meet again as soon as we receive the second report from the Marines. At that meeting we will need to discuss possible motives and identities of the shooters, the Brazilian connection, and our next steps as a group.” Phil was bringing the meeting to a close. “Let’s plan to meet again at 2:30 Eastern time. If it will be significantly later than that I will call you.”
There was a buzzing sound in the headset. JC put it on; it was Phil. “I still feel Brazil is the best place for you to go. I had considered taking you with me to the island, but I think your expertise will be better used down there. I’ll take a different agent with me when I figure out who.”
“How about Dusty Mae? I know you have plenty to choose from, but I think she has the right experience and she is already involved with all this.”
“Okay, I’ll think about it. I also have to figure out how to get there.”
JC detected a welcome aroma and looked up to see Penny with a tray holding three plates of breakfast. “Wow,” he said, “I’m really hungry, but I don’t think I could eat all that.”
She grinned at him and set one of the plates on the table. “I hope I guessed right.”
She took the tray and knocked on the VTC control room door. Jackie opened it, fully dressed.
JC was impressed at Penny’s intuition. When she got back, he told her, “You did great!”
He looked at her plate. It was identical to his.
“This is all they serve for breakfast,” she said.
67
It was the middle of the morning, several hours since the aircraft had left the area. A haze similar to the previous day had developed. Matt had tried, unsuccessfully, to cut the strapping holding the other three coffins to their pallet using the plastic knives in the meal packs.
The mud on their clothes had dried, and they were able to brush it off completely. Jenny was content to eat, sleep, be held, and be talked to by a loving mother and grandfather.
When the white mud had crusted over, it supported their weight without them sinking. They walked east to the edge of the island, and found the mud had been washed into the ocean about five feet from the edge, exposing a black strip. Looking over the edge, they saw it dropped straight down about ten feet to the water.
They turned around to go back. Maggie pointed northward. In the distance, a single mountain peak appeared, black against the bright sky. “Look, our guidepost!”
“It looks like it’s on the far side of the island, making this the flat side.”
“If I were good at maths, I could figure out how far we are from the south end of the island.” Maggie taught year fives maths, which didn’t include trigonometry.
They trudged back to the Good Ship Myrtlewood and separated the food that might be starting to spoil from the rest.
Maggie appointed herself Chief Food Inspector. “Salads, breads, butter, cheese, and desserts should get us by while we’re waiting. The entrees are suspect, along with anything water-soaked.”
After chitchatting with Maggie about life in the United States and life in England, Matt decided it was time for a serious what-happens-next discussion. “When you get back, Maggie, you are going to have quite a story to tell.”
“It has been extraordinary, brilliant, wonderful, and I don’t know if I’ll be able to do it justice.”
“Yes, it has been wonderful what God has done for his glory. But not everyone will be happy to hear about it.”
“Huh? How could that be? Who would not rejoice with me?”
They were sitting on the edge of the pallet, facing the ocean. Maggie was still for a minute, thinking. “Yes, I can see how that might be true. But it seems like you’ve been waiting for a chance to talk about this, so please tell me.”
“Maggie, I’m impressed and thrilled at how quickly you’re learning, catching on, retaining. It took me a long time to be where you are. I had a lot of unlearning to do! But now I want to talk to you about the opposition you can expect when you tell your story, and about the old Maggie.”
“The old Maggie? I thought she’s dead. I’m the new Maggie, right? You told me that.”
“Yes, you’re a brand-new person, with a new life given to you by God, and the Holy Spirit is making you more like Jesus all the time. That’s his job. That means your old attitudes have to be replaced by new attitudes, old habits by new habits, old thought patterns by new. That’s what I mean by the old Maggie. Those old things aren’t evident right now because you’re in a completely different set of circumstances. God is really pouring it on, for you to experience his wonderfulness, so you can share it with others.
“In the not-too-distant future, you’ll be weaning Jenny. You know it will be for her good, but she won’t understand. She’ll need solid food for proper growth. Later, she’ll be able to feed herself, and later still, she’ll be able to feed others. This is the way it is in the natural world. It’s the same way in the spiritual world. Do you remember your dream? You were feeding others. How did you get from where you are now, to where you were in the dream?”
“I don’t know. I feel like I’m still a newborn.”
“Exactly. But the old Maggie, that is, the old attitudes, old habits, and old thought patterns, is still very strong. When you get back to Bristol, you’ll open the door to your apartment, and if you’re not careful, the old Maggie will punch you in the face, throw you on the ground, and try to jump back inside you while you’re lying there bleeding. Sorry to be so graphic, but it’s the truth. The old Maggie must decrease, and the new Maggie must increase. This is what the Holy Spirit’s work is all about.”
Maggie thought briefly. “When I refused your hair-tie, that was the old Maggie, wasn’t it?”
“Yes, and when I threw it in the water, that was the old Matt.”
“Then it wasn’t me?”
“It was the old Maggie trying to take over. But you are responsible if she succeeds. She won’t succeed forever, although it may be tough on you for a while. Here’s one way you can tell the difference. The old person tries to hide and doesn’t want to expose what’s inside, for fear of being found lacking, or untruthful, or less than what he or she is trying to portray. The new person wants to show forth the new life the Holy Spirit is producing, and therefore desires to be transparent. Do they use ‘transparent’ that way in England?”
“That meaning has been coming into popularity in our country. I’ve known it for a while, but haven’t used it much that way. It’s a word that’s the opposite of itself.”
“Uh, what?”
“Eleven letters. Totally visible synonym and antonym.”
Matt groaned. Then they both laughed.
“Here’s another example. It was the old Maggie who gave me that look last night.”
“Wait, Matt. No, like I said, the old Maggie could never have given you that look. She had nothing to give that look with.”
/> “Remember that the old Maggie is not your old body or even your old intellect. It is your old attitudes and ways of doing things. God removed a barrier within you and let your whole femininity come gushing forth. It was a wonderful thing, a real delight! It was God’s gift to you. What did you do with that gift?”
She thought for a moment. “I wanted to give it to you. Was that such a bad thing? I know God told me ‘No’ later, but in my heart, I thought it was the right thing to do.”
“You were being very generous, kind, and compassionate, which are good things. Things of the new Maggie. And you didn’t look at it as a gift, but as a natural part of you, which it was also.” Matt picked up one of the potato-like rocks, felt its roughness, and tossed it back down. “What makes it the old Maggie, is that you discovered this new something in your life and immediately decided to do with it whatever you wanted. Whatever pleased you. Later, you asked God about it, and he told you he had something much better in mind. You’ll find his ways are higher than our ways, and you’ll learn to ask first, then act, rather than acting first and asking him later.”
Matt thought his pupil looked perplexed, so he leaned over, looked her straight in the eye, and said, “You’re going to do fine. Trust me on that. I know you’ve got plenty of questions and perhaps some apprehension. Let’s talk about something else, and we can come back to this later. So let’s talk about the new Maggie instead.”
“Yes, let’s do! Things are going to change, aren’t they?”
“Almost everything will change. The things that cause you to be the way you are have just changed completely. But don’t worry, God is not asking you to give up anything for him. Rather, the Holy Spirit will work the life of Jesus into you, so what was attractive and desirable and fulfilling before, may no longer be that.”
“Nothing was very fulfilling before. And even then, it didn’t last very long.”
Matt went on, “Your tastes may change. The music you listen to, the food you like, the clothes you wear, what you read, your enjoyment of crosswords, your hair style, the art you hang on your wall. Don’t try to change anything. Let God do it. He knows you better than you know yourself. You won’t even notice the changes as they are occurring. Those around you will, though. One day you’ll just realize things are different, for the better. On the other hand, those things I mentioned may not change at all.”
The Wreck Emerged Page 20
