by Hatchett
Jack had been leaning back in his chair watching his team debate the issue. As he was about to speak the phone rang so he lent forward to put it on speaker.
“Robinson here.”
“Sir, it’s Simon Nicholls in NATS. We’ve arranged for the plane to land on the Southern runway before taxiing to Gate 1 on Level 2. This gate is at the end of a corridor with three other gates, 3, 5 and 7, which all need to be passed before you reach the terminal proper. These gates all have glass walls rather than being open plan so they’re ideal as holding areas. They’re being cleared as we speak.”
“Good work Simon, let me know if there are any further developments,” Jack replied before disconnecting. He stood and moved across to the wall where he surveyed a map of the airport. He was joined by his team and together they looked at the area holding gates 1, 3, 5 and 7.
“That’s perfect,” noted Bear. “We can cover all the passengers as they disembark, string them out then park them in the different gates until we can sort them all out properly. We can put some of the team inside the corridor and some behind the glass barrier as back up.”
Jack considered the options. “Right, Bear, you have lead on the ground. You’re Team Alpha. You obviously can’t move all your team to one area, but I’ll leave it to you to decide how many you need. Irish, you’ll provide support to Bear, so if he needs more assets then they can come from your team. You’ll be Team Bravo. I want both of you on site, with Irish behind the glass partition as back up. I want helmet video on and comms open the whole time. I will need to notify the Commissioner, and, after that, I’ll be in the Security Command Centre observing and directing operations. Des, you’re with me.”
With that, Bear and Irish left via the main corridor. Jack moved towards the connecting door to his office and pressed his full palm against the scanner found on the side. After a couple of seconds, the door clicked open and he and Des entered. To the left was Jack’s large mahogany desk with two visitors’ chairs in front of it and a built-in wall-to-wall bookcase behind it. Directly opposite the Briefing Room door was another door which led into the Security Command Centre and to the right was a small conference table and chairs which seated six, and a third door leading to the main corridor. Along the side walls of the office were low level filing cupboards and above them a near-continuous bullet-proof one-way mirror looking outwards; from here, Jack could see into the Briefing Room, corridor, or Security Command Centre without anyone being able to see in.
Jack moved to his desk to make the call to the Commissioner as Des walked directly across the office to the door to the Security Command Centre. Des placed his palm against the scanner and entered the room once the lock had clicked open.
17
Day 1
07:45 GMT – 60 Minutes to Landing
Atlantic Airlines AA4520
The sun had risen so Kelly switched on the main cabin lights. She doubted that anyone was asleep in any case. She and Andy entered the First-Class cabin and brushed past Amy and Gemma who were still handing out bottles of water and snacks to the passengers. There was an eerie silence except for the odd rustle of food rappers and the crackling of water bottles. The message had obviously got through to the passengers who were sitting quietly, some weeping softly and some just staring into space. Those that wanted attention were raising their arms as if they were back in class wanting to attract the teacher’s. Kelly motioned for John to follow them.
Kelly and Andy approached the curtained partition to Premium Plus before Andy pushed in front of Kelly and carefully eased the curtain across to ensure that the cabin was empty. Kelly turned to John.
“Can you stay here for a few minutes and keep an eye on us from behind this curtain? We’re going to check on what is happening in Economy. Remember to keep everyone as quiet as possible.”
Andy moved forward with Kelly behind him as John closed the curtain behind them, keeping a small gap so he could see what was going on. Andy and Kelly carefully advanced to the central toilet area before stopping by the trolleys to stand and listen for any sounds coming from Economy.
Andy and Kelly could both hear grunting, snorting, and the gnashing of teeth and it seemed to be coming from just behind the curtain. Andy signalled for Kelly to stay back and hide in one of the rows before turning back to the curtain. He took out his knife and, as he was extending his arm to move the curtain a few inches as he had done earlier, the plane lurched with turbulence. Andy was thrown towards the curtain but managed to grasp the inner toilet wall and hold himself back. However, he dropped his knife in the process. There was a heavy bump from the other side of the curtain and Andy could feel the vibration through the toilet wall. An arm shot through the side of the curtain and Andy reflexively dropped to the ground and lay still. He heard a sharp intake of air from Kelly as he lay there, not daring to move. The trolley inched towards him and bumped his head before coming to a stop. He quickly brought his left arm up and braced it against the trolley to prevent it moving any further. As he surveyed the area under the trolley and the nearby seats his gaze found the knife he had dropped a few moments earlier. It was a foot or so away and with his right arm he slowly reached out and grabbed the handle.
Kelly had moved into the two window seats of Row 19 as the turbulence hit and had seen the arm come through the curtain before ducking down. With one eye, she carefully looked between two seats towards where the arm had come from. She saw to her horror that the upper torso of a ravaged female body was lying against and partly on top of the trolley, only a few feet from both her and where Andy was lying on the floor. She slowly moved her head back behind the seat before looking into the aisle and catching Andy’s eye. She signalled that Andy should stay very still and wait for her signal before he moved. There was an imperceptible nod of the head from Andy confirming that he understood what Kelly was indicating. She could see some sweat forming on his forehead and noted for the first time that she had been holding her breath and her heart was hammering in her chest.
Kelly took a few calming breaths before moving back to look between the two seats. The body was still there but instead of leaning on the trolley had now managed to right itself and was now looking away from her and swaying back towards the Economy section. Kelly moved her head towards the aisle and looked into Economy. Thankfully there were no other bodies too close, so she gestured that Andy should move himself into the window seats in Row 20, directly in front of her as she faced the back of the plane.
Andy gratefully moved into Row 20 and sat with his back against the partition wall. After wiping his brow, he used his knife to tag the edge of the curtain and very slowly eased it back across the opening, closing off the Economy section once again.
Andy looked at Kelly and smiled. She returned the smile and gestured that they should move back to the front of the plane. Andy nodded, and they moved off, Andy looking back over his shoulder all the way to check that the curtain didn’t move again. As they approached the divide between Premium Plus and First-Class, the curtain was drawn aside by John, who moved back to allow them access.
“Wow, that was fucking scary, I nearly peed my pants!” John gushed once the curtain was drawn back across.
“You should have been in my shoes” Kelly retorted. “Keep watch,” she added as she moved past him towards the cockpit with Andy following behind. On the way she asked Amy to keep watch from the curtain on the other aisle, leaving just Gemma to cater to the passengers.
18
Day 1
08:00 GMT – 45 Minutes to Landing
Atlantic Airlines AA4520
Kelly and Andy re-entered the cockpit just as the radio crackled back into life. Sarah lent forward to turn on the speaker.
“Alpha Alpha four five two zero, this is D&D. Please note that we have Heathrow Control Tower on the line and we’ll both be monitoring transmissions from now until you land. Have there been any developments?”
Sarah looked towards Kelly and Andy who both shook their heads. “No,” S
arah responded, “we’ll begin our descent in ten minutes time and expect to land at Heathrow on schedule.”
“Roger four five two zero. Heathrow Control Tower have some further instructions, please stand-by.”
“This is HCT,” came a new voice. “You’ll proceed Westbound from Mitcham and land on the Southern runway, repeat Southern runway. You will then taxi to Gate 1 where you’ll be met by Airport Security. Security are currently planning the coordination for getting everyone safely off the plane and will be in touch shortly.”
“Roger HCT, we’ll await further instructions,” Sarah replied.
19
Day 1
08:10 GMT – 35 Minutes to Landing
Heathrow Terminal 3
The Security Command Centre was the largest single room in Terminal 3. If you entered from the main corridor and looked left you would see the door to Jack Robinson’s office and on the right-hand side, you would see the door to the Armoury.
There were no windows in the Security Command Centre; the room was lit by LED lights which changed colour depending on Terminal 3’s security status; currently the lighting was a subtle shade of amber ensuring no one forgot that there was an alert in progress. The walls were covered with large TV screens and monitors. Looking from the corridor entrance, on the left-hand wall were muted TV screens which were showing the various 24-hour news channels. On the main wall opposite was a massive monitor capable of displaying ‘picture in pictures’. On the right-hand wall were more monitors showing both internal and external airport CCTV footage. The floorspace was filled with a couple of rows of desks in a horseshoe shape where twenty-two surveillance operatives and their Manager, all wearing headsets, monitored their designated sections of the airport around the clock. They were in constant touch with security on the ground and issuing orders if they spotted something suspicious and wanted it checked out. Little did the unsuspecting public in the airport know that with a few simple clicks of their mouse, the surveillance operatives could summon any camera feed onto their desk monitor and in an instant, zoom in on any aspect of the frame in Ultra High Definition. They could even zoom in on a ring in the jewellery shop and read the hallmarks if they really wanted to. About the only areas not covered by CCTV were the toilets, although this was a regular topic of debate; the safety of the public versus personal privacy. It came up every time there was a terrorist incident. The surveillance operatives were separated into teams, focusing on various aspects of the airport’s security.
In the centre of the horseshoe was a semi-circle of low slung swivel chairs sitting on a raised platform. This was known as the ‘Command Ring’ and only ever used by senior personnel in times of crisis. It looked more like the bridge of the USS Enterprise from Star Trek.
Having finished his call with the Commissioner, Jack had walked to the Command Ring and took his seat next to Des. They both put comms devices into their ears then Jack flicked a switch on his chair to allow him to speak to all personnel.
“Heads up,” Jack advised. “As you know, we’re on amber alert. This is not a drill. There’s been a suspected riot on flight Alpha Alpha four five two zero with a considerable number of casualties. It will be landing on the Southern runway in approximately thirty-five minutes at 08:45. The plane will taxi to Gate 1 where Team Alpha will meet it. Team Bravo will be providing support. I want the main screen to cover the landing, taxiing and then the events at Gate 1.”
20
Day 1
08:15 GMT – 30 Minutes to Landing
Atlantic Airlines AA4520
“Alpha Alpha four five two zero, this is HCT. I have Ted Keogh, Team Leader from SO18 who wants to talk you through what will happen when you reach Gate 1.”
“Roger HCT,” Sarah replied.
“Am I taking to the pilot?” came Bear’s scouse accent through the speakers.
“Yes, this is Sarah. I have with me my First Officer, Paul Richards, my Cabin Crew Supervisor, Kelly James, and the US Sky Marshall, Andy Graves.”
“You can call me Bear. For information, my boss and other colleagues are listening in to this conversation. Right, this is what’s going to happen when you reach Gate 1, which is where I’m currently standing and preparing for your arrival. As well as my team, a second Security Team and a medical team will be waiting. I understand that you four have the most experience of what has happened, so you’ll disembark first and be passed on to my colleague, Irish, and he’ll take you to the Security Command Centre for debriefing. The rest of the Cabin Crew will stay with the remaining passengers to help keep them calm and they will all be moved to Gate 7, the furthest away from Gate 1. Then all injured passengers will be moved to Gate 5 where the medical staff will be able to treat minor injuries. They will be taken straight to the Medical Centre or to a local hospital if the injury is more serious. I will also arrange for some medical staff to be at the plane’s entrance in case anyone needs help to get to Gate 5. My team will then move in and deal with the trouble makers who started the riot and secure them in Gate 3. Any questions?”
Sarah looked around the cockpit to see if anyone wanted to say something. Andy lent forward. “Bear, this is Andy.”
“Hi Andy, what’s on your mind?”
“I think some of the information you may have been given has been lost in translation somewhere along the line. I don’t know what you’ve been told, but I don’t think ‘trouble makers’ adequately covers the situation.”
“Go on.”
“This is not a riot, at least not in the usual sense. We have around one hundred and fifty people in Economy including four Cabin Crew from the Rear Galley and the area has been blocked off. The people in there are seriously injured, dead or should be dead. Those left are attacking anything that moves. They’re not fighting, they’re just eating each other.”
“Is this a joke? If so, then this is definitely not the time nor the place.”
“No joke. I have seen some people with their throats ripped out yet they’re still standing. They should be dead. I know it sounds unbelievable and if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes, I wouldn’t believe it either. But, as I said to D&D earlier, the only thing which adequately covers what we’re dealing with here is zombies.”
There was a long pause. “Right, leave it with me. I’ll see you in about twenty to thirty minutes.”
Once the speaker had been turned off, Andy suggested that he and Kelly go and update the remaining Cabin Crew and passengers in First-Class.
21
Day 1
08:20 GMT – 25 Minutes to Landing
Heathrow Terminal 3
Jack and Des had been listening to the comms chatter from Bear and Irish as they organised the reception committee at Gate 1, arranged for Medical to be set up in Gate 5 and deployed their teams for maximum coverage. They had also listened in to the conversation between Bear and the plane.
Once the communication with the plane had ended, Bear spoke through the earpiece. “Did you get all that Boss?” he asked.
“Loud and clear, Bear,” came Jack’s response. “What did you make of it?”
“Difficult to tell, Boss. From what I could hear, they sounded stressed, but sane. I was a bit surprised by their claim that they had zombies on board, but no one in the cockpit contradicted what the Sky Marshall was saying. Therefore, they either believe what he said, or they’re being held at gunpoint and are being forced to play along.”
“Agreed, but did you note that they claimed they had apparently already given D&D the whole story during an earlier communication? We need to check why this critical information was not passed on to us. Instead of a riot, we could be dealing with a rogue agent who’s hijacked the plane. A bit different and a bit more believable than zombies wouldn’t you say?”
“I would, Boss. We’re going to have to change our tactics. We’ll keep gates 1 to 7 with medical on standby as there could be casualties on the plane and who knows what will happen when we open the plane doors; perhaps he needed to shoot a few
passengers to ensure cooperation from everyone. We’ve currently arranged that the four in the cockpit will be the first off the plane, so we need to either arrest or take out the Sky Marshall as soon as we can.
“What if there is no intention to land the plane?” interrupted Irish. “Maybe he’s a ‘raghead’ in disguise and plans to fly the plane into something.”
There were a few moments of silence before Jack advised, “There’s nothing we can do about that now. The plane is already over London, so we can’t shoot it down without major casualties. We don’t have unmistakable evidence that it’s his intention to crash the plane, so I wouldn’t get clearance to shoot it down even if I had the time to go through all the red tape. We don’t have the time to scramble jets even if clearance was given. We have to assume and hope it’s more likely he will want to land safely and negotiate.”
“Playing Devil’s advocate,” interrupted Des, “what if he’s telling the truth?”
There was a further bout of silence before Jack made his decision. “We have to cover all angles as best we can in the circumstances. Bear, you need to assume the plane will land and come to Gate 1. We then have either a hostage negotiation situation or we have a riot situation. Either way, I will need to make another call upstairs. Des, get a few members of your team and cover the plane from the ground. You’re Team Charlie. Irish, stay as back up for Bear, but I want you to alert the Airport Fire Service to be on standby, notify Serious and Organised Crime Command’s Hostage and Crisis Negotiation Unit and get onto the Special Air Service’s Hostage Rescue Team to get their arses over here ASAP.”
“Boss, just to note that we are all carrying tasers, MP5’s with rubber bullets and live ammunition in the pistols,” advised Bear.
“Roger Bear, good luck.”
Des got up from his seat to leave the Security Command Centre, already on his comms to alert his team. Jack pondered the decision to use rubber bullets but accepted that this was the correct procedure. He glanced towards the armoury door to his right as if he could see the Heckler & Koch MP5 A3 semi-automatics, the Glock 17 pistols, and the American X26 Tasers from where he sat. It made sense bearing in mind the close confines of the plane and the risk of hitting innocent passengers if things went awry. If it came to storming the plane, then he’d leave that to the SAS.
