Missing

by L C Lang

  Matt closed his cell phone and sat for a moment. Okay, the plane didn’t crash. That was good, but who flew the plane to Quebec? The pilot or someone else? He shook his head. Picking up the office phone, he called ASAC Jason Abernathy at home. It rang twice before he answered.

  “Matt?” he asked. “What are you doing in the office today?”

  “I was trying to see if I could find anything else on that tour company that cancelled out on flight 3351. But that’s not why I’m calling.”

  “What’s going on?”

  “I got a phone call from Boyer.”

  “I take it this isn’t good news.”

  Matt shook his head. “No, sir, its not. They found flight 3351 parked in a remote airport in eastern Quebec, Canada.”

  “Canada?”

  “Yes, sir. He said no one has gone on the plane, but the airport manager didn’t see any movement on the plane either. DAC is getting a flight crew ready to fly the plane back. They want to know what we want to do.”

  “You know what you need to do, don’t you?”

  “Yes, sir. We need to get in that plane.”

  “Yes. I want the two of you to be on that flight. Take Pearce and Conroy with you. Take whatever you might need to check the plane out completely. You will have to do the preliminary forensic work on this one. If necessary, when the plane gets back here, we can get a team in there to do a more thorough search.”

  “Alright, we will. I have no idea what we are going to find. He said they saw no movement, but that doesn’t mean the flight crew and passengers aren’t in there, dead or alive.”

  “I know. You will have to go prepared for any number of situations. Call me and let me know what you find.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Matt hung up the phone, and then called Boyer back, telling him they were going to be on that flight to Canada, and how soon they would be there. After they hung up, he got back on the phone and called Colin, Damon Pearce and Sean Conroy, explaining what was going on, telling them to get over to his house as soon as possible and to dress comfortable, and warm.

  After he hung up, he paused a moment. There was no way to know if the crew and passengers were on the plane. Assuming they were and were dead, Matt knew they were going to have to take a lot with them, even though they were only doing the preliminary. In this case, preliminary meant finding all the evidence they could. Of course, if the passengers and crew were alive and well, there job will be easier. While he would really like to see everyone alive, his gut was telling that wasn’t going to be the case. If they were alive, they would have walked off the plane.

  Matt mentally went over what they were going to have to take with them. Then he got up and headed out to get the packs ready to go. It was a good thing he had a Jeep Cherokee. He was going to need space to stash the packs on the trip to the airport. As he got the items together, he knew he was going to have to prepare for a worse case scenario.

  Once he had everything ready, he found a couple of available bodies to help him load the items in his truck. Then he took off for home to get ready. Thoughts were racing through his mind, wondering what happened, and why the plane ended up in Canada. He shook his head. He can’t think about this right now. They need to get to the airport and get on that plane. Then it will be a waiting game to see what is waiting for them in Canada.

  Three hours later, the flight heading for Canada was in the air. Sitting in the first class section were six men; two pilots who will be flying flight 3351 home, Matt, Colin, Pearce and Conroy. There was no flight attendant, but there was two days worth of food onboard in the galley.

  Matt looked down at the briefcase sitting between his feet. He opened it and pulled out the file folder. Matt had called Boyer before he left home and had him get a seating chart for flight 3351. Boyer met them at the terminal and gave it to him. He had marked where all six passengers were sitting in the first class section. If there were bodies on the plane, they would be able to identify them. If there weren’t, then he would know where the assigned seats were and would be able to look for fingerprints.

  Matt was getting a nervous feeling in the pit of his stomach. The flight had gone so far off course, he knew there was no way this was an accident. The plane had to have been hijacked, but by who? The whole situation didn’t make sense to him.

  Matt looked out the window. They were now flying over New York. When they had gotten to the airport, he found that DAC, because this was an unscheduled flight, had to scramble to get clearance from not only the U.S., but the Canadians too. It took an extra hour of haggling, but they finally came to a solution. First, they had to fly to, and land at, the Montreal Trudeau International Airport, get clearance, and then they could fly to eastern Quebec. It was going to make the trip longer, but it was the best they could do. About two hours to Montreal and another three or so hours to eastern Quebec province. It was going to end up being almost a six-hour one-way trip. Which meant they were probably going to be working well into the evening, if not longer.

  He was glad now he had decided to bring the Klieg lights. They would be able to work through the night if necessary. He had also brought three portable heaters in case it got cold. A gut feeling was telling him they were going to have a long night ahead of them. Maybe he should get some sleep while he had the chance.

  It was six o’clock in the evening when the airplane taxied into the airport. The airport was near a small town called Blanc-Sablon. Matt had watched the surrounding area as they flew in and knew they were in trouble. The area was desolate surrounding the airport. A small airport office and several small buildings he assumed were for airplane repair was all there was. He saw three smaller planes and a couple gas tankers parked near the airport office. He knew that unless someone had been in the airport office when the plane landed, there would be no witnesses of what had happened afterwards. The nearest town was several miles away and no one would have seen or heard the plane come in.

  The plane landed and taxied towards the end of the runway, turned around and then stopped. Two sets of stairs were waiting on the side of the runway. Two men rolled one of the stairs up to their plane’s door. One of the backup pilots opened the door and Matt walked down the stairs. He looked back at the DAC flight 3351 plane. On each side of the runway was a dirt track. The plane sat in the middle of a large dirt track at the northern end of the runway, the furthest from the airport office.

  The runway was long. Matt thought it looked to be 4,000 feet long. He wondered why they would have such a long runway in this area. Even more, he wondered how anyone knew about the airport. Just then, he saw three men come out of the airport office and begin walking towards them. Colin, Sean and Damon were now standing beside him, watching the men approach.

  When the men got to where they were standing, the man in the middle spoke.

  “You with the airlines,” the man asked in a heavy French accent.

  Matt shook his head and pulled out his badge, showing it to him. “No, I am Special Agent Matt Palmer with the FBI. We do have some pilots with us who are with the airline.”

  The man nodded. “I am Jacques Francois. I am the manager of this airport.”

  “Were you here when the plane landed here on Friday?”

  François shook his head. “No, we had no scheduled flights coming in, so no one was here then. A few smaller planes also use this airport, but do not need us here when they fly in. We are only here when needed.”

  Matt nodded. “I see. How did you find out the plane was here?”

  “One of our regulars who flies a Cessna plane called me late yesterday afternoon and told me a plane was parked at the end of the runway. He didn’t recognize the plane and was suspicious such a large plane was parked, so he called me. I came out and saw what kind of plane it was. I knew it shouldn’t be here, so I made some calls.”

  “So, no one actually saw the plane land?”

  Francois shook his head. “No.”

  Matt nodded. “Okay.”

&nb
sp; “Will you be taking the plane out now?”

  Matt shook his head. “No, not right now. We need to get into the plane and see what we find. If there is no one inside, then we need to check for evidence. Has anyone gone on the plane?”

  Francois shook his head. “No, no one has.”

  “Okay, that’s good. We will do what we need to do and then have the plane taken out as soon as we can, but it won’t be until tomorrow morning. Is this going to be a problem?”

  “Oh, no. No problem. The runway is long enough to land smaller planes, which is mainly what comes here. So, both planes should be all right where they are. We don’t have a larger plane coming in until Monday.”

  Matt nodded. “Okay, good. Should I let you know when we will be leaving?”

  “That would be good.” He reached into the pocket of the jacket he was wearing and pulled out a card, handing it to Matt.

  “Thanks. I will give you a call. As I said, it might not be until tomorrow morning.”

  “There is no problem.”

  “Thanks. I appreciate your help. I will be in touch. Oh, and thanks for the steps.”

  The two men shook hands and Matt watched the three men walk back towards the airport office. Matt turned and looked at his companions.

  “Okay, let’s get going.”

  The four men began walking towards the plane. One of the pilots followed them. He had a key to the door of the plane, in case the door was locked. Airport management had placed stairs up to the plane’s door.

  When they got to the stairs, Matt put on a pair of latex gloves and walked up the stairs first. The pilot stayed on the ground and watched. Taking a deep breath, Matt put his hand on the latch, turned it and pulled. It was open. Not a good sign. He turned and nodded at the pilot, then watched as the man quickly walked back towards the other plane, where the other pilots were going to stay.

  “Okay, its show time.” He pulled the door fully open.

  Before walking in the door, Matt took a deep breath. Death has a certain smell no one can miss, but he smelled nothing. He let out his breath and turned to his companions, shaking his head. Then he walked inside. Colin and the other two men came up the stairs and followed him in. Matt pulled his flashlight out of his jacket pocket and flashed it down the aisle. All the seats appeared to be empty. Then he turned left and went to the door going into the cockpit. The door was standing partially open. Matt pulled the door open. It was empty.

  Matt turned around, to the anxious faces of his companions standing just inside the door.

  “Doesn’t look like anyone is in here. We need to go back and get the cases and the generator out of the plane. We’ve got a lot of work ahead of us.”

  All four walked back to the other plane. They unloaded three large cases and a portable generator. While the air temperature was comfortable now, it would be dark in the plane, and the temperature would fall. The generator would allow them to have lights on inside, so they could work, and allow them to keep warm if needed.

  They carried the supplies into the plane. Matt took out two small Klieg lights out of one pack and plugged them into the generator. There was enough gas in the generator for ten hours of work. He wondered if it would be enough. Then he clipped the lights to two seats, one on each side.

  Matt sat his briefcase on a seat, and then pulled out the seating chart.

  “The first thing we need to do is to make sure there aren’t any bodies on the plane.”

  “Don’t smell any,” Pearce said.

  Matt glanced over at Damon Pearce. He was in his early forties, five foot seven, had thinning light brown hair, and had gained a few pounds since he had gotten off the more physical side of the job.

  “I don’t either Damon, but let’s check anyway. I don’t want any surprises. Besides, maybe we can find something that isn’t supposed to be here.”

  “Like what?”

  “I don’t know. Then again, how many times have we had to check a plane sitting on a remote runway in Canada?”

  Damon nodded and smiled. “You do have a point.”

  “We need to check everything first, then we’ll dust. I’ve got a seating chart, so we know where everyone was supposed to be sitting.”

  “If there were only six passengers, could they have changed seats?” Colin asked.

  “Possibly. They were supposed to all be sitting in the first class section, but since we don’t know what happened on the plane, we are going to have to dust the whole plane. Colin and Sean, I would like you two to check for any luggage left, anything in the galleys. Then, start the dusting. Dust the handles on the door too, inside and out. Damon and I will check the cockpit, then go to the back of the plane, and start dusting, meeting you in the middle. Okay, let’s get started.” He paused a moment and sighed. “We’ve got a long night ahead of us.”

  Everyone pulled out latex gloves and put them on. Taking his flashlight out again, Matt went down the aisle, scanning the seats on both sides as he went down the length of the plane. He found no one, dead or alive. As he walked back towards the front, Colin and Sean Conroy were checking the upper luggage holds. So far, it didn’t look they were finding anything. Damon Pearce had gone up to the cockpit. He came out shaking his head.

  “I haven’t fingerprinted it yet, but it looks clean. Not even any debris. Looks too clean.”

  Matt nodded. “Yeah, I noticed that too. Oh, can you find a way to get into the cargo hold? See what is down there?”

  “Sure can. I have a brother who flies commercial planes and he told me how to access the cargo hold from inside the plane. Sure beats going outside to get in.” He pulled a flashlight out of one of the packs.

  Matt nodded. “Sure is. Let me know what you find.”

  Damon walked past him towards the back of the plane. Matt watched as he opened a panel in the floor and began his downward descent.

  Mark looked at the layout as he walked the length of the plane. There were two sections. The first class was in the immediate front. There were two bathrooms in the front, along with a galley for the first class passengers. Four bathrooms divided the economy section from the first class. In this section was another galley where the food was prepared for those in this section. Just then, Colin and Sean came into the economy section.

  “Sean, have you found anything?”

  Sean was the youngest one here. He was twenty-six, six foot tall and muscular, with short cut blond hair, and deep set blue eyes, and a brand new rookie.

  He shook his head. “Not a thing. You said all of them were sitting in the front section?”

  “Yes. All of them. The missing tour group was all in the back.”

  “Then it sure looks like they took whatever luggage they had with them.”

  Matt sighed. “Or maybe their luggage is down in the hold.”

  Colin shrugged. “Maybe, but most people nowadays fly with rolling luggage they bring on-board.”

  He nodded. “Yes, that’s true. We will have to wait until we see what Damon finds. I think when we get back we are going to look closer at those six passengers. Visit their residences.”

  “I think so too. This just doesn’t seem right.”

  “My sentiments exactly. Just keep checking. Maybe we can find something.”

  Matt walked into the galley for the economy class. He looked inside all the cabinets and food storage areas, but he found nothing. Then he walked back up to the first class galley. No food there either. Had they taken all the food with them? Just then, he heard Damon yelling for him.

  Matt quickly walked to the back of the plane and found the open hatch Damon had gone down. He turned on his flashlight and climbed down the stairs. As he descended, he felt the drop in temperature. By the time he got to the bottom, the temperature had dropped at least ten degrees. Then he smelled what he had hoped not to smell. Damon had his flashlight on, aiming it towards the stairs. Matt used his flashlight and scanned the area. Not too much was in here. He made his way over to Damon.

  “Wha
t have you found?” Matt asked.

  Damon shifted his flashlight ten feet ahead of him, shining it on what he had found.

  Matt followed the light to the body. He shook his head.

  “Good thing I packed body bags.”

  Damon laughed. “Don’t think you are going to need the amount you brought though.”

  “So, what have we got here?”

  “Gun shot wound to the head. But, the guy didn’t die here. There’s no blood.”

  “Any identification?”

  Damon shook his head. “No. I checked his pockets. He’s clean.”

  “Great.” He shined the light around the cargo hold. There are only about a dozen boxes. “Not much in here for an international flight. No luggage either.”

  “There is one more thing.”

  Matt looked at him. “What?”

  Damon turned and walked a few feet towards the front of the plane, then moved a couple of boxes.

  Lying on the floor was the second body.

  Both of the men were dressed in jeans and long sleeved shirts, and appeared to be in their early thirties. On closer investigation, Matt found the wounds of both men were a bit different. One was a close shot in his right temple. About six inches he figured, based on the fouling, or soot from the gun, that was present. The second man was shot in the middle of his forehead. It was obviously a longer shot because there was no stippling. One person? The two men were probably in a car. The shooter approached the passenger side and shot the first man, then shot the second as he turned towards the shooter. But who are these men?

  “Got one more thing I want to show you,” Damon said. He reached over and picked up a box, then handed it to Matt.

  “The box is empty?” Matt asked, as he hefted the box. “Are they all like this?”

  “The one’s I’ve checked so far have either been empty or have shredded paper in them. And there are no labels on those I’ve looked at.”

  Matt shook his head. “Alright. Finish going through the boxes. We can reseal them later if necessary.”

  “Okay, I will. What about the bodies?’

  Matt nodded. “I’ll go get a couple of body bags. It is cool down here, so that should help to preserve the bodies. Of course, they have already been in here for at least a day. Not much we can do about it.”