New York Deep

by Andrew J. Morgan

  'Gate's up,' Lionel said, wiping his mouth with a napkin and pointing. They all looked. 'Gate A11.'

  They finished up and made their way to the gate, this time with no hassle at all. The airport was almost deserted, with only the sound of the floor mop to listen to. As they walked down to the gate, Josh leaned to Lionel and said, 'I don't want to speak too soon, but I think we've managed to get away with this.'

  'Well, forgive me if I don't celebrate until I'm on Mexican soil,' Lionel said in return. 'And then forgive me if I don't celebrate at all, because this is all one big shitty mess.'

  'You're right—sorry.'

  Sleep crept up on Josh once they'd taken a seat in the waiting lounge at the gate, and he jolted suddenly awake as his head dropped. 'Can't keep my eyes open.'

  'Not long until we board,' Georgie said.

  Lionel looked at his watch. 'Few minutes.'

  Josh sat up and rubbed his face, trying to keep himself awake. He looked at the time: three-forty-five. Through the big windows looking out at the runway, Josh saw the first glimmers of morning staining the night sky purple. He checked his watch again, then realized he needed to put it back an hour. While resetting his watch, he said, 'Sun comes up early here, doesn’t it?'

  'Closer to the equator I suppose,' Lionel replied, also looking.

  They stared a while, watching the glow march slowly on, changing hue as it moved. It painted the gleaming aircraft rolling to and from the runway in a beautiful wash of deep lilac. It was almost relaxing.

  The announcement for their flight gave Josh another dump of adrenaline, but this time he was pleased for it, giving him the energy to haul himself up out of his seat and help Georgie with Joseph. 'I'll carry him,' he said, and Georgie, at first making to take Joseph back, let him.

  'Sure,' she said. Joseph wriggled at first, but a little bouncing soon calmed him.

  There were even less people on this flight than the last, maybe ten or fifteen in total, and they all joined the queue for a final ticket check before boarding. If they were going to get stopped, this was where it would be. Josh looked down the concourse to see if there was anyone coming, but there was no one. They reached their turn in the queue and the attendant smiled at them—especially at Joseph—checked their tickets and let them on. They were through. They were free.

  Without trying to show his excitement, Josh ushered their group onto the plane. They took their seats in apprehensive silence, Josh watching the door for that last-minute burst in, the moment when everything went wrong, but when the cabin crew sealed the cabin and the plane was backed away from the gate, he almost squealed with happiness. He looked to Lionel, who was also showing signs of delight, and to Georgie who—still looked tired. It was understandable. Her situation was different. Josh gave her a smile and she returned it. He leaned over and squeezed her hand, which she looked down at but did not pull away. 'Thank you,' he said. She didn't reply.

  When the wheels left the ground as the plane thundered down the runway, Josh let out a sigh of relief, drowned out by the roar of the jets. It was the first day of the rest of his life. The first day as a free man. He couldn't have been happier.

  Chapter 9

  Josh leaned back in his seat and smiled. He didn't really know why he was smiling—after all, his life as he knew it was over—but he was. In three hours, they would come in to El Paso International, they'd get a cab to the border and they'd be free. Whatever it was buried deep beneath New York, it would be gone forever. The CIA, Tom Edwards—all of it—would be in the past.

  The sun was marching up above the horizon, and above the thin scattering of clouds, it looked to be the onset of a beautiful day. Josh had always loved the heat of the desert, but having moved to wherever the work was, he didn't get to experience it much. He was glad to be coming back to it. If he shut his eyes and tried hard enough, he almost felt like he was going on vacation.

  He knew this euphoria would be short-lived, that the thrill of escaping would soon wear off, but he chose to enjoy it while he could. What they would do, where they would go—he had plenty of time to think about that later. Eyes shut, he let his shoulders loosen, clasped his hands over his belly and promptly fell asleep.

  When he awoke, he did so like he had been asleep for a full twelve hours on the most comfortable mattress ever made. He felt renewed, invigorated. He checked the time; they had around an hour left. Georgie and Lionel were both asleep, while Joseph was keeping himself occupied with some toys. Josh stroked Joseph's cheek, which Joseph took no notice of, busy with his own quiet mutterings.

  Georgie's window blind was down, so unclipping his seatbelt, Josh slipped out and into the empty row of seats in front. He peered out of the window to see that the sun was high above, burning down as if it were near midday. He checked his watch again—it was five-thirty in the morning. He looked around for a member of the cabin crew, but he could see none. Ahead, the cockpit door was open. Standing to return to his old seat, where he planned to wake Lionel, he noticed that other passengers—who weren't sleeping—were also looking out of their windows. For the passengers who were both awake and with someone else, urgent whispers emanated. The pit of Josh's stomach turned cold, and he slid along the empty row of seats and shook Lionel awake.

  'Lionel, there's something weird going on,' he hissed.

  Lionel, clumsy from sleep, seemed to take several attempts to understand what Josh was saying. In the end Josh climbed over him, pulled up the window blind, pointed and said, 'Look!'

  Giving him a disdainful glance, presumably at being woken, Lionel shuffled along the row of seats heavily and glanced out of the window. His expression was a journey of thought: annoyance, curiosity, confusion, then worry. He checked his watch, then looked to Josh. 'I don't understand . . .' he said.

  'Me neither.'

  'It's five-thirty, right?'

  'Right.'

  'Then why's the sun already going down?'

  Josh blinked. 'It's coming up—isn't it?'

  'No,' Lionel corrected. 'It's going down, over there. In the west. We're going south, yeah? Then that's the west.'

  Pushing past Lionel, who grunted in protest, Josh had another look out of the window. Sure enough, the sun was dipping low in the sky, tinting the clouds red. 'What . . .?' he whispered. Then he realized that he could actually see the sun moving, sinking down toward the horizon. In minutes, it would be gone.

  He dropped into the seat next to Lionel, barely able to breathe. Georgie was still asleep; he decided not to wake her, not yet. He needed to find a crewmember first. Then he remembered that the cockpit door was open, so he leaped up and started marching down the aisle toward the nose.

  'What are you doing?' Lionel called out after him. Josh didn't respond.

  The passengers who were awake watched Josh as he stormed through the plane, but he took no notice of them. As he approached the open door, thick with armor yet hanging loose on its hinges, he saw that the cabin crew were huddled in with the flight crew. The faces he could see looked worried. One lady saw him, approached him.

  'Please remain in your seat, sir,' she said, blocking the way. She sounded less confident than she probably intended. There was definitely a waver in her voice.

  'What's going on?' Josh demanded. 'What's happening?'

  'Please, sir, go back to your seat,' the lady said. Another turned to assist, trying to shepherd Josh back out.

  Josh held up his hands; he didn't want a quarrel. 'I just want to know what's going on, that's all.'

  'Sir—'

  'We don't know what's going on,' a deeper voice said from further into the cockpit. The cabin crew parted, allowing Josh to see a man sitting in what he assumed was the captain's seat. The man, dressed in pilot's uniform, had twisted in his chair to address Josh, and looked anxious.

  'The sun, it—' Josh started.

  'I know,' the captain said. 'And it's accelerating. The plane's fine, except communications are down so we've lost all contact with ELP—sorry, El Paso Inte
rnational.'

  Josh could feel his legs starting to quiver. 'Have you been able to contact anywhere else?'

  The pilot shook his head. 'No.'

  'Can—can we still land okay?'

  The pilot paused, then said, 'We should be fine.'

  The cockpit was silent for a while as the sun sank completely, casting them all into darkness. The co-pilot flicked the cabin lights on, which blinked into life above them.

  Josh ran a hand over his head, trying to think. He had an answer, but he didn't want to believe it. 'The room . . .' he whispered.

  'What's that?' the captain asked.

  'Oh—nothing,' Josh said. He realized there was nothing more he could achieve in the already crowded cockpit, so he made to leave. 'Thanks.'

  'We'll keep you updated,' the captain called out after him.

  By the time he had made his way back to Lionel, the sun was already rising again, casting a wash on the cabin's ceiling.

  'What did they say?' Lionel asked, visibly worried.

  'We've lost contact with El Paso,' Josh said, lowering himself into the seat next to Lionel. His own voice sounded distant. 'They don't know what's going on. But I think I do.'

  'The room . . .' Lionel said in a hushed whisper. It was like he'd read Josh's mind. 'But . . . how?'

  Josh shook his head slowly. 'I don't know.' He looked out of the window; the midday sun was almost peaking. 'I don't know.'

  'Should we tell Georgie?' She was still fast asleep, huddled up under her coat.

  'No,' Josh said. 'Let her rest. She'll need it.'

  'You're probably right.'

  Another passenger, an older lady wearing pearls and a woolen sweater, approached Josh and Lionel. 'Excuse me,' she said. 'I saw you went to speak to the pilot; can you tell me what's going on please?'

  Josh was speechless for a moment, unable to take his mind away from the room to articulate a response to the lady's question. 'Uh . . .' he said.

  'The captain doesn’t know,' Lionel told the lady. 'No one does.'

  'Oh,' said the lady, looking disappointed. 'Okay, well, thank you.'

  She headed back to her seat, telling others along the way that the captain didn't know. They took the news in silence, all unable—like Josh—to process how they should react to the situation.

  Josh was about to speak again when a shout went up at the front of the cabin. He and Lionel craned to see what was going on, when a suited man in his thirties stood up and stormed into the cockpit.

  'What's going on?' the man yelled, hands on hips.

  Josh couldn't hear what the response was.

  'Don't tell me to calm down!' the man yelled. 'I demand to know what's going on!'

  Another quiet response.

  'I don't believe you!'

  The man made to walk forward, but was pushed back against the throng in the cabin. The plane lurched.

  'Sir!' Josh could hear the captain's voice now, loud but firm. 'Please take a seat or I will be forced to restrain you!'

  The captain pushed through to go face-to-face with the man, who was smaller than he was. The man, cowering slightly, backed up and showed himself to his seat quietly. Watching him, the captain addressed the cabin, talking loudly rather than using the loudspeaker. 'Please all remain calm. We're trying to get more information on the situation and will update you as soon as we know anything. At present we are all perfectly safe and scheduled to touch down as expected—so long as you all remain calm.' He made an emphasis on that final point, glaring at the man in the suit.

  Once he was assured that everyone was staying quiet and in their seats, he retreated back into the cabin, pulling the door shut behind him.

  'Jesus . . .' Lionel said.

  Josh heard movement to his side; Georgie was waking up. 'What time is it?' she groaned, pulling up her blind a crack. The sun had dipped out of sight again, but when it shot back into view, Georgie sat bolt upright. 'The sun . . .' she said, looking at Josh, eyes wide. 'What's going on with the sun?' She looked back out of the window, the sun moving fast enough to trace a shadow smoothly around the cabin.

  'We don't know,' Josh said, 'but I think it might have something to do with what we found.'

  'Oh, God . . .' Georgie said, frightened eyes searching Josh's. 'What did you find that could do this?'

  'I—I don't know . . .'

  'You don't know? What do you mean you don't know?' She sounded scared. Josh felt scared.

  'It—it was just this room. I thought it was empty. But there was this—this energy, I don't know.'

  Lionel shifted. 'You didn't say anything about any energy before.'

  'I thought it was gas or something. Now—now I don't know. I just don't know.'

  Georgie looked back out of the window again, as if unable to believe her eyes or ears. Every second that passed, the sun was moving faster, doing a lap of the Earth in less than a minute.

  'How long until we're due to land?' Lionel asked.

  Josh checked his watch. 'About thirty minutes now.' To Georgie he said, 'Look, Georgie, we'll figure this out, okay? The captain said we're fine to land, so once we do we can get where we're going and figure this out from there.'

  'But—but the CIA,' Georgie said, voice thick with fear. 'Maybe you should go back, go and speak to them? Maybe you can help them fix this?'

  'How?' Josh said. 'How am I supposed to fix this? I don't know—' He stopped himself, realizing that his voice was getting louder and more high-pitched, distressing Joseph. Georgie cuddled Joseph close, and he calmed a little.

  'I don't know anything about this, okay?' Josh continued, voice under control. 'I just found this room, the CIA turned up, and that's all I know. They should be able to handle this, not me. I don't want any part of it.'

  Georgie, pleading, said, 'But you're already a part of it! Don't you think you could be of some help? Don't you think you should at least try?'

  Josh sighed. He knew Georgie was right. He glanced at Lionel for support, but Lionel said nothing. 'Okay,' he said. 'As soon as we land, I'll contact Edwards.'

  'You promise?'

  'I promise.'

  The loudspeaker crackled overhead, and the captain spoke—although he lacked composure. 'We're beginning our descent now. We've still got no communications, but the pattern seems clear. I want you all to find a window and take a look outside, and come straight to the cockpit if you see another plane, okay? We're going to open the door again, so please remain composed and we should get down just fine.'

  The door promptly opened, and the cabin crew emerged. They ushered down the aisle, directing people as calmly as they could to find their own window.

  'I'll go to the row in front,' Josh said, getting up. Once he was positioned, he pressed up against the thick Perspex, looking out into the distance. He wondered what kind of a panic might be going on down below. The sun was looping so fast around the Earth now that it was like a light bulb being flicked off and on again over and over, and was beginning to make him feel quite sick. 'Do you see anything?' he said to Lionel through the gap between the seats.

  'Nope. Light's hurting my eyes though.'

  'Me too.'

  The sun was really accelerating, looping faster and faster. Josh had to pull away for the sake of his stomach and his head, the blur of the sun strobing through the window. He had no idea how the captain was going to land in these conditions. The nose dipped and they slowly banked, drawing the ground closer. The sun streaked rings across his retinas, which pulsed with flashes of day and night, and he had to pull the blind back down. He heard Lionel do the same.

  'Final approach,' the captain told them, his voice strained. 'Please make sure your seatbelts are fastened.'

  The cabin crew had vanished again, so Josh darted back to his seat to help Georgie buckle a struggling Joseph in. They were all frightened; Georgie's hands were trembling. Her blind was still open a crack, and Josh could see the ground coming in fast.

  'I'm sorry,' he told her, and she tried to give him a smi
le, but it came out tearful and scared. They held hands across Joseph, Georgie's hand squeezing harder every time a new whirr of flaps or undercarriage rumbled through the fuselage.

  'I should have stayed with you,' Josh told her. 'I'm sorry I abandoned you.'

  'It's okay . . .' Georgie whispered, tears running down her cheeks. She wiped them away with her free hand.

  Outside, Josh could see that the landing was imminent. He braced himself, holding Georgie's hand tight. 'I love you—'

  A shout went up in the cockpit as the nose hit hard into the ground, jolting the plane, slamming Josh forward in his seat. He hit the back of the seat in front of him, but had no time to think about it as the scream of tearing metal ripped at his ears, the fuselage twisting and buckling. The rest of the plane thumped down, pivoting about the collapsing nose section, throwing the cabin into darkness. The plane rumbled and squalled as it slid forward along the ground at tremendous pace, shredding apart around them. Flames burst in through a tear in the side, rushing through the cabin in an instant, engulfing them all. The pain was immediate, making the sound of the cabin collapsing on top of them distant.

  Only a few seconds had passed since the plane had made its first contact, and already Josh knew that this was the end.

  Chapter 10

  Darkness isn't dark until you're dead. Then the flames come. They wrap around you, like a cloak. They slough your skin and melt your bones. The sound—you don't hear it, you feel it. A light. A blur. Agony.

  Then the darkness is real.

  Even in the darkness, the room spun. The energy was still there, the last living trace tingling in his fingers. He pinched them; he was real. He took a breath. His lungs filled. His ears pricked.

  'Boss, are you there? I can't see shit.'

  Josh opened his eyes. 'I'm here,' he said. The energy receded, a gentle hiss in the background. For a moment he didn’t remember, and when he did, he didn't believe it. I think there is gas in here, he wanted to say.