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Callie nodded. “Yeah, I get that. I’m not sure I’m ready to get married.”
“Do you have a boyfriend?”
“Nope. It’s hard, because anyone with a normal nine-to-five job can’t handle my lifestyle. I’m always on the go, traveling to new places. Sometimes guys with a regular job resent that freedom. I’m not sure what I’d even do in one place.”
“You’re young,” Olivia said with a shrug. “You’ve got plenty of time. Men are encouraged to sow their wild oats, so to speak, so why should women have to settle down young?”
“Societal pressure,” Callie said without missing a beat.
Olivia burst into laughter. “You got me there, but I for one refuse to cave to that. I’ve got my career and my friends. I’m happy. If I get married someday, I get married. It’s not defining my entire worth as a person.”
Callie nodded, lost in thought. It wasn’t like her to feel so philosophical. She loved her career and nomadic lifestyle and couldn’t imagine anything different. A husband or kids would just tie her down.
Two hours later, Callie was leaning back in her seat and watching a movie on the flight. The captain had announced a flight time of four hours, so they were nearly halfway there. She’d gotten lost in the movie for a while but felt anxious to land for some reason. She wasn’t a skittish flyer by any means, but something at the back of her mind made her eager to be back on solid ground. Noticing a few people seated near her starting to look around, she pulled out her earbuds and heard a man raising his voice from several rows behind her. As she glanced back, she was surprised to see one of the Middle Eastern men who’d been arguing at the gate earlier.
“Sir, please return to your seat,” the flight attendant said firmly, pointing to the row at the man’s side. “You cannot change seats mid-flight.”
“No. I need to go to the front of the plane. Let me by and do your job. Go hand out drinks or something.” The second man he’d been traveling with began speaking rapidly in a foreign language as he stood up as well.
“Sit down,” the flight attendant repeated in a stern voice. “Both of you need to take your seats.”
“I insist on going to first class,” the first man said, growing more and more agitated. “Let me through right now!”
Suddenly, gasps filled the cabin as one of the men pulled out a knife. Shock coursed through Callie as people began to panic. “Let me by! There is a bomb on this plane! Move over and let me through!” He grabbed the flight attendant, pushing her down the aisle toward the front of the plane as the second man produced a knife and followed them.
Blood pounded in Callie’s ears as the two hijackers moved the flight attendant to the front of the airplane. A third hijacker who’d been seated in first class appeared to join in the fray, and then screams filled the cabin as someone’s throat was slit. Callie gripped the armrests tightly, her fingers turning white as chaos erupted around her. Someone was pounding on the cockpit door, but the plane stayed on course for the moment.
“I have a bomb! Let me in!”
“You killed her,” a woman cried out, sobbing.
Callie exchanged a frightened glance with the lady sitting next to her. This couldn’t be happening. It couldn’t. She couldn’t be sitting here trapped on a hijacked airplane.
Chapter 2
CALLIE JOLTED AS SOMETHING was smashed at the front of the cabin. A woman wailed, and she heard one of the hijackers yelling at her to be quiet. Callie wanted to stand up and get the hell of this damn plane—impossible when they were flying over open water with God knew where as their final destination. It felt like weeks ago that she’d flown out of LA, not a mere twenty-four hours. It was absolutely insane how the entire course of her life had changed in a mere instant.
She felt eyes on her and glanced back, locking gazes with her new friend Olivia. She looked as terrified as Callie felt. Was this it? The end? Were they really going to die on an airplane today?
The plane banked suddenly to the left, and Callie’s gaze landed on the navigation map on the screen in front of her. The hijackers had no doubt forgotten to turn it off when they’d taken over the cockpit. The plane made a wide arc, turning until they were no longer flying toward Seoul. Were they returning to Manila? What was their end game?
She trembled in her seat, feeling slightly nauseous. Callie reached down to the tote bag she’d stashed beneath the seat in front of her and pulled out her denim jacket. She was so damn cold all of a sudden. She eased it on, glancing to the front every now and then to make sure the terrorists hadn’t seen her move.
Callie glanced at the woman seated next to her. “Are we going back?” she whispered.
The woman bit her lip and gave a slight shake of her head, too scared to even answer.
Callie sat stiffly, wrapping her arms around herself. The plane was eerily silent for a moment, and then a baby began to wail. Callie closed her eyes for a moment, trying to take deep breaths. She was fine. She’d be fine. Minutes ticked by, each one feeling like an hour. Not much was happening, which made it all the more unnerving. Callie almost couldn’t believe her eyes when they finally approached the airport back in Manila. Talk about the flight from hell to absolutely nowhere. Frantic whisperings were going on around her as the plane began to make its descent.
“Are they going to crash the plane?”
“Do you think they’ll let us off?”
“What are their demands?”
“Quiet!” one of the hijackers yelled, and he began moving up and down the aisle, watching the passengers. Callie stiffened, looking straight ahead. She held her breath as the plane eventually touched down and didn’t dare move as one of the hijackers continued to yell there was a bomb on board the plane. They taxied down the runway, staying far from the other airplanes on the ground. Hours later, they were still sitting on the tarmac, on a runway far from the airport terminal. Callie had lost track of how long they’d been on the damn plane. They had no food. No water. There were passengers who’d been sick and vomited everywhere, children who’d soiled themselves. The smell of sweat and human waste filled the cabin. The entire plane was a living nightmare.
“Attention passengers, this is your new captain,” one of the hijackers said in accented English over the loudspeaker. “Everyone shut your windows,” the hijacker announced. “Pull the shades closed. Now!”
