Chapter 5 - The Rapid Descent
The sudden drop in altitude threw several standing passengers to the floor.
Oxygen masks deployed from the ceiling compartments, dangling like yellow lifelines in the chaotic cabin.
People were screaming hysterically as the plane angled downward at an alarming speed.
I grabbed my mother and helped her secure a mask over her face.
Her skin was pale, and she was coughing violently from the sudden change in cabin pressure.
"Alex, you have to listen to me very carefully," she gasped through the plastic mask.
"The hijackers locked the pilots out, but they cannot fly this plane themselves."
I looked toward the front of the plane and realized she was absolutely right.
The men were standing guard in the aisles, entirely ignoring the cockpit.
"They have an accomplice hiding down in the avionics bay beneath the floor," she explained.
"He has taken manual control of the flight computer using a remote terminal."
I stared at her in shock, struggling to comprehend the massive scale of this conspiracy.
"How do we stop him?" I asked, gripping her frail shoulders.
She pointed a shaking finger toward the rear galley near the bathrooms.
"There is a maintenance hatch hidden beneath the carpet right in front of the aft lavatory," she whispered.
"You have to go down there and physically cut the hardline to the main computer."
I looked down the long aisle.
The leader and one of his thugs were patrolling the front section of the economy cabin.
The third hijacker was standing near the middle exit row, watching the passengers closely.
The path to the rear galley was surprisingly clear.
"I can distract them," a quiet voice said from the row behind us.
I turned around and saw the flight attendant who had checked my mother's boarding pass earlier.
She had a nasty bruise on her forehead from being shoved, but her eyes were filled with fierce determination.
"I can trigger the smoke alarm in the forward lavatory," she offered bravely.
"When they rush forward to check it, you make your run for the back."
I nodded and unbuckled my seatbelt, my hands shaking with a mixture of fear and adrenaline.
"Be careful, Alex," my mother whispered, squeezing my hand one last time.
May you like
The flight attendant crawled quietly down the aisle under the cover of the panicked passengers.
A few moments later, a piercing fire alarm echoed from the front of the plane.
