Chapter 8

Shawna met with General Tout and he told her about the events leading up to the hijacking. They talked for awhile and then a message came in that flight 41 dipped below radar. Shawna ran down the corridor and she yelled for her team.

"We need a Jet! General, get us cleared for take off now!"

"Where are you going?"

"To the crash site."

"Ms. Flynn the plane only dipped below radar. What makes you think there will be a crash site?"

"There will be, trust me I want to be in the air when it happens."

He hesitated long enough to think she was right. "Follow me!"

He led her and the team to a military plane and within minutes they were airborne.

"Ok now what?" He was beginning to doubt when a call came through. "When?"

Shawna stood she was afraid of what she would hear but she had to know.

"The plane crashed in the bay…Lake Marion South Carolina."

"Rossi you need to stall him, do not let him get there first." Shawna was pleading with him.

"I'll do what I can."

Sean stood in the cockpit and looked at the gunman as he lay dead on the floor. Neil had wrestled the gun from him and he shot him in the head. The plane continued to drop and the pilot said, "Get everyone into seats and strapped down we are about to make a rough landing." He refused to say they were about to crash.

Sean moved to the cabin. Everyone get into your seats now. He stood in front of the two they had tied up and he hooked their seat belts. The pressure in the cabin was building and he could feel how much it was shaking. He was thrown into the isle and when he caught himself he went back to Connie and pulled on the binds around d her wrists.

"What are you doing?" Robin shouted at him. "Sit down!"

"No I won't leave them helpless, I am not a monster. Beside this plane is about to crash and they can't do anything with it any longer." He yanked at the cord and it snapped. He was about to move to Mike when he was thrown to the floor. He didn't have a chance to get up before the sound of metal screeching and screams could be heard.

Sean was thrown around the cabin and when the plane hit the ground at a skid. The pilot struggled to keep the nose up. Eventually it hit the ground and nosedived and the cabin separated from the front of the plane. Neil was sucked out and the rest of them propelled forward as their part of the plane skidded and landed in a shallow part of the bay. Sean was knocked unconscious, and he had no idea how long he lay there when he finally woke up. He shook off the hazy feelings and tried to remember what happened. He eventually did and sprung to his feet which caused a wave of nausea and dizziness. He balanced himself and yelled for Robin. He didn't hear anything at first and he started to look for someone, anyone. He came across one of the flight attendants still strapped to her seat but a shard of metal was sticking out of her chest. Her eyes were still open and Shawn tried to close them. When they wouldn't he moved away from her. His hands were shaking and he felt very unsteady. A pain in his arm kept reminding him of what he went through and he looked to see why it hurt. A large gash ran down his arm and he saw the blood pouring from it. He took off his button down shirt and tied it over the wound. He winced when he pulled it as tight as he could with only one hand. "Robin!"

"Over here."

He turned around and he couldn't see her. "Keep talking."

"Here…help me please I can't get up!"

He located her voice and moved in that direction. The row of seats she was in had pulled from the floor and flipped she was still seat belted to them but the row behind her had fallen forward and pinned her to the floor. Sean could see her feet and he struggled to lift the row of chairs. He pulled and they wouldn't budge. "Are you hurt?"

"I don't think so. I don't know?" He looked around and he found a piece of a seat long enough to use as leverage. "Hang on, just hang on." He grabbed the piece and moved back to Robin. He wedged the seat back under the row that was pinning her and he said when I say so, push if you can, as hard as you can. He got behind the wedge seat back and pushed, "Now!" He stained against it and it moved.

"Stop… Stop, Please!" She yelled.

He did and she moved enough to slide out from the row. He helped her up, the shirt he tied around his arm slipped and he began bleeding again.

"We have to get out of here." Sean could see that water was starting to seep into the plane and he knew it wouldn't take long for them to sink if they were in deep water. He didn't know that they weren't. Where they landed was only about 9 feet deep.

"Is anyone else alive? Hello?" When there wasn't anymore sound Sean said, "Let's go."

"Sean, you're bleeding, let me fix that."

Sean squatted down and so did Robin. She tied the shirt tighter and he winced in pain.

"Sorry, it has to be tight." She put her hand to his face.

He took this time to look at her closely. She had a small gash on her forehead but it had stopped bleeding, dried blood collected above her eyebrow. Her face was covered in dirty smudges but other from that her caramel colored skin seemed to be just as radiant as he remembered it to be in the light of the cabin. Now in the dimly light wreckage he couldn't see too many things wrong with her. She seemed to be getting a bruise near her jaw and he could see that it was swollen. She had blood on her shirt but it didn't appear to be fresh, or growing. He was glad she didn't have too many wounds. Between the two of them they looked to have been in a car accident and not a plane crash.

"Let's go, we need to get out of here." He took her hand and they moved to the open end of the plane. They climbed over wreckage and he helped her as much as he could. As they got closer they could hear moaning. Sean listened and he could tell where it was coming from. He moved pieces of debris and found Connie lying there.

"Can you move?"

She didn't answer and he looked at her. She was pinned from the waist down and he could see a lot of blood under her.

"We'll get you help, hang on!" Sean moved Robin away from Connie and tried to shield her from the sight of the dying woman. When they reached the end of the plane Sean could see the jet fuel burning on the water.

"We have to avoid that. If it get on you and the flames come near…" He couldn't finish the sentence because he was choking up thinking they could still die.

He climbed out of the plane and he helped Robin get down. He put his hands on her waist and held her as she got into the water with him.

"Oh God that's cold" Her teeth chattered as she sunk into the murky water.

"I know, were going to get out of here."

He told her to hang onto the plane and they moved around to the other side. Relief washed over him when he seen how close to the land they were. Sirens blared as the rescue personnel responded to the scene. They waded to land and climbed up the shallow embankment to the grass. He stood briefly his t-shirt and slacks clinging to him. Robin collapsed to the ground. Sean dropped to his knees next to her. He wrapped her in his arms and held her as she cried.