Chapter 7: Lost at Sea

"Cell phones!" Ressler said.

Keen pulled hers out and tapped at the screen. "I'll put it on speaker." She held the phone up, and everyone waited, clinging to the seats. And finally it rang.

"Oh thank God," Ressler said.

Someone picked up. "Agent Keen, this is Aram."

"Aram!" Keen said. "We've got a major problem, and we need your help!"

"What's up?"

Keen quickly explained the situation, and they could hear Aram typing frantically on his keyboard. "You're in luck. Remember that compartment Reddington required?"

"Yes," Reddington said. He sounded on edge. They all did.

"I, uh, I made sure there were parachutes on it. If you airdropped it into the ocean, you'd be fine. It's also airtight, so it will float."

Reddington looked livid. And conflicted. Zim figured that he'd absolutely had every intention of killing Zim by shooting him out of the plane. Motherfucker. But his heartlessness and Aram's kindness had saved the day.

"Okay, everyone," Ressler said. "Get back into the compartment. I'll get the pilots."

They all started moving toward the back of the plane, but then Ressler cursed. "The door's locked."

"Shoot the lock off," Keen said.

"NO!" Reddington and Zim shouted at the same time. Reddington glared at Zim, as if disgusted that they were on the same page.

Ressler shrugged and braced himself against the walls. Pulling back a bit he put all of his weight and muscle into a kick which ripped the door off its hinges. The cockpit was empty, and wind howled through the open bottom.

"They're gone," Ressler said.

Reddington moved toward the back of the plane. Zim watched as he tugged D-Dolla', gurney and all, out of the compartment and threw a couple of blankets over him. Reddington looked up and saw Zim watching him. Reddington held a finger to his lips.

Zim couldn't be sure, but he was fairly certain that Reddington had just murdered D-Dolla'.

"Okay, forget it," Keen said. "Let's get into the compartment."

They all moved into the compartment. To make room, they got rid of Zim's gurney.

"Once you close that door, we'll lose contact," Aram said on speakerphone. "So let me walk you through the ejection process before you do that."

Zim looked through the port and saw just how close the ocean had come. "We're running out of time!"

Aram continued, and Keen held the phone up so Ressler could hear them. Once they knew what to do, Keen said, "We're closing the door."

"One more thing!" Aram said. "The panel on the opposite side of the door. That's your beacon. Turn it on first."

Ressler reached across the hit the only button on the panel. They heard it start to beep.

"That should keep going long enough for a rescue ship. I'm already sending out orders to the Navy."

Reddington glanced out the port. "We really need to eject. Very, very soon."

"I'm closing the door now," Keen said into the phone.

"Good luck, Agent Keen."

Ressler closed the door, and the connection dropped immediately. His finger hovered over the eject button. "Brace yourselves."

"Push the fucking button!" Zim screamed.

"Push the button, Frank," Fitz said.

"Why must you have a movie quote for everything?!" Zim screamed.

"That one's TV, Zimmy buddy," Brandon said.

"Well, there was the one movie," Zim said. "That counts."

Reddington shoved Ressler out of the way and pushed the button as hard as he could. They all felt their stomachs punch their throats as the compartment dropped. Zim fell on the floor and screamed.

Reddington stared out the port. "Oh please tell me that the parachutes are going to deploy. It would be great if that would happen."

"Aram said they'd go off automatically," Keen said.

They deployed, and all of them jumped so high they nearly hit the ceiling. Zim actually did hit the ceiling. He yelped and yelped again when he hit the floor. Finally they landed with a jolt, and the parachutes draped over them, blocking the port view.

"Oh good," Reddington said. "We survived." Then he looked at Zim. "And lucky us, so did Mr. Zim."

"Hey," Fitz said. "Where's D-Dolla'?"

Everyone looked around, and they saw no sight of him. Reddington's head went to the side, and he stared at Zim. "Huh. I didn't even notice he was gone. That's odd."

"Guys, I have bad news," Ressler said. "Aram forgot to tell us something."

"Oh, more bad news," Reddington said. "Let's have it."

Ressler glanced around, worry on his usually stoic face. "I just saw there is an oxygen meter on this panel. We only have three hours of air. That rescue ship isn't going to make it on time."

Reddington stared at Zim again. "You know, if we could open that door, we could probably get rid of someone to give us more time."

"The door is half under water," Keen said. "We'd flood the compartment."

Reddington gave a tremendous sigh. "Fuck."

TO BE CONTINUED!