Chapter 15
He goes to the back of the hold again. There are several large crates there.
Peanuts. He shakes his head. Why would someone sabotage a Navy plane with a load of peanuts? And why does the one crate have holes in the top? He picks up the Leatherman and starts to open the crate with the holes. When he lifts the lid off, he feels a change of heart.
A young woman looks at him with big fearful eyes. "Don't be afraid, I won't hurt you. Who are you?" "Marie Saint Claire." "My name is Commander Steve McGarrett. Why are you in a box, Marie?"
She swallows and skeptically looks at him, "I don't even know you, how do I know I can trust you?" "They certainly don't. But I can tell you that I'm part of a task force in Hawaii that fights organized crime." He shows her his badge. Still she looks at him scrutinizingly. "They jailed me in Senegal for telling the truth, is that about to happen to me in theirs?" Steve looks at her frankly.
"No. Absolutely not. We don't have to talk now. I just would have liked to know why our plane was sabotaged, and I suspect I found the reason in you." Her gaze turns anxious. "What does that mean?" "It means they better come to us in the cockpit now, they'll be safer there than here in the box."
He holds out his hand to her and she climbs out of the box. "Come on."
He walks with Marie to the cockpit. Fred and Catherine look at her in amazement.
"It wasn't just peanuts, let me introduce you to Marie. She had to flee Dakar."
All of a sudden, Marie just gushes: "I work in controlling in the parliament of Senegal. A few days ago, I noticed irregularities in the figures. Payments were being made to members of parliament who had long since left. After I reported this to my boss, I didn't have a moment's peace. They trashed my apartment, took me into custody, and took away my ID card so that I wouldn't leave the country. I don't know what kind of wasps' nest I stirred up." She falters. "I just wanted to get away. Then a friend had the idea of the peanut box."
Steve and Catherine look at her seriously, the poor woman. "Thank you for your trust. We're on our way to the US, once we get there we'll pass her information on to the Agency, they'll have to look at it on the ground. Catherine, will you take over?" Catherine nods. "Will do."
Meanwhile, Fred is sweating on his forehead. He looks at Steve in despair. "Then can we please turn to our other problem now?" He points outside to the sea. "I've never done anything like this before, Steve."
Steve doesn't answer this, because he has never experienced anything like this either and he doesn't want to upset the young man even more.
He takes a look at the instruments. They have made about a hundred kilometers, but have lost a lot of altitude in the meantime. They are still too far from the mainland for an emergency landing. He unfolds the second emergency seat in the cockpit for Marie and pulls out life jackets for everyone to put on. He gives Catherine another deep kiss and sits back down in the copilot's seat. Encouragingly, he looks at Fred and picks up the 'ditching' checklist.
"We're going to get this done. Together." Then he casts one last loving glance at Catherine.
Danny is standing at the table with the others. He's already looking forward to tomorrow, when Steve will finally be back. Even though he often drives him crazy, he is somehow only half a person without him. When his cell phone rings, he accepts the call with good humor. Then his face turns serious. "What do you mean, disappeared from radar? How can a Navy transport plane disappear from radar?"
Danny listens attentively for a while, then hangs up. Shocked, he looks at the others.
"The plane with Catherine and Steve on board reported an engine failure three quarters of an hour ago. Shortly thereafter, it was suddenly unreachable by radio and now it has completely disappeared from radar. They suspect a crash somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean." He swallows. "They're sending reconnaissance aircraft and helicopters from Norfolk to the last known position to look for the plane." Stunned, the friends look at him.
Steve presses the 'Emergency Ditching" button to close all openings in the fuselage of the aircraft and gives Fred the checklist instructions.
Fred fully extends the flaps and slats. Concerned, Steve observes the not inconsiderable swell that could cause them problems during the ditching. He instructs Fred to navigate the aircraft parallel to the crests of the waves. When they almost touch the water, Fred pulls the nose of the Boeing up again so that they land tail first on the water.
There is a sound of bursting metal as the tail is torn away from the rest of the plane and sinks into the sea. Steve curses, they were still going too fast. There is a thud as the rest of the Boeing hits the water. At least Fred has managed to water both wings at the same time, so the plane can't roll over. For a short time the Boeing floats on the sea, then the water starts to flow unhindered into the belly of the plane through the huge hole left by the torn off tail.
Steve yells, "Everybody out! And swim as far away from the plane as fast as you can so it doesn't drag you down with it. Go!" The three don't take no for an answer and unbuckle their seat belts. Fred quickly opens the side window and they jump out the window into the water. In the hustle and bustle of the sinking plane, no one notices that Steve's seat belt can't be undone. Cursing, he pulls and tugs, but something is stuck. When he reaches for the pocket knife in his pants, the water is already pouring into the cockpit.