Sylvester quickly ran through the math with the variables that Toby had relayed to him from Happy.
"Okay, if all of Happy's numbers are right then she did the math pretty well." Sylvester told Toby.
"Sylvester said your location based on the numbers is good Happy.
"Duh, tell me something I don't know." Happy quipped back.
"I think you've been hanging around me too much." Toby chuckled.
"The problem is, Happy's made a lot of assumptions." Sylvester told Toby. "Her estimate could be too late."
"What do you mean?" Toby asked.
"Setting up his signal about what was going on would be the last thing Walter would do in an emergency like that. He'd have his escape ready to go and then make the message and hook the phone into the system to leave the message. Which means they could have started leaving the plane more than thirty minutes before she thinks they did." Sylvester explained.
"That is an excellent point Sly." Toby nodded. "Happy, you might be wrong on where they jumped from if they did. Setting up the signal would have been the last thing Walter would do to ensure they could escape."
"Well, what do you want me to do about it?" Happy asked.
"Give me the GPS at the moment she first hears the signal." Sylvester told Toby hearing her question.
Toby did and then told him the GPS after Happy looked it up and then gave him the best guess as the transponder was turned off almost twenty minutes before the message started.
Sylvester began a new set of calculations.
"Okay, if I am right and I am positive I am. And if you are right that they tried to jump from the plane, then they wouldn't be near Yonaguni. They'd have come down North of Ivuhos." Sylvester told them.
"Ivuhos? Isn't that part of the Philippines?" Toby asked.
"Yes, and there aren't any people living there. No one would know they are there. Unless they could build a big enough bonfire." Sylvester told them.
"Alright Sylvester, thank you buddy. We really appreciate your help. If we need better numbers." Toby said.
"Just call, don't worry about the time. I hope you find your friends." Sylvester told him.
"If that boy helped figure out where my little girl is, I'm going to buy him a car." Ralph said.
Veronica smiled as she hugged him tightly.
25.5 hours earlier, June 19th, 2:03 p.m. Hong Kong time:
Walter and Paige sat on one of the plush couches holding each other as the flight progressed. Walter's predictions were proceeding in his favor and he couldn't be happier.
The door that separated the main cabin from the crew area opened and the two stewardesses stepped out along with the co-pilot and the navigator. Walter's eyes narrowed and then he saw the two men had guns. The navigator had a small pack with him as well. Walter quickly stood up and got between Paige and the men.
"Just relax Mr O'Brien. Do what we say and you and your lovely wife will be unharmed. As well as these two and your security detail, mostly." The man told them. "At…at." He waved his gun towards the three service agents. "Just stay seated gentlemen and lady."
"What do you want?" Walter asked.
"What do we want? That's easy." They knocked both of the stewardesses to the floor of the plane. "Your reputation precedes you Mr O'Brien. In roughly an hour we'll be in range of Taipei, computer wise. Since their computer system won't let a foreign computer access certain sensitive systems. You will then have twelve minutes to hack into their network and transfer their entire government budget out of the country and into these accounts." The co-pilot told him as he walked forward and handed him a piece of paper.
"And you expect me to believe you will release us unharmed if I do this? Knowing who you are?" Walter asked as he looked up at him.
"What you should be more worried about is what we will do if you don't." The man grinned as he looked past Walter at Paige. The navigator quickly shot one of the agents in the thigh and then both of the stewardesses in their thighs. The silencer on the gun muffled the gun shots well.
"That should be enough to both demonstrate we mean business and to discourage any cooperation between you guys." The co-pilot told him.
"There was no cause for you to have harmed them. I would help if I had my laptop, but I don't have one. I can't hack it without one." Walter told him.
"When we're ten minutes out we'll come back and get you and take you up to the communication system where there is a laptop waiting for you." The co-pilot smiled.
"Fine, do you have any first aid kits so we can treat these people?" Walter asked.
The navigator tossed the small pack he had to the floor close to Walter.
"Oh, the plane's communications system has been set to block all phone calls and wireless." The co-pilot said with a smile.
Walter watched as they walked back up to the door and left. He quickly grabbed the pack and opened it as the other two agents moved in to assist the injured people.
"What can you tell us about these men?" Walter asked the two women as he helped to address the first woman's wound.
"Not much actually. When they came aboard they said the original crew had to cancel. Something about a bad seafood buffet. They had been polite and friendly until a few minutes ago." The one stewardess told him as she cried.
"What are we going to do Walter? You can't get them that money." Paige asked as she helped.
"If I have to, I will." Walter told her.
"Do you believe her?" Walter whispered to Paige.
Paige frowned but nodded.
"We only got one choice then." Walter told them. "We're going to have to jump."
Walter led them to the back of the plane, they went through the door that separated the service area from the rest of the plane and shut the door. He looked at the door that led to the service ladder to the cargo bay. Agent Akins had his arm around Walter's shoulders as the other two agents helped the stewardesses.
"As I remember there is no alarm or anything on this that would alert them that we went down there, correct?" Walter asked the women.
They both shook their heads.
"No, we have to go down there from time to time for supplies." The one answered.
Walter grabbed several large resealable plastic bags before he opened the door and revealed the stairs.
"You guys will have to go down the steps on your butts to be safe." Walter told them. After getting the three injured people on the floor Walter had agent Makle go down first to be sure it was safe. He had Paige go next and then the three injured people before he went down and then he had agent Todd come down making sure to close the door securely.
Walter examined the hatch to the outside and found the sensor that detected if it opened. He quickly bypassed the circuit so it couldn't alert the pilots. Next he tricked the air pressure warning system into showing a stable environment.
Walter had everyone put their valuables that could be damaged by water in one of the bags. He quickly stuffed it into his shirt. Next he took the rest of the first aid supplies and put them in the other two bags he had and gave them to agent Todd. Agent Todd stuffed one in his shirt and gave the other to agent Akins who did the same.
Walter pointed at two of the life vests hanging up and asked agent Makle to grab them. Walter grabbed a large, canvas storage bag, meant to secure loose items to the plane, and filled it with a number of the bottled water that was stored in the bay. Next he grabbed one of the food coolers. Fortunately, the plane had been stocked for a normal trip for Richard. There were more than enough meals for two days for forty five people. He asked agent Todd to grab several large scoops of ice while he emptied the little bit of water before having agent Todd refill it with ice to keep the prepared meals frozen. They threw a number of the plastic dinnerware into the cooler before closing it.
They worked to secure the cooler so it wouldn't open accidentally while having agent Makle secure the water bag to one of the vests. Next they got the cooler secured to a vest and then secured both to a parachute.
"Agent Makle, please take the supplies out with you. Activate the chute for it first and then your own." Walter told her as she nodded.
Agent Makle moved it closer to the hatch to make it easier.
"Okay, I'm warning all of you, this is not going to be easy. It's going to be cold as hell, somewhere south of minus thirty seven degrees celsius. The air is going to be really thin, we'll also need oxygen masks. Let's get your chutes on first. Once they are on, I'll give you more instructions before I'll open the hatch." Walter told them as they got the chutes out of storage.
"This will be better than just what you are wearing." Agent Todd said as he took his jacket off and had Paige put it on first.
Paige smiled at him. Now she was wishing she had worn her sweat pants instead of the miniskirt.
Walter quickly explained, to Paige mainly, but to everyone who listened how the chutes worked and what to do in an emergency. He went on to explain how to enter the water and to get out of the harness quickly. They didn't want to get tangled up in the chute and cables.
Walter gave each of them a special mask with a small oxygen canister on it he retrieved from a locker. After putting them on he made them all activate the oxygen and just breathe for a minute.
"What about your chute?" Paige demanded even as Walter was ensuring hers was strapped on properly.
Walter grinned even as he secured his mask.
"I've got to set up a message to alert the authorities of what is happening. And I need mobility of my arms to connect it to the communications system. I'll put it on the moment after I get the phone hooked up. I need quiet now to do this." Walter smiled even as his chute hung off one arm.
Paige looked at him for a moment and then nodded.
Paige heard and then saw him clicking his pen next to his phone. After several minutes he stopped the recording.
"That wasn't Morse code." Agent Todd told him.
"No, there is too much of a chance they might know Morse code and investigate. Hopefully they'll think it is just a faulty relay, chattering." Walter told him.
"Grab hold of something." Walter said before hitting the hatch release and they watched the back of the plane as it began opening. The pressure inside the cargo bay dropped rapidly and the colder air temp sent chills down everyone's back as they grabbed hold of whatever was close by to hold on.
"Walter?" Paige said over the loud roar.
Walter gave her a smile and a thumbs up.
Paige nodded but then Walter looked at agent Todd and his eyes darted to Paige and then to the open door.
Agent Todd swallowed hard but understood. He quickly grabbed Paige and heaved her out of the hatch and then jumped out after her.
Agent Makle swore and she dove out after them while pulling the supplies along with her.
"Go." Walter told the others as he worked on the communications system.
The last agent tried to help the two stewardesses and the three of them finally lept from the plane together.
Even as he was freezing, Walter's brilliant mind was tracking the time closely. He worked as quickly as he could hacking into the communications system. He finally got the phone tied into the communication system. Setting the file to loop he turned to strap his chute on to leave. Either the door or part of the wall upstairs gave way. There wasn't a lot of air in the service area but it was enough to force the plane to buck from the pressure differential. The rushing air helped to knock Walter out of the plane.
Paige was floating down as she tried to keep the plane in sight. She was counting the seconds even as she kept thinking. "Hurry Walter!" And then she saw how it bucked before Walter fell out of the plane. And in her horror she saw his chute slip off of his one arm and sail off into the air away from him.
"Walter!" Paige screamed.
Agent Todd turned to look and saw Walter was free falling.
Walter knew he only had one chance. He extended his arms and legs to try and not only slow his descent but to change his trajectory.
He winced as he struggled against the bitter cold. His mind was fighting against his body's natural reaction to the cold. He had to succeed or he would fall to his death. The flesh of his hands and face were stinging him almost beyond his endurance, but still he persevered. He was falling so quickly even as he was making ground towards the group with parachutes.
"Bob!" Agent Todd called out.
Agent Akins looked down at agent Todd and he turned his head to look where he was pointing. His eyes opened wide seeing Walter free falling towards him. He got his parachute to help him turn around a little before he stuck out his hand towards Walter. Walter did his best to angle more towards him.
Because of the freezing cold, and the speed of his fall was too great. While their hands clasped together it caused them to spin around. Walter's muscles were reluctant to function fully against the cold and they lost their grip on each other. The spin that was created sent Walter off in another direction. As luck would have it, right towards Paige.
Paige's heart was beating like it was trying to leave her body. She extended her arms but then noticed Walter was dropping too fast. Paige swallowed but reached up and her hand grabbed the main chute release lever.
"No!" Walter screamed.
"Please Lord, let this work." Paige prayed quickly and then pulled the lever. Her main chute quickly kited away even as she began falling straight down. How far she fell she wasn't sure but then the reserve chute shot out just before Walter collided directly into Paige and they grabbed hold tightly to each other. Paige's fingers defied the cold and dug desperately into Walter's body, even as she raised her legs up and wrapped them around Walter's legs and held on. The collision was fairly violent even as they began spinning from the impact. The chute bloomed open and they were suddenly yanked up again and thankfully the cables to the chute held.
"What happened?" Paige demanded even as her mouth chattered from the cold.
Walter tried to explain it quickly but his own chattering hindered his explanation. He told her how the panel had given way and the pressure differential blew him out of the plane before he could get his chute on.
2:28 p.m. Hong Kong time:
For almost another eighty seconds they fell through the air. The plane was out of sight by then. Walter was happy he was so much taller than Paige. His feet would hit the water first and break the surface tension so Paige's landing would be softer. Seconds before they hit he let go of Paige and while she tried to hold on to him, his weight was too much and he slipped further down.
"Walter!" Paige said. Not realizing how close to the water they were, she strained trying to keep him with her. Walter's feet hit the water. Paige began to enter the water even as Walter was still sinking into the water. Her own impact with the water was much gentler because of it.
Walter quickly helped to get her out of the harness and they began swimming towards the land they saw. The water was a welcomed warmer temperature as they landed in it.
Agent Todd swam over to where the supplies landed and pulled them along behind him. The seven adults got onto the beach and just laid there at first. They laid there trying to catch their breath and enjoy the warm sun beating down on them. Walter got up first and began scouting around. He climbed the small hill and looked out at the landscape. There were no signs of landscaping or farming. But he did see a small stream in the distance.
"I don't see any sign of anyone living close by, but there looks to be a stream of water not too far." Walter told them as he returned to them. He helped Paige stand first.
Paige turned to yell at agent Todd for throwing her out of the plane when Walter stopped her.
"I told him to do it Paige." Walter told her.
"What? Why would you do that?" Paige demanded from him.
"I calculated an eight point two percent chance you would either balk at jumping or delay jumping. A very low chance, but I couldn't risk it. You had to get out of the plane. I'm sorry." Walter explained as his hand pressed into her stomach.
Paige stared at him for a moment.
"It looks like you got first degree frostbite. Maybe a bit worse." Paige said as she was looking at his skin.
Walter nodded just before they shared a tender kiss. They turned and with agents Todd and Makle they helped the injured stewardesses and agent Akins up.
It was a little bit of a struggle to get them up the hill. They paused to let them catch their breath before heading towards the stream.
The water looked clean and there was no odor as they reached it. Setting the injured people on the ground Walter began looking closely at the stream. It took him about ten minutes but he finally saw what he was looking for.
"Okay, the water is fairly safe to drink, but we should still do so minimally if we run out of bottled water." Walter told them.
"How do you know?" Paige asked.
Walter smiled as he pointed and it took Paige a moment and then she saw a frog.
"Frogs can be more susceptible to things that can harm them than we are. If frogs can live with this water then it should be safe for us. At least until we can find help." Walter told them.
"My share of the bottle water is for you." Walter told Paige. "I'm not willing to risk our baby and your health."
"She can have my share too. I'll drink the stream water with you." Agent Todd told him.
Paige smiled gratefully at them both as tears ran down her face.
Greetings! I hope this finds you all well!
Champagne42 - Aww...Thank you! Oh I remember lying on the front room floor watching that episode of M*A*S*H. Totally gutted me. Happy and Sly are definitely bringing their A game! lol I wonder why? lol
Marti - Wasn't it though? hehe Thanks, glad you enjoyed the wedding! Yeah, how different things could have been if CBS has just told the Nicks the truth. *sigh* Looks like you are right! lol
Chipbass - Thank you brother! I'll do my best!
LouBe - heheh Well I didn't like it either so...Funny part is, last chapter, this chapter and next chapter were written first for 2005. Then I went back and wrote like the first 6 chapters of 2005 before I realized I needed to write some chapters for 2004. Couldn't just have Jeremy appear in January with nothing connecting him and Happy or some of the things that happened. lol So I went back and wrote 2004 and then came back and finished writing 2005 to the wedding. While Collins is crafty, he's currently in prison so hopefully, he's not the mastermind behind this. It is definitely going to be a honeymoon to remember! lol I got a sneaky suspicion that Paige won't be too upset when she learns it was said in a moment of duress. lol My Muse, whatcha gonna do? Don't want to tick her off. lol
Pearliegirl - hehe Glad it was a surprise, otherwise we're being predictable! lol Thank you, so glad you enjoyed it!
Railman - Yes, Uncle Tobin doesn't like it, but he certainly understands it, what with his own infirmity...Paige did and it is once again a very stately carriage! It will definitely be part of the amenities. Paige isn't seeking any reimbursement for it. She got her joy out of it, and if they get back to Callan in the future she can always have it hitched up and take rides around town in it! lol Christening it, they did do! lol As for the "news" yeah, that kind of got blabbed. lol You just never know what the Muse will bring to the plate!
Marie Mac - LOL My Muse is good for that...lol Good hearing from you! Thank you and I will certainly try!
To the Adventure! -Tim