Hostage by Kristina Ohlsson Page B

energy radiating from his
brown eyes. ‘Eyes you could drown in,’ Claudia had commented, before Erik stated firmly that he didn’t want to hear any more about how fantastic his colleague was.
    But to tell the truth, Erik really liked Karim. They had worked together for several months, and knew each other well by this stage. They had even started spending some time together outside
work; Erik hoped their friendship would deepen, because he enjoyed Karim’s company.
    Karim was facing the window, but Erik could see his profile. Tense jaw line, eyes half closed. Always equally focused before a flight. He would never dream of having a couple of drinks and
falling asleep, like certain other pilots.
    Erik covered the last few yards at speed.
    ‘I thought I was going to have to fly without a co-pilot today,’ Karim said.
    ‘The bus was late so I missed the commuter train. And then the Arlanda Express was delayed as well.’
    Karim looked annoyed, but made no further comment on Erik’s timekeeping.
    ‘Let’s go,’ he said.
    Erik couldn’t stop himself. He wasn’t that bloody late!
    ‘Has something happened?’
    Karim ran a hand through his unruly black hair.
    ‘No, I just like everything to be in order. And I’ve had a report that a severe storm is due to come in over the east coast of the US during the day.’
    ‘Damn. Could that cause us problems with landing?’
    ‘It looks that way. But I’ve asked for additional fuel so that we can stay in the air for a few hours if necessary. Or divert elsewhere.’
    ‘How many extra hours did you request?’
    ‘Five.’
    Karim turned away from Erik and headed towards the aircraft.
    They took off at nine thirty, exactly as planned.
    The sky was different above the clouds. Clearer. An endless space where there were no problems. Erik knew why he had become a pilot. To be a part of all this. Something bigger than himself. The
very idea made his head spin. Just knowing that he was thirty thousand feet above the surface of the earth right now got the adrenalin pumping.
    I will never get tired of this.
    The cockpit doorbell rang. Karim glanced at the monitor to see who wanted to come in. It was Fatima, one of the stewardesses. She rang again. Karim pressed the button to release the lock; Fatima
came in and closed the door behind her.
    Her face was ashen. Erik had never liked that expression, but now he realised that was because he had never before seen anyone whose face had lost all its colour. Her lips were so pale they
looked bloodless.
    ‘I found this in the toilet,’ she said, handing Karim a folded piece of paper.
    Karim opened it and began to read.
    ‘What does it say?’ Erik asked.
    ‘They’re threatening to blow up the plane,’ Fatima said.
    ‘What? Who’s threatening to blow up the plane?’
    Fatima didn’t answer.
    ‘Where did you find this?’ Karim asked.
    ‘In the toilet in first class. When I went to check if there was enough toilet paper.’
    ‘Have any of the passengers seen it?’
    ‘I’ve no idea. But I don’t think so – they would have said something.’
    Erik spoke up: ‘We’ve just turned off the sign telling them to fasten their seat belts; how many of them would have had time to go to the toilet?’
    ‘Not very many,’ Fatima whispered.
    ‘More like none,’ Erik said. ‘Can I see what it says?’
    There were only a few lines written on the piece of paper. Erik passed it back to Karim, trying to stop his hand from trembling.
    ‘How the hell did it get in the toilet?’ he asked.
    ‘It must have been there when we took off,’ Fatima replied.
    ‘But who could have put it there?’
    ‘Perhaps someone was asked to leave it in there. Someone who had access to the plane.’
    Erik didn’t understand. He didn’t understand why this particular flight had to be dragged into some kind of bomb threat, and he didn’t understand how the piece of paper had got
into the toilet. If they were lucky, the whole thing would turn out to be a