The Vanishings by Tim Lahaye, Jerry B. Jenkins Page B

under the seat in front of him. No way was that man agile enough to have climbed over him without his knowing. He squinted and stared in the darkness, wondering if he was dreaming.
    The flight attended hurried past. No, she more than hurried. She was nearly sprinting up the aisle toward the cockpit. This was nodream. Judd sat straight up and noticed a few others doing the same. He craned his neck and looked back toward the circular stairway that led to coach class. He heard too much activity for the middle of the night. Someone shrieked and another called out, but he couldn’t make it out.
    Just as Hattie reached the cockpit, Judd saw the door open and one of the pilots mosey out. Hattie nearly bowled him over. Judd couldn’t hear them, but it was clear she was upset, maybe scared. Did she know something the pilot didn’t? Was something wrong with the plane? Wouldn’t that be a kick in the teeth, Judd dying in a plane crash on his first night of freedom! His parents would never understand.
    Hattie pulled the pilot out of the aisle and into the cooking compartments. Judd was desperate to know what was going on. He heard a noise up there, as if she had fallen. He leaned into the aisle and saw her on her knees, whimpering. The captain seemed to be trying to comfort her, and she held on to him as if scared to death.
    Judd suddenly felt very young and very afraid.
    Behind him more people were crying out. What was going on? What were they saying? The young man and the drunk across theaisle were both sound asleep. Judd could no longer see the old man. And the two people in front of Judd must have slid down in their seats too.
    The pilot left Hattie in the galley area and stepped out into the aisle, as if studying the seats in first class. Judd pulled off his blanket and tried to catch the captain’s eye, to read something on his face. But it was too dark. And the pilot was distracted.
    From the seat ahead of him and to the left, he heard the voice of the old woman. “What in the world?” she said. “Harold?”
    Was something wrong with the old man? Judd couldn’t resist standing to look. Everyone else in first class seemed to be sleeping. He unfastened his seat belt and rose to look at the old couple. The woman sat there with her husband’s sweater and dress pants in her hands!
    Judd shook his head, trying to clear his mind. What was she doing with her husband’s clothes? And where was he? Obviously, that’s what she was wondering too.
    The pilot hurried past before Judd could think how to phrase a question. All he wanted to know was what was going on, but the pilot and certainly the flight attendant didn’t seem to know either. When the pilotreached the stairs, Mrs. Peterson stood and called out to him. “Sir, my husband—”
    Judd saw the pilot put a finger to his lips and whisper, “I know. We’ll find him. I’ll be right back.”
    And now here came Hattie. Judd said, “Ma’am?” but she didn’t answer.
    She grabbed the pilot by the shoulders from behind. “Should I turn on the cabin lights?” she asked.
    “No,” the pilot whispered. “The less people know right now, the better.”
    What did that mean? Judd watched the two hurry down the stairs. He turned back to see the old woman talking to the writer behind her. He was dragging his fingers through his long blond hair.
    “Trouble, ma’am?” Buck said.
    “It’s my Harold,” she said.
    “Does he need something?” Buck asked, stretching.
    “He’s gone!”
    “I’m sorry?”
    “He’s disappeared!”
    “Well,” Buck said, “I’m sure he slipped off to the washroom while you were sleeping.”
    “Would you mind checking for me? And take a blanket.”
    “Ma’am?”
    “I’m afraid he’s gone off naked. He’s areligious person, and he’ll be terribly embarrassed.”
    Judd still stood, as if glued to the floor in front of his seat. He watched Buck Williams climb over the sleeping drunk in the aisle seat and move up to take a blanket from