The Leap

2-Hijacking

November 24, 1971

    "Alright Mr. Cooper. That'll be twenty dollars for a ticket on Northwest Orient Flight 305 from Portland, Oregon to Seattle, Washington." The young woman smiled at me as I handed over the bill. "Have a happy Thanksgiving."

    "You as well," I said politely. I walked through the airport, found my gate and sat with the other passengers. From the window I saw the Boeing 727 I would soon be hijacking sitting on the runway. The flight from Portland to Seattle was twenty–eight minutes. Little did my fellow travelers know it was going to be longer.

    I watched as a blonde flight attendant exited down the aft staircase of the plane and walked up the stairs to the airport. She opened the door and a gust of somewhat cool air brought the others to attention.

    "Ladies and gentlemen if you would please follow me we are clear to begin boarding." The flight attendant ushered us through the door and down onto the tarmac. The line of waiting passengers as another attendant checked our tickets before boarding was short; just as I wanted it. The fewer people on this flight the fewer problems I had to potentially face.

Sayuri and I had done our research and planned very detail. What I couldn't control would be others' reactions should this plan go south. The bomb was a fake but none of them knew that. Sometimes people rise to the occasion when gripped with fear and stay calm while others are crippled by it and can't move. Those reactions I could handle. What I doubted my ability to handle was a group that got brave and restrained me while taking a closer look at the bomb. If that should happen we would land and I would be jailed.

    That must not happen. Too much was riding on this. Not only my future, which I absolutely didn't want to spend behind bars, but my two children and Sayuri's futures would be ruined as well. Kristen and Nick didn't know about this, obviously. Even if I pulled this off I doubted I'd ever tell them. I'd say the bank had changed their mind and the loan they denied me went through. A long lost relative had died and left me a fortune. What did it matter where the money came from? I would say. The bank was about to foreclose on us and since I unexpectedly found myself a single parent with debts run up by my former spouse, debts which I had no prior knowledge of, were coming out of the woodwork and we were in real trouble but now everything will be fine. Aunt Sayuri and I can now open the special effects shop we'd always wanted and hopefully work on movies making monsters and sets, and maybe even the occasional Halloween costume for a rich client. Isn't that great?

    Anything but the truth which I couldn't trust to those teenagers though I loved them dearly.

    I walked up the aft staircase keenly aware that I would be jumping from it later tonight, hopefully heavy laden with money. I found my seat 18E and set the suitcase on the empty seat beside me. As the others found their places I let my eye wander to the window. I turned my head slightly this way and that making sure the facial prosthetics were holding up. They were. Sayuri and I knew our stuff but the anxiety that something would go wrong had me checking my face any time I could. I was getting used to the colored contacts which changed my eyes from a soft blue to a dark brown. Sayuri was a genius. I could never have made them and even though I wouldn't be able to wear them all night it didn't matter. A few hours and I could take the slightly stinging annoyances out.

    Soon enough we were rolling down the runway and lifting into the air. I took a deep breath and smiled at the other flight attendant, a young dark haired woman, slowly making her way down the aisle taking drink orders.

    "Can I get you anything, sir?"

    "I'll have a bourbon and soda, please." She nodded and went to fill my order. While she was gone I reached into my jacket pocket and grabbed the note I'd written beforehand.