Carl felt his broken tooth with his tongue. The door of the Captain's cabin was open and he could see the bearded hijacker sitting inside. He had a long nose and dark hair and his eyes looked green from the light o the instruments in the dark cabin. He held his gun near his mouth and touched it gently with his lips as he waited. Carl had heard half of the conversation. Eight of the ten minutes had gone. Now that he could do nothing, he felt He could feel his hand in the handcuffs shaking. Harald felt it too and held Carl's hand with his own. 'Don't worry, Mr Sandberg," Harald whispered. "We'll get out of here.' "Perhaps," Carl answered. "And perhaps not. But I don't want these murderers to go free.' 'Ssh!' Harald whispered. Carl looked up and saw the girl watching them. Then, suddenly, the bearded man shouted, "They're coming! Look Get readyl' The girl went into the Captain's cabin. Harald and Carl stood up and looked through a window. They saw three men pushing some steps across the tarmac. The men put the steps outside the plane door and then went back again. Then two more men came out of the building They were wearing bright yellow coats because of the rain. One man walked towards the plane.
Come away from the door! Quick!' The girl unlocked the handcuffs and pushed Harald and Carl back to their seats. Then she started to open the door. "Wait! Turn the lights out and stand back from the door!" said the bearded man. "They will try to shoot us the light from the door.' The door opened and the man in the yellow coat came into the plane. He was thin, with very short hair. The girl shut the door, the lights came on, and the man shut his eyes in the bright light. The girl and the bearded man put their arms around him, laughing. "Free! You are free now, brother! And the other one, is he safe? Come into the cabin, let's talk!' Carl and Harald watched sadly. "So now she will give them what they want, because of me," said Carl quietly. "We will be safe, but they will go free to bomb another plane, because of me.' He held his head in his hands. "Wait, Mr Sandberg," said Harald. "Your wife isn't stupid, you know. This game has not ended yet, Sit still and be ready." The other passengers sat quietly, waiting to be free. Helen sandberg stood by the control room window staring at the plane. "Come on," she said. "Why is that door shut? Where are the passengers?'
"The hijackers won't set them free said Inspector Holm. "I told you, Prime Minister, this is a serious mistake.' "Be quiet, man," said Colonel Carter. think we've got something on the radio.' Beside him, a soldier was turning the controls of a small army radio. Suddenly, the voices of one of the hijackers and the prisoner came into the room. So how many soldiers are there in the airport building, my brother? didn't see any soldiers, only police.' "That's strange! No soldiers at all?" "I did not see any, brother.' "Very strange. But these are not military people. They do not have many soldiers. Perhaps the woman will do what she says, then.' "What's happening, Colonel?' Helen asked. "Those are the hijackers' voices. How can we hear them?' The Colonel laughed. "Well, madam, you can see it's raining, can't you? We didn't want our poor prisoner to get wet, so we gave him a nice yellow raincoat, you see. But it was an expensive raincoat, because one of its buttons is a small radio transmitter. So now we can hear everything they say and we know where they are on the plane! Helen smiled. "Good idea, Colonel l hope it helps. Prime Minister," Michael interrupted. They're comingt Helen looked through the window. The door of the
plane was open and people were coming down the steps one after another. Some of them started to run towards the airport building, and a few knelt down on the wet tarmac. What are they doing?" Helen asked Praying, perhaps?" said Michael. "To thank God that they're alive?' Police and doctors came out of the building to help the passengers. Helen stood and watched through the binoculars. She did not see Carl. "Ninety-nine, a hundred. That's it, then," said Carter. The plane door closed. "Now we move on to the next step of our plan. Goodbye, Prime Minister. Helen turned and saw that the Colonel was putting on white clothes on top of his army uniform. He put several grenades in the coat pocket, and a machine gun into a long pocket inside the coat. He smiled at her. "I must help my men refuel the plane. "May God go with you, Colonel,' she said. The lights in the plane went out again. There were only eleven of them left now: Carl Sandberg and Harald, four crew, and five Americans. They sat together in the middle of the plane. The girl and the young man in the black shirt watched them.