Local time – 5:35am, Sunday 17th June, 2011.
Prague, Czechoslovakia.
‘Stop the car. I’m going to be sick.’
The driver pulled over on the last stretch of road before the airport, and Alex managed to open the door before retching into the gutter. Henry reached into the front seat and rubbed her back sympathetically. He was white as a sheet and obviously too alarmed to insist they didn’t have time to stop. But his impatience throbbed through his tight jaw.
The driver handed Alex a box of tissues and she wiped her mouth and shut the door, nodding to keep going. Her stomach flipped again and she held her hands together tightly, willing herself not to soil the taxi. Alex had never seen a dead body before, so finding the results of Vlady’s and his mother’s violent murders, and instantly realising why it happened, put her into a sickening shock. Any thoughts of going to Pakistan to find some mysteriously hidden nuclear weapon were completely wiped from her mind. But all her instincts told her it was a very smart idea to use Phil’s private jet to get hell out of Prague.
They took the turn off to the airport and Henry directed the taxi towards the private section of the air field. They drove slowly past the drop off area for departing flights at the main terminal, stuck in a traffic jam of taxis and passengers pulling suitcases across their path. Alex ducked down in her seat and put her hands over her face. Henry crouched low in the foot well on the back seat. The taxi driver looked at them suspiciously, but made no comment. He sped up once past the terminal, and turned down the small slip road towards a smaller building, where corporate jet rentals were arranged. A locked gate blocked their path so the taxi driver pulled over.
They sat looking at the gate for a few seconds, until Henry and Alex conceded it was as far as he could take them. Henry shoved 50 Euro into the driver’s hand, and without waiting for change, pulled his backpack on and slid awkwardly out of the taxi. Alex felt weak and shaky, her satchel and travel bag weighing her down as she too got out, barely shutting the door before the driver pulled away. Henry strode towards a pedestrian sized opening next to the locked gate. On the other side of the fence, there was a row of a dozen jets neatly lined up, like a strip of new cars in a showroom. Henry walked with purpose towards the fourth jet, which had its stairs down. Alex couldn’t immediately see why he chose this particular target, until she noticed someone standing next to the stairs. It was Phil. And he looked angry.
Henry reached Phil first, and Alex covered the 100 meters across the tarmac as fast as her unwilling legs would move. Phil was sweating.
‘They’ve been gone 20 minutes. They were only meant to be a 10 minutes max.’
‘Where are they?’ Henry asked.
‘At air traffic control at the main terminal. Finalising our departure.’ Alex didn’t have to ask who he was talking about. She expected Josh and Ryan to be waiting on the plane. But they obviously weren’t. Phil was extremely agitated, and Henry’s already tense body was twitching with nerves.
‘It’s OK,’ she offered. ‘Maybe there was a wait. Maybe they’re in a queue.’
‘They would have called,’ Phil spat, looking at Alex as if she didn’t deserve to speak. ‘I got your message about the bodies at the hotel. Please tell me you didn’t leave the cash there?’ Henry’s face gave him the answer.
‘Why the fuck did you do that? Are you crazy? They’re going to trace that back to us!’ Alex took a step behind Henry, shielding herself from Phil’s anger.
‘It can help pay for their funerals,’ she responded. ‘I wasn’t exactly in a frame of mind to think about the money, seeing as our plans just cost those people their lives.’
‘Your plan.’ Phil responded. Alex said nothing, too upset to fight back. She thought about other things she had left at the hotel as evidence of her involvement. Fingerprints, vomit, her shawl. Henry bravely put his arm around her, which made Phil glare even more.
‘She’s on the video. She’s not exactly a hidden player like us. Is she?’ Henry’s support made Alex feel stronger, and she was about to remind Phil how pleased he had been about the recording from the conference, when a man sprinting towards the jet seized their attention. It was Josh. And he looked like he was running for his life.
Phil herded Henry and Alex towards the stairs and they flew up them ahead of him. Josh made it just in time too see Phil disappear inside, and he clambered up the stairs while Phil stood ready to hit the close button. After the speed with which they had all piled into the plane, the stairs groaned upwards so slowly that Alex imagined an army of people chasing them would have a chance to slip in before the hatch closed. It wasn’t until it finally shut, with the satisfying sound of a seal being locked, that Alex asked the obvious question.
‘Where’s Ryan?’ They all looked towards Josh.
‘They’ve got him.’
‘What happened?’ Phil looked ready to blame Josh. And Josh looked ready to take it. He explained in short bursts between puffs.
‘I went into the office... checked in the flight plan... Ryan waited outside... it took longer than I thought... he went to grab some food from the cafe... I saw him... they snuck up on him... he didn’t have time to run... two cops and another guy. They marched him out... I just ran... ’ Phil turned away, not waiting to hear Josh finish. He leaned into the cockpit and said ‘Let’s go’. Alex had assumed he would be flying the plane, but she caught a glimpse of the pilot – another fair, crew cut young man – and felt at once there was something familiar about him. Phil closed the cockpit door, the plane’s engine roared into life and they slowly taxied towards the runway.
‘Do you think they followed you?’ Alex asked Josh. He had collapsed into one of the comfortable leather chairs that lined the sides of the plane. They faced towards each other in an oval and had enough space behind them to recline into a horizontal bed.
‘I have no idea. I got out of there as quick as I could. There’s every chance they’ve watched me get onto the plane.’ Henry perched on the armrest of the chair opposite and looked out the round window.
‘I can’t see anyone on the tarmac. Surely if they suspected... they wouldn’t let us take off.’ The next few minutes passed in excruciating silence. The team of four darted around the plane, going from window to window to see every inch of the private airfield. They waited for the plane to stop, listening for sirens and watching for police racing across the tarmac. It wasn’t until they sped down the runway and the wheels left the ground that they sat in their seats and put their seatbelts on. Alex didn’t ask if they were still going to Pakistan. Her mind was too preoccupied with horrible images of what the Bilderbergers might do to Ryan.