Chapter 71
7:30 PM CEST Day two of 1260 Ramat David Air Force Base, Hangar
The jet taxied to a hangar after it landed. Eventually, the engines were shut down. I looked out the window and saw armed guards surrounding the plane. Then I heard the bullhorn that told us to open the cabin door of the jet. I doubted we were at Ben Gurion Airport. Veronica got up and released the hatch door. The steps unfolded out onto the floor of the hangar.
The voice on the bullhorn then instructed us to exit the aircraft, with our hands on our heads. They wanted the pilots to come out first. The cockpit door opened and our pilot and his copilot did as they were told. Looking out the window, I saw that as the pilots reached the bottom step, they were grabbed, spun around, and handcuffed. They were searched by a couple of the soldiers there, then moved rather roughly off to another area where I could no longer see them.
Veronica was called out of the plane, but it was in Hebrew, not English; so I only understood that they called her name. When she got to the bottom step, they did not cuff her. Instead, she was placed in a car, which took off immediately.
The voice continued, “Mr. South, please come out of the plane with your hands above your head.”
I complied and started down the steps with my hands high above my head. As I stepped onto the ground, I was spun around and cuffs put on. I watched as several troops ran up the steps fully armed and started, I supposed, going through the plane. It dawned on me right then that the binder from Gabriel was in there, and I was not sure if that might be a problem later or not.
They started pushing me in the direction of what looked like a state car. I was placed in the back seat and pushed to the middle. A soldier got on either side of me. A black hood was placed over my head before the driver took off. They were dead quiet. This is great, I was a witness for only a day, and now I was in the clutches of the most secret group of people in the world.