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Flight into Mystery

The Mystery Man in Seat 7B

By Partho ChoudhuryPublished 3 years ago 7 min read
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Captain Trevor Hoskins stretched out in his seat, 25 minutes after commandeering his Air Pacific A330 aircraft out of the busy Kuala Lumpur airport vicinity and asked for an evening snack tray with coffee. His co pilot Venus Gladys smiled and settled for only a coffee. Both pilots had been rested well and were ready for their long haul to Auckland in New Zealand. They had forecasts of good weather in both hemispheres and the plane was cruising at its allotted altitude of 36,000 Feet when the Captain’s radio crackled into life.

“Flight AP467?” A polite voice asked.

“Yes. This is Captain Trevor Hoskins”. The captain wondered if anything had come up

“This is Auckland Tower” The voice said. “Need a small favour from you, Captain”

“Anything” The Captain shrugged with a smile.

“You have one of our guests, a very popular Jarvis Norton on board. A group from the people whom he had helped during his last visit want to welcome him at the airport. He’s travelling enroute from Korea. Seat 7B. Can you please confirm if he’s on your flight?”

“Sure. We’ll even give him a special meal” Captain Hoskins nodded . “I’ll call you back”

“Jennifer” Captain Hoskins welcomed the incoming aroma of his evening snack tray with a grateful smile. “Can you please check Seat 7B and say Hello to Jarvis Norton with a special snack tray and also offer him our best vintage wine?”

The co pilot and chief steward both rolled their eyes as Jennifer went out, set out an elaborate tray of eatables almost as big as a Christmas Hamper and went to Seat 7B. She regarded the man covered in a face shield and a mask, almost hidden behind an open newspaper.

“You must be tired and hungry, Sir “ She gushed. “Here are some refreshment for you.” “Would like some vintage wine?” She added as she handed him a Wine menu.

Jennifer regarded the shifty passenger. Her years of experience told her something was not right. The man in his early forties regarded her and the tray and curtly said “I do not want so much food, thank you. Please bring me a sandwich and a beer. I am tired and wish to sleep. I will not want any dinner and would not like to disturbed anymore until we land.”

“Certainly, Sir” Jennifer took the tray back, annoyed with herself she couldn’t get a good look at his face. His face shield was darkened and, along with the mask, she couldn’t see anything. His accent sounded East European. The man continued to be sleeping and did not move when she placed his sandwich and beer on his tray table. She continued to glance towards him as she walked up and down the aisle, guiding the stewardesses and politely exchanging niceties with passengers. She noticed that the man rapidly raised his shield and took bites and sips but quickly donned his shield whenever anyone came near him.

Jennifer returned to the cockpit a little later and informed the Captain about her observations of the passenger in Seat 7B. “Something puzzling” She finished. “But I can’t be sure. I can’t ask him to show his face. He’s not even communicative.”

Captain Hoskins nodded. Passengers were of all types. He had seen them all. This could be anything. He radioed Auckland airport and informed them they had a man sitting in 7B but couldn’t ID him due to his Covid 19 PPE. Can’t do a thing about it anyway, The Captain smiled to himself. He sat back, asked his Co pilot to take over and settled back for a doze. The plane was on auto pilot anyway

Auckland airport Superintendent John Smith was just finishing his dinner in his office when there was an unlisted call in his Iphone

“Did you check on Jarvis Norton arriving by Flight AP467?” A curt voice enquired

“yes........Sir.” He added the ”Sir” as an afterthought as the caller seemed to be a man of authority. Experienced and trained airport staff could make out. “We checked with the flight crew.”

“The hell you did. “ Came back the curt retort. “Mr. Norton missed his flight which was a connecting one and is still stranded in Kuala Lumpur.”

“Sorry, Sir.” John wondered if the man in the flight was an impostor or a stowaway or even a terrorist. “The crew had confirmed his presence. “But we’ll get him.”

“We’re not interested and our party shall not be coming to the airport now that we know Mr. Norton’s not coming”

“But we are, Sir” John said grimly. “we’ll get him.” He pushed his unfinished dinner aside, wiped his mouth, put on his face mask and shield and rushed out towards the arrival terminal. He made calls to the air Traffic control tower and the airport police.

The air Traffic Control staff told John that the Air Pacific flight AP467 was about to land and Captain Hoskins had refused any action on nabbing the passenger in 7B until they land.

Captain Hoskins called Jennifer in as the aircraft left the runway and was taxiing in towards the arrival terminal receivers. “You were right.” He told her. “The guy you saw wasn’t Norton at all. The Airport staff are waiting outside to nab him.” She nodded curtly and went back to her passengers. She returned, flustered, a few moments later.

“Sorry, Captain. The passengers are standing in line in the aisle for disembarking. I looked down the aisle but couldn’t identify him. Captain Hoskins shook his head in exasperation as he understood the Crew’s dilemma. Now how would they identify him.

Superintendent John Smith was waiting with the Airport police as the flight door to the arrival console opened. He looked at the sea of waiting passengers in their face masks and shields. Jennifer walked up to him and apologised. “Sorry, Mr. Smith.” She read his name and designation on his name badge. “Can’t identify him.”

Damn the Covid19, John murmured under his breath and ordered Jennifer to let the passengers out slowly. Jennifer stood by and carefully scrutinised all the passengers coming out, letting the other stewardesses attend to the departing smiles and waves. She recollected the man’s blonde hair and yellow jacket with jeans but was dismayed not to be able to see any man with this description. She had whispered this description in John Smith’s ear but he couldn’t see anyone of that description either. He had an idea and called the emigration desk to check all boarding passes and stop the man with the pass for 7B. Jennifer and John watched the last of the departing passengers with dismay.

Two hours passed and 7 more flights came in. The Emigration desks had long serpentine queues and the officers reported not having seen the required boarding pass and complained of delays for checking boarding passes. After another hour, John reluctantly ordered termination of boarding pass checks as the queues got longer and passengers began complaining about the delay. He and Jennifer had been walking around the arrival terminal in the hope of identifying the mystery passenger of Seat 7B. He knew Jennifer had her next flight in a few hours and realised she needed rest and let her go. He gave a resigned shrug and returned to his office. He smiled as he realised he need not report this lapse.

The man in Seat 7B joined the emigration queue, mingled with passengers from different flights after confirming that boarding pass checks had been stopped. He presented his passport with his New Zealand visit visa in order. He received his passport with the entry stamp, thanked the emigration officer and left the arrival terminal quietly with an inconspicuous duffle bag slung over his shoulder

The Man from Seat 7B acknowledged the driver with a coded name board and got into the waiting car. He dialled a number and the man called Jarvis Norton answered. “You’ve reached safely?” He asked. “Good. Now send me scans of your boarding pass, the front page of your passport and the arrival stamp of Auckland airport. ”

“You’ve done well.” The Man called Jarvis Norton acknowledged. “ Our job is done. Use your visa card for expenses and you may catch any flight tomorrow back to New York.”

The man called Jarvis Norton returned to his office and completed his report, attaching the pictures the man from Seat 7B had sent him. He smiled as he attached the document in his email message and sent it to his superiors in New York. With this proven breach in security caused by insufficient check of transit passengers, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) would have a lot of explaining to do.

Just before Captain Trevor Hoskins was getting ready to pilot his next flight to Perth in Australia, He got a call from Jennifer. “I thought you’d like to know that the ground crew cleaning up our A330 found a blonde wig and a yellow jacket”

“ Under Seat 7B?” The Captain asked drily

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