Lost

Everthing starts with a Dream. My dream was to visit Mexico and visit all the historical sites, like Chichén Itzá, Tulum, Historic center of Mexico-City, Palenque, Acapulco and the cliff jumper, Teotihuacan and of course Chapultepec Castle. Sometimes a dream stays a dream and sometimes dreams come true.

My dream became reality one day. I was invited to join an expedition to Mexico, where we would catch fish for aquariums and bring plants for botanical gardens back to Germany.

Of course we would also explore the historical side of Mexico on this expedition.

I couldn't wait to get on the plane for this adventure.

I went shopping for the right clothing and shoes, got a new telephoto Lense for my camera and a new suitcase. Then I was ready for Rock'n'roll in Mexico.

I joint the expedition at the train station in Cologne where we started the journey. Next stop was Frankfurt Airport where we arrived in time. Our flight was scheduled to leave at 9pm, so we had 5 hours to settled.

We gave up our suitcases, got our boarding pass and went to the duty-free area to buy some books, chocolates, magazines and cigarettes cheaper than usual. Until to this point everything was normal. No one expected the worst-case scenario.

We strolled around for a while and then went to our gate. Boarding should start in 20 minutes. We sat down and waited for it to start.

It was already very late, and everyone was quite tired, so everyone had only one thing in mind: get to your seat as soon as possible to rest. The flight would finally be long enough. One stop over was planned in Madrid and then non-stop to Mexico-City.

Thank goodness we had seats where no one was sitting in front of us. So, we could stretch out our legs better. Everyone had a pillow and a blanket on their seat, and they had socks so that we could take off our shoes.

The plane filled up quickly, and the crew helped to stow the luggage in the flaps over the heads.

I sat very comfortably in my seat and watched the lively activity around me. My book was ready on my lap because I wanted to read something before I went to sleep, but I had no idea that the thriller I had bought was going to come true.

The other members of the expedition had meanwhile made themselves comfortable and we waited for the start. Then a quick nice supper and then taking a nap. The expedition days would sap our strength.

The crew members closed the doors, and the captain gave a short speech and instructed us all to follow the instructions of the cabin crew. While the machine was taxiing to the runway, the usual procedures followed: how to use the life jacket, the breathing apparatus, where is the nearest exit, etc. everything was presented in a very funny way, so that we all really listened to the instructions.

I love it when the plane picks up speed, you're pushed into your seat and then all of a sudden, you're in the air.

I could feel the plane speeding up and since I had a window seat I could see everything rushing past me and then suddenly we were airborne.

But what was left lying on the tarmac was a shock. I didn't want to believe my eyes. I contorted myself to see what was left lying there again, but the machine had already turned around and was on its way to Madrid. Should I have been wrong, or did that belong to a piece of luggage? I hadn't really seen it that well and everything had happened so quickly.

The gong sounded and we could loosen the belts again. The captain announced that it was 29 degrees celsius in Madrid and no rain was to be expected. The flight would take only 70 minutes and all connecting flights would be accessible. Well, we wouldn't change planes, we'd stay in the plane, only the crew would change. After that we would have a 14 hour non-stop flight ahead of us.

Maybe I was wrong what I have seen during the start. I was just getting used to this argument when a little boy sitting behind me yelled loudly: "Dad, did you see that too? We lost the landing gear".

The boy was maybe six or seven years old, and his voice was very definite. The father tried to calm him down. "No, Klaus, that wasn't a chassis, that was just tires," he tried to calm the little one down.

"No, those were the tires with axles from that plane. They just fell off like ripe apples from our tree in the garden."

The little boy's voice was very assertive and the way he said it showed that he knew exactly what he was talking about.

Now more people in the machine had noticed that something couldn't be right. An older lady called the stewadress and asked if everything was ok. The stewardess confirmed to the old lady that everything was fine and that she could enjoy her flight in peace.

The little boy heard that in turn and he shouted loudly through the cabin: "Nothing is okay. We lost the entire chassis for the landing. I saw it exactly and the woman here in front of me too". He pointed his dirty little finger at me. Was this necessary? I didn't feel good at all now.

His father tried to calm him down, but had little success. Everyone was looking at me now. What should I say?

I took a deep breath and was about to say something when a voice from the front called out: "All passengers sit down immediately, otherwise we will shoot the crew".

That had to be a joke, that couldn't be. All passengers looked in the direction from which the voice came. Then we saw the person, or rather: first the weapon, then the arm and then him, the kidnapper. Completely normal guy, nothing conspicuous about him. Brown hair, medium height, well dressed, skin slightly tanned as if he came back from vacation. Only the gun in his hand indicated that he was not harmless. He waved his gun around and everyone thought he was the only one when a second voice called out: "As long as you do what we say nothing will happen".

Great prospects for a vacation in Mexico. The other man looked quite similar to the first one here. He too was well dressed and looked as if he had just returned from vacation. Just the gun in hand didn't go with the whole thing. Further back I saw a third person. I wondered how they could bring the guns on board. It was so tightly controlled. There were only two possibilities! One was, there were ground staff working with them or cabin crew. I was about to ask something when a hand came down on my shoulder from behind. It was the nice young man from before...when we were still checking in. He had helped me to lift my backpack onto my back because I had both hands full. He slowly came forward with his head and whispered in my ear to stay calm. I just turned my head slightly and said that I was quiet, but just had to go to the toilet. Before he could even reply to that again, I had raised my hand (like in school) and asked if it was possible that I could use the toilet.

The guy shot forward and snapped at me if I couldn't holt it. No, there was no way I could. "No, I can't because I have diarrhea".

He waved the pistol in the direction of the toilet, and I left on my way seat with mixed feelings. It wasn't far, but to have the feeling that someone is pointing a gun at you is very, very uncomfortable.

I saw out of the corner of my eye how the young man sitting behind me rolled his eyes and shook his head slightly. I didn't really care at the moment, I just wanted to go to the toilet. The kidnapper opened the door for me and told me that I was not allowed to lock the door. And to make sure I didn't either, he jerked the lock and removed the bolt. Good job asshole.

I entered the toilet, closed the door and sat down on the toilet. What could I do to subdue these three idiots? If it was just these three. I quickly looked for any means of defending myself. But apart from a mirror, paper and water there was nothing else. Ok, then I have to improvise, whtever that emat at the moment. I flushed the toilet and carefully opened the door. The kidnapper was standing in front of the door with his legs spread and his gun in his hands ready to use it. So it was also clear that these were not idiots, he knew how the thing worked, how to use it correctly and he probably also had basic military training. Only people from the military stood in front of you like that.

So it was clear that all the kidnappers had military training and knew exactly what they were doing and how to use their weapons. It was only a question of time when they would separate the three soldiers from the other passengers and tie them up into small packages. At the moment it looked more like they were still setting themselves up, like who is where and what they have to do and how. None of them had masks on, indicating that they didn't care if we saw their faces or not. But that also meant that our chances of getting out of here alive were very, very small.

I was taken back to my seat and sat down again. The young man behind me pushed me carefully and leaned forward a bit.

"How can you be so stupid and have to go to the toilet now?" he asked me.

"If I have to, then I have to and that's none of your business," I whispered back.

"Shut up over there," yelled one of the kidnappers.

"Am I not allowed to say something," I replied. "Or are you afraid of us?" I asked. I couldn't get out of myself. I always had to have the last word. "Nobody talks here as long as we are here", a voice called out from the background. That had to be the third man.

"And why not, if I may ask".

"Because we say so," said the one who had accompanied me to the toilet, pointing the gun at me.

"Oops, take that thing out of my face, it scares me," I exclaimed.

A dirty laugh was the answer.

"Let them talk to each other, no one gets out of here alive anymore," said a woman's voice.

I turned slightly to see who said it. The chief stewardess had changed and was now standing in the aisle in full battle gear. So here she was, one of the crew members and now there were four. Three men and a woman.

"Are you complete now, or are more of you coming out of these air-plane-seats?" I asked.

"Four should be enough to keep you all in place, right?" this bitch asked me.

"I really hope so...but I hope even more to get out of here alive...I'm on my way to vacation", and grinned.

The other passengers looked rather pale and hoped I would shut up.

"Your vacation could still work out if you shut up now," cried the other kidnapper, a long, bald-headed loafer with narrow lips.

He came to my seat, grabbed the young man from behind me and pushed him in the empty seat right next to me. "Here you have someone to talk to, but quietly, and that applies to everyone," he called into the cabin.

I saw from the corner of my eye how everyone nodded in agreement and gave me angry looks. "They definitely don't like you," said the head of the kidnapper and disappeared in the direction of the pilot's compartment, the cockpit.

The young man looked at me, "Hello, my name is James, James Bond".

"Cool, may I introduce myself as well, Bonni, friend of Clyde". How stupid do you have to be to imagine that. Especially in a situation like this.

He probably hadn't expected such an answer. He started laughing which led him choking so badly that he started coughing.

"Can we get a water over here", I asked.

"You're just causing trouble and work," came the immediate reply.

"It's not for me, it's for the young man here".

The kidnapper lady threw us a bottle and went further back now. Fuck. She was looking for the american soldiers. Hopefully she hadn't seen their backpacks. All three were special forces. I could see her going through the list of passengers, matching names and seat numbers. James Bond had also turned around and was observing closely. Actually much too accurate for only one vacationer.

"What's your job?" I asked softly.

'Truck driver" came as an answer, "and you".

"Mother Theresa". I couldn't help but answer like that. It just gushed out of me.

He turned to me and looked me straight in the eyes.

"I don't think so, do I?" "I guess we're more like colleagues".

"I certainly don't think so," I replied.

"I'm german, but i also have canadian citizenship and live in canada".

He kept looking at me and just said with a cold shrug of the shoulders, "That may be so, but we work the same...security...I BND...and you...?"

"I can't give a direct answer to that now, only so far...very similar field of activity...". what should one be able to say.

He turned back to me.

"So the same field of activity after all," he said.

"Not quite. I work in Canada and you are in Germany, don't you?" I asked.

"First of all, let's drop the 'you'. My real name is really James, but everyone calls me Jamie. I work abroad most of the time. I'm currently in the USA. How about you?"

"Ok, my name is Sabrina and I've been living in Canada for 8 years and work there" ..and here my voice got very quiet.."I work there for the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS)...".

"How does someone like you get in a position like that?" he asked me.

"I'll tell you if we get out of here alive," I countered.

"Fair enough, so let's see what we can do," He countered.

The hike up and down of the kidnappers made all of us really crazy. You could see that everyone was scared. This fear appealed to the kidnappers and I could only hope no one went nuts.

The lady-kidnapper, I gave her the number four, had tried several times to get into the cockpit. But since 9/11 it wasn't that easy and it seemed like someone had told the cockpit who was responsible for this kidnapping. Her face didn't look friendly. She was pretty pissed off that she couldn't get control of the machine. She consulted with her three accomplices and then she picked up a mobile phone and talked into it. Unfortunately, you couldn't understand anything, but after this phone call, her face had turned rather icy. She went to the man with the little boy, grabbed the child and went with him to the cockpit. You couldn't understand what was being said, but she didn't seem to have any success. She brought the little boy back, ran back to the cockpit and spoke to the pilots again. No one could understand what she was talking about. It was just too quiet and too far away. But my new friend and helper seemed to know what was going on.

He leaned back relaxed, put his arm around me and pulled me closer to him. Normally I would have slapped him now, but this was an emergency situation. "I know what she said," he whispered in my ear.

"You know what she said," I repeated as a question. "How is that, you couldn't hear anything".

"That's right, you couldn't hear anything, but you could see everything," he said dryly.

"See?" I asked.

"Yes, see. I can read lips. My sister is deaf and mute and in order to communicate with her we all had to learn the language of the deaf and dumb. It's now paying off".

Oh my god that was so cool, who would have thought, he can read lips.

My brain started to work at full speed. "What did she say then?" I whispered questioningly.

"She told the cockpit that if they don't open the doors, all the passengers will be poisoned."

"Now that's a joke, isn't it?" but his face spoke a different language. "There are only two ways they can poison us all. Firstly with gas, or secondly with food," I said quietly back.

"That's exactly what they want to do. Everyone should have a little snack now and then they'll see what's going on here in the cockpit."

I thought hard how to escape all this without attracting attention. Then I remembered the toilet. There was also a medicine box in the small cupboard. I had to go to the toilet again.

"Hello there, can I go to the toilet again?" I asked with a pleading look. "I have a bladder infection and can't hold the water that long".

"Come here, but the door won't be locked".

"No problem," I said and disappeared into the toilet. Hopefully everything was there as it was on my first visit. I quickly opened the small first aid box and there they were, the charcoal tablets plus ibuprofen. I quickly put both in my pants, confirmed the cistern and then washed my hands when the door opened again.

"Done with pee", "yes, thanks".

He brought me back to my seat and hissed at the person next to me that he was responsible if I peed on the seats. The man, probably a businessman, turned red and stuttered with fear that it wasn't his fault after all if I had to go to the toilet all the time. The kidnapper put his gun under his chin and assured him that if I peed on the seat it would be his problem. I was about to say something when James squeezed my arm and stopped me.

I closed my mouth again and leaned back. The kidnapper let out his ugly laugh again, waved the gun a bit in front of the businessman's face and then went back to his place. I was glad that the guy behind me had caught the kidnapper's attention, so I was able to slide the pills between the seats. You never know if they won't still search you. I was already wondering why they hadn't taken our mobile phones away from us. But of course we all had no reception. So there had to be someone else on the ground who was involved here.

I whispered quietly to James that he would have to take the pills if we got food. He should ask for tea for both of us. The cabin crew worked flat out to serve everyone at the same time. Everyone was under a lot of stress. We had no idea what kind of poison it would be, but maybe the element of surprise was on our side.

"You have to try to get these pills to the soldiers. They're enough for six people," I whisper.

"What are those pills you have there. Do they work?" James asked.

"Yes, it's ibuprofen and charcoal tablets. With that we can delay the poison three to four hours. Always assuming it's not snake venom. Then we have a problem; but maybe the ibuprofen will help a bit. Unfortunately, there was no Dimercaprol. That would help us best against snake poison. Let's hope that they give us a food poison".

I very much hoped that the poisoning was more of a drug that would put us all into a deep sleep. But you can't be sure with such criminals what they keep in mind. We didn't even know what they wanted until now. Apparently, the plane was still flying in the direction to Mexico. Of course, the tower already knew what was going on up here, but apparently the kidnappers had not yet made a request.

"What do you want to do with this kidnapping?" James asked one of the kidnappers, number two as I called him in my mind because he was standing further back.

"It's none of your business, so shut up, shut up," came the reply like a shot out of a 'pistol'.

"Is it a secret? Or what is it? After all we are all sitting here and being threatened by you with weapons, so one can ask why, right?", he couldn't help it.

"Shut up," screamed number one from the front, "or you're the first dead up here."

James bit his lip and closed his eyes. When he opened them again, the 'boss' was standing in front of him. "One more question like that and you will see jesus in person", she told him with a smile on her lips. The smile of an angel of death.

She turned around and told everyone that there would now be a snack for everyone to eat. Without exception. Refusals would have consequences.

I had to get to these soldiers somehow, but how? They sat near the toilet and were guarded. Maybe I should just drop down. I had practice in that. I had to laugh when I thought about how I once performed this show during a complicated arrest. Everyone froze when I fell to the ground, staggering in the field of fire. Now she dies they all thought. But the moment I felt the ground beneath me I shot. Not a moment too early or too late. Sometimes it helps to act; and I'm good at it.

"I have to go quickly to the toilet again " I called to kidnapper number one. "I don't want the man behind me to be responsible if I pee on the seat," I explained quickly.

"Man-o-man, maybe you should stay on the toilet, that would be easier," he yelled at me.

"Come on, go ahead, we all want to eat", and with that he pushed me in the back with the gun. The shock was so hard that I was now able to do justice to my theatrical role. I stumbled past the toilet as if I couldn't grab the door and fell right into the middle of the soldiers. I moaned a little from the pain and pressed the pills into the hand of the person closest to me. Not a moment too late. The kidnapper grabbed my arm and pulled me up, staggering slightly. I saw James getting half out of his seat; he wanted to help me. But was brutally pushed back.

"Go pee and then go to your seat. That was the last time for today. If you have to pee again, bad luck".

I could see that the soldiers took the pills. We did the same as soon as the water and tea was served. The crew members worked very fast and I could see they tried to help. Two of them changed the food for the kidnappers so fast, that I barley could see it. It was magic. So hopefully we could manage to get the plane under our control again.

We all started to eat and the kidnappers watched closely that we all emptied our bowls and drinks. James and I looked at each other and checked the surroundings to make sure we would be 'sleeping' as well. One after one in the plane suddenly got tired and three or four on our side fell to the ground. An old lady at the other side slipped out of her seat and right under it. She hit her head and she started to bleed. Both od us were still awake and we had to make sure that we will be asleep now too. I closed my eyes just for a moment and tried to open them again. "Ah James, I am so tired, I will take a nap," I said. and before he even could answer, I played my role, 'the sleeping beauty", lol.

I could see through my eyelashes the kidnappers walking through the rows, nudging one or the other to make sure we were all asleep. Only then did they sat down and began to eat. Everyone was in a good mood and enjoyed their meal. They talked about their future life with all the money they would get for the kidnapping and patted each other on the back. The woman was a bit more skeptical, as women usually are. The first two started to yawn, but thought it was because of the exertion here with the passengers. Then the other two probably felt a certain tiredness and inertia as well. The woman understood what was going on and tried to vomit to get rid of the food , but was unsuccessful. She ran towards the soldiers, but the drug was way too strong. Just before she could reach the soldiers she collapsed. James was snoring next to me and I was struggling to stay awake too. One of the soldiers managed to tell the cockpit that the kidnappers had been eliminated, as well as all the passengers. By poisoning. The pilots have to head for the nearest airport to save everyone.

The pilots had seen on the screen how everyone collapsed, including the kidnappers. The nearest airport was only 20 minutes away. Ambulance, police and fire brigade were ready. The plane landed on a foam carpet without any problems, because we were missing a whole axle and wheels. Special units stormed the machine, breathing masks on their faces. Doctors and nurses gave everyone a universal serum, because no one knew what poison we had in us, and then we were all taken to the nearest hospital.

I woke up the next morning with a migraine. Next to me was a newspaper with the latest news. The front page was graced with a picture that made me laugh: James snoring with his mouth open! And under the picture it said: this is what you do during a kidnapping: sleep through it.

My vacation started to be fun.