IN THE SKY (8)

"Calm down! Where did you last see him?" Jaxon grabbed onto the frantic man's shoulder and shook him lightly.

The man closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "He said he wanted to use the restroom."

"What happened then?"

"I followed himbut didn't go inside and waited outside..."

"Continue."

"Then I think I waited for him for about fifteen minutes, until I felt something was off and checked in on him."

Jaxon urged the man to proceed.

"I couldn't hear a single sound in the room. I checked every stall and called out his name, but he didn't respond... No one was there!"

"Hey, look here," Jaxon pointed his eyes as the man was about to lose his mind. "Which restroom was it and ho long ago did this happen?"

The man shook his head as he answered, "...The one on the South of the second floor... I don't know how long. I've been looking for him everywhe-"

Jaxon didn't wait for him to finish as he dashed towards the stairs he saw earlier and climbed them up as if they were made of trampolines.

As he ran, the call passed through.

"Hello. This is-"

He cut the person off. "It's me, Jaxon."

The other line went silent for a few seconds. "Holy sh*t! Jaxon, is this really you?!"

"I don't have any reason to lie." The manager replied and opened the door to the men's restroom, the big man was talking about.

The other person on the phone was Do Seon Chun, who worked at Interpol and was Jaxon's old friend. "Sh*t man! I thought you were kidnapped! How are you calling me-"

He spoke as he checked the lifeless stalls. "Remember that time I found a wife for you and got you married despite how introvert you are?"

"That was ten years ago."

"That doesn't change the fact."

SeonChun clicked his tongue. "Aw, men. You are such a devil."

The manager added, "With a halo."

"Please." Jaxon could imagine the man rolling his eyes. "What do you want?"

"Nothing hard." At last, the manager kicked open the locked last stall. There he found dirt on the toilet cover and the window above slightly opened. He stood on the cover and saw certain parts of the window frame, scraped off their dust.

The other sighed and gave in. "Name it."

"I want you to look for a man."

"Okay. Who?"

"Not sure."

"Why the heck are you asking me-"

"Find the man who sat at fourteen C on the plane I got hijacked. I don't know his name but I know his face. Send me everything about him."

SeonChun sighed. "Fine. But you aren't at the office, right?"

"It's fine. Just send it there."

"...Got it." The Interpol agent sighed again before murmuring to himself, "I can't believe I'm using my hacking skills for this..." and hung up the phone.

Jaxon didn't think to check the phone again to see that there was no history of that phone call and the number had vanished in thin air.

The manager sighed, too, when he popped his head out of the window and found the facility so close to the high wall. There was a thick tree branch touching the window.

It was needless to say that that man had escaped and was long gone.

Jaxon felt something from the man, something bad, but he couldn't point it out since he began assessing who was on the plane with them. He couldn't shake off that feeling for a long time, and it only grew stronger when the man was allowed to leave the cabin and disappear from his sight for more than ten minutes.

Truth be told, he actually wanted to pair up with the man with the scaringly blue eyes, but he couldn't leave the elderly. Even then, he kept a close eye on him.

The man must have realised that since the time he chose to escape was when everyone relaxed in the facility and the pairs were beginning to separate.

And from the way this man had escaped off the window, proved to Jaxon that he was no ordinary man. There was no need to run when it was just an identity check and interview. There was a high chance of him being one of the hijackers, possibly, the one who reported the activity of the hostages.

In any way, Jaxon wasn't going to let him go.

The manager stepped off the toilet cover and exited the stall. He then brought a wet tissue for drying hands and wiped off both his and the man's footprint.

After throwing away the dirtied tissue, he dialled another number into the borrowed phone.

The other person took some time to answer, but when he did, he was omniscient. "Tell me my sister is okay, Jaxon."

----

Benjamin's eyes were like a dragon's eyes and slowly focused on the person in front of him. "How are you awake?!"

Luca stared right back at him with shocked eyes.

Karen, next to the captain, looked confused and angered too. "I left you unconscious..." She then hurriedly pointed the rifle at him.

Before her index finger could pull the trigger, a groggy voice spoke up. "I-I... I'm the one who brought him." It came from Issac on the floor.

The couple widened their eyes when they finally noticed the cabin attendant bleeding.

"I thought bringing him here would lessen the burden of checking in on him every now and then..."

The rifle duo exchanged looks before Benjamin asked, "Who stabbed you?"

When no one answered, the pilot rested his eyes on the man with splattered blood on the blue shirt.

Before Luca could take the blame, another person spoke up. "I did it." Eirene was facing away from the commotion and was still kneeling on the floor. "I made him do it."

There was a moment of silence before there was a steady sound of footsteps like a clock. The next thing they knew, the fork had been removed from Issac's neck and planted on the exact same spot on Eirene just above the explosives.

Grunt escaped from the actress's mouth, but she managed to stay still as a statue.

"Eye for an eye." Benjamin spat out and looked down at the woman on the floor as if she was a pest. With his hand still on the handle, he further added strength and gave a little twist as he dug more into her flesh. "Don't do this f*cking sh*t again. Understood?"

Eirene slightly moved her head down, and the pilot removed the fork, leaving her neck to bleed out.

With Karen kicking up Issac to stand up, the three left the cabin without saying anything.

Almost instantly after the cockpit's door was slammed shut, Luca rushed to the woman on the floor, but his raised hands wiggled in the air. The wound was way too near the 'necklace'. Even if they were the type of bombs that activate with a controller, the risk was still too high.

"Leave it and you better stay away." The actress advised. The injured pilot was about to retort when a question was thrown at him. "How long has it been, from Doha?"

Luca checked on his watch and answered, "A little past six hours."

A Series of gasps and cries came from the passengers. They had been trapped, and anything that could get information from the outside was confiscated. They didn't know how long had passed. Certainly, it was overwhelming.

Eirene nodded her head slightly. "Come on. We have to discuss how we are getting out of this."

----

"...Hello?" A woman picked up the call with irritation and caution.

"This is Arki." A man spoke coldly.

She did not sound off guard. "Oh... Where are you?"

"Mombasa, Kenya."

"...Don't tell me you are stupid enough to borrow a phone from a stranger."

"I am not, my lady." The man replied calmly as he walked through the semi-desert and found a crappy boat and a bored navigator typing something on his Nokia.

"""""

The navigator spotted the man in black approaching him, but he went back to his phone thinking he was just a passerby. Only when he was able to look at the screen without squinting his eyes, he looked up in surprise.

"Ay. Habari yako?" The navigator greeted. In response, the man in black removed a wad of bills from his jacket pocket and handed them to him.

The navigator knew it was a bribe and took it without a second thought.

Whatever the man was going through was none of his business. In his world, money solved problems and shut people up. He wasn't an exception. Plus, the money was more than what he earned in three months.

"Umm," The navigator pointed at the other side of the blue sea where forests of buildings and a fleet of cars drove in confirmation.

The man, seemingly on the phone with someone, nodded and boarded the boat.

The navigator stood up and began paddling the unwavering sea as the passenger spoke. He didn't understand English whole, but it was enough for him to grasp the situation. But as mentioned earlier, money did its magic and stopped him from coming up with any questions.

As he paddled through the water, his phone radio began playing a song and he hummed to distract himself.

"Don't warre. Be happe. Yes!"

""""""

"I've got you another passport booked for your flight back home. It's under the name Bob Smith."

"Thank you, my lady. May I ask where you are at this moment?"

"South Africa. More specifically, Cape town." The woman on the other line sighed. "Those sh*theads better not hurt my brother."

The man asked, "Is it because you'll have to take care of him?"

"No, idiot!" She shouted back at him. "If he's hurt, my parents will be sympathetic towards him and start saying bullsh*t like 'let's take care of him', and it's annoying. What if he finds out about this? He's sharp for my brother."

"Understood. If master suggest that, I will turn him down."

"Good. I'll see you soon."

"Have a safe trip, my lady." He hung up the call and slipped the device into the blue abyss. He then closed his eyes and listened to the sound of the paddle making contact with water. His role was done.

----

"Ares, calm down."

The heir to the Queens' corporation turned to him like a broken toy with his neck shaking as it shifted direction. It was almost as if one could hear screeching iron from the movement.

"How?" The boy asked back with unfocusing eyes.

Karson raised his hands in defeat. "I don't know but you have to. I know you are worried and we are too but there is nothing we can do for now until the news comes."

Ares pouted with those unlively eyes. "It's been seven hours, Karson. Seven hours."

The poor boy had been like that ever since he heard the news and through the lectures. Thankfully, he wasn't sitting in the front rows and the professor didn't notice him looking like a haunted mannequin.

Karson watched as his friend did not blink for a minute and stood up. "Alright. Let's go."

"Where?" Ares still looked haunting.

"To the sky, bro."