The Lion's Game (9 page)

“Roger.”

“Call me after you board.”

“Roger.”

Stavros turned to Hernandez and said, “To make matters worse, this Justice Department guy tells me not to reassign Gate Twenty-three to any other aircraft until he gives me the go-ahead. I don’t assign gates. The Port Authority assigns gates. Roberto, call the Port Authority and tell them not to reassign Gate Twenty-three. Now we’re short a gate.”

Hernandez pointed out, “With Four-Right and -Left closed, we don’t need many gates.”

Stavros uttered an obscenity and stormed off to his office for an aspirin.

Ted Nash slipped his cell phone in his pocket and said to us, “The aircraft came in without radio contact and is sitting at the end of the runway. There was no distress signal sent out, but the Control Tower doesn’t know what the problem is. The Emergency Service people are there. As you heard, I told the Tower to have them enter the aircraft, bring our guys here, and keep the gate free.”

I said to my colleagues, “Let’s get out to the aircraft.”

George Foster, our fearless team leader, replied, “The aircraft is surrounded by Emergency Service. Plus, we have two people on board. They don’t need us there. The less that changes, the better.”

Ted Nash, as usual, stayed aloof, resisting the temptation to disagree with me.

Kate concurred with George, so I was the odd man out, as usual. I mean, if a situation is going down at Point A, why stand around at Point B?

Foster took out his cell phone and dialed one of the FBI guys on the tarmac. He said, “Jim, this is George. Small change in plans. The aircraft has a problem on the runway, so a Port Authority car will bring Phil, Peter, and the subject to this gate. Call me when they get there, and we’ll come down. Okay. Right.”

I said to George, “Call Nancy and see if she’s heard from Phil or Peter.”

“I was just going to do that, John. Thank you.” Foster dialed the Conquistador Club and got Nancy Tate on the phone. “Have you heard from Phil or Peter?” He listened and said, “No, the aircraft is still on the runway. Give me Phil’s and Peter’s phone numbers.” He listened and signed off, then dialed. He held the phone out to us, and we could hear the recorded message telling us our party was unavailable or out of the calling area. George then dialed the other number and again got the same message. He said to us, “They probably have their phones off.”

That didn’t get any salutes, so George added, “You have to shut off the cell phones in flight. Even on the ground. But maybe one of them will break the rules and call the Conquistador Club. Nancy will call us.”

I thought about this. If I got worried every time I couldn’t complete a cell phone call, I’d have ulcers by now. Cell phones and beepers suck anyway.

I considered the situation as an academic problem thrown at me by an instructor. At the Police Academy, they teach you to stick to your post or stick to the plan until ordered to do otherwise by a superior. But they also tell you to use good judgment and personal initiative if the situation changes. The trick is to know when to stick and when to move. By all objective standards, this was a time to stay put. But my instincts said to move. I used to trust my instincts more, but I was out of my element here, new to the job, and I had to assume these people knew what they were doing, which was nothing. Sometimes, nothing is the right thing.

Debra Del Vecchio’s walkie-talkie squawked, and she held it to her ear, then said, “Okay, thanks.” She said to us, “Now they tell me that Air Traffic Control called Trans-Continental operations a while ago and reported that Flight One-Seven-Five was NO-RAD.”

“No rat?”

“NO-
RAD
. No radio.”

“We already know that,” I said. “Does this happen often? NO-RAD?”

“I don’t know ...”

“Why is the plane sitting on the end of the runway?”

She shrugged. “Maybe the pilot needs someone to give him instructions. You know—what taxiways to use.” She added, “I thought you said it was a VIP on board. Not a fugitive.”

“It’s a fugitive VIP.”

So, we stood there, waiting for the Port Authority cops to collect Hundry, Gorman, and Khalil and bring them to the NYPD and Port Authority escort vehicles outside this gate, whereupon Agent Jim Somebody would call us, and we’d go down to the tarmac, get in the vehicles, and drive to the Conquistador Club. I looked at my watch. I was going to give this fifteen minutes. Maybe ten.

Andy McGill heard the blast of his truck’s horn and moved quickly back to his vehicle and jumped on the running board. Sorentino said to him, “Stavros called. He said to enter the aircraft. Some Federal types called him, and there’s a fugitive on board, in the dome. The perp is cuffed and escorted. Take him and his two escorts out and turn him over to one of the patrol cars. They all have to go to Gate Twenty-three where some NYPD and PA vehicles will be waiting.” Sorentino asked, “Are we taking orders from this guy?”

For a brief second, McGill considered a connection between the fugitive and the problem, but there seemed to be no connection, not even a coincidence, really. There were a lot of flights that came in with escorted bad guys, VIPs, witnesses, and whatever—a lot more than people knew. In any case, there was something else in the back of his mind that kept nagging at him and he couldn’t recall what it was, but it had something to do with this situation. He made a mental shrug and said to Sorentino, “No, we’re not taking orders from Stavros or the Feds ... but maybe it’s time to board. Notify the Tour Commander.”

“Will do.” Sorentino got on the radio.

McGill considered calling the mobile staircase vehicle, but it was some distance away, and he really didn’t need it to get into the aircraft. He said to Sorentino, “Okay, right front door. Move it.”

Sorentino maneuvered the big truck toward the right front door of the towering aircraft. The radio crackled and a voice came over the speaker saying, “Hey, Andy. I just remembered the Saudi Scenario. Be careful.”

Sorentino said, “Holy shit ...”

Andy McGill stood frozen on the running board. It all came back to him now. A training film. About twenty years ago, a Saudi Arabian Lockheed L-1011 Tristar had taken off from Riyadh Airport, reported smoke in the cabin and cockpit, then returned to the airport and landed safely. There was apparently a fire in the cabin. The aircraft was surrounded by fire trucks, and the Saudi Emergency Service people just sat around and waited for the doors to pop open and the chutes to deploy. But as luck and stupidity would have it, the pilots had not depressurized the aircraft, and the doors were held closed by the inside air pressure. The flight attendants couldn’t get them open, and no one thought to use a fire ax to smash a window. The end of the story was that all three hundred people on board died on the runway from smoke and fumes.

The infamous Saudi Scenario. They’d been trained to recognize it, this looked like it, and they’d blown it big-time. “Oh, shit ...”

Sorentino steered with one hand and handed McGill his Scott pack, which consisted of a portable compressed air bottle and full face mask, then his crash ax.

As the RIV got under the door of the aircraft, McGill scrambled up the hand and foot rungs of his fire truck to the flat roof where the foaming cannon was mounted.

Rescue Four had joined his truck and one of the men stood on the second truck’s roof behind that truck’s foaming cannon. McGill also noticed that one of the men from a patrol car had suited up and was deploying a charged high-pressure water hose. The other four fire trucks and the ambulances had moved farther away in case of an explosion. McGill noted with some satisfaction that as soon as someone said Saudi Scenario, everyone knew what to do. Unfortunately, they’d all sat around too long, like the Saudi firefighters they had laughed at in the training film.

Mounted on the roof was a small collapsible ladder, and McGill extended it out to its six-foot length and swiveled it toward the door. It was just long enough to reach the door handle of the 747. McGill put on his mask, took a deep breath, and climbed the ladder.

Ed Stavros watched through his binoculars. He wondered why the Emergency Service team had gone into a fire-fighting mode. He had never heard of the Saudi Scenario, but he knew a fire-fighting scenario when he saw one. He picked up his radiophone and called McGill’s vehicle. “This is Stavros. What’s going on?”

Sorentino didn’t respond.

Stavros called again.

Sorentino had no intention of broadcasting the fact that they’d belatedly figured out what the problem might be. There was still a 50-50 chance that it wasn’t the Saudi Scenario, and they’d know in a few seconds.

Stavros called again, more insistent this time.

Sorentino knew he had to reply. He transmitted, “We’re just taking necessary precautions.”

Stavros considered this reply, then said, “No indication of a fire on board?”

“No ... no smoke.”

Stavros took a deep breath and said, “Okay ... keep me posted. Answer my calls.”

Sorentino snapped back, “We’re in a possible rescue situation. Stay off the frequency. Out!”

Stavros looked at Hernandez to see if his subordinate had heard the Guns and Hoses idiot get nasty with him. Hernandez pretended he did not, and Stavros made a mental note to give Roberto a high efficiency report.

Stavros next considered if he should call anyone concerning this fire-fighting deployment. He said to Hernandez, “Tell Air Traffic Control that Runways Four-Left and -Right will be down for at least fifteen more minutes.”

Stavros focused his binoculars and stared at the scene at the end of the runway. He couldn’t actually see the right front door, which was facing away from him, but he could see the deployment of the vehicles. If the aircraft blew and there was still a lot of fuel on board, the vehicles that had moved off a hundred yards would need new paint jobs. The two fire trucks near the aircraft would be scrap metal.

He had to admit that there were times when the Emergency Service people earned their pay. But still, his job was stressful every minute of his seven-hour shift. Those guys got stressed maybe once a month.

Stavros remembered what the nasty Emergency Service guy had said—
We’re in a possible rescue situation
. This in turn reminded him that his part in this drama had officially ended as soon as the 747 had come to a halt. All he had to do was keep advising Air Traffic Control of the status of the runways. Later, he’d have to write a report consistent with his taped radio transmissions, and consistent with the fate of the aircraft. He knew that his telephone conversation with the Justice Department guy was also taped, and this, too, made him feel a little better.

Stavros turned away from the big window and went to the coffee bar. If the aircraft blew, he knew he’d hear it and feel it, even up here in his tower. But he didn’t want to see it.

Andy McGill shouldered his fire ax in his left hand and put the back of his gloved right hand against the aircraft’s door. The back of the fire glove was thin and theoretically you could feel heat through it. He waited a few seconds, but felt nothing.

He moved his hand to the emergency external door handle and yanked on it. The handle moved out away from its recess, and McGill pushed up on the handle to disarm the automatic escape chute.

He glanced behind and below and saw the fire-suited guy from the patrol car on the ground to his right. He had the charged hand-line aimed directly at the airliner’s closed door. The other fire truck, Rescue Four, was fifty feet behind his own, and the guy on the roof was aiming the foaming cannon at him. Everyone had full bunker gear and Scott packs on and he couldn’t tell who was who, but he trusted all of them, so it didn’t matter. The guy at the foaming cannon gave him a thumbs-up. McGill acknowledged the gesture.

Andy McGill held the handle tight and pushed. If the aircraft was still pressurized, the door wouldn’t budge, and he’d have to smash through the small door window with his crash ax to depressurize the aircraft and vent any fumes that might be inside.

He kept pushing and all of a sudden the door began to open inward. He let go of the handle and the door automatically continued to pull itself in, then retracted up into the ceiling.

McGill ducked below the threshold of the door to escape any outpouring of smoke, heat, or fumes. But there was nothing.

Without losing another second, McGill pulled himself up into the airliner. He looked around quickly and saw he was in the forward galley area, which was where he belonged according to the floor plans on file. He checked his face mask and air flow, checked his gauge to make sure his tank was full, then propped his fire ax against the bulkhead.

He stood there in the galley and peered across the wide-bodied fuselage to the other exit door. There was definitely no smoke, but he couldn’t be sure about fumes. He turned back to the open door and signaled to the men with the fire hose and cannon that he was okay.

McGill turned back into the aircraft and proceeded out of the galley into an open area. To his right was the First Class cabin in the nose, to his left was the huge Coach section. In front of him was the spiral staircase that led into the dome where the cockpit and Business Class section were.

He stood there a moment and felt the vibrations of the engines through the airframe. Everything seemed normal except for two things: it was too quiet, and the curtains across the Coach and First Class areas were drawn closed. FAA regulations called for them to be open during takeoff and landing. And if he thought further about this situation, he would have wondered why none of the flight attendants had appeared. But that was the least of his problems, and he put it out of his mind.

His instinct was to check out one or both of the curtained compartments, but his training said to proceed to the cockpit. He retrieved his crash ax and moved toward the spiral stairs. He could hear his breathing through the oxygen mask.