Interrupted Romance (12 page)

For long moments, Dafna was unable to speak.
 
Her mind was racing with a thousand thoughts, but none of them would stop still long enough to be put together coherently to ask any questions.

Why, of why, did she let Adam go alone?
 
How could he look after himself in a situation like that?
 
Did the plane make a crash landing?
 
Were any of the passengers hurt?
 
Was Adam still alive?
 
When would the hijackers release the passengers?
 
Would the hijackers release the passengers at all?

"Stay here, dear.
 
I'll get you a drink," her mother said.
 
She stood up and went into the kitchen, where she kept a bottle of brandy - for medicinal purposes - and decided both of them needed a slug after this news.
 
She poured two hefty doses of the 'medicine' and carried the glasses back into Dafna's room.
 
Dafna hadn't moved.

Mrs Zoreff held out a glass to her daughter, saying, "Drink this slowly, dear, it will help a little."

While Dafna sipped on her brandy, her mother sat beside her again, swallowing her own drink.
 
The news had really floored Dafna, she knew.
 
Her daughter's movements were almost zombie-like.
 
But at least there was a flush of pink coming back into her cheeks, she noticed.

The brandy finally hit the spot and Dafna's expression changed as she started thinking more clearly.

"Mum, what are we able to do?
 
Poor Adam, how will he cope?
 
What about his parents?" she cried.
 
"They must be nearly out of their minds, what with Susan and now, Adam."

"I don't think there is anything that we can do.
 
Except pray that it will end peacefully and everyone is allowed to continue on home," her mother said.
 
Secretly, she was more worried than she showed.
 
How much water was on board the plane?
 
Would the passengers be allowed to drink it, or would the hijackers claim it all?
 
Was the crew of the plane still alive?
 
Would there be a doctor on board?

Dafna recovered her senses enough to go to the loungeroom and turn on the television set, noting that it was almost time for the news hour.
 
The hijacking was already known about, the channel reporting…
 

Another hijacking has occurred south of Cairo, involving an, as yet, unknown number of terrorists.
 
A South African Airlines 747 was taken over by extremists demanding the release of ten of their men from a Cairo prison.

At the time of going to air, there have been no reports of casualties.
 
It is not known what types of weapons are being used in the hijacking.

The pilot has advised he was forced to land the aircraft on a desert strip but no location has been divulged.

Mediators are trying to keep in touch with the leader of the armed band, trying to keep communication lines open with them, in a bid to solve the crisis peacefully.

The next news bulletin will be broadcast in one hour from now.

It was with a feeling of total helplessness that Dafna sat in the comfortable lounge chair opposite the television set, staring at the screen, willing the voice to say it was all over and everyone was safe.

A later announcement gave the news that seventy-five of the passengers on that hijacked aircraft were citizens of Israel - mostly Jewish, some Christian.
 
The reporter went on to detail past hijackings where Jewish people were involved as hostages, and the results of the efforts to free them.
 
It wasn't all good news.
 
The morning newspaper showed the news on the third page.

FLIGHT HIJACKED OVER DESERT

Reports are flooding in from Cairo, following the hijacking of a South African Airlines flight en route from Johannesburg to Cairo.

Unknown terrorists have taken over the flight and demanded the release of certain prisoners from the gaol in Cairo, or the passengers will be killed, one by one, from midnight tonight.

An airline spokesman has confirmed that of the two hundred and thirty people on board the flight, seventy-five of them are Israeli citizens.

The Israeli government has reacted swiftly, demanding the release of all passengers…

Dafna read no further.
 
The newspaper slid to the floor.

CHAPTER 15

On board the flight, Adam was asleep when the hijackers made their move.
 
As one man went quickly to the flight deck, others positioned themselves along the aisles of the plane.

The captain was swiftly told what the new situation was all about, by the wild-eyed man, wearing a turban, who stood behind him with a hand grenade in one hand and a knife in the other.
 
He was forced to make an announcement over the loudspeaker.

"Ladies and gentlemen, could I have your attention please.
 
This flight has been taken over by the Brothers of Muslim Leadership.
 
Please remain in your seats.
 
Please remain calm.
 
We are landing at a landing strip, which is only half an hour away.
 
They will tell us what they want us to do.
 
Stay calm.
 
Stay in your seats."

Out in the centre of the aircraft, near the kitchen area, one of the female flight attendants was dragged into view of the passengers, some of whom screamed in panic.
 
The poor woman was clearly terrified, but didn’t struggle with her captor.

He held a large knife across her throat and slowly drew it sideways.
 
Blood seeped, then suddenly spurted, from the cut, as passengers again screamed and moaned in fright.

The man shouted "You see what will happen if you disobey our commands!"
 
He let the attendant drop to the floor.

Adam, by this time, was wide awake but unable to see what was going on.
 
He was stunned by the uproar of screams and shouts around him.
 
Through all the noise, he asked the man next to him to tell him what had happened.
 
All he heard over the shouts and screams was 'hijackers' and 'cut the stewardess's throat'.

He was horrified, but quick-thinking.
 
The necklace he wore around his neck, with the Star of David hanging from it, was swiftly pulled off and dropped into his pocket.
 
He didn't know if anyone had seen him do it, but he guessed they were all too busy with their own horrors to be watching him.
 
There wasn't anything he could do but sit and wait to see what eventuated.
 
Thank God, Dafna hadn't come with him!
 
As an extra precaution he pulled his Israeli passport from his pocket and shoved it down the back of his seat.

Dafna sat glued to the TV, watching every news item, hoping for some quick resolution of the hostage crisis.

She called Adam's father in the evening in the hope that there was good news that she hadn't yet seen.
 
But it didn't work out that way.

The authorities had maintained communications with the aircraft and were stalling for time, not wanting to release any prisoners in return for hostages, hoping for a different ending.

Then, on the second day, from a camera installed in a circling helicopter, came the view of a woman's body being dropped from the aircraft to the sandy strip beneath the plane.
 
Dafna froze.
 
They were killing passengers.
 
The body looked pathetic and tragic - so small under the vehicle which held so many more to ransom.
 
The commentator's voice rose almost an octave in shock.
 
The whole world would be holding it's breath, waiting for something to change the course of, what could be, a case of mass murder.

Dafna was living from hour to hour, barely eating, goggle-eyed from watching the screen for so long.
 
Her mother put pieces of fruit in her hand from time to time, hoping she would at least eat that.
 
Some of it she ate, others she dropped.

The latest communiqué from the aircraft advised that another passenger would be killed in six hours' time if the authorities didn't release the men in the Cairo gaol.

Dafna was beside herself with worry.
 
God, don't let it be Adam.
 
He's suffered enough already.

She was only human.
 
Sooner or later she would have to fall asleep.
 
It finally happened on the third day.
 
Her mother covered her with a blanket and left her to sleep on the lounge chair, which had almost become her home since the hijacking.

It was during this time, that she missed the news she had been dreading.
 
Seeing Adam on the television, on his own.

Back on board the ill-fated flight, the captors were becoming increasingly violent in their frustration.
 
Adam could hear the thuds as passengers were beaten and kicked.

Conditions on board were unbelievably bad.
 
The water was rationed and had almost run out.
 
The engines had stopped long ago and the air inside the aircraft was fetid and thick.
 
Most people were sitting with handkerchiefs over their faces.
 
The toilets had given up working.
 
Food had just about run out.
 
Several people needed medical attention.
 
There was, by chance, a doctor on board, but he could do little without medication for some of his patients.
 
There was a limited amount on board and not necessarily the type that was required.

During the late afternoon, Adam was dragged from his seat and propelled, with kicks and punches, down the aisle towards the exit door.
 
Someone called out "Leave him alone, he's blind."
 
He heard the sound of flesh hitting hard against flesh, followed by a cry of pain.
 
No one else made a sound.

The hijacker was almost hysterical in his outrage that his demands hadn't been met.
 
He was going to make an example of Adam.
 
He poked Adam in the back with the muzzle of a gun, pushing him forward.

Adam heard the door being opened.
 
He knew his time had come.
 
The air coming through the doorway was a relief, albeit still pretty warm, but fresher than what they'd all been breathing for a few days.

Being blind, he was easy prey.
 
The man behind him was too complacent.
 
Adam rounded on him, knowing approximately where he was standing.
 
He surprised the criminal, grabbing him by the throat and whipping him out through the doorway.
 
The man's scream stopped suddenly with a thud as he hit the ground.
 
Adam was attacked by a second man, who smashed the butt of a gun against his head.
 
He, too, fell through the doorway, landing metres below.
 
He landed, unconscious, on the man he had thrown out of the plane.

The two bodies, which fell from the plane, were shown clearly on television from the camera in the helicopter.
 
Obviously, the captors were using the appearance of the helicopter to televise their violence in an attempt to get what they wanted.
 
They orchestrated their terror to coincide with world viewing.

Using a telephoto lens, the cameraman was able to project a clear picture of an unknown man flung from the aircraft, followed shortly after by another.
 
The second man landed on his back, on top of the first man, so his face could be seen.
 
It was Adam.

In Israel, Adam was identified.
 
There had been no movement from either of the men on the ground and it was presumed that they were dead.

Adam's father, although grieving, made the call to Sydney, to Dafna.

CHAPTER 16

Dafna had been sedated by the doctor, whom her mother had called.

After hearing the news of Adam, Dafna had quietly fainted.
 
Her mother revived her with a damp cloth, then called for the doctor to come to tend to her.
 
Explaining what had happened, Mrs Zoreff also felt weak at the knees.
 
Her doctor thought he would have two patients on his hands, but the older woman took control of herself.
 
They helped Dafna to her bed where she slept in drugged unconsciousness for twelve hours.

It was because of this that Dafna missed the second piece of news from Israel.
 
During the night, after seeing Adam's body hit the ground, the authorities planned a rescue mission by Israeli commandos.

In their usual immaculate style, the mission was carried out at night, swiftly and successfully.
 
They had travelled to within three kilometres of the grounded aircraft by vehicle, then on foot to within fifty metres.
 
As there were no lights about, the hijackers had no idea that anyone hostile was anywhere near them.
 
Some of them had left the plane to walk about outside in the cool of the night.
 
They were taking turns to get away from the smell on board.
 
The three guards on the ground were easily sighted in the night scopes of the Israeli snipers who held them.
 
Quietly, without arousing any suspicions from the remaining guards on the plane, the commandos wriggled up close enough to shoot the guards with silenced rifles.
 
The makeshift ladder, which leaned up against the plane, was all that was needed to allow the soldiers access to the plane's interior.