Lone Star Renegades (4 page)

Both Collin and DiMaggio nodded.

“
Stay back.
”
He swung again, and then again a dozen or two more times. Slowly, but measurably, progress was made and the aluminum skin of the jetliner opened into a two-foot by three-foot-wide opening. When Bubba finally stopped, he was sopping with sweat. His dark, nearly black skin glistened in the dim light.
“
That should do it. Even I can squeeze through that.
”

“
Yeah, that
’
s pretty good,
”
Collin answered.

Bubba glanced behind him and saw a crowd watching. He tossed the pipe out of the way and stood back.

Darren moved up and stood over the ragged, gaping hole.
“
Can
’
t see a thing down there. Smells just as bad, though.
”

Collin suddenly remembered the cell phone. He dug through his rucksack and came out with the new iPhone 6 he
’
d found. The previous user had evidently disabled the auto-lock feature that would require a pass code, and the cell phone came alive in his hand. He thumbed through several screens of apps.
“
Here we go.
”
He tapped the screen and the flashlight feature came alive with a beam of bright white light.

“
That
’
ll work; here, hand it over,
”
Darren said, holding out his hand expectantly.

Collin ignored him and positioned himself over the opening. He reached his arm and the iPhone down into the blackness. Darren, Bubba, and DiMaggio brought their faces down close to Collin
’
s as they peered together into the jetliner.

“
I think that
’
s the kitchen area,
”
DiMaggio said.

“
What was your first clue
…
the banks of coffee pots or the food cart?
”
Bubba asked.

Collin pulled his arm back and handed the phone to DiMaggio.
“
Hold this for a sec.
”

Before anyone could say anything, Collin was already lowering himself, legs first, into the hole.

Chapter 5

What Collin noticed first was the airliner was lying upright. The second thing he noticed was that it was empty
—
at least empty of passengers. He
’
d assumed the spaceship had plucked the jet right out of the air, but it was just as conceivable it had been parked on a Dallas/Fort Worth Airport runway.

The ceiling, the outer hull of the plane, was crushed inward several feet from the weight of the passenger railcar that lay perpendicular across this section of the jet. Leaving the kitchen zone, which was in the rear of the plane, he moved into the main cabin
—
coach. He discovered the plane was a wide-body Boeing 777-328 from a laminated information card protruding up from a seat pocket. The light from his iPhone app cast long shadows across the expansive compartment.

Others were now dropping into the plane
’
s kitchen compartment. Tina McBride and Humphrey entered the main cabin behind Collin, but entered it down a different aisle.

“
Tight!
”
Tina said.
“
Like this is the biggest jet in the world
…
right?
”
She stopped and counted the seats with a bobbing index finger.
“
Three seats on each side and four in the middle. And look at the little built-in TVs.
”
The waif-sized cheerleader had the high-pitched voice of a cartoon character, which had garnered her the nickname Tink, for Tinkerbell, by all her friends. Collin appraised the chipper teen with amazement
…
was she totally oblivious to the fact they were all perilously close to living the last few hours, maybe only minutes, of their young lives?

As more and more students filed in, more cellphone flashlights illuminated the cabin. Apparently, a number of them had been found back in the railcars. Kids started to plop down onto the plush leather seats.

Darren appeared from the kitchen, with Lydia trailing behind holding on to his hand.
“
Okay, Frost
…”
he said,
“
I have to give it to you
…
this
’
ll be a much better crib than the bus.
”

Collin didn
’
t say anything as he continued up the aisle. He passed by a center grouping of lavatories and then into a similar-sized seating compartment he guessed was business class. He held out his hands and let them bounce off opposite headrests as he moved down the aisle. Up ahead was a bulkhead, with a closed curtain. He passed through it and whistled. Nice! He
’
d entered first class. Here, the thirty or forty seats were significantly larger and were capable of extending into bed-like configurations. He continued on, passing another bulkhead.
What
’
s this?
Apparently he
’
d been wrong; here was another, smaller, more intimate compartment, with eight extra-large, even plushier seats. Upper first class?

He was finally getting to the front of the plane. The forward section was a double-decker affair: The first class compartment and the cockpit were located on the upper level. Collin found the stairway and made his way to the upper section. Up here, the twenty or thirty first class seats were more luxurious than those on the rest of the plane. The second galley, at the farthest back section of the compartment, was big and well appointed.

He continued forward. Seeing that the cockpit door was closed was initially discouraging. Collin surmised breaking it down wouldn
’
t be a small feat
—
not since 9/11 and the FAA
’
s requirement for installing more strictly reinforced security measures.

Trying the latch anyway, he was surprised when the door opened right up. Standing inside the doorway into the ultra-advanced-looking cockpit, he moved his cellphone light and saw four cockpit crew seats, two up front, two behind, and the myriad of dials and controls. So the 777 was significantly different from the 747! It had been a while since he
’
d played
Flight Academy
on his Xbox. He
’
d gotten fairly proficient at takeoffs and landings on the Boeing 747. He knew well, at least on the 747-jetliner, the instrumentation
—
where everything was located. He wasn
’
t so sure he
’
d be able to make heads or tails, though, out of what he was seeing here.

One thing he was sure of
—
there had to be a manual
—
a binder with locations of things and basic instructions. It was a requirement on all passenger and probably other commercial jets as well.
There you are
. He found the two-inch-thick binder in a shelf next to the rear seat to his right.

Binder in hand, he took a seat in the left-hand pilot
’
s chair and moved the light over the dashboard controls. There were so many more switches and dials here that he had no idea what some of them were used for. Collin opened the binder and started reading.

“
What are you doing?
”

Startled, Collin spun to see Lydia standing at the doorway.

“
Um
…
trying to find auxiliary power unit switches. Maybe we can get some lights on. We
’
ll also need power for the oxygen
…
at least, I think we will.
”

Lydia took a seat to his right, in the co-pilot
’
s seat, and leaned forward. She had her own cellphone flashlight on and was moving it across her side of the control panel.

Collin realized he
’
d let his eyes linger on her face a bit too long and resumed his own search.

“
Wait
…
is this it? It says battery right here.
”

Collin leaned to his right, bringing his face within several inches of hers. Sure enough, there was a small panel
—
about eight inches wide by eleven inches long. There was a small button labeled Battery, and next to that a three-position APU dial with the words: OFF / ON / START. Beneath that were a half-dozen other switches: SECONDARY EXT POWER
…
PRIMARY EXT POWER
…
L MAIN
…
L XFER
…
R XFER
…
R MAIN.

Collin inspected the panel. When he looked back at Lydia he saw she was staring at him. This was the closest he
’
d ever been to her. He noticed she had a dusting of faint freckles across the bridge of her small, upturned nose
…
and she had the most perfect lips
—
lips that continually expressed her thoughts and emotions. He saw the corners of them turn slightly upward.

“
Hello? Collin
…
is that what you
’
re looking for?
”

“
Oh, yeah
…
I think so.
”
He brought his attention back to the panel. He turned the spring-loaded switch from OFF all the way over to START. It was faint, but there was a slight vibration
—
one he knew was caused by a small turbine engine firing up in the tail section.
“
With this up you can provide all electrical power to the plane and pneumatic air for pressurization and air-conditioning. As long as there
’
s enough fuel, the batteries will charge and we
’
ll have power
…
probably for a few days.
”
He ensured the BATTERY switch was flipped up.

“
You really are smart. I mean
…
we
’
re the same age and I don
’
t know anything about stuff like this.
”

Collin felt his face flush.
“
Okay, now we need to find the switch where the cabin lights are controlled.
”

They both pointed to the panel at the same time.
“
Here it is,
”
they said in unison.

Under the panel heading PASS SIGNS, a grouping of switches and dials, including those marked NO SMOKING
…
SEAT BELTS, Collin found the dial for OVHD/CB. He turned the dial and the cockpit lights came on.

“
You did it!
”
Lydia said excitedly.

Collin found another tiny switch labeled OXYGEN and ensured that was flipped on as well.
“
I think that will do it
…
for now, anyway,
”
Collin said self-consciously.
“
The rear cabin lights are controlled from the various flight attendant stations.
”

“
I can do that,
”
Lydia said. She got up from her seat and patted Collin on the shoulder.
“
You rock, Collin.
”
With that, she left the cockpit. Collin took one more look at the controls and stood to leave. He left the cockpit and entered the now-illuminated upstairs first class section. The group had all moved forward; some kids were stretched out on the lounge-like seats. Collin arrived in time to see Darren pull Lydia down onto his lap and envelop her in his arms. Collin averted his eyes.

“
And the Frost man comes through again,
”
Darren said with a broad smile.
“
Hey, any way to get the heat cookin
’
in here?
”
he added.
“
Is it only me or has the temperature dropped like twenty degrees since we arrived?
”

First class was feeling claustrophobic with the twenty-four of them all huddled into the smallest one of the four passenger cabins. Collin chewed the inside of his lip.
“
I think the plane will start warming up now that the auxiliary power unit is going.
”

“
Dude, I have no idea what you just said. But if it means we
’
ll be toasty soon
…
I
’
m down with that,
”
Darren said optimistically.

DiMaggio entered the cabin with his arms piled high with folded blankets. He dropped them onto an open seat.
“
Help yourselves.
”

“
Hop off, sweet cheeks,
”
Darren said, pushing Lydia off his lap.
“
I need to drop a major deuce. Hey Frost, what
’
s the story with the bathrooms? You got all the shitters operational in here? Or maybe you gotta go flip some more switches for that?
”
Darren sat forward on his seat with his eyebrows raised.

All eyes turned to Collin.
“
I don
’
t know. I
’
m no expert on how the toilets work. They
’
ll probably work, though.
”

The girls looked first at Darren and then at each other, disgust registering on each face.

All of a sudden the jetliner abruptly and violently shook. Anyone standing was thrown to the floor. Like being immersed suddenly into ice-cold water, the temperature plummeted to well below freezing in a matter of seconds.

Collin tried to stand only to find himself suddenly struggling for breath. Shit. The very thing he
’
d been worried about was happening. The spaceship
’
s vast aperture must have opened
—
perhaps their oxygenated air was now venting out to open space. Collin saw everyone
’
s eyes go wide as hands grabbed for throats
—
mouths opened and closed, like fish out of water
—
all gasping, struggling to inhale.

Bubba, who
’
d made it briefly to his knees, toppled over sideways, unconscious.