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runway there.”
    The information brought murmurs and some groans from the passengers who had overheard.  Amir went on. “Bayani says the pilot is still alive but bleeding badly.  If we will not attack him he will allow us to pull the man out here for first aid.”
    “Do you believe him?” Gray asked, and glanced about.  Many of the passengers had migrated closer to hear the conversation.
    Amir spread his arms, palms up.  “He sounded… distressed.  But what difference does it make?  What can we do?”
    “The difference,” Gray said as he came to his feet, “is that if it is true, we may be taken hostage and hopefully ransomed.  If it is not true, and he intends to crash the plane into a city or ship or whatever; I strongly suggest we attack him when he opens the door.  We may save hundreds or thousands of lives and some of us may even survive.”
    That brought murmurs and grunts that sounded like concurrence.  “I agree with that bloke!” a voice with an Australian accent hollered over the clamor.
    Gray turned and in the dim light made out Lleyton Parker, one of the Australian tennis players he had recognized when they boarded.  The man had his fist in the air and looked aggressive enough to lead the attack at that moment.  Gray grinned and gave him a thumbs up although Gray was not yet taking a stance on what they should do.
    He turned back to Malik.  “I am not advocating any particular action right now but I think we have to decide soon.  I’m thinking this hijacking was planned and timed so the plane will be flying for a minimum time during daylight before it reaches its destination.  Malik, is it possible the delays for this flight could have been intentional, caused by an accomplice or accomplices at KUA?”
    Malik turned to Sani in the next seat and spoke the guttural language he had used earlier when talking to the other representatives.  When Malik had his answer he said, “The first two delays were suspect but because of a formal write up, we could not countermand them and had to go through the lengthy checks.  The mechanics went through the checks and found nothing wrong.  The last short delay was real but it was soon fixed.”
    “So we may be behind the perpetrators schedule a bit and the co-pilot will have to fly in daylight for a short time.  Hopefully a ship will think a wave hugging airliner odd and report it.”
    That brought a few chuckles. Gray asked, “Malik, is there any way we can disable the plane and force it into the water?”
    The dark eyed man turned again to Sani.  When the discussion was over, Malik said, “There is access t o wiring below the floor but the aircraft’s controls are all electrically actuated.  Without tools, time and a blueprint we might send the aircraft completely out of control.”
    Gray asked Malik, “Can the co-pilot hear us from the cockpit?”
    Sani shook his head in answer.  “There is much insulation between the flight deck and the cabin and much white noise from the slipstream.”
    Gray spoke loudly to everyone.  “I see three options for us.  Speak up if anyone sees more.  One, we simply remove the wounded pilot and wait for whatever is our fate.  Two, we prepare to attack the co-pilot only if we see the plane is approaching a population center.  And three, we attack the co-pilot when he opens the door.”
    “Can’t we negotiate with the co-pilot?” a ruddy faced older woman said with an Australian or perhaps British accent.
    “I tried,” Amir said.  “But I did not offer him a large sum of money.”  He rose and went to the intercom.  A buzz arose as passengers questioned and debated their options.
    Amir’s conversation on the intercom was short.  When he stepped back to Malik and Gray, the buzz fell off and he said, “It is too late.  Bayani said we are less than fifteen minutes from the island and he will not risk opening the door and will not sacrifice his family for all the money on earth.”
    “But we can