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might be able to bluff it.' He took a deep breath. 'We have to do something before this guy changes direction.'
     
As Ben spoke, the bodyguard approached. His face was grim as he knelt down in the aisle. 'I'm going to try something,' he said. 'Now listen to me, you two. No heroics, OK?'
     
'What are you going to do?' Angelo asked.
     
The bodyguard's eyes flickered towards the cockpit, then back to the two of them. 'I'm wearing a bulletproof vest,' he said. 'It'll absorb most rounds at close range. I'm going to call his bluff, try and knock the door in. Maybe he really does have a gun, maybe not. But if he opens it, I reckon I should be good to overpower him. If not' – he tapped on his chest – 'I came well dressed for the job of taking a bullet.'
     
'But what if he—' Ben started to say, but the bodyguard interrupted him.
     
'Trust me,' he said. 'I'm trained for this.' He smiled at both of them. 'You OK?'
     
Ben and Angelo nodded. 'Aren't you going to let everyone else know?' Ben asked.
     
The bodyguard shook his head. 'Too risky,' he said.
     
'What do you mean? Why?'
     
The man glanced down the aisle. 'We don't know for sure that the guy in the cockpit's the only one. It would be unusual for a hijacker to act alone.'
     
'You mean—' Ben and Angelo looked at each other.
     
'You mean, someone in the cabin could be working with them?'
     
The bodyguard shrugged. 'It's possible. There's even a chance one of the cabin crew is involved. We need to be careful, guys. Very careful. Don't trust anyone, not unless they prove themselves to be trustworthy. OK?'
     
'OK,' Ben and Angelo said in unison.
     
The bodyguard nodded, then stood up and walked the few rows up towards the front.
     
'You think he's up to it?' Ben asked Angelo in a low whisper, keeping his voice quiet so that nobody else would hear them talking.
     
Angelo nodded seriously. 'Brad used to be in Delta Force. He doesn't talk about it much, but from what I can tell he's been all over the world with them. Antiterrorism mostly.' He looked a bit rueful. 'I always thought that looking after spoiled rich kids like me was a bit of a come-down for him. Guess I was wrong. Still, if anyone can sort this situation out, I think it is him.' He smiled nervously. 'I asked him once how many men he had killed.'
     
'What did he say?'
     
'He said, "How do you know they were all men?" I think he was joking, though.'
     
Ben found it hard to laugh. His mouth had gone dry, he realized, and his body felt weak. He was cold, but he was still sweating. Ben Tracey knew what fear felt like, and he was feeling it now. Brad might be highly trained, but his plan didn't sound that great to him. Not that Ben could think of anything better. They just had to hope that the bodyguard's special forces training hadn't deserted him.
     
Ben craned his neck to look over the seat in front. At the front of the aisle he could see Brad preparing himself. All around the plane the buzz of panicked voices was rising again. He could hear people trying to make calls on their mobile phones, but there was no signal this high up and they were left shouting pointlessly into their handsets. Ben didn't get the sense that any of them were paying much attention to Brad.
     
All that was about to change though.
     
When the bodyguard hurled his heavy shoulder against the door, it made a dull thud but didn't seem to make much difference to the entrance. A few people around him fell quiet. Brad stepped back and then made another run. By the time he hit the door for a second time, everyone in the plane seemed to know what he was doing.
     
'What's going on?' one man at the back shouted. 'Don't be an idiot!'
     
But Brad ignored him. He stepped back again, set his shoulders and then started running towards the door for a third time.
     
And it was only then that the plane nosedived yet again . . .
     
 
     
In the cockpit, the first bump on the door had made the hijacker jump.
     
The man spun round. His eyes