The Collected Short Stories - Jeffrey Archer [126]
“You’d better join us on the flight decks,” the captain said in a whisper. Hamid undid his seatbelt and somehow managed to stand. He unsteadily followed the captain into the cockpit, his legs feeling like jelly. The door was closed behind them.
The captain didn’t waste any words. “The engineers can’t locate the problem. The chief engineer won’t be free for another hour, so we’ve been ordered to disembark and wait in the transit area until he’s completed the job.”
“I’d rather die in a plane crash,” Hamid blurted out.
“Don’t worry, Mr. Zebari, we’ve thought of a way around your problem. We’re going to put you in a spare uniform. That will make it possible for you to stay with us the whole time, and use the crew’s facilities. No one will ask to see your passport.”
“But if someone recognizes me—” began Hamid.
“Once you’ve got rid of that mustache, and you’re wearing a flight officer’s uniform, dark glasses, and a peaked hat, your own mother wouldn’t know you.”
With the help of scissors, followed by shaving foam, followed by a razor, Hamid removed the bushy mustache that he had been so proud of, leaving an upper lip that looked as pale as a blob of vanilla ice cream. The senior flight attendant applied some of her makeup to his skin, until the white patch blended in with the rest of his face. Hamid still wasn’t convinced, but after he had changed into the copilot’s spare uniform and studied himself in the toilet mirror, he had to admit that it would indeed be remarkable if anyone recognized him.
The passengers were the first to leave the plane, and were ferried by an airport bus to the main terminal. A smart transit van then came out to collect the crew, who left as a group and sheltered Hamid by making sure that he was surrounded at all times. Hamid became more and more nervous with each yard the van travelled toward the terminal.
The security guard showed no particular interest in the air crew as they entered the building, and they were left to find themselves seats on wooden benches in the white-walled hall. The only decoration was a massive portrait of Saddam Hussein in full uniform carrying a Kalashnikov rifle. Hamid couldn’t bring himself to look at the picture of his “good and close friend.”
Another crew was also sitting around waiting to board their aircraft, but Hamid was too frightened to start up a conversation with any of them.
“They’re French,” he was informed by the senior flight attendant. “I’m about to find out if my night classes were worth all the expense.” She took the spare place next to the captain of the French aircraft, and tried a simple opening question.
The French captain was telling her that they were bound for Singapore via New Delhi, when Hamid saw him: Saad al-Takriti, once a member of Saddam’s personal guard, marched into the hall. From the insignia on his shoulder, he now appeared to be in charge of airport security.
Hamid prayed that Al-Takriti wouldn’t look in his direction. Al-Takriti sauntered through the room, glancing at the French and American crews, his eyes lingering on the stewardesses’ black-stockinged legs.
The captain touched Hamid on the shoulder, and he nearly leaped out of his skin.
“It’s okay, it’s okay. I just thought you’d like to know that the chief engineer is on his way out to the aircraft, so it shouldn’t be too long now.”
Hamid looked beyond the Air France plane, and watched a van come to a halt under the starboard wing of the Pan Am aircraft. A man in blue overalls stepped out of the vehicle and onto the little crane.
Hamid stood up to take a closer look, and as he did so Saad al-Takriti walked back into the hall. He came to a sudden halt, and the two men stared briefly at each other, before Hamid quickly resumed his place next to the captain. Al-Takriti disappeared into a side room marked Do Not Enter.
“I think he’s spotted me,” said Hamid. The makeup started to run down onto his lips.
The captain leaned across to his chief flight attendant and interrupted her parley with the French captain. She listened to her boss’s instructions