Flight Attendant Struck Black Woman on Plane — Turned Pale When the Pilot Said “That’s Our Boss” / Chapter 34 / 42

Chapter 34 - Hijack from the Ether

The G-forces pinned Elena against the bulkhead as Flight 001 plummeted through forty thousand feet, its twin engines whining at near-maximum thrust under foreign remote control. Oxygen masks dropped from the overhead compartments with a sharp, collective snap, dangling like yellow specters in the crimson light.

"Autopilot disconnect isn't responding!" First Officer Davies screamed from inside the cockpit, his hands hauling back on the control yoke with all his strength. The digital flight displays were flashing amber warning text: *PRIMARY FLIGHT CONTROL SYSTEM OVERRIDE — EXTERNAL MASTER LINK ACTIVE.*

Elena dragged herself into the cockpit, bracing her boots against the cockpit frame. "Vance, kill the secondary satellite bus! Cut the SATCOM breaker behind your head!"

"If I pull that breaker, we lose all transponder contact with Shannon Air Traffic Control!" Vance yelled back over the deafening roar of rushing air outside the windshield. "We become a ghost ship!"

"We're already a ghost ship!" Elena countered fiercely, her voice cutting through the cockpit's screaming alarms. "She's using an encrypted datalink routed through the Swiss syndicate’s private low-orbit satellites. As long as that bus is live, Evelyn owns this aircraft!"

Vance didn't hesitate. He reached up, tore off the safety wire, and slammed down the heavy toggle for the SATCOM primary circuit breaker.

A loud spark snapped behind the avionics panel. For half a second, the cockpit screens went dead. Then, with a shudder that vibrated through the airframe, the Dreamliner leveled off at twenty-two thousand feet. The screaming dive ceased, but the aircraft remained trapped in a wide, sweeping bank toward the desolate waters of the Arctic Circle.

"The dive stopped, but the flight management system is still locked to their coordinates," Vance gasped, wrestling the yoke, which remained rock-hard and unresponsive. "She set a dead-man's waypoint. We're headed toward an uncharted sector north of Iceland."

"Not yet," Elena said, her eyes narrowing as she looked back into the cabin.

Through the narrow cockpit door, she saw someone standing in the forward galley. While every other passenger was strapped into their seat clutching their oxygen masks, one man was calmly reaching into his tailored jacket, his hand emerging with a suppressed semi-automatic pistol.