Today had been brilliant fun, and tomorrow they were going on a surprise holiday, missing school for another day.
The family spent a frustrating evening in two bright, clean but small hotel rooms. The rooms were joined, which did little to ease the sense of confinement. Kate felt as if they had been sent to prison; a feeling heightened by the presence of two armed police officers in the corridor. For Hector, this just added to the excitement.
Hector’s next day was even better, because the plane did have a rear gun, as well as guns at the side. Kate looked sour; annoyed that her brother had been correct. Mum and Dad looked flabbergasted. Mum kept asking the pilot how old the plane was, while Dad just looked dumbfounded at the propellers attached to the giant engines. Hector suspected that he had not yet noticed the guns.
The pilot explained that the plane was usually just flown in air shows, except for a recent trip to Africa for something more exciting. The charter company was really sorry, but the normal plane had been grounded and this was all they had.
‘We cannot fly in that,’ said Dad, after a very long look at the aircraft.
‘I am very sorry,’ said the pilot waving some paperwork, ‘but it is airworthy. It’s legal.’
‘Is it safe?’ Mum asked.
‘I think so,’ the pilot declared confidently, ‘although if you want to wait until the weekend I’m sure we can sort out something else.’
Dad turned to the two police officers, both of whom looked as bewildered as he felt.
‘We were told to get you here safely,’ said the smaller of the two officers, ‘I can’t say I expected to have to make decisions about aircraft. It does look old.’
‘True,’ said the other officer, ‘but certificates of airworthiness are not easy to get for old planes. It will have been very well maintained. Plus, these planes safely transported lots of bomber crews. Personally, I’d give it a go. It’ll be a flight to remember.’
‘There has got to be a risk to waiting for another plane,’ the smaller officer added.
Once the luggage was aboard, the engines spluttered and then roared. The plane did not really take off. It rattled along at increasing speed until it ran out of runway and a slight dip in the land left the aircraft without any other options.
Kate and Hector were used to the boredom of long flights, but this one was different. It was cold, very noisy, and in places rather grubby. However, it was anything but dull. They were sat amongst their luggage, and so both got out warmer clothing. Mum reluctantly let them explore, and it did not take them long to discover that there was no kitchen, drinks or food. There was no toilet either. There were parachutes, however, together with extra ammunition for the guns. Hector and Kate took one of the parachutes back to show Mum and Dad.
Kate discovered there was a hatch at the back of the aircraft you could open. She could have jumped straight out. She was sure she and Hector would never have been allowed to explore if Mum or Dad had known about the hatch.
Hector spent considerable time aiming the rear gun at imaginary aircraft. He reluctantly allowed Kate smaller turns, and they both had fun yelling ‘bandits at two o’clock’, aiming just in front of the enemy plane, and watching the pretend fighter go down in flames.
Kate discovered how to load the gun, and even where the safety catch was. Hector was very keen to fire the gun for real. Kate thought firing live ammunition was a mistake, and this eventually led to an argument. They both retreated back to Mum and Dad in a sulky silence.
Some time later Dad put down his book and mentioned that he needed the bathroom. Kate told him about the hatch, and this led to a spirited debate as to whether Kate and Hector should have ever been allowed to explore. A few minutes passed before Dad returned from the hatch saying that it was the most dangerous toilet he had ever visited.
‘Show me these guns,’ said Dad, beckoning Kate and Hector.
Mum sat in the cold and noise with her newspaper, trying to remain as warm as possible. They were a long way into the flight, and she felt as if her body temperature had lost a degree with each passing hour.
Her mind turned to the guns. Aircraft like this were used for displays, but she was sure they would not have ammunition for the guns. The more Mum thought about it the more uneasy she felt. Why take an aircraft like this on a huge trip to Africa? As she tried to imagine possible scenarios the only one that seemed realistic was that it had been used for something illegal. The pride the pilot had in the aircraft made her suspect that he had been the one to fly it down to Africa.
‘Out of the frying pan and into the fire,’ said Mum, summarising her worries that they were now in a bad situation. Dad, Hector and Kate had returned from the rear gun and were sat around among the bags.
‘I think it will be fine,’ said Hector, ‘It’s still in the air. It hasn’t crashed or caught fire yet.’
‘Thank you for those thoughts Hector,’ said Dad, although he did not sound grateful at all.
‘At the very least this is a rather odd plane charter company,’ Mum went on, ‘Providing an aircraft as old as this, and one with ammunition is extraordinary. And what where they doing flying something like this to Africa?’
‘Well, we’re in the air now. We just have to hope it all goes well,’ Kate said, ‘I can’t see what else we can do.’
Kate was about to continue, but found her attention drawn to Hector, who was looking intently out of a window. Kate got up to look as well. In the distance behind them there appeared to be aircraft.
There was a bang from the front of the aircraft as the pilot emerged from the cockpit.
‘Ahh, good,’ said Dad, ‘I have a few concerns. There seems to be ammunition for the guns.’
The pilot glared at Dad and then looked down.
‘I don’t ask about things like that in case I don’t like the answer,’ replied the pilot in a loud voice as he walked down the plane towards them.
‘Hang on,’ said Hector, ‘aren’t you supposed to be flying the plane?’
‘Yes, I am. Sorry,’ said the pilot as he picked up a parachute, ‘but there are some fighters on our tail.’
‘How the hell did we attract the attention of the Air Force?’ Dad yelled, starting to get angry, but noticing that the pilot was now stood by the door ready to leave.
‘It’s not the Air Force. They’re very old planes. They’re freelancers, and I suspect they’ve been stolen from collectors,’ said the pilot as he opened the door and the sound of rushing wind grew louder.
‘You’ve got to be kidding!’ exclaimed Mum.
‘Please don’t give me the whole “this cannot be happening to me” thing,’ said the pilot unkindly, as he turned to jump.
‘I don’t think you should do that!’ shouted Hector.
‘Why ever not?’ grinned the pilot with an evil look on his face as he turned back to face everyone, ‘Too young to die are you? Too frightened to use a adult parachute because it will undoubtedly kill you? Or is it just not
