Flight attendant Judy Winston heard shouts and screams ring through the aircraft cabin.
She flinched then peeked around the aft bulkhead. Three men in black ski
masks spread throughout the back cabin waving guns.
“On the floor. Now,” the men shouted. “And don’t make any stupid moves.”
Oh God, it’s a hijacking. She had to do something, had to help. She had to evacuate as many passengers as possible.
Good thing they were still boarding. With
forced calm, she steadied her breathing.
An older man in seat 39C, just behind her back, whispered, “Miss, does the pilot know—”
“Shhh,” she answered. Reaching up, she grabbed the silver
emergency exit lever. She pushed it down, locking the slide to the aircraft floor,
and held her breath as she waited for the emergency door to spring open. God
help them all if this didn’t work.
The aft left door to the 767 airplane rose into the ceiling with a whine. Judy
winced at the loud hissing noise as the yellow slide inflated in two seconds. She
hoped the screams from the passengers would block any noise she made and ducked behind the bulkhead. It wouldn’t help to get shot before she could save anybody.
Thirty years of training kicked in. She ignored her racing heart; she
had no time to give in to fear.
Looking back up the aisle, she saw the hijackers facing the other way. A
small group of passengers had captured their attention by not obeying their orders fast enough. Don’t hurt them, she prayed.
Judy grabbed a woman in jeans and a white t-shirt and pushed her toward the open door.
She motioned for her to jump into the slide. Not waiting to see if the
woman made it safely to the bottom, she started a slow trickle of passengers down the slide. Shouts from the hijackers and
cries from the passengers gave Judy a few precious seconds to save one or two more passengers.
“Silence,” one of the hijackers screamed. He fired a burst
of gunfire into the ceiling and through the windows. The passengers had crouched
down next to their seats making it difficult to see how many were left onboard.
Judy gave a brief prayer of thanks that she’d been in the aft galley setting up for the upcoming flight when
this started. She wouldn’t have been able to help any of the passengers
escape otherwise.
She peeked around the divider once more and saw the men pushing their guns into the other flight attendants faces while
they shoved them down the aisle.
“Move to the center of the airplane,” one hijacker yelled.
Judy hoped that a few of her co-workers had been able to open a forward door and get some people out. She knew the pilots had slammed the bulletproof cockpit door closed and escaped through the windows down
the ropes provided for just that situation.
“Goddamnit,” a hijacker hollered. “A back door is open. The passengers are escaping.” He
ran to the back of the airplane.
A strong push shoved Judy out of the airplane. She screamed. She almost missed the slide but gripped a handhold at the last minute and hung on. Her legs flailed in the air as she struggled to climb onto the rubbery material. Above her head she heard scuffling and shouts. She glanced
up as a hulking man barreled out of the door disconnecting and pulling the top of the slide over him in one motion. As the slide fell to the ground he covered himself from the sight of the hijackers.
Judy scrambled to get up and get away. In one smooth motion the man grabbed
her and rolled onto his back. Protected from the brunt of his weight he hauled
her under the airplane.
On the ground the mechanics, cabin cleaners, baggage handlers, caterers and other airport workers scurried to safety. Windows shattered in the terminal. Terrified
passengers screamed and wailed as they ran away from the flying glass and bullets.
Judy’s every nerve
strained to the breaking point—she fought to get away. She would not let
a terrorist capture her. Kicking and pushing, she kneed the man in his stomach.
“Stop it,” he grunted. “I’m trying to save your ungrateful hide.”
“I won’t be taken hostage,” Judy swore, still struggling.
“Hush up,” the man whispered in her ear. “That is, if you want to get out of this alive.” He
wrapped his powerful arms around her, pinning her arms to her sides. He immobilized
her legs by throwing one rock-hard leg over her.
Trapped. Judy’s
heart raced faster. She sucked in deep breaths trying to calm down.
The man pulled Judy closer
to him. He shoved her underneath his large body, covering her from head to toe.
“Get up!” She shifted. “I…can’t…breathe.” Judy squirmed and rocked, scraping her cheek and palms on the asphalt.
He moved to the side to take some of the pressure off Judy but didn’t
release her. “By now LAX has come to a ground stop. Do you want to be shot by the LAPD or FBI? They don’t
know who I am. And your uniform doesn’t mean anything. Anyone can buy it on eBay. We’re both suspects until
our backgrounds have been checked.
“Who are you?”
“A man on the wrong flight.”His breath
blew into her ear and on her neck causing tingles to race up her spine. Judy’s
limbs weakened, shocking her. She tasted grittiness from the tiny pebbles that
had entered her mouth, smelled oil and tar on the blacktop, felt the warmth of the asphalt.
Judy spit out the pebbles.
A burst of noise startled
her back to reality. She saw black and white vehicles surround the airplane.
“Stop smashing my face
into the asphalt,” Judy said. “You’re hurting me.”
He released her. “Sorry.” The man stroked some hair off her face and hooked a strand behind her ear. He shifted once more, giving her even more breathing space.
Shivers rushed up her
spine from the tender touch of his hand. She began to feel safe.
Silence registered. The bullets had stopped flying. The man
lowered his head, resting it on her neck. The coarseness from the stubble on
his cheek rubbed her face and his spicy scent filled her nostrils, tantalized. Judy’s
heart raced. She felt him turn to the left, then right. “What are you doing?”
“Shh.” His breath tickled her neck; the little hairs stood straight up. “I’m looking to see if there’s a way out without getting a bullet from the cops for our
trouble.”
