Chapter Forty-Six
Nick Price shook his head as Rees Smith stumbled slightly before sitting down. ‘Actually, Geoff, you’ve got it wrong. We were forced here at gunpoint. This is not our doing.’
‘Really?’ Rees Smith muttered as though he didn’t believe it. ‘So just who is in charge around here?’
‘We haven’t worked that out yet,’ Nick responded. ‘I honestly thought it was you.’
‘Sorry to disappoint you, I’m sure. What about John, though? He’s not here, I notice.’
‘Paul took a pounding on receiving his invitation to this party,’ Nick replied. ‘I can’t see John being responsible for that. Not to his own brother.’
To everyone’s shock, one of the escorts brought the butt of a gun crashing down on Nick’s skull. As he collapsed, spread-eagled on the floor, the escort shouted in broken English, ‘You be quiet!’
‘Daddy!’ Nittaya shrieked. She sank to the floor next to her father and cradled his head. She looked up at the escort and demanded, ‘Why are you doing this?’
The escort gave no answer. He stood expressionless, gun pointing at Nick as he lay moaning in agony. Slowly, the airplane rose above the sea and leveled off at ten thousand feet. Five minutes later a curtain shielding the cockpit was drawn back and another Thai man, dressed in army camouflage kit and sporting a backpack, came into view. He leveled a revolver at Rees Smith and said, ‘To business, then. Stand up, Geoff.’
Rees Smith stared at the gunman quizzically. ‘Who the fuck are you?’ For his trouble, he received a smack in the face with the side of a gun.
‘Don’t be insolent, Geoff. Just do as you’re told.’
Rees Smith frowned. He looked across at his two daughters cowering in fright. He wiped blood away from his lip and stood up.
‘Right, Geoff. Stand toward the middle.’
As Rees Smith complied with instructions, he glanced down at Nick, and remarked, ‘Still acting innocent?’
Nick looked up at the gunman. It was not a face or figure he recognized.
‘Nick, get over there,’ the gunman ordered, gesticulating with his gun. ‘In your position.’
Nick rolled his eyes but didn’t move.
The gunman waved his gun in a threatening manner. ‘Nick! I said over there, now!’
‘Daddy, please do as he says!’ Nittaya put her arm around her father and helped him crawl in the direction indicated.
The gunman turned to Somsuk and said, ‘Somsuk, go and lie down at the back. You take the position of the General.’
Somsuk looked bewildered, but did as he was told.
‘John, stand over here, next to me.’
Paul Mansell frowned, as though trying to decide whether the order was meant for him. After a moment, he edged forward a few feet to the indicated spot.
‘Mal, come and stand here, my love.’ The gunman looked at Nittaya expectantly, but she did not move. ‘Mal, I said come and stand here.’
Nittaya stared at the gunman in puzzlement. ‘Me? You want me to stand over there?’
‘Yes, my love.’
Nittaya moved into place. She looked down at her father, seemingly for guidance. None came.
‘Right. We’re all in place,’ the gunman said. ‘This time, we do it right. Open the door, Geoff.’
Rees Smith roared, ‘What? Are you crazy?’
‘No, Geoff. I’m not crazy. Nick said to open the door, don’t you remember? We’ve got to throw as much out as we can.’
Rees Smith screwed his face up. ‘Who the hell are you?’
The gunman ignored the request and barked an order in his native tongue. One of the escorts moved towards the door and opened it.
The gunman had to shout to make himself heard over the ensuing noise. ‘You remember the shock we felt when this door was opened? The freezing air that gushed in, sucking the air out of our lungs? You remember the panic as we ripped away everything we could and hurled it out?’
Rees Smith shouted, ‘This is not happening!’
The gunman turned his attention to Nittaya. ‘Mal, lie down on the floor. Now!’
Nittaya lowered herself to the floor. She looked at her father in desperation.
‘Lie down, Nit,’ Nick said. ‘Feet towards the back end. Stay still, try not to move.’
‘What’s happening, Daddy?’ Nittaya cried. ‘What’s this all about?’
For the briefest of moments, Nick exchanged eye contact with Rees Smith. There was no other explanation for it; they were being forced to relive a moment of madness from their past. He felt his head swirl with a mixture of painful memories and unanswerable questions.
The gunman turned towards Paul Mansell and barked, ‘John, kneel down beside Mal.’
‘Paul,’ Nick shouted, as he snapped out of his reverie, ‘get down here. Lean over Nit.’
Paul did as he was told.
‘General, pull your gun on Geoff!’
Somsuk remained in a motionless confusion.
Nick shouted at his son, ‘Do it, Som. Do exactly as he says.’
‘But I don’t have a gun, Dad.’
‘Role-play for god’s sake! Use your imagination.’
Somsuk nodded and held his right hand up in the shape of a gun.
The gunman crouched down next to Paul Mansell, then looked up towards the middle of the airplane. ‘Now then Geoff, it’s your move.’
Rees Smith had a look of fear on his face. ‘This is absurd. It can’t be happening. Who the fuck are you?’
‘Look around you, Geoff,’ the gunman replied. ‘Look at this airplane, doesn’t it look familiar.’
Rees Smith screamed, ‘You’re barking mad!’
‘It’s a Prince 3A, Geoff. The Prince 3A, to be precise. You wouldn’t believe how long it took me to find and restore it.’
Rees Smith caught Nick’s eye and shouted, ‘What the fuck is going on here?’
Nick looked at the positions of the people around him. History was repeating itself. And in the same airplane? That really was surreal. So surreal, in fact, he wondered if he was hallucinating. Maybe it had been the blow to the head that was affecting his sight. ‘I think you’ll find this is called a re-enactment, Geoff. Have you never re-enacted this scenario in your dreams? In your worst nightmares?’
‘No, I have not!’
‘Well I have, Geoff. A thousand times, at least. It never goes right for me, either. It always finishes badly, the same way as before.’
‘Then why re-enact it for god’s sake?’
‘Why, Geoff? I’ll tell you why,’ Nick continued. ‘To get it right, of course. To re-write history. To change what happened. To be able to live with myself.’
Rees Smith snorted. ‘What the fuck are you talking about, Nick?’
‘Enough!’ the gunman screamed. ‘Do it Geoff, make your move. Go on, grab Mal’s legs!’
Rees Smith screamed, ‘Shit! Who are you?’
‘Do it!’ the gunman screamed. ‘Now!’
Rees Smith bent down and took hold of Nittaya’s legs. ‘This is insane!’
‘Daddy?’ Nittaya sobbed. ‘What’s he doing, Daddy?’
‘It’s okay, Nit. There’s nothing to worry about. This is going to work out fine. Just hang on in there.’
A gun fired. Rees Smith grunted as his left arm recoiled from the impact of the bullet. He looked down at the reddening mark on his sleeve and snarled at the gunman crouching alongside Nittaya, ‘You bastard, you’ll pay for that!’
‘You’re the bastard, Geoff,’ the gunman screamed back. ‘You always were. And it’s you who are going to pay for it!’ He fired again and again, pumping more bullets into Rees Smith’s torso. He threw the gun aside, withdrew a knife from his waist belt and lunged at the Home Secretary, screaming, ‘You murderer! You fucking murderer! You took her from me!’
Rees Smith courageously fought against the frenzied attack. But as his body weakened, he turned his attention to Nick Price and shouted, ‘Nick! Are you with me or
against me?’
‘I’m with you, Geoff,’ Nick shouted back. He caught Paul’s attention and flicked his gaze towards the escorts.
Above the din of the airplane’s engines, Rees Smith shouted, ‘Save my girls, Nick.’
‘Let’s do it!’ Nick screamed back. ‘Now!’
Rees Smith lunged at his attacker, his hands clawing at the man’s face. Chunks came off in his fingers, yet they were of latex rubber not flesh. A brief look of puzzlement on Rees Smith’s face changed to one of shock. ‘No!’ he screamed, as he found himself looking at a familiar face. ‘It’s not possible. I killed you!’
The gunman laughed insanely. ‘Welcome to hell, Geoff. You threw Mal out like trash, so guess what I’m going to do with your daughters?’
With a surge of strength borne out of desperation, Rees Smith wrapped his arms around the gunman’s body, sidled over to the door, wrenched him off his feet and threw him out into the abyss with a parting shot of, ‘And as I said last time, don’t fuck with me!’
As Paul and Somsuk wrestled with the escorts for control of their guns, Rees Smith sank to his knees, his left hand vainly trying to pull the obscene knife out of his side. With his right hand he pulled the revolver out of his jacket pocket, held it out and cried, ‘Nick, use this!’
Nick dived for the revolver and shouted back, ‘Stand away, Som!’
Somsuk just managed to jump out the way as his escort caught a bullet in the middle of his chest.
‘Paul!’ Nick screamed. ‘Get out the way!’
Paul Mansell turned his escort to face Nick and then dived for cover.
Rees Smith had a contented smile on his face as he crashed to the floor. He looked in the direction of his two daughters and silently mouthed the words, ‘I love you.’
Nick rushed to the girls as Paul wrenched the door closed. ‘Okay, you’re okay,’ he said to them as he untied their bonds.
The two girls crawled over to their father, crying, ‘Daddy!’
Rees Smith whispered, ‘I’m so sorry, my darlings. I love you so much.’
‘Daddy! Don’t die!’
Nick knelt alongside the girls. There was blood everywhere. Far too much for the man to survive. ‘Geoff, hang on there, old mate.’
‘Nick, please don’t tell anyone what really happened. Let it go to the grave with me.’
‘Don’t talk, Geoff, save your strength.’ But it was too late. Geoffrey Rees Smith’s eyes closed, he exhaled one last time and his body lay still.
Rees Smith’s girls screamed in unison, ‘Daddy! Please! No!’