George Bush’S Great America [EN]: Chapter 181

< 180 >

Wesker sat in a cafe, gazing at the Parisian sky.

“Finally, I get to see the results of my work.”

They were doing a great job. What he had sold wasn’t just malicious programs or UBS [Union Bank of Switzerland] killers. He had sold quite a lot of illegal items and made a substantial profit. And this was the result.

Frankly, he wasn’t particularly interested in their ideologies, but it was an occupational hazard for a merchant to be curious about how the things he sold were being used.

“Are you an artist?”

A young woman showed interest in the word ‘work’. She smelled faintly of alcohol and seemed to be Irish.

“Yes, I am. You have no idea how much I suffered to create this.”

He raised his coffee and smiled subtly.

“But where is the work?”

“Ah, it will be completed soon.”

He said, looking up at the sky.

“Very soon.”

In the sky, a plane was moving towards the airport.

‘With this, all the puzzle pieces are assembled.’

‘Remon’ chuckled to himself in the cabin, fitting tiny puzzle pieces the size of fingernails with tweezers. It was a photo puzzle the size of a palm-sized frame that was briefly in vogue. Just then, he saw a panoramic view of his hometown, Paris, beyond the window.

Originally, he should have been on a military plane, but because he had business in western Iraq, he ended up taking a civilian plane instead. The business was nothing special; it was a souvenir for his family and a drinking appointment with locals he had befriended.

As secularization rapidly progressed in already secular western Iraq, alcohol became a common commodity. To the extent that three domestic beer brands had sprung up. The problem, of course, was that they still felt lacking compared to overseas beers.

Anyway, the important thing was that western Iraq was developing, and that was enough to motivate the EU forces serving in western Iraq to risk their lives.

“What?”

At that moment, the plane’s fuselage shook violently, causing the puzzle to shatter.

“Oh, shit! My puzzle!”

In Hollywood movies, they spout their ideologies, but imagine. Why would terrorists do that? Of course, if the motive was a large-scale copycat crime, it might be a different story.

In any case, instead of blathering about their excellent plans, they did this.

“Everyone, stop moving!”

Men who appeared to be Middle Eastern stood side by side in the aisle, totaling 14. They were holding guns, but not ordinary firearms; they were spear guns made of plastic. However, the spear part was definitely metal, and judging by the small bombs attached to the bottom, they seemed to be gas-operated.

A man wearing round horn-rimmed glasses, commonly called nerd glasses, bravely stepped forward and spoke. However, he also showed meticulousness by not getting up from his seat so as not to provoke the criminals.

“Who are you people?”

“You don’t need to know! Just remember that there are multiple bombs installed on the plane! That’s all you need to know!”

‘Kruger’ shut his mouth. More than that, he wondered what the hell was going on during his long-awaited vacation. He still shuddered when he thought about how much he had suffered in Africa, recovering burnt documents with this dim-witted junior. But this junior insisted on following him on his happy overseas trip, and now the plane was being hijacked.

Good heavens. Isn’t this the goddess of misfortune? His dim-witted junior signaled.

‘What do you think, senior?’

What do I think? I’m thinking that from now on, you have to go alone, even if you cry and beg. Thinking that, Kruger was seized by an intense craving for a cigarette. He sighed once more at the fact that the plane was a non-smoking area and that there were terrorists in front of him.

‘I don’t know if it’s a lie or not. It’s a plane that took off from the Middle East.’

For some reason, there was no direct flight to France that day, so he had to connect through western Iraq. In other words, it was a connecting flight. The western Iraq International Airport was completely destroyed during the war, and in reality, it was being newly constructed, so only the runway was hastily completed. In other words, everything other than the runway was a temporary building. Perhaps that’s why security was very lax.

To give some credibility to the security, tall soldiers were stationed here and there, but they were just scarecrows. They weren’t checking at the security checkpoint. Moreover, the fact that the newly hired people were not properly familiar with the manual was also a problem. They might not know about things that were too obvious, like guns, but it was unclear whether they could catch anything else.

‘Judging by what they’re doing, the cockpit is already under control?’

As soon as he thought that, French with a Middle Eastern accent was heard from the cockpit. It was very calm, but it was the kind of voice that clearly stuck in your ears. People often describe this as charismatic.

“Now, send it.”

The captain and co-pilot were terrified. In fact, unless someone has received special training or has a specific mental issue, everyone is unable to think properly from the moment a ‘knife’ is put to their throat.

“Wh, what are you talking about?”

“7500. You haven’t sent it yet, have you?”

7500 was the emergency code for being hijacked. From the moment this code is entered, the control tower considers the plane to have been hijacked and enters an emergency situation, and the military, including counter-terrorism teams, is dispatched.

“Why aren’t you answering?”

It was not clear whether they were threatening to kill him if he sent it, or whether they were testing whether he had already sent it or not, or whether they were really urging him to send it. But he had to decide.

In the end, the captain had no choice but to silently enter the 7500 code. That was the rule, and the terrorist was telling him to enter it with a knife, so what else could he do?

“Good job.”

The terrorist smiled. Judging by the attitude of the other terrorists, this terrorist seemed to be the leader, appearing to be in his 40s, and a unique feature was that his appearance was truly hideous due to scars.

Of course, as soon as the code was sent, the radio started ringing loudly.

「Respond.」

“Tell them there will be no negotiations unless our demands are met.”

「Who are you?」

“Oh, you ignorant fool. Who do you think we are?”

「Oh, my Lord.」

With this conversation, the fact that a plane had been hijacked in the skies over Paris was also reported to the President. The problem was that this was not the only plane that had been hijacked. There were a total of three, and the methods were all similar.

The terrorists turned on the news on the radio.

“Is the signal clear?”

“Very clear, boss!”

「Therefore, our demands are as follows! The EU [European Union] must withdraw from the Middle East!」

“Excellent. It’s coming out well.”

「If you do not withdraw, this plane will fall in a very regrettable place!」

It was a terrorist with his face completely covered, and it was difficult to know whether he was a spokesperson or the leader of Al-Qaeda.

「Forever! Islam! Rise up! Islam! Be strong!」

「All Islamic brothers in the world! Gather under the name of Al-Qaeda!」

The plane slowly began to circle over Paris. Originally, the principle was to shoot it down in the worst-case scenario, but since it was circling over the city, it was difficult to shoot it down. The worst-case scenario here means when terrorists try to crash the plane into major national facilities. For example, the National Assembly building, the Palais Bourbon [the lower house of the French Parliament], or the Luxembourg Palace [the upper house of the French Parliament]. Or Versailles Palace.

“How many minutes of fuel are left?”

The captain licked his chapped lips with his dry tongue several times. Then his mind came back a little. Should I lie? Or…

“Hey, the boss is asking you.”

The knife came closer to his neck, and it felt like he would see blood right away. The captain decided to bet on his intuition.

“There is about 1 hour and 30 minutes of fuel left.”

Upon hearing that, the subordinate cackled and turned the knife upside down. So that the tip of the knife was facing the captain’s neck.

“I used to fly passenger planes in Iraq, so I know very well about this plane’s instrument panel.”

He said, tapping the instrument panel with his index finger.

“Boss, he’s lying. There are about 3 hours left.”

The boss looked at the captain with a very disappointed expression after hearing his subordinate’s words.

“Do I look easy to you? Captain?”

The subordinate next to him grabbed the captain’s hair and brought the plastic knife closer to his neck. It felt as if the blade would be sucked into his neck and embedded there.

“The only reason the boss isn’t killing you right now is because I’m too lazy to fly. Got it?”

The sharp and pointed tip of the knife easily penetrated the delicate skin of his neck. It was quite different from a metal knife, but when it penetrated his neck, there was not much difference in the foreign sensation between metal and plastic.

“Ah, I understand. Please get this away from me! Please!”

Remon was lost in thought as he listened to the French and Arabic mixed in between. It was Arabic that he had learned while carrying out his mission, but even if he crossed just one country, he couldn’t understand it properly. It sounded like Arabic now, but the pronunciation was so different.

“Sh, shit.”

However, he could definitely understand one curse word. It came from right next to him, and a Middle Eastern man was trembling. Remon opened his mouth in clumsy Arabic.

“What the hell are those guys saying?”

The Middle Eastern man was startled to hear that. Well, it’s no wonder he was surprised that a white man was speaking Arabic. Anyway, the Middle Eastern man seemed very flustered because Remon suddenly spoke to him, and he was just waving the game console in his hand.

“What’s your name?”

“’Abdullah’. I’m from Afghanistan, and I just stopped by my relatives’ house and went sightseeing…”

“Calm down, what are they saying?”

Abdullah blinked a few times with anxious eyes and answered in a trembling voice.

“They say they’re going to crash into a conference hall somewhere in 3 hours?”

‘Damn it.’

Remon became anxious the moment he heard that. He didn’t know what that conference hall was, but it was definitely a major national institution, and he could understand to some extent that if it was somewhere in Paris, he wouldn’t see a good sight.

And in the end, he could easily deduce that this plane would not be released even if the EU met the demands. Originally, in this kind of hostage situation, special forces or hostages should not move easily, but it was better than crashing into a conference hall or whatever without doing anything.

‘Yeah, what’s the big deal about Elan.’

As soon as he was convinced that something terrible would happen if he didn’t do something now. His body started moving on its own.

“Who are you?”

“It’s Elan! You son of a bitch!”