Blind Panic by Graham Masterton Page B

could even see the ash gray rows of incinerated seats.
    “Holy Veronica,” I said. But everyone else in the business-class cabin was remarkably hushed, except for one man who began to warble a prayer in Yiddish. “ Y’hi ratzon milfanekha A-donai E-loheinu velohei avoteinu… ”
    Amelia leaned close to me and said, “You hear that? He’s praying for a safe journey.”
    “How do you know that?”
    “I was engaged to a Jewish guy once. That was before MacArthur. Well, the guy before the guy before MacArthur.”
    “You never told me.”
    “We broke up after three months. His mother hated me. She called me a mechascheife. A witch. I predicted his father would have a heart attack, and he did.”
    It was then that the captain came on the PA. “Ladies and gentlemen, you can see for yourselves that there has been a serious incident here at Portland International Airport. I ask you all to assist me and my crew by remaining calm.
    “I have been in contact with the tower and requested an alternative landing destination, but they have informed me that there have been similar incidents at a number of other cities, and there are no suitable airfields within our range that can take us. Because of this our safest course of action is to make an immediate landing here, on runway 28R.
    “I have not been given any further details about the reported incidents at other airfields, but I will pass on any additional information that I receive from the tower just as soon as I get it.
    “I realize that you will be very anxious for news, but Imust ask you not to switch on your cell phones until we have safely landed and come to a complete stop at the terminal building.”
    Now, suddenly, there was a bustle and a flurry as everybody switched on their cell phones and started to make calls.
    “Joanne!” gabbled the old guy just across the aisle from me. “I have to make this quick…but there’s been a crash at Portland Airport and the pilot’s telling us there’s been more crashes at other airports, too.”
    He paused and nodded, and then he looked across the aisle at me and said, “It’s my daughter. She says that it’s been on the news for the past half hour. Over twenty planes have come down, all across the country. Miami, Boston, Kansas City, Missouri. Hundreds of people killed. Maybe thousands! ”
    Amelia took hold of my hand and squeezed it tight. She didn’t say anything, but I could guess what she was thinking.
    The man in front of me stood up. He was wearing a red plaid coat and he had a greasy black comb-over and two protuberant front teeth, like a beaver. “Ay-rabs!” he announced. “Those ragheads did it again! What happened to all that tightened-up security they were supposed to give us?”
    A flight attendant came down the aisle, asking people to switch off their cell phones. A middle-aged woman caught hold of her sleeve and begged her, “Please…do you have any news of other flights? My daughter and her family are flying to Cincinnati today.”
    “I’m sorry,” said the flight attendant. “All they told us was ‘similar incidents.’ Now, please, sir! The captain requires that everybody turns off their cells.”
    “Do they know how the planes came down?” asked Beaver Teeth. “Was it hijackers?”
    “I’m sorry. I don’t have any more details. Now will you please sit down and buckle up? We’ll be making our approach in a very few minutes.”
    “Ay-rabs!” Beaver Teeth repeated. “Al Qa-fricking-eda! We should’ve kicked the whole goddamn lot of them out of the country right after nine-eleven!”
    Now the aircraft was making a tight turn over the river, and reflected sunlight revolved across the cabin ceiling. The engines were giving out a loud, descending scream and the air-conditioning was hissing. Amelia kept on tightly holding my hand but I wasn’t entirely certain which one of us was reassuring the other.
    “We’re going to be okay, Harry,” she told me. “I promise you.”
    Since she