Interrupted Romance by Topsy Baxter Page A

passengers again screamed and moaned in fright.

    The man shouted "You see what will happen if you disobey our commands!"   He let the attendant drop to the floor.

    Adam, by this time, was wide awake but unable to see what was going on.   He was stunned by the uproar of screams and shouts around him.   Through all the noise, he asked the man next to him to tell him what had happened.   All he heard over the shouts and screams was 'hijackers' and 'cut the stewardess's throat'.

    He was horrified, but quick-thinking.   The necklace he wore around his neck, with the Star of David hanging from it, was swiftly pulled off and dropped into his pocket.   He didn't know if anyone had seen him do it, but he guessed they were all too busy with their own horrors to be watching him.   There wasn't anything he could do but sit and wait to see what eventuated.   Thank God, Dafna hadn't come with him!   As an extra precaution he pulled his Israeli passport from his pocket and shoved it down the back of his seat.

    Dafna sat glued to the TV, watching every news item, hoping for some quick resolution of the hostage crisis.

    She called Adam's father in the evening in the hope that there was good news that she hadn't yet seen.   But it didn't work out that way.

    The authorities had maintained communications with the aircraft and were stalling for time, not wanting to release any prisoners in return for hostages, hoping for a different ending.

    Then, on the second day, from a camera installed in a circling helicopter, came the view of a woman's body being dropped from the aircraft to the sandy strip beneath the plane.   Dafna froze.   They were killing passengers.   The body looked pathetic and tragic - so small under the vehicle which held so many more to ransom.   The commentator's voice rose almost an octave in shock.   The whole world would be holding it's breath, waiting for something to change the course of, what could be, a case of mass murder.

    Dafna was living from hour to hour, barely eating, goggle-eyed from watching the screen for so long.   Her mother put pieces of fruit in her hand from time to time, hoping she would at least eat that.   Some of it she ate, others she dropped.

    The latest communiqué from the aircraft advised that another passenger would be killed in six hours' time if the authorities didn't release the men in the Cairo gaol.

    Dafna was beside herself with worry.   God, don't let it be Adam.   He's suffered enough already.

    She was only human.   Sooner or later she would have to fall asleep.   It finally happened on the third day.   Her mother covered her with a blanket and left her to sleep on the lounge chair, which had almost become her home since the hijacking.

    It was during this time, that she missed the news she had been dreading.   Seeing Adam on the television, on his own.

    Back on board the ill-fated flight, the captors were becoming increasingly violent in their frustration.   Adam could hear the thuds as passengers were beaten and kicked.

    Conditions on board were unbelievably bad.   The water was rationed and had almost run out.   The engines had stopped long ago and the air inside the aircraft was fetid and thick.   Most people were sitting with handkerchiefs over their faces.   The toilets had given up working.   Food had just about run out.   Several people needed medical attention.   There was, by chance, a doctor on board, but he could do little without medication for some of his patients.   There was a limited amount on board and not necessarily the type that was required.

    During the late afternoon, Adam was dragged from his seat and propelled, with kicks and punches, down the aisle towards the exit door.   Someone called out "Leave him alone, he's blind."   He heard the sound of flesh hitting hard against flesh, followed by a cry of pain.   No one else made a sound.

    The hijacker was almost hysterical in his outrage that his demands hadn't been met.