‘Captain Dehn is in the first-class accommodations,’ she said in a thick German accent. ‘This way, sir.’

I followed her, pushing my way along the aisle to make a path for Leotta and ignoring the questions and demands that were shot at us. Anxious hands tugged at my sleeve as I passed and a constant babble of worried voices accompanied us the length of the plane. All I would say was, ‘Later! Later!’ I knew this mixture of tourists and business people would be in genuine fear of their lives and could only imagine the uproar in the cabin when the hijackers had struck. Even those passengers who hadn’t witnessed the actual attack would surely have worked out that something was seriously wrong when the plane banked sharply back towards Campanilla from the open ocean and then flew in low over the northern coast of the island. Unable to see the landing strip in front of them, they must have thought the aircraft was going down. That kind of helpless terror can do strange things to a person.

I wondered how long the tension in the cabin would hold before outright panic erupted on board.

The German crew were huddled together in the first-class cabin. Dehn had his jacket off; his shirt sleeve was torn and his arm was in an improvised sling.

‘My name is Kemp. This is Leotta Tomsson.’

‘Gerhard Dehn. Can you tell us what is happening?’

‘This airfield is surrounded by police,’ I said. ‘I don’t know their plans but I think every precaution will be taken to ensure the safety of your passengers. Do you have many casualties?’

Dehn indicated his arm. ‘Only myself.’

‘Snap,’ said Leotta, pointing at her own injury.

The captain nodded sympathetically. ‘I foolishly put up some resistance when they stormed the cockpit. And you?’

‘Something similar.’

Another officer said, ‘We heard firing a few minutes ago. A machine-gun.’

‘And there were explosions,’ said the hostess.

‘A demonstration of force,’ I said. ‘That’s all. Nothing to get worried about. Have you any idea how many men there are out there?’

‘I asked Hassel to count. How many, Helmut?’

‘Maybe six,’ said the officer who had asked about the machine-gun. ‘I don’t know how many are in the hangar.’

‘I think seven altogether,’ said the hostess.

‘What about the men shifting the bags from the plane?’ I said.

Dehn shook his head. ‘They picked out some of the stronger-looking passengers.’

His mention of the passengers prompted a thought. ‘Somebody had better say something to those people back there,’ I said. ‘Tell them help is all around. And then stay with them – I’m not sure it’s good for morale to have the crew separated from them like this.’

Dehn nodded. ‘Helmut, you do that. Take Lise with you.’