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I sat on the plane in first class, coming back on a flight from London to Washington, D.C. I was a Federal Marshal on business (my character is loosely based on the lady from the movie Out of Sight), and was looking forward to coming back home, as I was suffering from jetlag and fatigue. I alternated between looking out the window, reading, listening to Bowie tunes on my CD player, and napping. I was sitting in an aisle seat, and I was taking a sip from my drink when I looked around at the seats surrounding me. Who I saw sitting directly across from me caused me to nearly gag on my drink.
I don't know how I missed seeing him before - I had already been on the plane for 2 hours. But there he was...David sat in the seat across from me, drinking a cup of coffee and smoking a cigarette. He looked terrific - like straight from the picture of him on the "Fame 90" 12 inch picture sleeve (1990 era - I love that look!). I think he sensed someone staring at him, because he then turned and looked in my direction and smiled, catching me off guard.
I smiled back and felt compelled to say something.
"You're David Bowie..." was all I could manage.
David laughed. "Yes," he said.
"Oh man...you're awesome...I love you and your music..." I rambled on.
He smiled again, but this time the smile seemed to be the smile that one gives when one is attracted to someone. I think I'm pretty attractive, so I was cool with it. And I think he is hot as heck, so it all worked out!
"I thank you so much," he said, and we started into a conversation about his music, music in general and art, and he invited me to sit in the empty seat next to him, an invitation that I gladly accepted. I got up with my drink and sat down next to him, in the window seat. Just sitting next to him was giving me a buzz that no airline drink could never give me.
"What is your name?" David asked me.
"Danielle...my name is Danielle," I said.
"That is a very pretty name," he said.
"Thank you," I said with a smile.
"What brings you back from London?" David asked.
I didn't want to let on to the entire plane that I was a Federal Marshal. "I'm in law enforcement, and I was on business," I answered.
"Oh...you're a police officer?" he asked me.
"Not exactly...I'll tell you later," I told him.
"All right," he said.
For the next half hour, we continued to chat and continued to do so through the semi-decent meal that the airline provided. We talked like we had known each other for years. He looked better in person. We chatted, we flirted a little bit, we were making the best of a boring flight.
We had talked a lot about different things, and I thought it was time to let him know exactly what I did for a living, since he knew just about everything else by this time.
"So you're not a police officer..." David began.
"Nope...I'll tell you," motioning him to come closer to me. He leaned closer to me and I leaned near his ear. I didn't want everyone on the plane to know, as you never know what weirdo people are on a plane, but I wanted David to know.
"I'm a Feder..." I whispered in his ear, but was rudely interrupted by unimaginable pandemonium.
"Nobody move and everyone shut up!" a loud voice said from the front of the plane.
"What the..." David said, looking.
"Holy shit," I said to myself. The dude up front had a weapon and looked freaky. The plane was being hijacked.
The hijacker informed us passengers that the plane was being hijacked and when we landed in Washington, the plane would be blown to bits by a bomb that was going to be detonated from the airport. There were 3 hijackers, and one of them went into the cockpit. I, being a person whose job is to stop these types of situations, felt the need to do something to protect myself, David Bowie, and the rest of the people on board. Problem - I was the only armed person that I knew of.
The commotion went on for 20 minutes when the hijacker walked past us. He stopped next to David in the aisle and gave him a good looking over.
"Well! If it isn't Mr. Bowie!" the hijacker said.
David said nothing. He looked up at the dude with this scared look, then looked back at me, and then back at the hijacker.
The hijacker had an M-16 and waved it in front of David. David looked scared to death, especially when the hijacker pointed it steadily at him.
"Please don't do this. This isn't right," David pleaded, staring at the gun.
"Oh, and who died and gave you the authority?" the hijacker asked sarcastically.
"Oh, I wasn't trying to tell you what to do, I was just..." David explained.
"Shut up!" the hijacker yelled loudly. David said no more after that.
That was it, I thought, time to kick some ass. The terrorist's attention was on David, and I inconspicuously reached down under my pants leg, where I kept MY 357 magnum. I grabbed it, whipped it out, and quickly pointed it at the hijacker.
"Drop the gun, now," I said, loudly and diplomatically. David looked at me with surprise.
"What?" the hijacker said, almost laughing.
"You heard me," I said in a sharp tone of voice.
"You're playing with fire, bitch," the hijacker said.
"Drop it," I repeated, cocking the gun.
The hijacker didn't budge.
"Look out, David," I said. With that, I jumped over David's lap, did a quick kung-fu kick to the hijacker in the groin, landing the hijacker on the ground. I stood over the hijacker with my gun pointed at him.
"And don't call me a bitch again, you asshole!" I yelled at the hijacker, who was doubled over on the floor. I quickly took his M-16 and handed it to David.
"Keep this," I said to him. David had a look of surprise and relief on his face. He looked at the M-16 he was holding and held it tightly in his arms.
"And duck!" I added."You go girl!" a woman from a few rows back yelled to me.
I suddenly heard a shot at me from the cockpit ahead, and I hit the floor to miss it. Luckily, the bullet went through the refrigerator in the kitchen. With that, I aimed and fired as the cockpit door opened, hitting one of the hijackers and that dude was gone. Two more dudes left - one hiding and the one on the floor.
The guy on the floor that I had kicked in the groin suddenly got up and went after me again. But then there was a series of shots, and somehow, the two hijackers were shot in the process (who knows how this happened - this is fiction!).
"Oh shit, the pilots are out cold," I said out loud. The cockpit door was open and I could see right into the room from the aisle. I looked at David, who was next to me (I was on the floor in the aisle).
"Come on," I said, grabbing David's hand. We ran into the cockpit, and the pilots were unconscious, slumped over the controls. We moved them out of the way and sat down at the controls.
"Here, let me have that M-16," I said to David. He handed it to me and I put it down on the floor next to me.
"What do we do now!" David said, freaked out.
"I don't know! I can't fly a plane!" I said out loud, playing with all of the controls in front of me in a desperate attempt to do something. There was silence for a moment.
"Well, we'll have to try!" David finally said. "We can do this," he said, putting his hand over mine. I looked at him and saw an amount of energy in his eyes that made me more determined to kick some ass.
I got onto the radio. "Uh....anyone out there! This is flight 532!" I yelled into it.
"This is air traffic control, in Washington, D.C., go ahead, flight 532, are you all right?" someone said. Apparently they knew that there was a problem on the plane.
"This plane was hijacked. Hijackers are dead, pilots are unconscious, and we need assistance," I said.
"Ma'am, are you a passenger?" the person asked.
"Federal Marshal, sir, and yes, I am a passenger on the plane, and another passenger is assisting me," I answered.
"Okay, flight 532, you're 100 miles from Washing..." the voice said, then trailing off and going dead. We lost contact with the air traffic control.
"Dammit! We lost radio contact!" I cursed, flinging off the headphones.
"The plane is on autopilot, let's just keep the way we are!" David suggested.
"Good idea," I said.
After that, there was not much to do, except stare out at the windshield.
"You're a Federal Marshal?" David asked.
"Yes..." then I remembered I never finished that sentence that I whispered into his ear. I laughed. "I never finished that sentence, did I..."
David laughed.
"I didn't want to let that on to everyone on board," I said.
"Oh, I understand. I want to thank you for taking over," David said.
"Hey, no problem," I said.
"No really. That was dangerous. I have never been so scared in my entire life," David said.
"I know you were. I felt I had to do something," I said.
We were silent for a moment.
"And I liked that kung-fu move you did on that one guy," David said, laughing. I laughed with him.
We didn't have that much more to go till we got to the airport in Washington. It was nighttime by now, and it was hard to see. I had never landed a plane before. We looked out the window ahead and saw a strip of lights, lit up like a runway.
"I imagine that's it...there's a crash crew standing by," I said, pointing.
"Let's do it," David said.
I didn't know the first thing about flying a plane, but I had played Flight Simulator on my computer at home many times, and it sounds silly but I used what I remembered from that to try to land the 747. I started to drop the plane down toward the runway, the runway getting closer and closer but my speed remaining the same. There was no way that I was going to be able to stop.
"Danielle, you're going too fast," David said.
"I know! What do we do!" I yelled, freaked out.
"Hit the brakes!" David said, looking for the brakes.
We couldn't find the brakes, and we landed on the runway but couldn't stop. We ended up missing the runway, cruising right past it, taking out a few power lines and private planes on the way, and ended up stopping the plane with a huge sandpile that was in front of us past the runway.
When the plane was finally stopped, David and I were still for a moment till we realized that the nightmare was over. He finally looked at me, and hugged me in relief. I hugged him back, and it was cool. We left the cockpit and everyone on board was freaking out, and we helped the flight attendants open the emergency exits and people started to evacuate. Rescue came into the plane to check people out, and David and I finally evacuated ourselves. We stood on the runway, looking back at the scene. There was a small fire near one of the plane's wings, and rescue vehicles were all over the place.
"Are you all right?" I asked David.
"Yeah...are you?" he asked me.
"Yeah..." I said. We stood there, waiting for the other to say something.
"Um...all of this excitement has made me hungry. Care to join me for dinner?" David asked.
Having dinner with David Bowie? Cool!
I smiled. "Sure...but let me clean up first," I said.
"Sure...I was going to ask you if it was all right that I cleaned up first...I must look like shit," he said with a laugh.
"Oh, you look fine..." I assured him, and meant that. "I'm the one that looks like shit," I laughed. I had to have looked horrible after taking down hijackers and landing 747 planes.
"Oh, you look fine," David said with a smile. We both laughed.
Silence for a moment. We looked back at the plane. The fire was out, and the ambulances were still hanging around.
"Let's go," David said, offering his arm. I smiled and took it, and we walked away from the runway, hoping to find a taxi.
