It was on the day before Thanksgiving in 1971 and it was Agent Danny Lawrence's first official day heading up the FBI Seattle team's division. She had made what she had thought to be a rousing goodbye speech on compassion for everyone involved in a case in Portland before heading out quickly to take up her new position. The agent Lawrence was already needed to work on her first big case. This was the big one that was going to set the tone for her entire career from here on out. A plane, numbered flight three-oh-five had been hijacked by some person carrying a bomb in the field of Lawrence's jurisdiction. She was simultaneously extremely anxious, nervous, and incredibly excited. She ordered immediately upon her arrival that everyone that was on that plane be removed as soon as possible for fear of someone or anyone getting hurt.
She got set up as Agent LaFontaine recommended that the strike team be sent in. They claimed that they could take out the hijacker while leaving the scene with minimal casualties. This didn't work at all for Agent Lawrence who wanted whoever it was off the plane with no losses at all, whatsoever. In her opinion, no one wasn't worth saving not even the hijacker his or herself. No one did these things because they wanted to, they did them because they had been pushed too far.
"Everyone is going to get out of this alive." she swears. "Give him what he wants and we can hunt him down from there."
"We won't ever see him again if we do that and we will likely lose the poor girl trapped on there with him as well." LaF protests.
"I told you that we aren't going to lose anyone. I meant that." Danny insists.
"If you say so. His demands so far are $200,000, four parachutes, and gas enough to get him to Mexico City." LaF fills her in.
"But he told the stewardess that she shouldn't be a hero and to tell the pilot to maintain 10,000 feet with the flaps at fifteen degrees. With only that much gas they won't make it out past Reno. We need to get out to Nevada now." she orders, packing up her things as quickly as she can and running out of the door without another word.
In Las Vegas, Danny Lawrence is greeted by an empty plane, with four people on board and no hijacker. The stewardess in a young woman around her age, anxiously twisting an engagement ring on her left ring finger. Danny points it out and the girl makes a sound halfway between a laugh and a snort.
"It's a fake to keep the drunks at bay. It doesn't work very well, but it's the best that I can come up with." she mutters.
"Okay, tell me everything that you remember. Even the smallest details can help so be sure to do your best not to leave anything at all out if you can." Danny says in her most reassuring voice.
"It was a very normal flight. A lot of the men were flirting with us, giving us notes and phone numbers and tips. A woman on the aisle seat stood out to me because she wore a hat and sunglasses even though we were on an airplane at night. That, and because she ordered a bourbon and water and gave me a note as well. This was something that didn't happen often either. I stuck it in my pocket with the others and ignored it as well. The next time that I passed her, she caught me by the arm, hard. That was the only time that she touched me. She said that I should really read her note and didn't let go of me until I did. The note said that she had a bomb and was willing to use it if no one was willing to do as she had said." Laura clenches her eyes shut as though she were trying to replay everything on the inside of her eyelids so that she could accurately relay everything to the young agent.
"You guys had gotten everyone off of the plane. I had to stay though, to work as her mouthpiece between her and her pilots and with you. She asks for another bourbon and water, pays me for it, and tells me to keep the change. That's when you brought the parachutes, and the money, and the gas. She tells me not to do anything brave and gestures to the bomb. I bring everything onto the plane, take a seat in the cockpit, and we take off. I'm sitting there when all of a sudden all of the alarms start going off. I ran out to see what was going on and found her standing in front of an open emergency exit with with the cases of money, wearing a parachute. She tips her hat to med and jumps. I'm not sure where we were over." Laura looks truly shaken up, her eyes wide, hands trembling, but voice completely steady.
