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With the pistol tucked out of sight between his body and the observer’s, he pulled back the slide enough one handed to visually verify a round in the chamber.  The rounds they were required to use in the firearms they carried aboard were loaded with frangible bullets and although they were less likely to pierce the skin of the airplane, that was not the biggest hazard, damage to the avionics or controls systems which were all electrical in this aircraft was the major hazard.  Alan tried to move so he had a clear shot at Bayani’s vitals but he was weaker than he had believed.  It took him two attempts just to struggle to one knee and the co-pilot turned and saw the Glock.
    Alan fired into Bayani’s chest but before he collapsed the co-pilot drew his gun and shot Alan in the stomach.  Nearly blind with pain, Alan lunged and kept Bayani from falling into the controls but that was very nearly the last of his strength.  Too weak to pull Bayani from the pilot’s seat to keep him from slumping back into the controls, Alan cinched the dead man’s seat belt tight and reclined the seat back.  Consciousness fading, he struggled into the co-pilot’s seat.  There was no option of flying the airplane to an airport now.  His hold on consciousness could not last more than a few minutes.
    He pulled the throttles , trimmed the airplane into a shallow climb to bleed off speed and waited but there was little time.  He dropped the flaps, perhaps prematurely but they held and the airplane slowed dramatically and then he saw, far ahead in the haze of distance, the island where he guessed Bayani was supposed to land.  Out the right hand wind screen was another island.  He refused to give the terrorists even the satisfaction of knowing what happened to the airplane so he banked to the right toward the other island but swooned and inadvertently pitched the plane down, nearly contacting the water with a wing but jerked it level in time.
    The airplane carried rafts but if he could land near enough the other island it would give the survivors a far greater chance.  His vision was failing but he had to be smooth and level at impact and then keep the airplane level after the skip.  Briefly he thought perhaps he should have unlocked the door and asked for assistance but it was too late now.  Only seconds of life remained for him.  He was perfect on the first contact with the water but he had no more strength to even sit up and collapsed onto the control wheel.
     
    Gray heard a muffled yell from the flight deck followed by two muffled gun shots.  For a breath holding moment nothing changed, then the engine noise abruptly ceased and the aircraft nosed up slightly.
    “Strap yourself in !” Gray hollered and reached for his own seat belt.  The whine of flaps coming down filled the cabin.  The aircraft pitched forward as if it were diving into the water but came back to level flight and then banked slightly. Gray looked out the window.  The right wing tip was so close to the water his heart skipped a beat.  The plane was slowing rapidly.  This was not an approach even to a sea level strip.  A small island lay at about the two o’clock position and the airplane was slowing as it turned toward it.  Whoever was flying the aircraft was struggling.  The island disappeared to the front and the aircraft leveled and dropped lower.
    “Everyone brace themselves!” Gray hollered.  “We are going to hit the water!”  Through the gap in the paneling between the sections he saw people scurrying for seats.

 
    Chapter III  The Island
     
     
    The first impact slammed Gray against the seat belt.  He guessed the engines had been ripped from the wings but he did not want to turn his head to verify it for fear his neck would be in a vulnerable position on the next hit.  The plane was level and slower and he hoped the next impact would be less brutal.  He hoped for one more clean touch down and recovery which he believed would bring