Suddenly Thato heard a loud noise. For a moment he was so frightened that he couldn’t breathe.

The two men were still talking to each other, but he couldn’t hear what they were saying. Thato knew what the noise was though. He tried to tell himself he was wrong, but he had watched so many aeroplanes taking off from the airport that he knew: this one was about to take off too.

Thato was scared, but at the same time he couldn’t help feeling a little bit excited. At long last his dream had come true.

Thato crept along the floor with the blanket still covering him, until his head reached the end of the seat. He looked out from under the blanket. He could just see the backs of the men’s heads. They were too busy taking off to notice him.

Thato crept back along the floor. The men were still talking to each other, but Thato couldn’t hear what they were saying. They seemed to be laughing a lot. It was a sinister kind of laughter. Thato didn’t like the sound of it at all.

He looked out of the window. The aeroplane was way up in the sky now. He could see the earth far below him. It was wonderful to look down on the buildings and cars. Everything looked so small.

Soon the aeroplane left George far behind. Thato wondered where they were going. He hoped the men were coming back to the airport.

The men talked and laughed loudly. Thato wondered what they found so funny. He didn’t like the sound of that laugh. It frightened him. Suddenly he knew something was wrong. Who were these men? Had they stolen the aeroplane? How could they steal an aeroplane from George Airport? It just wasn’t possible! Or was it? Thato remembered how deserted the airport was. It was so small that the staff was only on duty when flights were due in and out.

Just then, the noise of the aeroplane changed, and the men stopped laughing. The man who was flying the aeroplane pointed at something out of the window.

Thato ducked back under the blanket. He could feel Mildred watching him with two frightened eyes. Thato had totally forgotten she was here with him. How was that possible? This fact made him feel very bad about himself. He’d never be able to forgive himself if anything horrible were to happen to Mildred.

“Everything is going to be OK,” he whispered in her ear.

Mildred was too scared to say anything. “I won’t let anything happen to you, Mildred. Promise.” Even as he spoke Thato wondered if this was true. He and Mildred were flying in an aeroplane, with absolutely no idea of where they were going. They were huddled together behind the back seat, hoping they would not be spotted. Two sinister looking men were flying the aeroplane. Thato had no idea what was going to happen next.

They had been flying for about fifty minutes. Thato wondered where they were, because he knew fifty minutes flying in an aeroplane had taken him many kilometres from home. Seconds later there was a terrible bump. Thato rolled about on the floor. The aeroplane had landed. Thato’s stomach felt very funny. For a moment he thought he was going to be sick, but he tried to stay calm. Mildred took hold of his hand and together they remained still, and as frightened as two little mice.

The men had been watching the ground as the aeroplane landed, so not once had they even glanced towards the rear of the aeroplane. Thato lay on the floor next to Mildred thinking about what he was going to do. He had just made up his mind to show himself to the men when he heard their footsteps walking about the aeroplane. They were laughing. Once again, their laughter sounded horrible and cruel.

Thato held his breath. Now he could hear them talking.

“Come on,” one of them said. “I can’t believe we made it.”

The other man nodded. “There’s no-one to see us,” he said. “That makes things easier. If we hurry up, we should be out of here in a few minutes.”

Then Thato heard them leave the aeroplane. Now he was more terrified than ever. Why didn’t these men want to be seen? What were they up to? And what on earth was he going to do?

Thato let out his breath slowly. It was a few minutes before he could breathe properly. Mildred was still scared but she had stopped shaking.

The two men hadn’t discovered them, but Thato was still worried. He knew now he was going to have to try to get away from these guys. There was no doubt about it, something illegal was going on. He didn’t want himself or Mildred caught up in anything. He shuddered at the idea.

“We’ll have to try and get away from these men,” Thato said softly to her.

“How are we going to escape, Thato?” Mildred asked. “We have absolutely no idea where we are.”

Thato looked out from under the blanket, then peeped through a window. The two men were standing near the aeroplane, looking around at the place where they had landed. Then suddenly one of the men threw his hands up in the air.

“This is it!” he shouted loudly. He put his hand into his pocket and pulled out a small package.

“Not so fast,” the other man said. “There might be somebody about. If anybody does see us, we’ll have to make sure they don’t talk.” He pulled a gun out of his pocket.

He waved the gun around like he was a cowboy. Thato could see that if the man saw something, or heard a noise, he would shoot immediately. This thug wouldn’t care who he shot. More than likely he would laugh when he was doing it.

Thato gasped with surprise and fear, and ducked back under the blanket very fast.

“What’s wrong?” Mildred said, and tugged on his arm. Thankfully she had not seen the gun. And there was just no way Thato was going to tell her about it. They were in enough trouble as it was.

***

Tell us: If you were caught up in such a dangerous situation do you think you would be able to remain calm and think clearly?