Free Missing by L C Lang

Sean and Damon were now standing beside him, watching the men approach.
    When the men got to where they were standing, the man in the middle spoke.
    “ You with the airlines,” the man asked in a heavy French accent.
    Matt shook his head and pulled out his badge, showing it to him. “No, I am Special Agent Matt Palmer with the FBI. We do have some pilots with us who are with the airline.”
    The man nodded. “I am Jacques Francois. I am the manager of this airport.”
    “ Were you here when the plane landed here on Friday?”
    François shook his head. “No, we had no scheduled flights coming in, so no one was here then. A few smaller planes also use this airport, but do not need us here when they fly in. We are only here when needed.”
    Matt nodded. “I see. How did you find out the plane was here?”
    “ One of our regulars who flies a Cessna plane called me late yesterday afternoon and told me a plane was parked at the end of the runway. He didn’t recognize the plane and was suspicious such a large plane was parked, so he called me. I came out and saw what kind of plane it was. I knew it shouldn’t be here, so I made some calls.”
    “ So, no one actually saw the plane land?”
    Francois shook his head. “No.”
    Matt nodded. “Okay.”
    “ Will you be taking the plane out now?”
    Matt shook his head. “No, not right now. We need to get into the plane and see what we find. If there is no one inside, then we need to check for evidence. Has anyone gone on the plane?”
    Francois shook his head. “No, no one has.”
    “ Okay, that’s good. We will do what we need to do and then have the plane taken out as soon as we can, but it won’t be until tomorrow morning. Is this going to be a problem?”
    “ Oh, no. No problem. The runway is long enough to land smaller planes, which is mainly what comes here. So, both planes should be all right where they are. We don’t have a larger plane coming in until Monday.”
    Matt nodded. “Okay, good. Should I let you know when we will be leaving?”
    “ That would be good.” He reached into the pocket of the jacket he was wearing and pulled out a card, handing it to Matt.
    “ Thanks. I will give you a call. As I said, it might not be until tomorrow morning.”
    “ There is no problem.”
    “ Thanks. I appreciate your help. I will be in touch. Oh, and thanks for the steps.”
    The two men shook hands and Matt watched the three men walk back towards the airport office. Matt turned and looked at his companions.
    “ Okay, let’s get going.”
    The four men began walking towards the plane. One of the pilots followed them. He had a key to the door of the plane, in case the door was locked. Airport management had placed stairs up to the plane’s door.
    When they got to the stairs, Matt put on a pair of latex gloves and walked up the stairs first. The pilot stayed on the ground and watched. Taking a deep breath, Matt put his hand on the latch, turned it and pulled. It was open. Not a good sign. He turned and nodded at the pilot, then watched as the man quickly walked back towards the other plane, where the other pilots were going to stay.
    “ Okay, its show time.” He pulled the door fully open.
    Before walking in the door, Matt took a deep breath. Death has a certain smell no one can miss, but he smelled nothing. He let out his breath and turned to his companions, shaking his head. Then he walked inside. Colin and the other two men came up the stairs and followed him in. Matt pulled his flashlight out of his jacket pocket and flashed it down the aisle. All the seats appeared to be empty. Then he turned left and went to the door going into the cockpit. The door was standing partially open. Matt pulled the door open. It was empty.
    Matt turned around, to the anxious faces of his companions standing just inside the door.
    “ Doesn’t look like anyone is in here. We need to go back and get the cases and the generator out of the plane. We’ve got a lot of work ahead