Chapter 320 An Uneasy Day
"Could it be that the old man was delayed by something? Or maybe..."
The guard stopped talking halfway through. He himself felt that this reason was too far-fetched. He knew how anxious the old man looked at the time.
However, the embassy has its own regulations. In order to ensure the personal safety of embassy staff, it is strictly forbidden to disclose their personal whereabouts under any circumstances.
So at that moment, the guard did not tell the old man.
He did nothing wrong in this matter, but it was true that he felt a little uneasy in his heart.
Counselor Li thought about it and felt that something was wrong. The old man first contacted Ambassador Liao and then contacted Translator Lin. Could it be... about the Xie family's matter?
I glanced at the time and it was almost six o'clock.
Thinking that the meeting over there should be over, Counselor Li went to the office and called the consulate in the neighboring city.
"Hello, who is this?"
It was Secretary Jin who answered the phone. Hearing that Counselor Li's voice sounded strange, she hurriedly asked if something had happened.
"No, no, everything is fine with the delegation."
Counselor Li briefly told what happened in the afternoon.
Secretary Jin's face changed drastically after hearing this. He gave an address and asked him to send someone over to check it out immediately.
At eight o'clock in the evening, the people who were sent out returned.
"Xiao He, why are you alone here? Where are the others?" Counsellor Li had a bad feeling in his heart.
Xiao He turned pale and said, "Something happened, Counselor Li. The antique shop was already on fire when we arrived."
"That alley is too narrow for the fire truck to enter. The rest of the people stayed there to help put out the fire. Let me come back first to inform everyone."
Counselor Li was horrified and asked, "Where is that old man? Did he go back?"
The old man came here in such a hurry, I guess he must have made some new discovery.
Secretary Jin also said on the phone just now that the old man’s safety must be guaranteed.
Once we find the person, we will place him in the embassy first, and we will return as soon as Ambassador Liao's meeting is over.
Xiao He shook his head and said, "We didn't see the old man. We asked around and someone said they saw him rushing out this afternoon. They weren't sure if he came back."
As he was speaking, Counselor Li's secretary knocked on the door, followed by the guard from the afternoon.
The other person's face turned pale, and his throat trembled as he said, "I...I saw that taxi on the evening news."
The old man was walking in a hurry at that time, so he subconsciously glanced at the license plate number.
Unexpectedly, the car was scrapped in just a few hours.
The news said that the chain accident occurred due to bad weather, but the hood and trunk of the taxi were both deformed.
With such a strong impact, it is definitely not an ordinary car accident.
Counselor Li had no time to comfort him, "Did they say which hospital the injured were sent to?"
"Yes, at St. Bartholomew's."
…
The embassy was in chaos that night, and Lin Siqiao's side was not at peace either.
The plane took off like a rocket from dry land, and everyone on board felt their hearts fall back into their stomachs.
Sure enough, not long after takeoff, the plane encountered air turbulence.
This situation is actually very common during the transition from spring to summer. Generally, when encountering this situation, the captain will adjust the flight altitude or speed.
So within the next 100 seconds, the plane suddenly descended more than 1,000 meters. This was a routine operation for the captain, but the people in the delegation had never seen such a scene.
For a moment, the entire fuselage shook violently, and screams were heard in the cabin.
I don’t know if it’s because of the type of aircraft, but even someone like Lin Siqiao, who is used to turbulence, found it difficult to adapt to it.
Although air turbulence generally does not cause air crashes, the feeling of stalling while falling rapidly is really too painful for the heart.
Fortunately, this clear-air turbulence did not last long.
Just when everyone was about to breathe a sigh of relief, the rustling sound of raindrops began outside again. The closer they got to their destination, the heavier the rain became.
It was already past eight o'clock in the evening, and it was pitch dark outside the cabin and nothing could be seen clearly.
Judging from the time, it should be landing soon.
However, the plane showed no intention of landing and kept circling in the same place.
The weather is not very good today. Considering safety reasons, many airlines have decided to make alternate landings at Istanbul Airport.
This has resulted in the airport routes becoming extremely busy.
The control tower is in a state of chaos at this moment.
The airport has only one runway, and now dozens of planes are waiting to land. It’s raining so heavily that the pilots can’t see the runway clearly with their naked eyes.
This requires that the aircraft perform a blind landing according to the instrument landing system when approaching and landing.
The captain also informed the delegation members of the situation as soon as possible.
They had no choice but to land, because this airport at least had a lighting system. The airports on the subsequent routes were all small airports and did not meet the conditions for night landing at all.
And the fuel in the tank is limited, so they have to resupply here.
Ten minutes later, the tower approved the crew's landing permission.
On a rainy night, everything is unknown.
Everyone in the delegation took anti-collision postures as required by the crew. Just when everyone thought the plane was about to land, the nose of the plane suddenly tilted up.
As the plane flew higher and higher, confused voices suddenly sounded in the cabin.
"Aren't you going to land? Why are you flying again?"
The crew members didn't know what happened in the cockpit and could only comfort everyone in gentle tones.
In the cockpit.
The captain had a serious look on his face and was sweating coldly on his back.
A few minutes ago, he pressed the landing gear control handle, but the front landing gear indicator light that should have lit up did not respond.
The co-pilot observed and was horrified to find that the front landing gear was only half released and got stuck in mid-air.
At this time, they were less than 200 meters away from the runway, and the captain decisively increased the throttle and took off again.
After repeating the retraction and extension process more than ten times, the front landing gear still could not be fully released.
Seeing that the rain was getting heavier, the captain had no choice but to take a risky move.
He first raised the nose of the plane high, and when it reached a certain height, he suddenly dived down and then pulled up suddenly, trying to throw out the landing gear through the huge centrifugal force.
At this point, everyone in the cabin realized that something was wrong.
As fear spread, time seemed to stretch longer.
After a long time, the captain's relieved voice was heard in the cabin. In five minutes, they would land at Istanbul International Airport.
This time it went very smoothly, but when they got off the plane, the delegation members' legs were so weak that they could not walk.
There are a lot of people in the airport, and the lounge is full of people.
The delegation found a place in a corner. They no longer cared about their image and everyone sat on the floor.
After replenishing water and food, he leaned against the wall and closed his eyes to rest.
I was also at this airport when I came here, and I waited for more than four hours before the plane took off.
It’s raining so hard now. I’m afraid I won’t be able to leave for a while.
Sure enough, not long after, the captain found Captain Jiang and told him that they would be staying at the airport tonight.
In addition, early tomorrow morning, we will have to ask the maintenance personnel to inspect the landing gear.
The people on the plane can be said to be half of China's current population and the hope for China's future. They cannot be neglected in the slightest.
Captain Jiang had the same idea after settling the delegation members.
Several soldiers began to take turns standing guard.
Even though sleepiness had already swept over their bodies, the soldiers still held their heads high and were as dignified as a pine tree.
It has become the most important landscape in the dim airport.
With their guards.
That night, although everyone felt a little disheveled, they slept very soundly.
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