Helen Sandberg heard the bangs too, and when she saw the white light she thought the plane was burning. For about half a minute there was nothing but loud bangs and white flashes, and then there was nothing. There were no lights at all in the plane and no sounds either.
She turned to Michael. ‘Can’t you get them on the radio?’
‘I’m trying, Prime Minister. But I think it’s broken.’
She walked to the door. ‘I’m going out.’
Inspector Holm stood in front of her. ‘You must not do that, Prime Minister. We don’t know what’s happened.’
‘That’s why I’m going,’ she said. ‘I’m going to find out. I don’t care what happens to me.’
He was a big man but he was afraid of her. She walked straight past him and down the steps. In the departure lounge there was a crowd of passengers waiting to get on other planes, and also a lot of doctors, police and newspaper journalists. She walked straight past them all and out onto the tarmac. It was dark and cold, and the wind blew rain into her face. When she was about fifty metres away from the building she heard some people behind her, but she did not stop.
