the 'underbelly' or fuselage of the plane. They were about to start making their way back towards the front when Balto suddenly heardvoices.

“Shh.”

The two of them started making their way toward the talking. They got close enough to see Fifi and another figure talking. Fifi was clearlyvisible. The other person was however, a shadow. This is what they were saying.

Fifi: We'll be in Chicago in four hours. How are we supposed to get off the plane with a dead president in our arms?

(The shadow): You'll see. I have things prepared, it's no concern of yours. You just need to keep everything under control. By the way, I never authorized you to take extreme measures.

Fifi: What extreme measures?

Shadow: Let's see. Killing the stewardess, andtrying to kill both pilots!

Fifi: Okay the flight attendant was a reflex. I didn't mean that one. I saw her, instinct took over, and you know the rest.

Shadow: (sigh) Okay, I understand that one. But what about killing both pilots?

Fifi: I was going to make an example of them. Besides, I have two dogs who are qualified to fly a plane.

Shadow: Ha! That's not what I hear. Speaking of the pilots, why didn't you go after them?

Balto had been wondering the exact same thing.

Fifi: Not part of my job. Remember, I'm only supposed to keep everything under control.

Shadow: Fine. (Balto couldn't clearly see, but the 'Shadow' appeared to check it's watch) I need to head back to my seat. But for future reference, don't do anything else unexpected.

Fifi: Okay, fine.

Just then, something exploded. Very loudly.

Balto and Jenna had never run so fast in their lives. Normally theywouldn't be running as fast when they heard an explosion.

But, they were the pilots of the largest plane ever built, it had 600 passengers on it including the president of the United States, and an explosion on an airplane several miles above the ground was something to be worried about.

The two of them quickly climbed down into the bathroom that was now sofamiliar. With a slight change.

Someone was in it this time.

And this dog was not a passenger but one of Fifi's goons. So Balto didn't feel all that bad about it. The dog looked up in surprise. Balto jumped down and hit the dog. The goon was momentarily disoriented and gave Balto enough time to grab the goons pistol and hit him over the head with the butt end of it. The goon had a nice little nap. And a rather large 'goose egg' on the back of his head.

Wasting no time, he and Jenna burst out of the bathroom and ran toward the cockpit. Fifi was there and quickly raised his pistol. Balto raised his faster and fired first. The bullet struck Fifi right in the chest and threw off his aim. As he went down he pulled his own trigger. That bullet got Balto right in the left arm.

He hardly felt it due to the amount of adrenalinepumping thru him. He quickly pulled the trigger five more times, drilling the four other goons standing guard. All fell to the deck. Then before the two who currently sat in the pilot and co-pilot chairs could do anything, Balto had them in his sights. “Get out now!”

The two dogs quickly stumbled out of the cockpit.

All of this happened in under 10 seconds. As he walked by Steele and his goons, he noticed that they were still breathing. He bent down and tore off the jackets they were wearing. He looked up at Jenna and explained.

“They'rewearing bullet proof vests. They'll be unconscious for a while but that's all. Here, take this.” He handed the pistol to Jenna who quickly aimed it at the two would be pilots.

Balto took a look out one of the windows and groaned.

“What is it?” Jenna asked.

“The engine. That's what blew up.”

“We still have five more.”

“Yes. We're okay for the moment but we won't get to a landing strip for quite a while. This could become serious.”

“More serious than you think.”

Balto spun on his heel and looked at who was talking.

There were six dogs standing there.

“Are you more of Fifi's goons?”

The lead dog laughed. “No. We are much more serious than him.”

The dog demonstrated that when all six of them pulled out semi-automaticrifles.

The dog continued. “These are capable of pumping out over a thousand rounds a minute. Top of the line. And we have no qualmsover who is in the way when we pull the trigger.”

Balto was now very nervous. “What do you want?”

“You like that question a lot don't you? We, like Fifi, want the plane. But for a different purpose.”

“Oh so you know why Fifi wanted the plane? Why did he?”

The dog shrugged. “Ask this guy.”

Alex Lifeson, the Secret Service man, came down. Behind him, two more of the dogs carrying semi-autos came, dragging the president with them.

Jenna jumped forward. “What?!”

One of the dogs aimed his rifle at Jenna and said “Back off.”

She did.

Alex said “You know, ever since President Hognasal came into office, I couldn't stand him, and I made that public. Well, being the head of the Secret Service, I found out about these guys who were planning to hijack the very first 818 on it's maiden flight. Obviously, this plane. Rather than arresting them, I made a pact with them. We would pull a double whammy. Not only would they hijack this plane, I would convince the President to go on the plane.”

Baltocouldn't believe what he was hearing. “What was the purpose of getting him on this plane?”

Alex smiled in a way that made Balto's blood run cold. “Remember 9/11? We're going to make another one. Only better.”

Balto realized what the dog meant. It was the most awful thing he had ever realized in his life. A life, that would not be lived much longer.

Balto had lost hope. They were going to assassinate the president, and then crash the plane into something. What they would crash into, he didn't know. Balto hung his head and sat down in a seat, waiting for the inevitable.

This mood had alarmed Jenna. She hadn't heard what Alex had said to Balto but it apparently wasn't good. She had gone off in search for a first aid kit to bandage Balto's gunshot wound. She had found one luckily and had started to bandage his arm. She asked him,

“Balto, what did he say to you? I've never seen you act like this before.”

Balto turned to her. She noticed uneasily that he was on the verge of crying. “You don't want to know.”

“Yes I do Balto.”

“Okay, here's everything as far as I can figure out. Alex was the shadow we saw talking to Fifi. He hired him and his goons to take the plane, but he also hired some terrorists to crash the plane into something.”

Jenna was too stunned to talk. “Wh... what are we going to do?”

“Nothing.”

“What!?”

Balto looked at her again. “Jenna if we try to take the plane, six dogs are going to fill us with more lead that you can possibly imagine. And, some of the bullets might miss and hit an innocent passenger.”

“We have to do something.”

Just then, the dog in the lead of the terrorists called to Balto from the cockpit. “Hey you. Come here.”

Balto sadly got up and walked over. “What do you want?”

The dog turned to look at him. “I was just going to tell you that we normally kill the pilots of the plane we hijack. But, I'm going to make an exception for you. I'm going to let you see what we are going to hit. That's all. Go away.”

Balto turned and walked back out of the cockpit. He sat back down next to Jenna. As soon as he sat down Jenna said “Well, any ideas of how we are going to take back over the plane?”

“Let it go Jenna. I don't think there's anything we can do.”

Now Jenna got mad. “Come on! You're the captain of this plane! Six hundred people put their lives in your hands! And now when they really need you, you aren't doing a thing! If you can't get up the nerve to at least try and help these people, then you don't deserve to be their captain.”

With that, she started to get up but then turned around and whispered angrily to Balto “Get this thru your head. If you don't do anything, we die. If you do do something, we might die. But at least we were doing something beside sitting on our butts.” This time she walked away.

An hour or so passed and Fifi and his goons had woken back up. This put a little more strain on the terrorists now that they had even more dogs to watch. When Balto noticed this, he thought that maybe he could do something. He started thinking harder. He got up from his seat, and began putting together a plan. He explained everything to Fifi. Fifi had clearly not realized that the plane was to be rammed into a building, and was not very happy with Alex.

Balto said to Fifi “Okay, you don't want to die, right? Well, if we work together, we just might survive. So, can I count on your help?”

“Absolutely.”

“Good. Here's what you do...”

Another two or three hours passed and Balto was still busy thinking. His thoughts were interrupted though when the lead terrorist spoke up. “Hey you. Yeah you the pilot! Come up here!”

Balto got up and walked over. “What do you want now?”

“Take a look.”

Balto looked out the windshield and saw the city of Chicago. “And?”

The dog laughed. “Take a close look.”

Balto looked again. And this time he noticed it. “Oh,no.”

The plane was turning.

Balto kept on looking and noticed what the plane was turning towards.

The one, the only...

Sears Tower.

Balto's fur started losing color as he saw the plane

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