Alison Hart, white, 22. International Flight Attendant.

I was in the air over international waters when it happened. China Airways Flight 617: LAX to Taipei, Taiwan.

Everyone felt... something. There was a singular moment where the whole plan seemed to pause for three or four seconds as the change rippled through the world. We all knew what it meant, too, but it didn't seem to actually matter to us in the air.

I had just finished collecting garbage from my section and was standing in the back with Jinjing, my Chinese counterpart. Her name tag showed Chinese characters for Jinjing and the word "JENNY" printed in large letters for the American crew and passengers.

She was such a petite thing, several inches shorter than I at my awkward height of five-nine. I enjoyed my height outside of an aircraft, but on a flight Jenny's small frame let her slip through narrow spaces easily and she never had to worry about hitting her head on the overhead bins.

She somehow managed to always look glamorous in her uniform, a simple lavender dress that complemented her dark coloring much better than my own chestnut hair and green eyes. It was a cute enough uniform, and it covered me from neck to knee. The required pantyhose made me feel very sophisticated and when I felt a little daring I'd wear thigh-length stockings instead. But I always hated the heels; they just seemed so impractical on an airplane.

"Did you feel that? What was that?" I asked, clicking my cart back into its spot in the wall.

Jenny shook her head. "I don't know. What are we going to do when we land? There are a lot of white people on this plane." Her soft voice was accented but I had grown familiar with her speech in the six months we'd worked together. She looked at me with her dark eyes, concerned. "What will you do?"

I paused, not immediately understanding her point. But when it hit me it chilled my blood. That thing we'd felt. The TRAP. It was waiting for me at the other end of this flight; no doubt about it. We were only about an hour out. We wouldn't have fuel to go anywhere else and the pilot was Chinese, besides.

Hijacking the plane was unthinkable and even if I could take over and fly it myself—something I had zero training in—we had nowhere to go but Taiwan.

All I could do was wait and see what would happen. I grabbed Jenny's hand. "Will you protect me?"

She looked thoughtful, then nodded. "I will try."