Rewind / The Fate of Flight 700

Rewind, aka The Fate of Flight 700, is a short story written by Matthew Reilly, released online and available to read on his website.

Synopsis

Note: The plot of this short story is told in reverse; for the ease of reading, the synopsis outlines the plot in chronological order.

At a mobile Navy Command center, a bright orange flight data recorder is brought before a White House representative and a high-ranking Navy officer. When the representative asks who knows, the officer reports that it was found by a specialist outside of the publicised search area, and that the media don't know they have it.

Soon the flight data recorder of British Airways Flight 455 is played before the two men; mid-flight, the pilot and first-officer suddenly notice something coming towards them. At the pilot's order, the second officer radios out to any Navy vessels in the area. The naval ship Liberty responds and demands to know what they're doing in the area. The second officer replies that they are a civilian airliner and pleads for them to abort the missile coming their way, but it is too late as the pilot and first officer scream before the audio finishes. Neither of the two listening men are moved; after a brief and hushed call, the White House man tells the Navy officer to take appropriate action and make the incident do away.

Later, at an FBI office, the White House representative and Navy officer observe the bright orange tape reel, with the former noting that the President is concerned and asks if the situation has been solved. A Naval technician then enters with an exact duplicate of the flight data recorder in hand. The Navy man assures the White House representative that the duplicate will be taken to the crash site by one team, and then "located" by another team that knows nothing.

Soon after, several news outlets report that the black box of Flight 455 has been located, with one outlet playing the contents of the flight recorder: a falsified distress call from the pilot claiming a complete mechanical failure as they go into an uncontrollable dive.

The White House Man is watching one of the reports when the Navy Officer approaches to inform him that there was a information leak from one of the former's aides; who had informed a reporter of the switch between the tape reels. While the aide has been dealt with, the Navy officer is sending a bald assassin to take care of the reporter with minimal risk.

Within a warehouse, reporter Neil Callaway soon locates the box he is looking for, and from it he pulls out the tape reel before heading back to his apartment. There, his colleague Danny listens to the contents of the tape, but within seconds of it ending, the door to the apartment is violently kicked in...

An hour later, a bruised and beaten Callaway is being held in a cell as the bald man takes the tape reel from him. Callaway bravely tells his captor that the paper will look for him before asking about Danny; the bald man sneers that Danny is already dead. Taking out a syringe, the bald man notes that Callaway has seen and heard too much, and proceeds to inject the contents into the screaming Callaway's neck...

Characters

• White House Man
• Navy Man
• Neil Callaway
• Danny
• Bald Man

Trivia

• Reilly has encouraged aspiring film-makers to make Rewind into a short film, on the condition that he gets to see a copy of the finished product. It has been produced at least once, in 2004 by independent filmmaker Andy Stark.