Some say the first drops could be felt just seconds after the jet broke through the cloud cover. The wind was reportedly blowing in from the south west. It was night.
By most accounts the runway was wet when the jet taxied to a halt and was converged upon by black vans. As one observer put it: “The headlights were swimming on the tarmac.”
Nine ghosts are rumored to have emerged from Terminal E, nine men whose lives were over even as they were seen walking and talking, nine souls cloaked in darkness.
They only seem to show in surveillance footage if at the time of capture they were unexposed to sunlight. In the morning it was still overcast when they made their way to the consulate.
And although they had long been inside by the time the sun came out, they appear to have faded further until only their voices were left, humming to music they alone could hear.
After sundown, they register on airport cameras once more, checking in for their final destination. The wind had shifted to the south. The runway was dry as dust.