by Levi, Steve;
Jennifer and Jason, were sitting at one of the Formica tables. There were six tables set end to end and stretched across the width of the quadrant. Jennifer’s feet hurt. They always did when she traveled. There was something about air travel that did not go well with her feet—not as though her feet had a mind of their own. Or maybe they did. They hurt, didn’t they? And the high heels were doing her no favors.
The good thing about traveling this time of year was being with her parents. One of the nice things about working for yourself is you could take time off any time you wanted. It wasn’t called unemployment; it was called vacation. She saved for it so you could take it. Mom and Dad loved to see her and Jason, their only grandson. Granddaughters they had aplenty but only one grandson. So Jason was special. He would be until he got to be a teenager and then he’d be a problem just like every other boy or girl who turned 14 or 15 or 16. He was ten now, a few years from the “time of trouble” as her father would say.
The only downside to Seattle was Henry, her ex. Or about to be her ex. The marriage had been so good when it started. Then it went bad. South. Way south. It wasn’t as though Henry was a bad person or had grown bad. He just wasn’t the same person she had married. He had grown small, lost touch with the world. His world had imploded until all he did was legal work, 12 hours a day, six days a week and sometimes Sundays. Yes, the money was good, but he had lost his soul. Now he wanted custody of Jason?! With his work schedule? Henry, she had told him, get real. You want a son you will only see half a day every Sunday? What about his life? Henry didn’t think normally way anymore. Half a Sunday was good enough for Henry; why wasn’t it good enough for everyone else?
For his part Jason was just a normal boy, if there was such a thing. He was just as sharp as everyone else in his class. Just as mischievous as well. Good in school, better at baseball. It was all right for Jennifer now but she could see the writing on the wall.
Jason was fiddling with a picture book when the massive screen covering one of the walls came to life. There was a popping noise like fire crackers and then a picture snapped into view on the screen. It was fireworks going off. The popping stopped and was followed by some soothing music. Thereafter the words IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT IN THREE MINUTES ran across the screen, over and over again. At the end of three minutes, everyone was clustered in front of the screen.
Precisely at the top of the hour, indicated by a ticking clock with the second hand arriving at the 12, the image faded to a cartoony character. The character danced across the screen and finally came to a lonely chair in the center of the screen. He sat in the chair as the words PLEASE TAKE A SEAT appeared above him. Then the picture changed to Alaska scenery like a tourism tape. There was scraping as some people took a seat. The only sound from the screen was of an older man with a soothing voice.
“Welcome to our little warehouse. I’m sorry we have to meet under these conditions but it was necessary. Now, if you will sit down, I will do this as quickly as possible.”
There was some movement to sit but not everyone did so. The voice continued.
“Please be seated. I say this for two reasons. First, so you know I am always watching what is going on in the warehouse. You, sir, in the three piece suit with the power tie. Please be seated.”
The man sat.
“Thank you. Now, if you will look around you will see some security cameras high on the wall.”
Everyone looked.
“These will watch you the entire time you are here. If things go as planned, you will be here no longer than two days. I am sure you have guessed by now I am not associated with the airlines or the airport. You are correct. I am not. I am a member of a gang of extortionists. You see, we are holding all of you hostage for $25 million. You should be proud to be worth so much.” The voice chuckled.
“Now, to the basics. There is no reason for anyone to panic. All of your needs will be taken care of. First, there will be announcements on this screen at the top of every hour. That way you will always know what is going on outside. I have a selection of movies which will play around the clock along with news coverage when it is appropriate. You will also notice a phone under this screen. It connects you to me. If you have a concern, pick the phone and record a message. I will respond as fast as I can. If anyone has a medical condition which requires a doctor, let me know now so I can anticipate your needs.”
There was a murmur through the audience.
“As to food and refreshment, please look at the dining area now.”
There was a general scraping of chairs on cement floor as the audience turned to look sideways. As soon as everyone was looking at the dining area, a section of wall moved, sliding. It opened to reveal a bank of refrigerators along one wall. There were a half-dozen microwave machines on the edge of a table on one side of the room and a line of garbage cans on the other. There were some oohs and aahs and a little girl ran toward the kitchen. When her mother rose to stop her, the voice came back over the television.
“I’d prefer if everyone would sit through my entire presentation but I understand what it is like to have children. I have a few myself. So, allow me to continue. There is enough food in the refrigerators to last you for about two days, all the time we will need. If it turns out more time is needed, we will replenish your food. I will be bringing fresh fruits and vegetables every day. That’s the reason the door slides. Every 6 hours I will be taking the trash out of the kitchen and bringing in fresh fruits and vegetables. Please leave all trash from the kitchen in the kitchen.”
There was a pause and suddenly the screen was filled with a camera shot of the room in which the hostages were sitting.
“Just to be sure no one tries to slip out through the kitchen, we will be taking roll before the doors are closed. Please do not try anything funny. We have no intention of hurting anyone in this room. We are only interested in the money. As far as the bathrooms are concerned, they will also be cleaned every 6 hours. This will be a bit trickier since there is not a sliding door dividing the bathrooms from the living area. If you will look up above the bathroom. . .”
The voice paused long enough for everyone to look above the bathroom. “. . . you will see a mesh grating. When we want to clean the bathroom we will lower the mesh grating. Since we cannot see inside the restrooms– for your privacy–we will have to assume there is no one in the restrooms. To be sure no one is hiding in the restrooms, we will be entering with gas masks and pepper spray. Anyone caught in the restrooms after the grate comes down will be chained in the restroom for the next 6 hours. If you like it so much, you are more than welcome to spend six hours there.”
There was an odd twitter through the audience.
Jennifer pulled Jason close to her.
“Finally, as we are not unfeeling, if you will look in the very back of the warehouse you will see a fume hood with plastic drapes. That is for the smokers.”
Jennifer stood up and looked at the television. There was a moment of apprehension when she rose.
“Can you hear me?” She yelled.
“Yes,” replied the voice. “I can. Is there a problem?”
“My son has asthma. He has enough medicine now but I need to get the rest of the prescription from our carry-on luggage.”
“That will not be possible,” the voice replied. “You see, your carry-on luggage in already in Anchorage.”
There was a momentary outburst of surprise.
The voice continued. “For your information, after you disembarked, the plane left for Anchorage. It left a little late but it did leave. It arrived in Anchorage with all of your luggage and carry-on baggage. We also messed the interior of the plane a bit, just to fool the authorities into believing you had been onboard. So, in a nutshell, your carry-ons are not in Seattle. I am so sorry. If you will advance to the phone beneath the screen and tell me what you need, I will do what I can to fulfill any need.”
“Fine,” said a young man in an Army uniform as he stood. “Could I ask you
to call my commander at Fort Richardson and inform him I am not AWOL and I’d like a six-pack of beer–per hour?”
The voice chuckled. “Good try. First, all of the names of the passengers who were checked onto Unicorn Flight 739 are available to the authorities. If you are flying under your own name, which I believe you are, your commander will be notified. As for the beer, I will see what I can do. There will be no hard liquor and no wine. There will be no wine because we do not want any broken glass.”
The Corporal was not to be outdone. “What if I run out of cigarettes?”
“Borrow some until I get you what you want.”
The Corporal thought for a moment and then said, “How about some transistor radios?”
The voice was clearly taken by surprise. “Radios? What do you want a radio for?”
“Well,” replied the Corporal. “I may want to listen to a football game while everyone else is watching what you put on the screen.”
“Radios,” the voice pondered. “More than one. Why more than one?”
“More than one game,” replied the Corporal. “I guess I’m asking for someone who hasn’t thought of it yet.”
“Radios? Not so you can turn one into a transmitter, eh?”
“Come on! You’ve got to know more about telecommunications than that! Transistors are hard wired so we can’t just pull out wires and make a telephone. Even if we could make a telephone, what are we going to tell the world? We’re hostages and don’t know where we are?”
“Radios?” Again the voice was suspicious. “I’ll get back with you. Anything else?”
The crowd was silent.
“OK,” the voice continued. “That’s it for the moment. It is quite a ways to a store so the sooner you put in your requests, the faster we can get them to you. You will also find diapers and changing materials in the hamper outside the bathroom. Bottled milk is in the refrigerator on the far left and a collection of deodorants, mouth fresheners, tooth brushes and paste, combs can be found in a footlocker in each sleeping area. You’ll have to live without showering for a day or two.”
The cartoony character disappeared off the screen with a ‘pop!’ and the screen came alive with the latest Disney film. Jason’s eyes went pop too!
“Mommy! I haven’t seen this one!”
“Well you enjoy it, dear. Mommy has a call to make.” After making sure someone was watching Jason, she advanced on the telephone beneath the screen.
In the back of the room, the Corporal was talking with a man, urging him to follow him into the bathroom.
Chapter 17
Gerry McComber was pissed. Really pissed. The biggest story of her career was happening right in front of her and everyone else seemed to know more about what was going on than she did. Everyone. The scut reporter had scooped her! HER! She was the golden child. The FBI angle and the tracking device had popped up on a radio station–a radio station for heaven’s sake!–and the evening newspaper was doing a rundown on the false alarm at the Federal building. This was supposed to be her story!
When her cell phone rang, she was still fuming.
“Gerry, dahling, you must be just miffed over the way things have been going.”
“You!” snapped Gerry. “You told me I had an exclusive on this!”
“Now I never said that,” said the voice in an ingratiating tone. “If I did I was lying. I think I said something along of the lines of you having the inside track on just about everything which was going to be done. I haven’t lied. You’ve had the first crack at every part of this matter. You were the only one I called for the pick-up.”
“The FBI angle. That was. . .”
“Dahling,” the voice was ingratiating. “The FBI is going to do what the FBI does. They are also going to use the radio and television the same way we do. We didn’t call any radio station, by the way. That would be, be, unethical. You’re our lady, Gerry.”
“That’s not the way it looks from this side of the microphone. I’m sitting here while the other news outlets are running with my story.”
“Well, let me give you a lead to make up for you thinking I’m a very bad boy.”
“You are a very bad boy.”
“I know. I just can’t help it. It’s in my DNA. I’m hard-wired that way.”
“OK. Enough of the gab. Do you have something for me? Something no one else has?”
“Of course! If I didn’t, why would I be calling?”
“I’m not sure why you are calling.” Gerry stalled for a moment, “Not that I want you to stop. No, I’m not sure why you are calling.”
“OK, how about a glimpse of the big picture?”
“OK.”
“What do you know right now?”
“I know a lot of passengers were not on a plane they were supposed to be on and the plane landed in Anchorage with no pilot on board. I know there is an extortion attempt for. . .”
“P-l-e-a-s-e, not an extortion attempt,” said the voice in faux outrage. “There’s no attempt about it. We are extorting $25 million out of the Anchorage International Airport. No go on.”
“OK, you are extorting $25 million. One payment of about $5 million in stones has already been made. That is correct isn’t it? I mean, the amount is correct.”
“Close enough,” responded the voice. “Gems aren’t something which have solid dollar and sense values. A stone isn’t worth $4,500. It has a range. Which is neither here nor there. Yes, we have received about $5 million, give or take.”
“So what’s the next step and when?”
“Ah, if you told you everything at once, that would take all the fun out of it, right?”
“I don’t look at it that way?”
“Well, I do. Now, if you remember your ancient history, the Greeks believed the world was made of four elements.”
“Air, water, fire and, and, and . . . What’s the fourth?”
“Earth.”
“Correct. Earth, air, fire and water. So?”
“Well, there are four parts to this puzzle. The first was fire, in the Federal Building. There are three to go, three phases.”
“I hate riddles?”
“You didn’t just think we’d give away the rugby match, did you?”
“Go on with the earth, air and water.”
“The second delivery will involve one of those. I’ll give you a call just before the next delivery. When you get the call, think Medusa.”
Then he hung up. Gerry stared at the phone for a moment. “I hate riddles. Medusa? Wasn’t that the woman with snake heads for hair?” She felt her hair. “I know just how she felt?”
Chapter 18
The weightlifter was a woman and she balked at the idea of going into the men’s bathroom with men she didn’t know. “Hey! What kind of a fruit cake are you, anyway?”
She didn’t look like a weightlifter. Not the traditional weightlifter anyway. They were bulky in the shoulders and swayed at the shoulders as they walked. Almost waddled. This woman was all of a five-foot-two and didn’t look to be into pressing iron. She had a presence, the kind of confidence body building gave you. Confidence. The outward appearance of being comfortable with your body. It was something you earned, day after week after month of taking care of your body, inside and out, muscles and brains and poise.
The Corporal was not exactly her cup of tea. He was not the kind of a man she was looking for. Yes, he was young enough for her and she didn’t have anything against Army men. Except they were, well, in the Army. Army men went where the Army sent them. Wherever the Army sent them was away. Away from where she was. You didn’t love Army men; you missed them. They were here today and gone tomorrow because of Uncle Sam, not because they chose to leave.
So, yes, he was good looking enough for a rodeo but this was not the time or the place for a rodeo. Or a relationship for that matter. All she wanted was for this, this, event to finish so she could get back to Anchorage. Back to the gym. Talk about a bad time to visit a sick friend!
&nb
sp; “Look,” snapped the Corporal under his breath. “We don’t have a lot of time. We’d better have a plan in case things go wrong. With this many people,” he waved at the rest of the hostages in the warehouse, “anything can happen.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” snapped the weightlifter as she flexed bicep. “What’s that got to do with me going into the men’s room?”
“Because,” said the Corporal softly as he leaned toward her, “one of the oldest tricks in the book is the way you defeat listening devices is to talk near running water. The human ear can hear the conversation but electronic equipment cannot. There are no cameras in the bathrooms either.”
“We should talk while we can,” said the third in the trio, an older man with a Seahawks jacket. He had short cropped hair and wore jeans. “So we’re going to go into the men’s room and have a little talk.”
Number three was definitely not her type. Never would be. Too chunky. Didn’t care about his body. He was the kind of guy who sat around the house all weekend and watched football games. Hey, he had a Seahawks jacket on. What did that cost? Say two, three hundred dollars? He was older, maybe 40. Putting on weight, not lifting it.
“That’s the best place to talk,” repeated the Corporal. “If that’s OK with you.”
“It’s not like we’ve got a lot of other things to do right now,” said the older man. “I’m Sam, by the way. Made too much money, retired too early. Now I’ve got too much time on my hands. And you are,” he said to the weightlifter.
“Gloria. Gloria Susan. Everyone calls me Mittles. Don’t ask why.”
“Mittles it is,” said Jim as he held out his hand. “Jim”
“Inside,” said the Corporal. “We’ve got to talk.”
Once Mittles, Jim and the Corporal were inside, the Corporal turned on the two cold water taps.
“Do you think all this is necessary?” asked Jim.
“I don’t know that it isn’t,” the Corporal replied.
“Good point,” said Sam.
