The Matter of the Deserted Airliner

by Levi, Steve;

  Chapter 64

  Pandemonium was the only word to describe the runway around Unicorn 739.

  Then it got worse.

  The moment the fuel trucks arrived, the radios carried the news to every home in Anchorage. Ten minutes later everyone in America was glued to their television sets. Unicorn 739, Alaska’s ghost airliner, was going to take off for parts unknown. Elmendorf Air Force Base had two AWACS aloft and there were rumors cameras of the spy satellites were being focused on the Anchorage International Airport. In Washington D. C., the President of the United States issued a statement condemning the hijacking and said there would be dire consequences to any nation giving haven to the extortionists.

  In Anchorage, everyone with a camera and a tripod had staked out every square foot in the open field beside the runway ready to see history being made. Try as they could, even though Airport Security was fully manned, it had a hard time keeping order on the runway. So the Anchorage Police had to be called for assistance. When the men and women in blue did not prove to be enough manpower, the Alaska State Troopers were called. So, as Zero Hour approached, there was a massive plug of humanity surrounding the plane waiting to see what was going to happen.

  Compared to the crowd outside, the people inside the terminal were civil. The end of concourse had been taped off and the tourist traffic had been moved back to the main hallway so the tourists would be away from Unicorn 739 when it took off. There were still plenty of people in the terminal – in addition to the press, Homeland Security honchos and every politico Alaska had to offer. With so much down time before the plane took off, there was plenty of on-air space for everyone and anyone in public office to get a minute or two of their 15 minutes of fame. Everyone wanted a piece of the journalistic coverage.

  From the runway, the windows of the terminal looked to made of human flesh. They were people shoulder-to-shoulder all the way down the terminal. Those who could not make it to the tarmac were watching from the windows. History was going to be made here and everyone wanted be part of it.

  No one seemed to notice two figures at the far end of the runway. They were barely visible from Unicorn 739. All someone could see if they looked hard enough was one of the figures was obviously a cameraman and he – it was probably a he – was aiming his lens right down the runway toward the plane.

  Chapter 65

  “Show time!” The Fisherman locked his car in the parking lot. He walked around the empty boat carriage and down to the floating dock. It was high tide and the dock was just a foot below the level of the parking lot. No one was there. Everyone was down at the airport. The Fisherman was alone. He stepped into the boat and then turned around to untie it from the dock. Then he pushed free of the timbers. He let the boat float a dozen feet and then turned the motor on. Slowly he putt-putted out into Cook Inlet headed for Knik Arm.

  Chapter 66

  It was still pouring when the Corporal came to the fence. It also had razor wire on top. Unlike the fence surrounding the barrack warehouse, this fence had a gate. Better yet, the gate was open.

  This did not seem right. It smelled fishy. If these guys were so security conscious, why leave a gate open? So he spent some time looking into the woods on the far side of the fence. There was still a heavy rainfall so everything was moving under the cascading water. If anyone was over there, he couldn’t see them. After ten minutes he cautiously moved forward until he was as close to the gate as he could but still have coverage. Then he sprinted through the gate and disappeared into the trees on the far side. Ten yards in, he fell flat on the ground and listened for sounds of pursuit.

  He heard none.

  He waited another ten minutes and then got up. Slowly he picked his way through the forest and ran head-on into the back of a building. Sliding along between the wall and the forest he rounded the corner of the structure and found himself at the edge of a rural mall. People were scurrying about in the downpour trying to get into their cars without getting their packages wet. Slipping more than walking, he made a beeline for the Security Guard at the Walmart at the far end of the shopping center.

  Chapter 67

  The instant the fuel trucks pulled away from Unicorn 739, Ayanna got a call on her cell phone.

  “Very good. Very efficient.”

  “Thank you. Now let’s get this charade over.”

  “It’s almost done. Now, you do have the $10 million in gems?”

  “Yes.”

  “They are in a pouch like before?”

  “Just as you instructed.”

  “Fine, fine. Now, I want you to take the pouch and go into the Unicorn 739 down the corridor from the terminal. You are to place the pouch on the pull-down seat next to the pilot’s cabin door. The pull-down seat on the left as you are facing the front of the plane. Do you understand what I am talking about?”

  “Yes,” Ayanna looked at Noonan with a helpless look. “You want me to put the diamonds in the pouch on the pull-down seat on the port side of the pilot’s door.”

  “Correct,” the voice said. “You are to enter the plane from the terminal, not the back of the plane. Do you understand?”

  “Yes,” again she repeated the instructions aloud so the Command Center could hear her.

  “You are to leave the plane door to the Terminal open but you are to close the back staircase, the tail entrance, and remove the walkway from the side of the plane. Do you understand? You are to close the back staircase and then you are to exit the plane into the terminal. Are my instructions clear?”

  Ayanna repeated what had been said.

  “And I want Noonan there when you walk onboard to drop off the gems. I don’t want him mucking up the works.”

  Ayanna looked at Noonan as she repeated what she had been told. Noonan just smiled and nodded.

  “Now,” the voice continued, “tell me what you are going to do in the order I told you.”

  “I,” Ayanna started.

  “No,” the voice said. “You and Noonan.”

  “Yes, I and Captain Noonan are going to place the $10 million in diamonds in the pouch on the pull-down seat on the port side of the pilot’s cabin entrance. We will enter the plane through the hatch opening into the terminal. We will close the back staircase, order the mobile sidewalk pulled away and then exit the plane.”

  “Good. The instant we get aboard I want to be cleared for takeoff. We will arrive, check to make sure the stones are there and then the plane will take off. No one will say anything. I expect there will be no trouble.”

  “When do the hostages get released?”

  “As soon as we clear American air space.”

  “Your people. How will I know who you are?”

  “There will be three people, me and two smaller persons. I am six feet six so you will have no problem recognizing me. All three of us will have helmets with dark visors so you cannot recognize us. We will all be dressed like Unicorn pilots. Does this description make you happy?”

  “I’ll be happy when I see you in jail.”

  There was a chuckle on the other end of the line. “Let’s just stick to the matter at hand. The first thing for you to do is get those diamonds onto the plane.”

  Chapter 68

  “What are we doing down here?”

  Gerry looked at her camera man. “This is where we were told to be. My inside source says this is going to be best spot for a shot.”

  “This place ain’t anywhere. We’re at the end of the terminal concourse. The only shot we’re going to get is the belly of the beast as it flies over. There’s nothing down here except empty trucks.”

  “Patience. If this is where the action is going to be, this is where I want to be.”

  Chapter 69

  Harrison took the call just as he was about to enter the Command Center. He made occasional appearances just to inform everyone he was in charge. Homeland Security never sleeps. When he looked at the incoming number he recognized it as the Seattle Headquarters and stopped just outside the door. />
  “Harrison.”

  As the voice talked, Harrison broke into a wide smile which he quickly turned to a granite expression.

  “Are you sure?” He said. “All 95?”

  There was some mumbling on the phone.

  “What you are saying is everyone is accounted for. No one missing. No one hurt?”

  There was a short affirmative on the line.

  Harrison did not even bother to open the Command Center door. He headed straight for the warehouse room where the press was gathered. “Come on,” he said loudly to the gathered journalists. “I’ve got some breaking news.”

  Chapter 70

  Ayanna and Noonan entered Unicorn 739 from the terminal and walked to the pilot’s cabin. Noonan pulled down the seat on the left side of the cockpit.

  “Do you think they’ll get away with this?” She was clearly angry.

  “Don’t know,” he replied. “This is a long way from over. Until the hostages get released we play by their rules.” He waved his hand helplessly.

  Ayanna put the pouch with the gems down. “Never in my wildest dreams did I believe this would ever happen.”

  “The night is still young,” smiled Noonan.

  Ayanna followed the instructions she had been given by the control tower and flicked the switch to raise the rear staircase. The sidewalk had already been removed so she had done what she had been instructed to do. She didn’t hear anything so she sent Noonan back to make sure to make the sure the staircase was up. Two minutes later he came back. The rear staircase was locked in place. Then the two of them exited the plane and the walkway.

  The terminal walkway was empty save for a half dozen security personnel just standing around. No one knew what was going to happen next. Ayanna and Noonan then stood by the police tape and waited. For what they were not sure.

  “How is their pilot going to get into this terminal? It’s locked down.”

  “They’ve thought of everything else. I’m sure this is in their game plan.”

  “Well, I’m not sure.”

  And that was as far as she got.

  In the distance – behind her in the plane – she heard a pop and whine and then a pronounced roar. She and Noonan turned around and looked back toward the entryway of Unicorn 739 just as a motorcycle exploded out of the walkway and careened into the Terminal. Its wheels hit the constellation carpet and shot down Concourse A. By the time the security personnel had recovered their collective wits, the motorcycle had snapped through the yellow police tape and was breaking the land speed record heading to the far end of the terminal.

  “How is he going to get out of the building?” yelled Ayanna as she charged after the disappearing motorcyclist.

  Noonan stood at the entrance to the walkway simply smiling.

  Chapter 71

  Hollywood could not have choreographed the next 10 seconds better than true life. Every person in the Terminal was pressed to the bank of windows watching the runway so there was not a soul walking around to slow the motorcycle’s progress This gave the rider a straight shot at the east end of the combined concourses.

  There may have been no one ahead of the rider but as soon as the motorcycle passed, everyone who had been pressed to the window was in pursuit. The human wave stalled Ayanna and the rest of the security personnel. The further the motorcycle ran, the more people joined in the chase.

  Then something strange happened. One of the pursuers noticed some small, glittering objects were falling off the back of the motorcycle. Not a lot of them, just a few. It didn’t take a genius to figure out what those objects were.

  “Diamonds!” Someone yelled and there was an instantaneous crowd scrounging around on the floor looking for diamonds. That stopped the pursuit dead in its tracks.

  Chapter 72

  Gerry was watching as tail door to Unicorn 739 was being closed. “Oh no!!” snapped the cameraman. “We’ve missed it.”

  “Not yet.” Gerry said. “We’re where we’re supposed to be. Get ready to shoot.”

  “Shoot what?”

  Just then they heard the sound of a motorcycle.

  “Is the sound coming from inside the Terminal?”

  “Yeah,” said Gerry. “Get the camera rolling. Focus on the terminal. We’re here for a reason.”

  “But the plane’s down there!”

  “Yeah, but the action is here!”

  Just as the cameraman focused on the terminal the plastic sheeting on the window being repaired exploded outward.

  “Momma Mia!” said the camera man as the motorcycle went airborne.

  “Did you get it? Did you get it?” Gerry was so excited she jumping up and down.

  “I’m getting it!”

  He was getting it. Right in the center of his lens. The motorcycle came out of the second floor window with streams of plastic sheeting from the window. The cycle fell about four feet and landed on top of a glass repair truck which had obviously been placed in exactly the right location to receive the motorcycle. The bike took a single bounce and landed on the angled staircase on the front of the truck. The ladder still had the wood board covering the steps so the new glass window, which was on the tarmac leaning against the truck, could be slid into place. The plastic sheeting ripped off and the motorcycle was now across the runway headed for the tree line of Kincaid Park half a mile away.

  10 seconds later, everyone who could run, jump or hop was headed for the moose gates on the far side of the runway and Kincaid Park.

  Chapter 73

  The Fisherman was idling near the bank when he heard a crashing in the underbrush. Casually looking over his right shoulder he watched as a black motorcycle leapt off the ledge of Kincaid Park and dropped into Knik Inlet. There was a deep kerplunk! and the water swallowed the vehicle. It was high tide so the level of the water was almost flush with the forest floor. In six hours the water would be 30 feet lower. The motorcycle would still not be visible. It would be another 30 feet down, rolling back and forth on the bottom of the Inlet, being ground deeper and deeper into the mud with each tide.

  The Fisherman nosed the boat toward a patch of rocks on the shore. As he did, a small figure reached into the brush and pulled a rope. The short ramp allowing the motorcycle to arch over the Inlet collapsed into the water. It did not make a splash, it just slid into the water. Then the figure was running toward him, stripping off the motorcycle helmet as she ran.

  “Everything go according to plan?” The Fisherman looked at her expectantly.

  She just gave him a quick thumbs up and reached for the nose of the boat. She jumped in and he slowly started to putt-putt out into the deeper waters. Beside him the woman stripped to her underwear and slid all of her clothing into the mesh laundry bag. As she was pulling on a sweatshirt, the Fisherman lifted the cement block and dropped it over the side of the boat. There was a slight splash and zinging sound as the rope ran across the gunnels and then the laundry mesh bag went overboard. The Fisherman and the woman each had a beer open and their lines in the water before the first Anchorage Police Patrol boat rounded the point and headed toward them.

  Chapter 74

  There was not enough room to slide a playing card between the tips of the noses of Harrison and the AIC. Both were talking at the same time and each was index fingering the other’s chest. It was the eruption of turf war at its finest. For those who had sweet tooth from this kind of confrontation – and from the looks on the faces of many of those in the Command Center this was indeed the case – it was pure Guerilla Theater. It did not get much better than this.

  The AIC was accusing Harrison of grandstanding for the cameras and newspapers by announcing the hostages had been released unharmed. Because the AIC didn’t know the hostage had been released he had been forced to pay the $10 million in ransom. Harrison said Homeland Security was in charge and he made the decision because the hostages were the first concern. Once the hostages were released it was his duty to inform the families.

  This set the AIC off
and he accused Harrison of getting a drop on the publicity. Harrison said if the roles had been reversed the most dangerous square foot in America would have been between the AIC and any news camera. The AIC said such was a lie. Harrison said it was true. The AIC threatened and Harrison stated he was in charge.

  Then things got worse.

  Ayanna had been able to get one of the diamonds off the floor in the terminal. That was only because she had actually retrieved it. Everyone else who was scrounging on the floor for the stones denied they had found so much as a sliver of a precious stone. One look at it and she realized it was not a diamond at all. Simply some costume jewelry. She could crumple it to shards in here hand.

  The Anchorage Police had Kincaid Park completely cordoned off but there were so many people milling around looking for the motorcyclist it was impossible to tell who was a lookie-loo and who was the perp. Everyone coming out of the park was searched but this was not going to do any good because the perp had probably hidden the diamonds. The motorcycle was not found and there were so many scrambler tracks all over the Park so there was no way to follow the set left by the perpetrator’s motorcycle. The police had stopped several boats in Cook Inlet near the park but none of the fishermen were suspicious. All boats were searched to no avail. It was as if the motorcyclist had simply disappeared into the ether.

  The only person who seemed completely calm in the chaos surrounding him was Chief of Detectives Heinz Noonan. He sat back, sipping a cup of coffee watching the AIC and the Harrison accuse each other of all manner of malfeasance.

  “Those creeps got away with it,” said Ayanna as she down next to Noonan. “You’d think grown men could act better.”