Hostage

by Kristina Ohlsson

  The strike aircraft accompanied him every step of the way.

  And when the wheels of Flight 573 touched down at long last, the planes soared away into the sky and disappeared into the darkness.

  WEDNESDAY, 12 OCTOBER 2011

  69

  STOCKHOLM, 00:11

  It was the longest night of the autumn. At least, that was how Eden Lundell would remember it. She would also think of it as the night when the past made a fresh attempt to catch up with her.

  She assumed that she would win, as usual.

  They were receiving bulletins from the Americans at intervals of less than a minute. First of all, the plane was going to be shot down. Then came a message that Erik had called to say that the man he had knocked out with a wine bottle had finally regained consciousness.

  Then nothing.

  Midnight came and went.

  After seconds so long they felt like months, another call came through. At one minute past midnight. Kevin Davis had been able to confirm that what Erik said was true. Captain Karim Sassi was seriously injured and was no longer in command. One minute later, they were given permission to land at Dulles airport, and, as soon as the plane touched down, Bruce called Eden.

  To her surprise she was shaking with rage as she listened to what he had to say.

  ‘They could have died,’ she said. ‘Do you understand what you’ve done?’

  ‘They could,’ Bruce replied. ‘But they didn’t, and I think we would prefer to focus on that.’

  Eden didn’t waste time arguing; she slammed down the phone and turned to Alex.

  ‘They’ve landed. They’re all fine.’

  Alex’s shoulders dropped and his face lost the strained expression he had been wearing all day.

  The battle for his son’s survival was over.

  ‘Thank God,’ he said.

  Fredrika was sitting next to him; she was equally relieved, and placed a hand over his.

  It had been so close.

  So horribly close.

  There had been so little time left when Erik landed the plane. The fuel levels were so low that he had been prepared for an emergency landing with the engines shut down.

  Bruce had called the touchdown ‘impressive’.

  Eden still thought of it as extremely dangerous.

  ‘What happens now?’ Fredrika said.

  Eden looked at the phone and tried to remember all the information Bruce had spewed out during his call.

  ‘There were no other planes on the tarmac when Flight 573 came down. The emergency services were waiting for them on the runway. The media were banned, but of course they realised what was going on. The Americans are issuing a press release, and they will be holding a short press conference, where they will answer the most important questions.’

  She shrugged.

  ‘And the government?’ Fredrika said. ‘Our government, I mean.’

  ‘They were contacted at the same time as us. I’ll get in touch as soon as we’re done here.’

  ‘Me too,’ Fredrika said.

  Alex got to his feet. ‘I’ll go and ring my family,’ he said.

  Eden, Fredrika and Sebastian stayed put. Bruce called again.

  ‘Karim Sassi is in bad shape, but he’s going to make it,’ he said. ‘The stewardess stabbed him in the neck with a fork.’

  Eden could see it in her mind’s eye. The fork penetrating his flesh, the blood spurting out. She felt nothing. Karim Sassi had endangered the lives of hundreds of people. If she hadn’t been so keen to find out what had driven him to do such a thing, Eden would have been quite happy to see him die.

  ‘And Kevin Davis, the guy Erik knocked out?’

  ‘He’ll be fine too. He’s got a severe concussion; he’ll have to spend a few days in hospital, and I think he’ll be off sick for a while. He seems to have some problems with his vision and his memory.’

  Eden was worried for Erik. The Americans were world leaders in holding people responsible for the most bizarre occurrences.

  ‘Bruce, Erik couldn’t possibly have known that he was one of you.’

  ‘I’ll leave the DA to decide that,’ Bruce said tersely. ‘If he’d just listened to the guy instead of trying to kill him, things would have been very different.’

  ‘Yes, but . . .’

  ‘I have no intention of discussing this with you, Eden. That’s not why I called.’

  Always that illusion of superiority.

  I have no intention of discussing this with you, Eden.

  Who the fuck did he think he was?

  ‘I’m calling because Karim Sassi became hysterical when they carried him into the ambulance. Well, you know what I mean. He’s extremely weak, but he was showing clear signs of stress. He says that his family are being held hostage, and that they’re going to die.’

  Eden shook her head.

  There was no possibility that this was the case. They couldn’t have missed something like that.

  ‘He says that’s why he did it,’ Bruce went on. ‘Could there be any truth in this? If so, there’s very little time, because the news that the plane has landed without the hijackers’ demands being met is already out there, as you know.’

  Eden pressed the receiver to her ear, trying to suppress the warning bells in her head.

  She could feel the others staring at her.

  ‘He’s lying,’ she said. ‘Not a shred of doubt about it. We’ve spoken to Karim’s wife several times. She and the children travelled to Copenhagen yesterday morning, and now she’s back in Stockholm. We’ve been to see her.’

  Or had they?

  Dennis had come over to her desk; he caught her eye and nodded in confirmation.

  ‘In that case, I’ve no idea what he’s talking about,’ Bruce said. ‘I just wanted to check that there was no truth in what he said. I’ll get back to you on that.’

  ‘Please do,’ Eden said. She thought for a second, then added, ‘That doesn’t necessarily mean he’s lying.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘Karim Sassi. Just because his family hasn’t been kidnapped, that doesn’t mean he couldn’t have believed that was the case. Which was why he helped the hijackers. Because he thought his family would die if he didn’t.’

  Her brain was functioning on autopilot, and she suddenly realised how everything hung together.

  ‘How could something like that happen?’ Bruce said, his voice dripping with scepticism.

  ‘It would only take a phone call,’ Eden said.

  A call from one of the phones that was used to make the bomb threats on Monday.

  For fuck’s sake, they had been led by the nose all the way along.

  A wave of nausea came over her; she broke out in a sweat, the perspiration running down her back. The bomb threats had had one aim – to consolidate their suspicions against Karim. The person responsible for the hijacking, most probably Zakaria’s sister, had pointed them in the direction of Karim and away from herself. In spite of the fact that they had worked out Sofi’s role in the drama, they had missed the fact that Karim was merely an instrument for her malevolence.

  It was such a significant failure that Eden could feel herself blushing.

  ‘Surely, no normal person would carry four hundred people to their deaths to save their family just on the basis of a phone call?’ Bruce said. ‘I mean, wouldn’t you call your family to check if they really are being held hostage?’

  Eden shook her head.

  ‘I haven’t worked out all the details,’ she said. ‘I just know that what he’s saying is relevant. You have to talk to him. Soon. Tonight, if possible, so that whoever is behind all this doesn’t have time to get out of Sweden. Ask the right questions. Find out what he has to say, and I’ll work on it from my side.’

  She could sense Bruce’s doubts in his silence.

  ‘You can’t seriously believe he’s telling the truth?’

  ‘I don’t believe anyone would do something like this without a really good reason. And I’ve s
pent most of my time today trying to understand what motivated Karim. I came up with jack shit.’

  ‘Okay,’ Bruce said. ‘If you’re buying the kidnapping angle, then perhaps you’d like to hear part two of his mixed-up story. He mentioned a flight number to the co-pilot before he lost consciousness on the plane.’

  Eden frowned. ‘What flight number?’

  ‘Flight TU003. He said that was what it was all about, or something along those lines.’

  Eden didn’t know what to say or think.

  ‘We’ll check it out,’ she said, without any real conviction that it would prove useful.

  Alex interrupted her.

  ‘Ask him about Erik.’

  ‘What’s happening with Erik Recht?’

  ‘We’re holding him and the rest of the crew. We’ll be questioning him shortly.’

  Eden avoided looking at Alex.

  ‘And that other matter we were discussing? Will you be prosecuting?’

  ‘Eden, this has been a hell of a day, if you’ll pardon my language. I can’t possibly answer a question like that right now.’

  Eden ended the call, feeling extremely irritated.

  ‘What did they say?’ Alex wanted to know.

  ‘They’ll be questioning Erik shortly.’

  ‘Good,’ Alex said. ‘In that case, he’ll soon be home.’

  Eden thought that was unlikely, but she didn’t say anything.

  They had an awful lot of work ahead of them. It had been a long day, but it was going to be an even longer night. Eden had no intention of going home. She would stay at work and tackle one thing at a time.

  She was still spooked by the encounter with Efraim.

  No, she definitely wasn’t going home. She wouldn’t stand a chance of getting to sleep anyway.

  Sebastian seemed to read her mind.

  ‘I’m staying,’ he said. ‘What do we do now?’

  Eden gave him a grateful look.

  ‘We start with Karim’s wife.’

  70

  WASHINGTON, DC, 21:15

  It was several hours before the doctors would allow them to carry out an initial interview with Karim Sassi. He had undergone an operation to stop the bleeding in his neck, and the anaesthetic had made him very tired.

  ‘I don’t really know how much help he’ll be in his present condition,’ the doctor said. ‘But you’re welcome to speak to him for a little while.’

  Karim’s eyes were cloudy when Bruce and his colleague walked into the room. He listened as they introduced themselves and explained that he was suspected of being involved in the hijacking of Flight 573, and of attempting to blackmail the US government, thus breaking the United States laws on terrorism.

  ‘How do you respond to these accusations?’ Bruce said after his colleague had read Karim his rights.

  At first, they didn’t think they were going to get an answer. It looked as if Karim wanted to say something, but was having major problems in actually speaking. Bruce was just about to go and fetch the doctor when Karim spoke:

  ‘My family.’

  It was no more than a whisper, but Bruce heard what he said. So Karim was intending to stick to his story, claiming that his family had been kidnapped.

  Bruce was about to tell him that his family was okay, and that they had other matters to discuss, when he changed his mind.

  ‘They’re still missing,’ he said.

  His colleague was staring at him as if he had lost his mind. Of course the family were okay – they always had been.

  Bruce prayed that his colleague would keep quiet.

  Karim’s reaction was totally unexpected. With a groan, he tried to sit up and get out of bed. A stream of whispered words came pouring out, but Bruce didn’t understand a thing because they were all in Swedish.

  With firm hands he pushed Karim back down.

  ‘You’re going nowhere,’ he said.

  ‘You don’t understand,’ Karim said, speaking in English now. ‘She’s still got them. She said they’d die if I broke the rules.’

  He began to cry, in a way that Bruce had never seen a man cry; it was deeply disturbing.

  Bruce took a deep breath and tried to find the right words.

  ‘Karim, listen to me. It’s obvious that something terrible has happened, but we can’t help you if you don’t talk to us. Do you understand?’

  Karim wiped his face; he looked grey and exhausted. If the doctor came in, the interview would be over.

  ‘I understand.’

  ‘Good. Start from the beginning. How did you come into contact with these people?’

  Once again, Karim had difficulty speaking.

  Patience, Bruce thought. This situation requires patience, which unfortunately I don’t have.

  ‘Just one. She’s alone.’

  ‘Who is alone?’

  ‘The person who did all this. The woman who took my family.’

  More tears and, by now, Karim Sassi’s chest was rattling so much that Bruce discreetly gestured to his colleague to close the door, so that he couldn’t be heard out in the corridor.

  ‘They’re gone,’ Karim whispered. ‘All gone.’

  Bruce had seen more liars than he could count. Over the years, he had become highly skilled in seeing how lies altered a person’s face, small details that might escape the untrained eye, but which he noticed immediately.

  He could see none of these signs in Karim. Not one. Perhaps it was because of the anaesthetic, perhaps because he was exhausted. Or perhaps he was actually telling the truth, in which case Bruce assumed he must be going through the torments of hell right now.

  ‘We’re looking for them,’ he said. ‘We won’t give up until we find them.’

  They had to move on. He was happy to provide reassurance if it calmed Karim down.

  ‘She’s always one step ahead, all the time.’

  ‘Do you know who she is?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘She didn’t tell you her name?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘But she must have had other people helping her?’

  ‘I don’t know about that.’

  But what about you, Karim? You were one of those people, weren’t you?

  As far as Bruce was aware, it wouldn’t change Karim’s situation even if it turned out that he had actually believed his family had been kidnapped. A compassionate judge would regard it as a mitigating circumstance, but nothing more. You couldn’t endanger the lives of over four hundred people in order to save just three.

  ‘So you don’t know this woman who took your family?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘How did she get in touch with you?’

  ‘She rang me. The previous night. She rang and left a message on my voicemail. Although it wasn’t really a message, just a long silence. So I called back, mainly because I was curious. I thought whoever it was must have left a message, but for some reason it hadn’t recorded. She said she’d got the wrong number. Asked about someone I didn’t know; I said there was no one of that name in our house. I didn’t recognise her voice.’

  Karim fell silent.

  ‘Then what happened?’

  Karim closed his eyes, and Bruce thought he had fallen asleep. He gently nudged Karim’s shoulder, and his eyes flew open.

  ‘Then what happened?’

  ‘She called again. This morning.’

  ‘You mean yesterday morning?’

  ‘Before we took off. She called me before we took off. Said she’d taken my family, that I would be given a task to fulfil, and that I must follow my instructions to the letter. To the letter.’

  Karim’s chest rose and fell.

  ‘And what were these instructions?’

  ‘She told me over the phone. Told me to write the demands on a piece of paper, then stick it to the wall in one of the toilets.’

  ‘You were the one who wrote the note?’

  ‘Yes.’

  Bruce thought for a moment. This was all too weird; he couldn’t take it in
.

  ‘Okay, let’s just rewind here. For a start: how did you know that she really had taken your family?’

  Fresh tears trickled down Karim’s cheeks. ‘She let me speak to my daughter.’

  Bruce felt his pulse rate increase.

  How was this possible? How could Karim’s family have been taken hostage without anyone missing them? They’d been in Denmark all day, hadn’t they?

  ‘And what did your daughter say?’

  Karim turned his head so that he was gazing at the window and the black night sky outside.

  ‘She said she wanted me to come home, that the girl was stupid.’

  ‘Was she upset?’

  Karim nodded, and whispered, ‘It was so short. Much too short.’

  ‘How long did your conversation last?’

  ‘Less than a minute.’

  ‘So you never met her?’

  ‘No.’

  Bruce began piecing the information together, and with the help of the reports he had received from Stockholm during the day, an unpleasant picture began to take shape. There was Karim’s contact with the phone that had also been used to make bomb threats targeting various locations in Stockholm’s inner city. And there was the information from the neighbour who had seen Karim’s youngest daughter speaking to a girl in the street.

  Is that how it had happened? Had someone used such a simple ruse to convince Karim that his family had been kidnapped?

  ‘Didn’t you try to call your wife?’

  ‘Yes, but she always has her mobile on silent, or switched off. This time I couldn’t get through at all.’

  The doctor came in, and when he saw Karim’s dull expression and heard his laboured breathing, he was far from happy.

  Bruce cut him off before he could say a word.

  ‘We’re almost done.’

  ‘Two more minutes, then I’m afraid you’ll have to leave.’

  Bruce turned to Karim, desperate to finish asking his questions.

  ‘What further instructions did you receive? Apart from the ones you wrote in the note?’

  ‘None.’

  ‘So why did you fly to Washington instead of New York?’

  Karim turned back to face Bruce, his expression almost one of surprise. As if he had been reminded of something he had forgotten.