Edge of Tomorrow (63 page)

Athens Airport, Greece

Saturday, August 18, 2001

4:24 P.M.

Syd and Hatch had stepped out of the Triple
Eye helicopter so Hatch could have a smoke. Syd mused, “So you
think the only way to solve this mess is to pay the ransom?”

“I think so, Syd. Once those assholes are off
the ship, we can deal with them more safely.”

“How do you do that? They want $10,000,000 in
American currency.”

“The money is the least of the problems.
Delivering it is more of a problem,” replied Hatch as he ran his
hand over his beard.

“Where do you get your hands on that kind of
money in the next forty-five minutes?”

“The timing
is
tight. I’ll have to try and twist some arms.
I do keep accounts in various banks around the world for situations
like this, and I happen to have one at the Bank of America over on
Panepistimiou Street. Things always go more smoothly when you have
an established account. There’s no ten mil there, but I can
transfer it in quickly; however, getting it out in cash will raise
a lot of red flags. They will think ‘drug deal.’ I’ll have to
handle that problem first,” said Hatch as he reached for his Blue
Phone.

He connected to a number in Charlotte, North
Carolina, and after a long minute he was talking to the CEO of the
Bank of America—who knew Van Lincoln personally—in his headquarters
office. Hatch remained vague as to why he needed so much cash so
quickly, but since he had so much money in various Bank of America
branches, the CEO concluded it would be prudent to do as Hatch
asked. He agreed to call the manager in Athens and vouch for Hatch,
and instruct him to cooperate fully with all of Hatch’s
requests.

In order to give the CEO time to talk to the
local manager, Hatch next called a bank in Switzerland and arranged
the transfer of the $10,000,000 to his account in Athens.

“OK,” he said to Syd, “in a few minutes I’ll
call the local bank and see if they can move fast.”

Syd exclaimed, “Amazing! You’ll really have
that much money that quickly?”

“Unless the local banker screws up. Now,
delivery. In the old days, Bob Hatcher would have run a scam and
delivered the money to the ship posing as a British diplomat, or
something similar. That’s very risky in this situation—and maybe
not even possible if the Greek colonel got tough.”

Syd interjected, “That’s too dangerous! Think
of something else!”

“I was going to say, dear, until I was so
rudely interrupted,” he went on with a chuckle, “now that we have
new technology at our disposal, I don’t have to run the risky scam.
Remember, we have Shadow-4.”

Using the Blue Phone again, Hatch called the
local bank manager and gave him his instructions, urging haste at
gathering the cash together. The manager did not argue with him.
Hatch hung up and called Sara on a satellite channel and explained
the plan to her.

Hatch added, “Sara, scoot over closer to
Athens and find a nice, isolated park, or something—some place
where you can pick up the money bag without the transfer being seen
by prying eyes. Call me when you’re in place.”

“Roger that,” replied Sara.

Syd and Hatch reentered the Triple Eye
chopper and watched the monitor for awhile. Nothing new had
happened that they could see, but who knew what was actually going
on inside the ship?

Finally, Hatch’s Blue Phone rang and he was
informed that the money was ready, packed in a large, gray canvas
duffel bag. He and Syd grabbed the limo driver and went to the bank
and took possession of the money. Sara had found a secluded spot
about ten minutes from the bank, so by 5:16 P.M. the money was on
board Shadow-4.

The limo driver drove Hatch and Syd back to
the airport and they again entered the Bell 430. Hatch put on his
headset and made contact with Sara once more.

“Yo, Hatch! We’re back over the ship. What
now?”

“Is there another radio channel I can use to
talk to that Koko guy? Different from the one he’s been using to
talk to the Greek?” asked Hatch.

“Hang on, I’ll find one for you.”

Syd asked Hatch, “What are you doing
now?”

“I need to make a deal with that guy without
anyone knowing about it.”

A minute later, Sara reported in. “Here you
go, Hatch.”

She gave him a frequency he could use, then
said, “Do you want me to make the connection and patch you in?”

“Yes, Sara, that would be great. Let’s see if
he will answer on that frequency,” answered Hatch.

Hatch had put his system on speaker again so
Syd could hear what was going on. Syd still wondered how Hatch was
going to pull this off. She could hear Sara calling for the ship to
answer. Finally, a voice came on the channel and said something in
Greek.

Hatch immediately jumped in and said, “Mr.
Koko, do you speak English?”

There was a slight silence on the channel,
then the voice replied in English with a Greek accent, “Yes. Who is
this?”

“My name is Styx. I am your only way out of
this mess you’ve created. The British have no intention of paying
you anything and, in fact, the SAS will be arriving momentarily.
The Greek colonel has been stalling you,” said Hatch.

“Hah! Do they want a blood bath here?” yelled
Koko.

“They only want their ship back and your head
on a pike. They don’t care about collateral damage. You and all of
your cohorts will die in that blood bath—that’s a certainty! I, on
the other hand, am interested in avoiding such an incident, even
though it lets your sorry, cowardly ass get away. I am a private
citizen—an American—and I do not want to see any more of my
countrymen butchered by you,” continued Hatch.

“You think
you
can stop me?” sneered Koko.

“I’m trying to keep everyone alive here! I’m
willing to pay you your ransom if you will not kill anyone else,
and get you sorry ass off that ship immediately!”

Koko thought that over for a long second,
wondering if this was a trap. If this guy was for real, he could
avoid a shootout with the SAS. He did believe the SAS would be here
soon. No harm in hearing the American out.

“What’s your proposition?”

“I give you a bag containing $10,000,000 cash
in American currency, then you and your slime partners jump in your
chopper and disappear,” said Hatch.

“How do I know this is not a trap? A complete
scam?” asked Koko.

“I guess you don’t, but if I wanted you dead,
you already would be. Blondie, do you still see our Mr. Koko?”

Sara knew Hatch meant her—he just did not
want to use her name. “Yes, sir, and the ship’s clock is six inches
to the right of the fucker’s masked head.”

“Take out the clock,” he ordered.

A .50 caliber slug came through the glass
window on the bridge and hit the clock dead center. Koko dived to
the floor, the radio transmitter still in his hand.

“Damn you!” Koko spat into the phone after he
got through with a few Greek expletives.

“It could have been you, Koko! Now do you
believe me? I want this over with. You only want money! Let’s get
this thing done!” growled Hatch.

“Where’s your fucking shooter?” snarled
Koko.

“Not important. Do we have a deal?” said
Hatch.

Koko decided he had better grab the money and
run. Mr. Styx could have had him killed, but he did not. Not
yet.

“OK. How do I get my money?” Koko asked.

“I’ll get back to you in five minutes. Get
your people ready to leave.”

Hatch switched to a secure satellite channel
and talked to Sara.

“You heard him agree, Sara?”

“Yep. It looks like I can drop the bag not
too far from their chopper, but I’m afraid anyone watching the
ship—like all those TV cameras on the dock—will see the bag drop
out of the sky. Not good,” replied Sara.

Hatch had already thought of that
problem.

“We’ll have the bag appear in a puff of
smoke. Presto! Change-o!” replied Hatch with a chuckle. “You have
smoke grenades on board, don’t you?”

Sara laughed and said, “I gotcha! I’ll throw
a smoke grenade on the deck, the downdraft from the prop will swirl
it all around, and down goes the money bag.”

“That’s my girl! Go do it, then I’ll tell
Koko where it is. Hopefully, he’ll load up and take off. Then,
you’ll follow him and get my money and the ship’s stuff back,” said
Hatch.

“What about the assholes?”

“If they resist, protect yourselves. And
remember, they did murder a woman in cold blood today. Don’t take
any risks. Tie up any survivors for the authorities to deal
with.”

Sara switched to intercom and told the
Shadow-4 crew what the plan was. The pilot, George O’Reilly, took
the chopper to 2000 feet and maneuvered it over the spot on the
ship that Sara had indicated.

“How’s the skin, Three?” Sara asked Tim
Norton, the Chief Engineer.

“Everything’s in the green, Major,” he
answered.

“OK, let’s do it! Take her down, One! Three,
open the hatch and get some smoke ready,” ordered Sara.

The bag of money was lashed to the wall right
next to the trap door in the floor.

What happened next amazed all the onlookers
on the docks. It was recorded on several TV cameras, but later
analysis of the tapes never revealed what really occurred on the
ship that day. A large cloud of smoke swirled around the upper deck
just aft of the highjackers’ black helicopter. The smoke was
whipped around as if a whirlwind had struck the ship. Then it
dissipated until only a few whiffs of smoke lingered. Most
onlookers wondered what the criminals were up to.

When Sara told Hatch the money was delivered,
he called Koko again. “OK. The money is on board. It’s about
fifteen yards aft of your chopper. If you’re smart, you’ll grab it
and go. I just heard that the SAS troops have landed. You’re out of
time.”

“How did you deliver any money? Is this a
trick?” asked Koko.

“It’s there! Go, asshole!”

Koko called his man standing guard near their
chopper and was told about the smoke. The man went aft and found
the bag and reported the find to Koko.

He said in Greek, “There’s a bag! Want me to
open it?”

“Yes! Quickly! Watch for booby traps!”

“Wow! It’s full of money!”

“OK, put it in the chopper. I’ll call the
others. Let’s get out of here!” ordered Koko. “The ship’s bag of
loot is already on board.”

The Shadow-4 crew watched as five men wearing
ski masks scurried to board the chopper. They were dragging a woman
along with them. She wore a white blouse and blue skirt, so Sara
guessed she was part of the ship’s crew.

“Hatch, they’re taking a hostage with them: a
young woman, possibly a crew member,” Sara reported.

“I suspected they would do that,” he
responded. “Insurance against being followed. Did they tell the
Greek colonel anything?”

“Just a sec. Let me check with the
translator,” said Sara. Twenty seconds later, she continued, “Yep!
Koko told him they were leaving, but if they were followed or
attacked, they would throw the woman to her death. Nice
fuckers!”

Hatch said, “Yeah! OK, don’t lose them. I’m
going to get airborne in the Triple Eye chopper and follow you, but
at a distance. I don’t want to be spotted. I needn’t say this, but
if they do throw that woman out, shoot ’em down!”

“What about the money?”

“You know better than that. Fuck the money!
Just fry ’em!”

• • •

The black 240L took off and skimmed the
water, heading south. They did not intend to get up into radar
coverage. As they sped along at twenty feet above the water at 175
miles-per-hour, Shadow-4 cruised at 3,000 feet, keeping them in
sight. Sara had them locked-on to her Fire Control System. They
could never outrun Shadow-4, so Sara’s only worry was the fate of
the woman hostage. Hatch checked in and said he was ten miles away
at 8,000 feet and would stay away for now.

• • •

On board the black chopper, Koko and his
buddies were laughing and congratulating themselves on a job well
done. They had not counted the money in the gray duffel bag yet,
but Koko figured even if he had been cheated, he was ahead of the
game. He also had all the cash and jewelry from the ship, and did
not have to shoot it out with the vaunted SAS.

They had all removed their ski masks, so the
young hostage—Maggie Sterling, 28, a British citizen—was very
afraid. They would never let her live now that she had seen their
faces. She could not understand what they were saying, but when
they leered at her and laughed, she knew she was in big trouble!
She began praying silently to herself.

• • •

Shadow-4 trailed them for some forty miles
before the black chopper turned in toward land and began skimming
the trees. After five minutes, they arrived at a small clearing in
the forest where Sara could see two gray vans parked on the side of
a dirt road. The black chopper landed in the clearing.

“Hatch,” Sara said over the secure channel,
“they’re landing in a clearing, mark my GPS. There are two vans
down there. This is where they plan to disappear.”

“Good, Sara. I’ve got your location noted
here, but I’m going to stay away from your position. All traffic in
the area is being tracked, so I don’t want to lead them to you. I
have Syd monitoring the Brits, and they just launched their attack
helo from Athens Airport. You handle the situation there any way
you want. Priority: save the hostage,” Hatch replied.

“Roger, Hatch. Catch you later.”

Syd had switched channels and heard the last
exchange between Sara and Hatch. “Sara is in her element now, isn’t
she?”

“Oh, yes! Those guys are in deep shit now!
They’re up against the best there is.”