by Wolf Wootan
She wondered if she had been living with no thought of yesterday, just today, not thinking of the future as she should. Are today’s pleasures and joys repressing her ability to plan the future? What did the voice mean about the edge of tomorrow? One foot in today, one foot in tomorrow? But when you step the other foot into tomorrow, you are in today again. Does that mean tomorrow is out of her reach? Is Hatch really playing at God-like things? Does she really have the power and strength to protect him against unseen powers, powers she knows nothing about? She was certain about one thing: ever since that day at The Blue Grotto when she met Hatch, her life had changed forever! And she wouldn’t have it any other way!
• • •
At 7:00 A.M. Saturday morning, the telephone on Hatch’s bed table jangled him awake. He checked his watch and groaned.
Probably the General bugging us to go to breakfast!
“Hello,” he said.
Sara said over the phone, “Hatch! I’m glad I tracked you down! Have you seen the news?”
“No. I was asleep. Syd’s still asleep, so let me call you back on an encrypted channel. I’ll take my Blue Phone to the other room.”
“Ciao,” replied Sara as she hung up.
Hatch retrieved his Blue Phone and went to the sitting room and called Sara.
“OK, Sara, what’s up?” he asked.
“Sorry I had to call your room, but you didn’t answer your pager.”
“I turned it off. Syd and I celebrated last night.”
“Well, I thought you might want to know that some Greek terrorists took over the Grand Princess cruise ship in Piraeus last night. Isn’t that the ship your parents are cruising on?” said Sara.
“Shit! Yes! But they’re safe! They’re here with me, thank God! I talked them out of returning to the ship last night,” explained Hatch. “Do you know any details?”
“Not many. It’s all over TV here, so it definitely will be in Greece. It seems these guys say they are part of the terrorist group Xanos—very anti-American, by the way. This group, and others of their ilk, got very active when NATO and the U.S. bombed Orthodox Serbs in Yugoslavia. You may remember that Clinton had to cut his visit to Greece short last year because of demonstrations by the leftists. The news here claims that at least half of the passengers and crew are still on board, and are, of course, hostages. If they have made any demands, it hasn’t been reported to the public yet,” replied Sara.
Hatch paced in his boxer shorts while he absorbed this information. Then he asked, “What have you done there?”
“Just preliminary planning—just in case you decide to get involved. At least, your parents are not a problem. I’ve got ship data, deck plans. I’ve programmed a satellite to watch the area and monitor comm channels. I put Lexus and Shadow-4 on standby alert.”
“Good. I’ll go back to Athens this morning and see what’s what. See if you can monitor any negotiations going on, and try and determine what responses the Greeks and the Brits are planning. I’ll be in touch later. I’ll use the Comm/Nav system on the chopper. I’ll turn my pager back on so you can reach me if anything hot happens.”
“Fine. Say ‘hello’ to Syd for me,” answered Sara as she hung up.
Hatch had not wanted to announce his engagement to Syd over the phone, especially not with a possible international crisis brewing. Besides, he figured that was something that Syd would want to do herself. Syd wandered in wearing her spare shortie nightgown, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.
“What’s going on, dear?” she mumbled as she ran her hands through her mussed hair.
“That was Sara. You’re not going to believe this,” he answered her, then told her what little he knew about the ship highjacking.
Syd was now wide awake. She went to the small kitchenette and started the coffee maker.
“Wow! I’m glad your parents aren’t still on board! Do they know?”
“If they’re watching TV they do.”
He had switched on the small TV in the sitting room and was watching the unfolding incident, volume turned low. He found it on CNN where the commentators were speaking English.
“Are you going to get involved in this, Hatch?” Syd asked as she brought two mugs of coffee into the sitting room and joined him.
Hatch took one mug, blew across the top of it and took a small sip. “Thanks, Syd. I don’t know yet. Would you ask that question if my parents were still on board?”
Syd looked at him and said, “Shit! How stupid of me! Forgive my lack of sensitivity, sweetheart!”
“Forget it, dear. I want to watch the situation, gather more info. See what the British and the Greeks do. They may preempt anyone else from getting involved. Let’s see how nasty the terrorists get. Most of the people on that ship are Americans, and these Xanos guys are very anti-American.”
They sipped coffee and watched TV for awhile in silence. The reporters did not really know anything except that the terrorists had landed on the Grand Princess in a helicopter and took over the bridge. Zoom cameras showed the black chopper on the top deck, aft of amidships. Syd got up and sat on Hatch’s lap and kissed the tip of his nose. He ran his hand along her thigh and under the gown. She was not wearing panties.
“Umm. That feels good!” she purred. “Fiancé! You can go a little higher!”
“Maybe we can fool around for a bit, then go fetch the General and my mom and have some breakfast. I think I should put them on a plane back to Miami. This cruise is over for them, no matter what happens.”
“Good plan! Now, fool with me, you fool!”
• • •
When the Triple Eye chopper landed back at the Athens Airport, the limo was waiting for them. Hatch had booked a flight for his parents, after explaining to them what was going on.
“We have friends on that boat, Hatch!” exclaimed the General. “I wish I were in charge! I’d handle those fucking terrorists!”
Carrie said, “I wish you would watch your language, dear! You’ll burn Syd’s ears!”
“I just want those bastards exterminated!”
“We’ll just have to wait it out, General,” remarked Syd, wondering if Shadow-4 was really up there somewhere, even though Hatch had said it was on standby in Rome. Even so, Syd could not imagine what even Lexus and Shadow-4 could do about this situation. The ship was huge: the size of a small city! The bad guys could be anywhere in that maze!
• • •
After the Lincolns’ plane took off, the limo took Syd and Hatch back to the Triple Eye chopper. The pilot arranged to have an Auxiliary Power Unit (APU) connected to the chopper, then went over to have a cigarette with the limo driver while Hatch and Syd climbed into the helicopter. Hatch went to the cockpit and turned on the Comm/Nav computer system, donned a headset, then made contact with Sara over a secure satellite channel. Sara was in the Comm/Computer room at the castle in Rome. She informed them that the satellite was in position over the area and working well. She gave Hatch some numbers and he typed them into his computer system. A bird’s-eye view of the Grand Princess appeared on his console screen.
“Good work, Sara,” said Hatch. “What do you hear about what’s going on?”
“I gave you the frequency we’ve been monitoring. It’s the one the chief highjacker—he calls himself Koko—has been using to communicate with the guy in charge of the Harbor Police. He seems to be the one representing Greece in this fucking farce. Since they’re talking in Greek, I patched the Triple Eye guy on the Greek desk in Langley into a conference call and he’s been translating for me,” explained Sara. “By the way, how’s Syd?”
He was itching to tell Sara about the engagement, but he bit his tongue and said, “She’s just great! She’s sitting right here. I’ll tell her you asked about her. Did you clear things with Jane? About the Greek desk, I mean.”
Sara continued, “Yes. I told her you were in Greece and your parents were on that ship, and we needed to know what the fuck was going on. She set things up for me at the Greek des
k.”
“Good! You’re getting some political smarts, finally. I don’t want Jane to get her nose out of joint by us using Triple Eye resources without her knowledge.”
“Fuck Jane! Now, this guy Koko says he’s from a group called Xanos, but you probably know that already if you watched any TV. What you don’t know is what he is demanding. Ten million U.S. dollars by 4:00 P.M.”
Hatch asked, “No terrorist prisoners to be released? No televised political statement? Nothing political?”
“No, not yet. We’ve broken the code on the channel the British are using. A C-130 Hercules will be in Athens by six o’clock or so—loaded with Special Air Services commandos and a Lynx MK1 attack helo. Their orders are to retake the ship. You know what that means.”
“Yes. A lot of people will die! Most of the passengers on that ship are American citizens. Any word if the U.S. plans to get involved?”
“No. Only the British. They take the position that the ship is British soil, even though it’s in a Greek port. They told the Greeks to wait for the SAS guys to arrive. That suits the Greeks—they want nothing to do with this mess,” replied Sara.
“Shit! Too many people will die that way! I have less than four hours to figure something out. I’m sure if I do, I’ll need Shadow-4. Go get airborne, and bring Coffer, Gunny, and any other Lexus guys you can squeeze in. If you hurry, you can be here by 3:30, or shortly thereafter,” said Hatch. “Any estimate on how many highjackers there are?”
“Not from anything I’ve heard, but that chopper on the ship is a Bell 206L Long Ranger and it only holds seven. So, unless some of them were actual passengers on the ship, that gives you an upper limit. The guy I can see on the bridge is wearing a ski mask. I would assume they all are, which means all they have to do if attacked is whip off the mask and mix with the passenger population.”
“That’s why flooding the ship with a SWAT team is asinine. I’ll get back to you, Sara.”
Hatch signed off and he and Syd stared at the screen which contained the overhead view of the ship. Hatch briefed Syd on what Sara had said.
“You know, Syd, any attempt to take those guys by force while they are on the ship will be a massacre! They may even have explosives on board!”
Syd nodded, “I agree. You need to get them off the ship before moving against them, but how do you do that?”
Hatch stroked his beard as he thought of Syd’s question.
“Their demands are unusual, and very simple for terrorists. Just give them the money,” he finally said.
Syd replied, “From what Sara said, it sounds like that option has been rejected by the British. Why did they ask for U.S. dollars?”
Without cracking a smile, Hatch responded, “Because it’s illegal to take more than $500 in Greek drachmae out of Greece.”
Syd hesitated a moment, then burst into laughter. “You had me there for a moment! What’s the real reason?”
“That’s a real law here. But mostly, the Greeks like to do business in dollars. A 10,000 drachma bill is only worth around $35. The highjackers’ helo wouldn’t be able to hold $10,000,000 in Greek money and them, too! Well, I guess all we can do now is wait this out. And think. We need a plan.”
• • •
Shadow-4 reported in at 3:48 P.M. over the Grand Princess at 5,000 feet. The pilot was George O’Reilly, former Air Force pilot; the copilot was Carl Reddy, former Marine gunship pilot; the Engineer was former Master Chief Tim Norton. Sara was doubling on Offensive and Defensive Weapons Stations. Lexus team members on board were Colonel Bill Coffer, Gunny Lamper, Jake Randall (former SEAL), and Carolyn Carter (former member of Delta Force). Jake Randall was doubling as field Medic.
Syd and Hatch were still in the Bell 430 watching the ship on their screen and kicking ideas around.
Syd mused, “It’s hard to believe these guys are political terrorists. If they were of the Muslim variety, they would have made all sorts of political demands by now.”
“I’ve been thinking of that, too. It’s possible they are just plain old criminals trying to make a quick $10,000,000,” agreed Hatch.
• • •
Hatch’s guess was right. The leader of the six man group was Abas “Koko” Kaoulos, a long-time loser with a lengthy criminal record. He was betting all the marbles on this caper. The other five members were also vicious hard cases with long records. They had spent all their money to acquire the weapons, ammunition, and other equipment they needed for this action. They had stolen the Bell 206L chopper.
Abas knew the success of the action depended on timing and the appropriate level of threat. He figured the British were sending SAS troops to raid the ship. He needed to have his money and be gone before they got here. His men had already robbed all of the passengers and looted the ship’s safe of cash and jewelry, but he wanted more. He had no intention of shooting it out with the SAS. He estimated 5:30 P.M. as the deadline for leaving the ship. It was four o’clock, and the Greeks were still stalling him. He had to show them that he was serious. He picked up his handheld radio and called his man down by the gangplank.
“Kill one of them now! They have to be shown that we’re serious!”
• • •
Syd, Hatch, and the crew of Shadow-4 watched in horror as a woman walked off the ship onto the gangplank. She started to run and a man with an AK-47 shot her down.
“Shit!” exclaimed Sara over the encrypted channel they were using. “Did you guys see that? They’re getting fucking serious about that money, Hatch! The asshole just told the Greek colonel to get the money or they would kill more!”
Hatch had Sara on speaker so Syd could hear what was going on.
“We saw it, Sara!”
Sara continued, “I can see the ski-masked fucker through the window on the bridge. I could put a .50 caliber in his ear any time you say, Hatch!”
“Good to know. Not yet. You could start a massacre. Let’s see what the Greeks do in response to this,” cautioned Hatch.
• • •
By 4:20 P.M.—based on the conversation between the Greek colonel and the highjacker, Koko, which Sara summarized for them as it came in from the translator in Langley—it was clear to Hatch that the Greek colonel had no authority to do anything, much less negotiate. Hatch decided he must do something quickly or many passengers on that ship would die this day. He could think of only one way, but he was not sure if he could pull it off. All the cards were stacked against him. He shared his discouragement with the unfolding crisis, and his plan for solving it, with his soul mate, Syd. The plan was very risky, and he was out of time.
Chapter 30
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 re
mained 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.