فصل ۱۱

Chapter 11

Helen Sandberg decided she liked Colonel Carter. He spoke clearly, he explained his ideas carefully, and he listened to what she said. He did not try to be difficult because she was a woman. Best of all, they had made a plan together. A good plan, she thought; it could really work. Perhaps.

She looked at her watch: 2.23. ‘Right, Colonel, get your men ready. I’ll send the first prisoner down to you when they arrive yet?’ ‘No, Prime Minister. Not yet.’

‘Then where the hell are they? Can you get Inspector Holm on the car radio?’

‘They’re truing, Prime Minister.’ Michael spoke into the telephone. Colonel Carter left the room and Helen walked up and down slowly, watching the clock. 2.24. 2.25. 2.26.

‘They’ve got him, Prime Minister! He says… he says one of the cars has had an accident in the rain. He thinks he can be here in ten minutes.’ Michael looked up. There was no smile on his face at all now.

‘Ten minutes! What’s he driving – a police car, or a bicycle?’ Helen banged her fist on the table. ‘We’re got four minutes left. OK. I want to talk to the hijackers. Get them on the radio.’ She sat down at the table while Michael called the plane. Colonel Carter came in and stood behind her. A voice came on the radio.

‘Well, Mrs Sandberg. Where are our brothers?’

‘They’re coming,’ said Helen. ‘They’ll be here in ten minutes.’

‘That is too late. I gave you half an hour. Your husband will die in four minutes.’

Helen pressed her hands flat on the table, so hard that the ends of her fingers went white. ‘Please don’t to that,’ she said.

‘I am sorry, Mrs Sandberg. But if my brothers are not here in four minutes, your husband will die.’

‘Don’t you want to see your brothers?’ she asked quickly. ‘I promise you, if you kill my husband, you’ll never see them again.’ There was a pause while no one spoke. Then the radio answered. ‘Four minutes, Mrs Sandberg.’

Helen spoke clearly, slowly, and loudly. She filled her voice with all the anger she had in her body. ‘Listen, you murderer. I need just ten minutes to get your brothers to this airport. Then I will send them to the plane. But if you kill my husband, or anyone else, then I promise you that your brothers will die, on the tarmac in front of that plane. Is that what you want? Or will you wait ten minutes?’ There was another, longer pause. Helen started out into the night. She did not see anything.

‘All right. Ten more minutes.’

‘Thank you. Now, there is one more thing. The passengers.’

‘What about them?’

‘You must set them free before I send your brothers to the plane.’

The voice on the radio laughed. ‘Because you are a woman, do you think all men are stupid, like your husband? Send me our brothers, then refuel the plane, and then I will send you the passengers.’ ‘No,’ answered Helen. She looked at Colonel Carter. ‘This is how we will do it. I will send you one of our brothers and then you must send me the passengers. When we have all the passengers, then we will refuel the plane and send you your other brothers.’ The voice laughed again. ‘Do you think you are buying cheap fish from a child in the market? Send us one brother, then, and we will send you one hundred passengers. Refuel the plane and send us the other brother, and we will send you the other passenger. But the pilot and your husband must come with us to another country. We will set them free later.’ Helen looked at Colonel Carter. There was the beginning of a smile on her face. She could see that he agreed with her. She waited for a moment longer, to worry the hijacker.

‘Is it agreed, woman? Or do I kill your husband now?’

‘I agree. I will send your first brother to you in ten minutes.’