Free Hostage by Kristina Ohlsson Page B

has made the threat to know if the plane lands . . .’
    ‘. . . at least one of them has to be on board. Or they have a contact on board,’ Sebastian finished.
    Eden thought for a moment. It was the perfect threat. The police and the government would need nerves of steel if they were going to defy the hijackers and hope that the whole thing was nothing
more than a bluff, that there was no bomb.
    ‘If the person who left the note in the toilet is still on board, then that person believes they will be able to leave the plane without being recognised and stopped by the police. And
they’re counting on the fact that they won’t have to blow the plane to pieces, because then the person in question would die too. Of course, it’s possible that he or she might be
prepared to die for the cause, but perhaps it’s not the most credible scenario.’
    ‘Which raises another question,’ one of the investigators said. ‘How does the person behind all this think he or she is going to communicate with us, find out if their demands
have been met?’
    ‘Through the media,’ Sebastian said.
    ‘But the media don’t have the story.’
    ‘Not yet, but it’s only a matter of time. There’s no chance that there won’t be a leak from somewhere – Arlanda, SAS, the police or the government office. Or the
Americans, for that matter.’
    ‘So the person behind all this thinks that he’ll be able to read about it if Zakaria Khelifi is released and allowed to stay here, and if the Americans close down Tennyson
Cottage.’
    ‘I think that must be the case,’ Eden said. ‘No one has tried to make direct contact either with us or the Americans.’
    She clasped her hands in her lap, which was something she often did when she was thinking.
    ‘We don’t know if there is a bomb on board, but most indications would suggest that this is unlikely. Nor do we know if the person behind the threat is on board the plane, but as the
note was found in the toilet, that is a reasonable assumption.’
    She leaned back and went on:
    ‘What we do know, however, is that the news has not yet reached the mass media. We also know that the perpetrators have chosen not to contact us directly.’
    The others waited.
    ‘What are you getting at?’ Sebastian asked.
    ‘We could try to effect an emergency landing in secret, and evacuate the passengers and crew before the news gets out.’
    ‘Are you crazy? And risk everyone’s life?’
    Eden pursed her lips.
    ‘Just think about it. If there really is a bomb on board, the perpetrators must have made extensive preparations in order to get it there. They must also realise that if the plane is blown
up, airports all over Europe and the USA will revise their security procedures so that it will become even more difficult to take a bomb on board. In other words, they will never get another
chance. Therefore, as far as they are concerned, it’s essential that everything works this time. Blowing up the plane just because we try for an emergency landing makes no sense at all to
me.’
    The door of the meeting room opened and closed as someone realised they were in the wrong place.
    ‘So you think that if we try to bring the plane down, we’ll find out if whoever is behind the threat is serious, and whether one of them is sitting on the plane, or has some other
way of knowing what’s happening on board?’
    ‘Exactly. I believe that if we try to bring the plane down, even if there is a bomb on board, the plane won’t be blown up. I think the person behind the threat will make himself or
herself known, and will remind us that we’re not sticking to the rules.’
    ‘And what do we do then?’
    ‘Then obviously we don’t defy the hijackers, we take the plane back up again. What do you think?’
    The others exchanged glances.
    ‘What would the view of the police be? They have more experience of this kind of thing,’ said the investigator who had spoken earlier.
    ‘I’ll talk to Alex Recht as