‘She’s not answering it,’ Garcia said, as he put down the phone.
He and Captain Blake, along with the Chief of Police, two FBI agents, two representatives from American Airlines, two airport officials, and an SAC – Supervisor Air Marshal in Charge – were all standing around a table inside an improvised conference room in Terminal B. All flights in and out of the terminal had been either canceled or suspended for the time being. The entire terminal had been evacuated as a security precaution.
‘That’s not good news,’ one of the FBI agents said, shaking his head at everyone. ‘We need to co-ordinate a strike and we need to do it now.’
‘Well, that’s the last thing we’re going to do right now,’ Captain Blake countered. ‘We have no eyes inside that aircraft. All the shades have been shut, which means that any strike would be a blind one. There’s a civilian, an air marshal, and one of my best detectives inside that plane, and we all know what a blind strike really means, right? Casualties. No, we’re not going with that plan.’
‘We can easily get eyes inside that plane,’ the FBI Agent said. ‘We can send a man in through the belly of the aircraft. He can sneak in through the galley lift and use a fiber optic camera to give us a visual. We can co-ordinate from there.’
Garcia chuckled. ‘Aren’t you forgetting a few things, buddy?’
‘Like what?’ the agent challenged.
‘Like the fact that the plane is on the ground, with its engines turned off,’ Garcia replied. ‘That’s problem one. Problem two is that the plane is empty, with the exception of four people, who, last time anyone saw them, were standing right around the mid-plane galley. What that really means is that the plane is silent. No engine noise or passenger chatter to hide the sounds that a man entering the plane through its belly and using the galley lift would create. Any noise inside an empty airplane that size would also create an echo, which would, no doubt, be picked up by the perp. If that happens, everyone dies.’ Garcia shook his head. ‘Like the captain said – we’re not going with the “kill everyone” plan.’
‘So what do you want us to do?’ the agent asked. ‘Just sit around and do nothing?’
Captain Blake nodded. ‘That’s exactly what we’re going to do for the time being. Let’s give it another five minutes and see if we get a call from her. That was what the air marshal told us when she called, wasn’t it? For us to stay by the phone because we would get another call in due time. Maybe this isn’t due time yet. Let’s give it another five minutes. If we haven’t heard from her by then we’ll call again.’
‘That would be losing time,’ the second FBI agent came back. ‘If there was no answer now, what makes you think that there will be one in five minutes?’
‘Because like I’ve said,’ Captain Blake replied, ‘I have one of my best detectives inside that plane, who also happens to be a brilliant human behavioural psychologist. Right at this moment, I know that he’s negotiating with her.’ She paused and looked at the two representatives from American Airlines. ‘Detective Hunter is the reason why we safely have all the crew members and passengers, minus one, out of that aircraft. If anyone can talk the perp into giving herself up, he can. Detective Hunter also knows that an unanswered call will give us reason for concern, and he’s probably explaining that to the perp right now. He’ll make her understand that if our calls keep on going unanswered, there will be a blind strike, in which her life will probably be terminated.’
‘What if she doesn’t care if she and everyone in that plane ends up dead?’ the agent asked. ‘Have you thought of that possibility?’ He addressed the American Airlines personnel. ‘We don’t even know if they’re still alive in there.’
‘They are,’ Garcia assured them.
‘And you know that how, buddy?’ the agent asked.
‘Because there’s been no sound of gunfire coming from the airplane,’ Garcia replied. ‘I saw the weapon that Linda Evans was holding. It was a nine-millimeter pistol.’ He looked at the SAC. ‘Which I believe that she somehow managed to take from Amber Burnett, the air marshal who boarded the plane. No silencer on the weapon. If any shots had been fired, we would’ve heard them.’
‘Let’s give it five more minutes and call again,’ Captain Blake pushed. ‘If there’s no answer then, my SWAT teams have already planned a strike.’
‘Why your SWAT teams?’ the FBI Agent asked.
‘Because the plane is on the ground,’ the captain shot back, ‘inside LAX, which falls under the LAPD jurisdiction. The FBI has no authority here, unless we delegate, which we haven’t done. We welcome you to sit in and listen on the phone calls and the planning, if a strike is needed, but this is our case… our operation. Plus, everyone knows that the LAPD SWAT is the best in the country. So please, have a seat and relax.’ She indicated one of the chairs. ‘Who knows? You might just learn something.’