Eden was worried for Erik. The Americans were world leaders in holding people responsible for the most bizarre occurrences.
‘Bruce, Erik couldn’t possibly have known that he was one of you.’
‘I’ll leave the DA to decide that,’ Bruce said tersely. ‘If he’d just listened to the guy instead of trying to kill him, things would have been very different.’
‘Yes, but…’
‘I have no intention of discussing this with you, Eden. That’s not why I called.’
Always that illusion of superiority.
I have no intention of discussing this with you, Eden.
Who the fuck did he think he was?
‘I’m calling because Karim Sassi became hysterical when they carried him into the ambulance. Well, you know what I mean. He’s extremely weak, but he was showing clear signs of stress. He says that his family are being held hostage, and that they’re going to die.’
Eden shook her head.
There was no possibility that this was the case. They couldn’t have missed something like that.
‘He says that’s why he did it,’ Bruce went on. ‘Could there be any truth in this? If so, there’s very little time, because the news that the plane has landed without the hijackers’ demands being met is already out there, as you know.’
Eden pressed the receiver to her ear, trying to suppress the warning bells in her head.
She could feel the others staring at her.
‘He’s lying,’ she said. ‘Not a shred of doubt about it. We’ve spoken to Karim’s wife several times. She and the children travelled to Copenhagen yesterday morning, and now she’s back in Stockholm. We’ve been to see her.’
Or had they?
Dennis had come over to her desk; he caught her eye and nodded in confirmation.
‘In that case, I’ve no idea what he’s talking about,’ Bruce said. ‘I just wanted to check that there was no truth in what he said. I’ll get back to you on that.’
‘Please do,’ Eden said. She thought for a second, then added, ‘That doesn’t necessarily mean he’s lying.’
‘What?’
‘Karim Sassi. Just because his family hasn’t been kidnapped, that doesn’t mean he couldn’t have believed that was the case. Which was why he helped the hijackers. Because he thought his family would die if he didn’t.’
Her brain was functioning on autopilot, and she suddenly realised how everything hung together.
‘How could something like that happen?’ Bruce said, his voice dripping with scepticism.
‘It would only take a phone call,’ Eden said.
A call from one of the phones that was used to make the bomb threats on Monday.
For fuck’s sake, they had been led by the nose all the way along.
A wave of nausea came over her; she broke out in a sweat, the perspiration running down her back. The bomb threats had had one aim – to consolidate their suspicions against Karim. The person responsible for the hijacking, most probably Zakaria’s sister, had pointed them in the direction of Karim and away from herself. In spite of the fact that they had worked out Sofi’s role in the drama, they had missed the fact that Karim was merely an instrument for her malevolence.
It was such a significant failure that Eden could feel herself blushing.
‘Surely, no normal person would carry four hundred people to their deaths to save their family just on the basis of a phone call?’ Bruce said. ‘I mean, wouldn’t you call your family to check if they really are being held hostage?’
Eden shook her head.
‘I haven’t worked out all the details,’ she said. ‘I just know that what he’s saying is relevant. You have to talk to him. Soon. Tonight, if possible, so that whoever is behind all this doesn’t have time to get out of Sweden. Ask the right questions. Find out what he has to say, and I’ll work on it from my side.’
She could sense Bruce’s doubts in his silence.
‘You can’t seriously believe he’s telling the truth?’
‘I don’t believe anyone would do something like this without a really good reason. And I’ve spent most of my time today trying to understand what motivated Karim. I came up with jack shit.’
‘Okay,’ Bruce said. ‘If you’re buying the kidnapping angle, then perhaps you’d like to hear part two of his mixed-up story. He mentioned a flight number to the co-pilot before he lost consciousness on the plane.’
Eden frowned. ‘What flight number?’
‘Flight TU003. He said that was what it was all about, or something along those lines.’
Eden didn’t know what to say or think.
‘We’ll check it out,’ she said, without any real conviction that it would prove useful.
Alex interrupted her.
‘Ask him about Erik.’
‘What’s happening with Erik Recht?’
‘We’re holding him and the rest of the crew. We’ll be questioning him shortly.’
Eden avoided looking at Alex.
‘And that other matter we were discussing? Will you be prosecuting?’
‘Eden, this has been a hell of a day, if you’ll pardon my language. I can’t possibly answer a question like that right now.’
Eden ended the call, feeling extremely irritated.
‘What did they say?’ Alex wanted to know.
‘They’ll be questioning Erik shortly.’
‘Good,’ Alex said. ‘In that case, he’ll soon be home.’
Eden thought that was unlikely, but she didn’t say anything.
They had an awful lot of work ahead of them. It had been a long day, but it was going to be an even longer night. Eden had no intention of going home. She would stay at work and tackle one thing at a time.
She was still spooked by the encounter with Efraim.
No, she definitely wasn’t going home. She wouldn’t stand a chance of getting to sleep anyway.
Sebastian seemed to read her mind.
‘I’m staying,’ he said. ‘What do we do now?’
Eden gave him a grateful look.
‘We start with Karim’s wife.’
70 WASHINGTON, DC, 21:15
It was several hours before the doctors would allow them to carry out an initial interview with Karim Sassi. He had undergone an operation to stop the bleeding in his neck, and the anaesthetic had made him very tired.
‘I don’t really know how much help he’ll be in his present condition,’ the doctor said. ‘But you’re welcome to speak to him for a little while.’
Karim’s eyes were cloudy when Bruce and his colleague walked into the room. He listened as they introduced themselves and explained that he was suspected of being involved in the hijacking of Flight 573, and of attempting to blackmail the US government, thus breaking the United States laws on terrorism.
‘How do you respond to these accusations?’ Bruce said after his colleague had read Karim his rights.
At first, they didn’t think they were going to get an answer. It looked as if Karim wanted to say something, but was having major problems in actually speaking. Bruce was just about to go and fetch the doctor when Karim spoke:
‘My family.’
It was no more than a whisper, but Bruce heard what he said. So Karim was intending to stick to his story, claiming that his family had been kidnapped.
Bruce was about to tell him that his family was okay, and that they had other matters to discuss, when he changed his mind.
‘They’re still missing,’ he said.
His colleague was staring at him as if he had lost his mind. Of course the family were okay – they always had been.
Bruce prayed that his colleague would keep quiet.
Karim’s reaction was totally unexpected. With a groan, he tried to sit up and get out of bed. A stream of whispered words came pouring out, but Bruce didn’t understand a thing because they were all in Swedish.