Part of the blast went upwards, ripping through the cabin floor and killing three passengers outright. Massive de-compression occurred; four passengers were sucked out into empty space. Oxygen masks dropped down in front of the passengers, who were gasping for breath. The pilot fought to control his stricken aircraft using every trick his years at the job had taught him. But the damage was too great. He succeeded in wrestling the wounded plane down into denser air. Using the massive engines, he managed to maintain airspeed and some degree of directional control but, with the damage to the control lines and the drag of the gaping hole in the fuselage, the aircraft was too sluggish. The co-pilot was sending out a Mayday to the aircraft ground control at Reykjavik. Ground control at Reykjavik went to emergency status immediately and cleared the airport of all traffic. Then they tried to talk the stricken aircraft in.
Turning to make an emergency approach, the pilot was over unfamiliar territory. He saw the looming hillside in what would normally have been plenty of time. The mortally wounded aircraft would not respond. At over two hundred miles per hour the massive aircraft slammed into a sheer wall of rock. Both pilots had their eyes open all the way in.
A massive explosion occurred as oxygen tanks and fuel tanks ruptured and ignited. The fireball fell to the base of the rock wall, burning the few survivors of the impact to charred remains, including Fatima Kemal and her newly conceived child.
Geneva, October 2nd.
Jean Berques nodded. ‘Please follow me.’ They went further into the interior of the bank and stopped at an elevator. Eric Schiller used a plastic card key and a keypad combination number to open it. They entered and were taken down to the vaults. Security guards checked them through two sets of doors. Eric Schiller opened a steel vault door into a room lined with deposit boxes. He took a key on a long chain from his pocket and inserted it in one of the locks, then looked at Mike. Mike used the key from the small envelope and together they opened the locks. Eric Schiller pointed to a table in a cubicle at the end of the room.
‘You may wish to use that facility. M’sieur Berques and I will wait until you’re finished.’
Mike opened the hinged door and drew out the lower of the four drawers. It was surprisingly heavy. He staggered slightly as the unexpected weight caught him unawares. He carried the steel drawer over to the alcove. Stacked inside the drawer were numbered deposit boxes. Mike selected one at random and opened it. A folded square of black velvet lay on the top. Mike lifted it out and put it on the table. Underneath were four black velvet bags. Mike picked up one, released the bow and opened the neck. He looked inside and let out a gasp.
‘What is it?’ Anna asked her eyes bright with curiosity. Mike didn’t reply; he tipped its contents onto the square of velvet. A glittering cascade of cut diamonds lay flashing white fire under the light of the overhead lamp. All were of gem quality.
Anna gasped. ‘Good God, those are worth a fortune. What’s in the other bags?’
They looked. Flawless emeralds in one, the finest blue Ceylon sapphires in another, perfect Burmese rubies in the third. Mike took a sapphire from the bag and examined it. It was trap cut, of a fine blue color and about three carats.
‘Let’s see what else there is in there.’
The individual box contents were astounding. One was full of Krugerrands, another of gold sovereigns, a third full of small white gold ingots, all three boxes full, and all the contents 22-carat gold. A fourth was full of platinum ingots.
Mike shook his head in disbelief. ‘No wonder the drawer was so heavy.’
‘Well, none of this is ornamental in the sense that it’s made into jewelry,’ Anna observed, ‘it must be purely for investment purposes.’
‘Yes.’ The point hadn’t occurred to Mike, but Anna was obviously right. ‘But however did he manage to squirrel all this away?’
‘Well, he manufactured and sold computer components abroad. Some contracts must have been through offshore companies, and the proceeds would have come into this bank,’ Anna mused. ‘An insurance against any future problems I suppose. If Technology Today were ever squeezed out of a very competitive market he would still be fabulously rich in an international sense. He could retire here and live like a king. He loved this country as much as home.’
‘Mmmm, I guess you’re right, and if Alan set it up it would be done properly. Well, I suppose we should check the other three drawers.’
The top drawer was full with bundles of one hundred dollar bills.
The second drawer was full of Swiss francs.
The third drawer contained bundles of high denomination bearer bonds.
There was a long silence as Mike and Anna digested the implications of all this wealth. Eventually Mike broke the silence. ‘Well I guess we shouldn’t keep those two gentlemen waiting, we’d better pack this lot away and lock it up again.’
Anna helped to stow the gems and precious metals back into the deposit boxes and Mike hefted the drawers back into place.
Jean Berques and Eric Schiller were waiting patiently outside. When Anna came out Eric went in to Mike to lock the deposit box door with their keys.
After they had done so Jean Berques looked at his watch and said, ‘I imagine that as you have been traveling you are hungry. If your schedule allows and if you will permit, we would like to offer you the opportunity to use our facilities to freshen up, and then take you for lunch in our favorite restaurant. It’s only a few steps from here, and the notary’s office is on the way. M’sieur Schiller could take you in and the papers could be completed, signed and properly witnessed in a few moments if you are agreeable.’
‘I am agreeable,’ Mike said immediately. Such an arrangement would keep the whole of this fabulous offshore fortune in the secure and competent hands of Banque Piat et Cie, in his name, and safe for the future. ‘And thanks for the chance to freshen up and the offer of some food, we sure need it.’
Jean Berques took Anna on to the restaurant whilst Eric Schiller took Mike to the Notary’s office. Twenty minutes later they joined Anna and Jean Berques at the restaurant. It was an excellent meal, fresh grilled lake trout, served with a delicate white wine sauce, together with fresh vegetables, and that Swiss specialty rosti potato. The food, the local wine and the service fully justified Jean Berques recommendation.
As they ate Mike absorbed the fact that he now had an offshore fortune to go with his onshore one. But the offshore fortune was untraceable.