Carla was surprised at the sudden rush for transport to Dom Island. She expected the pursuers to wait for the rescue team to bring the survivors back. The FBI, CIA, the British agent, Mr. Short, and Yaakov Malenkov all wanted to hire helicopters, so they could get to the island ahead of everyone else. There were no machines available for hire, with sufficient range for the round trip. They all had to use boats and so would be arriving on the island during the early hours of the next morning.
Carla passed on the information to Sam, and asked whether The Organization would be sending a rescue team. He lied when he informed her that US1 was approaching the island and would arrive late the following morning. He said he’d then planned to snatch Max away.
Sam had purposely not told Carla the whole truth. The US1 was already on the island and evacuation was under way.
There were activities going on all over the world that were none of her business. Before he was murdered by Philippe, the Duke had told Carla a great deal more about his business empire, than did his replacement, Sam Leighton.
Carla was not satisfied that Sam would recover Max alive. The criminals were after revenge and the law enforcement were out to arrest him. Either way, Max would fight to survive and the odds were not in his favor.
She decided to get boat transport herself, to join in the hunt, but she was too late – there was nothing available.
With an audacious plan in mind, Carla returned to her hotel and changed out of the bland clothing she had worn for snooping around unnoticed. Instead she donned expensive and eye catching celebrity wear, took a taxi to the airport and guided by the driver, called on a firm selling aircraft. Carla asked to speak to the proprietor, who got up from his desk and introduced himself as the Dan Sims.
“I must get to Dom Island immediately” chirped Carla, “do you have a suitable helicopter? I will need a pilot and space for at least one passenger, besides me.”
“I only have a brand new Robinson 44 Raven 1 for sale. I don’t do hire. It will get you there, but it does not have the round trip range. Do you have the $400,000 in cash, to buy it?” he asked sarcastically.
“That’s rather expensive-. Ok, how quickly can we do a deal?... and how soon can we get to the island?”
Dan Sims was momentarily taken aback. This bossy bitch needed to get to the island pronto, that was certain, but nothing would happen until he had the hard cash in his hands, or in the bank.
“It all depends on you - pay me and we can get you there. Don’t forget, I have to do flight checks, file a flight plan and arrange insurance, plus it will take a couple of hours to fly there.
“That presupposes there is somewhere to land, of course. I will need to check that out. I think we could get there sometime tomorrow morning.”
Carla felt frustrated with the situation. The Organization made things happen, resources were always available when needed. They were not backing her on this occasion, so she had to work with what was possible.
“Well, give me your bank account details and I will transfer the money immediately.” Carla knew that Dan Sims was highly skeptical about her sincerity, but she was determined to push ahead with her plan.
Sims wrote down the account details and handed them to her. “The money must actually be in the account, not the usual transfer over a few days situation; you understand that, don’t you?”
“Of course, I’ll make a call to arrange it now.”
Carla called from her mobile to one of the many banks she used, this one was in Belize.
“Hello, my name is Carla Day. I must speak to the owner, Sergei Lenkof, immediately.” There was a moment’s pause as the telephonist checked the name and status. “Please confirm your identity code, Miss Day.”
Carla gave the code and was put through to Sergei. After more formalities, he asked what he could do for her.
“Sergei, I need $400,000 transferred immediately, into this account. It has to be there as cleared funds. How soon can you do that for me?”
“That is a large amount. What are you buying?”
“I have to buy a helicopter as I cannot hire one, to fly to an island to meet Max tonight. Sorry it is a bit of a rush.”
“You have your encoder with you I hope. Give me the transaction reference it displays for this amount.”
A code was sent from the bank to the device for this transaction, and Carla entered another code. The unique number it finally displayed was sent to the bank.
“Thank you Carla, I have transferred the full amount now, the recipient can draw on it in a few minutes.”
“Thank you Sergei, you are a life saver.” She ended the call.
“Check your account in a few minutes Dan, the full amount will be there. Now, let’s sort out the details, so we can leave tomorrow at 8.00am, to be on the island by 10.00am?”
“I can be ready by then, no problem. I suppose you would like to see your new purchase?”
“Yes please. Who will be piloting it?”
They walked through to the hanger. “I will take you,” replied Dan, “and I will organize a boat to bring fuel out tonight, so we can all be back here by late afternoon.”
Carla was not interested in that, it was not important to her plan, but she thanked him for his initiative. They reached the gleaming metallic red Robinson 44 Raven 1, it was a beauty. He had already flown it around the atoll for another prospective customer, but before the client could pay for it, he had a heart attack and was still seriously ill. Dan was effectively stuck with the order, until Carla arrived.
She climbed up into the cockpit, familiarized herself with the controls and started reading through the bulky hand book. She recognized it as the same model The Organization used on the super yacht, Ocean Raider.
In the meantime, Dan Sims verified with his Bank that the payment was there, as cleared funds.
“OK Dan, I will be here at 8.00am - we will go straight to the island. I don’t expect any excuses, so please be ready. I will read through the handbook, so I understand how things work, and bring it back in the morning.” Carla said it in a polite tone. Dan had no doubt he would face a lot of trouble if he did not fulfil his part of the bargain.