80 29th Street, Brooklyn
New York, United States
The mood aboard the buses transporting the passengers and crew of Pan Am 164 was a mix of bewilderment and despair. By now, the word that they were in the year 2015 had gone around and the sights of modern cars and planes on the way from the airport had been enough to convince the most skeptical. Bil Cannon was the one feeling the worst about it. Apart of contemplating the prospect of never seeing his family again, he also felt responsible for the other 114 people from his plane, al of which had families and careers back in 1959. At least, the armed agents escorting them had not been brutal with them and had stayed polite. Cannon could see that they were themselves unsettled, many of the agents starting to believe that the Pan Am flight had real y come from the past.
The bus transporting Cannon, his crew and 29 passengers, plus two DHS
agents, final y turned into a garage entrance of a large, eight storey-tall grey concrete building situated near the shoreline of Brooklyn facing Manhattan. The three other buses and the five cars and three vans escorting them also entered the large garage, with the steel garage doors them coming down and closing. More armed, uniformed men were waiting inside for them, along with a big man in his fifties with blond hair. The big blond man went first to the escort cars to shake hands with Jane Hatfield, Scott Benson and Daniel Munsen.
‘’Leonard Sullivan, Warden of the BMDC, at your service.’’
‘’Jane Hatfield, DHS Senior Agent. I have with me Senior Agent Scott Benson, of the FBI, and Lieutenant Daniel Munsen, of the JFK Airport customs services.’’
Sullivan grinned as he shook hands with Jane Hatfield.
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‘’I know Lieutenant Munsen wel , actually: he provides me regularly with inmates, il egal immigrants caught traveling with false papers or couriers caught with drugs or contrabands. So, what do you have here? You were kind of cryptic on the telephone, Agent Hatfield.’
Jane sighed, trying to decide where to start in describing this incredible mess.
‘’Warden, I wil first ask you the utmost discretion concerning this whole case and these people I am transferring into your care. Second, I wil ask you to treat them gently and politely, as I believe that most of them are genuine American citizens who probably broke no laws.’
‘’Then, why arrest them at all?’’ Replied Sullivan, frowning. ‘’I have here in this facility close to 3,000 criminals, including convicted murderers, thieves, drug dealers and rapists. And you want me to hold here over a hundred law-abiding Americans?’’
‘’There are also complete families in the lot, with young children.’ Added Munsen, bringing shock to Sullivan’s face.
‘’Children? But, I am not mandated to keep juveniles here.’
‘’The alternative would be to separate young children from their parents, Warden Sullivan, which I would hate to see happen in this case.’ Said Jane Hatfield. ‘’There is more: I wil ask you to prohibit for the time being any contact with the outside for these people, for reasons of national security. That means no lawyers, no phone calls and no visits of any kind.’
Sullivan’s jaws tightened and he glared at Jane, while his voice became hard and cold.
‘’So, Agent Hatfield, you are asking me to deny all fundamental legal rights to a group of law-abiding American citizens, rights that even convicted murderers and rapists enjoy here. And you want me also to hold young children and deny them their rights as wel . I’m sorry, Agent Hatfield, but this is the Brooklyn Metropolitan Detention Center, administered by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, not Guantanamo Bay or some CIA secret overseas torture center. Now, give me one good reason not to arrest you right now for il egal detention and gross violation of legal rights of American citizens.’
Having expected such an outburst, Jane stared back into the eyes of the furious warden and held her ground.
‘’As I said, it is for reasons of national security, Warden Sullivan. It is also for the own good of these people, who may become circus freaks if word of their presence break out in the medias. Know that these people are the crew and passengers of a Boeing B707 bearing the colors of Pan American Airlines that just landed under fighter 20
escort at JFK. They claim to have left Paris on April 23 of the year 1959 and landed with the impression that they were stil in 1959, or so they say. The problem is that I am seriously starting to believe them.’
‘’But, that’s nuts! How could this be possible? Couldn’t this be simply one big hoax?’’
‘’I thought that as well…at first. Then, when I started checking them and their plane, doubts started appearing in my mind. What shook me most, though, was the presence aboard of five passengers in particular, with other passengers also being quite unsettling.’
‘’And who are precisely those so-called unsettling passengers, Agent Hatfield?’
‘’I think that I wil present you to them instead, Warden Sullivan. How is your knowledge of the culture of the 1950s by the way?’
‘’Well, I wasn’t even born then, but I stil remember the movies and music of the time. Why?’’
Instead of answering, Jane started walking towards the first bus, soon followed by an intrigued Sullivan and by Scott Benson and Daniel Munsen. One of the DHS escort agents opened the door of the bus for Jane, who then climbed inside and selected six passengers, asking them to come out with her.
Leonard Sullivan was at this point nearly ready to refuse outright to accept all those people in his facility and was also furiously tempted to charge Jane Hatfield for abuse of power and il egal arrest. However, the story she had just served him was so crazy that he had to see these supposed controversial passengers before making his mind for good. The first passenger to come out of the bus after Jane Hatfield was a stunningly beautiful blond woman carrying in her arms a little girl of maybe two years of age. As Sullivan’s mind raced to put a name on the woman, a second blond woman, as beautiful as the first one, stepped down from the bus. This time, the warden didn’t need to think to recognize her and his mouth opened wide in shock and disbelief.
‘’Miss Monroe? Is that real y you?’’
‘’Of course it’s me, mister!’ Replied the famous actress, apparently pissed and with good reasons to be. Sullivan then made the connection with the first woman and looked at her and the little girl.
‘’And you are Grace Kelly, I suppose?’’
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‘’For you, mister, it is Your Serene Highness, Princess Grace of Monaco. This is my daughter, Princess Caroline. I hope that this legal farce is about to end?’
Before Sullivan could answer her, a third woman and two men stepped down from the bus, lining up besides Marilyn Monroe and Grace Kelly. The warden suddenly felt dizzy.
He was now looking at Coco Chanel, the fashion icon of the 20th Century, at the renown actor and comedian Jack Lemmon and at the famous journalist and TV broadcaster Edward Murrow. Jane Hatfield then had the crew of the Pan Am plane step out. The sight of the four stewardesses in their powder blue uniforms, made well known by a popular TV show a few years ago, finished unsettling him. With sweat breaking on his forehead, he eyed Jane Hatfield, his face haggard.
‘’I see what you meant, Agent Hatfield. I will accept these people and wil make sure they are treated with utmost respect but also with discretion. I will go arrange for segregated cell blocks for them: we wouldn’t want these people to have to stay with convicted criminals. You will have also full access to my facilities to interview and process them.’
‘’Thank you, Warden. In truth, I stil don’t know how Washington wil react to all this. I guess that I will have to hurry in documenting these people in order to support their story and identities. I hope that you have a few computers with Internet access here.’’
‘’Uh, what is this ‘Internet’ thing you just mentioned, miss?’’ Asked hesitantly Edward Murrow, making Jane Hatfield and Leonard Sullivan exchanged befuddled looks.
After a delay of over half an hour caused by the necessity to urgently relocate the prisoners already occupying two cell blocks, Leonard Sullivan had the crew and passengers of Pan Am 164 move with their luggage in small escorted groups to their reserved cells. Despite being as discreet as he could make the whole thing happen, the groups stil had to walk by other cells and down corridors where guards and inmates circulated. By the time all 115 occupants of Pan Am 164 were in their two cell blocks, one for men and one for women and children, Sullivan knew that rumors were already flying around the whole detention center. In order to minimize their moves, Sullivan also agreed with Jane Hatfield in processing the newcomers in their cells, which were actually large communal rooms fil ed with double bunk beds. That process, interrupted for lunch, took a good two hours, even with the help of FBI agent Scott Benson and his 22
team. In parallel, four DHS agents, helped by Sullivan’s secretarial staff, started researching the Internet and various government databanks, using the names of the internees and their preliminary interviews. By four in the afternoon, Janet Hatfield and Leonard Sullivan had gathered enough evidence to dismiss with near certainty the possibility of a hoax.
18:06 (New York Time)
Oval Office, White House
Washington, D.C.
The President had been as surprised and intrigued as anyone else when he saw the six o’clock news on television this evening, just before he left the Oval Office to have supper. The problem with that was that, as the President of the United States, he had a small army of staffers and aides dedicated to preventing such surprises or at least warn him in advance of the common mortals. To see an obsolete Boeing B707 painted in the colors of Pan Am on a tarmac at JFK Airport, along with long-distance pictures of what appeared to be past celebrities such as Marilyn Monroe and Jack Lemmon, both dead for years now, was in his mind something he could and should have been told before it went in the media news. His first call was thus to his Secretary of Homeland Security but, to his irritation, he only got her answering machine. Terminating that call at once, he composed this time the number of the Director of the FBI, getting an answer after the second ring.
‘’Robert Muel er speaking!’’
‘’Bob, this is the President. I just saw on the news that an old Boeing 707
bearing the markings of Pan Am has landed this morning at JFK and that its occupants were then arrested by DHS agents. A journalist’s pictures of those occupants showed what looked furiously like the famous actress Marilyn Monroe, along with actor Jack Lemmon. The news report said that some official at JFK called the incident an elaborate hoax when questioned by reporters. I couldn’t get in touch right away with Janet Napolitano to learn more about this. Could you check on this story and then report to me as soon as you can?’’
At the other end of the line, the FBI director silently thanked his luck for this opportunity to cut the grass from under the DHS’s feet.
‘’I wil get on this right away, Mister President.’
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‘’Thank you, Bob. I appreciate that.’’
After the President cut the line, Mueller immediately speed-dialed another number, calling the FBI national operations center and getting hold of the senior agent on duty at this time.
‘’Senior Agent Martin, this is Director Mueller. What can you tell me about that old jet that landed this morning at JFK while bearing the colors of Pan American?’
‘’Sir, a team of agents went to JFK just before it landed, after being warned by someone at the airport. That jet, a Boeing 707, had a total of 115 crew and passengers aboard. They claimed to have left Paris in 1959 and had very convincing disguises and papers with them. The lot was then hauled away by DHS agents to the Brooklyn Metropolitan Detention Center, where they are presently being detained and processed.
One of our senior agents is there with them at this time, sir.’
‘’Did he report to you yet?’’
‘’No sir! Shal I press him about this?’’
‘’Yes! Uh, on second thought, have him call me right now on my personal phone.
You have my number?’’
‘’Yes sir! I will have him call you in the minute, sir.’
‘’Thank you. You can tell him that, if I don’t get a call from him within ten minutes, he can then expect to be transferred to Alaska.’’
‘’Uh, understood, sir.’
Muel er then cut the line while chuckling. He was not the sort to be mean enough to make good on such a threat for so little, but some pressure often produced miracles.
He effectively got a new call less than two minutes later.
‘’Sir, this is Senior Agent Scott Benson, calling from the Brooklyn Metropolitan Detention Center.’
‘’Thank you for calling me this quickly, Senior Agent Benson. What can you tell me about this supposed Pan Am jet and its occupants?’’
‘’Uh, sir, the problem is that I believe now that we have enough hard evidence here to say that this jet and its occupants real y came from the year 1959, through some kind of bizarre accident they could not explain themselves.’’
‘’WHAT? THAT’S IMPOSSIBLE!’
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‘’I know that this is hard to believe, sir, but we have positive identifications via fingerprints of many of the occupants of that plane, who are by the way in majority American citizens. Furthermore, those occupants include at least five persons well known historical y. These are Marilyn Monroe, Jack Lemmon, Princess Grace of Monaco, Edward Murrow and Coco Chanel. There is also Princess Caroline of Monaco, the daughter of Princess Grace, who should have been in her fifties right now but is here a two year old toddler girl. You can add to that a brigadier general of the US Army and a Colonel of the US Air Force carrying authentic but thoroughly outdated classified documents, a TEXACO Vice-President and the American trade consul in Paris, all of whom we had old government dossiers on with fingerprints records. Our Internet searches gave us good pictures of them as they appeared around 1959: they match perfectly and none of these people had traces of surgical face lifting, except for Marilyn Monroe, who had documented facial surgery in her youth. About her, I was able to get the autopsy made on her body in 1963, when she died of overdose: her dental records from that autopsy match perfectly the dental work of the Marilyn Monroe we have now in Brooklyn. Final y, we ran voice analysis of those with public records and those match as wel . We have taken DNA samples as well but it will take a while before we get any results from them. Sir, if this is a hoax, then it is the most elaborate and incredibly accurate one I ever saw or heard of. In my opinion, and that of the senior DHS agent present here, we should proceed as if these persons are who they claim to be and that they real y came with their plane from April 23 of 1959.’
Muel er had to sit while he digested all this, shaken to the core, speaking again only after a long pause.
‘’And what would you counsel that we do with these people, Agent Benson?’
‘’Foremost, that we treat them decently instead of locking them up like criminals, sir. Second, I believe that it would be in our interest to find a way to return them to their proper time period, if that is at all possible.’’
‘’Why?’’
‘’Because they simply don’t belong here, sir. God knows what their disappearance in 1959 wil cause in that year. This may just unravel history as we know it, sir.’
‘’Hum, you may have a point. And what does the DHS plan to do with them?’’
‘’I don’t know yet, sir. To be frank, their senior agent here, a Jane Hatfield, is a capable one and seems to be in agreement with me on how to treat these people, who 25
by the way include many young children. Agent Hatfield is stil awaiting a response from her headquarters.’
That attracted a snort of derision from Muel er.
‘’Count on Napolitano’s boys to act with lead feet. Alright, thanks for your report, Agent Benson. Stay in Brooklyn but send as soon as you can a detailed report to our national operations center, with immediate priority. On my part, I wil alert the White House about all this. Good work, Senior Agent Benson.’
‘’Thank you, sir. Have a good evening.’
‘’You too, Benson.’
Muel er then cut the line and took a minute to think through the implications of this incident. If that plane had real y come from 1959, then it would prove that time travel, at least towards the future, was possible after all, something of possibly high interest in terms of national security. On the other hand, he agreed with Benson that innocent Americans didn’t deserve to be kept in detention incommunicado for anything but the shortest possible time. The echoes of human rights abuses committed in the name of national security during the past decade since 9/11 stil brought shame to him and to many other Americans and he had no wish to commit more such abuses himself. This whole case called for delicate handling, with someone high enough in the administration put in charge to make sure that no slipups or abuses were committed. With this in mind and with a possible name for the one to be put in charge, Muel er called the Oval Office.
19h10 (New York time)