Hatch sat back in a tucked leather chair in his plush, mahogany-paneled office at the academy. Four flat-screen television monitors played on one wall. All were set to different channels, but all of them were covering the same story. In the past hour, two British Airways jets leaving London’s Heathrow Airport had crashed shortly after takeoff, strewing wreckage across miles of coastland. He watched it all with a knowing smile.
His phone buzzed. “Sir, your phone call.”
“Is the line secure?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Put him through.”
Hatch lifted the receiver. “Hatch.”
The voice was gravelly and coarse with a slight British accent. “I just heard the news. Well done.”
“Just as planned.”
“BA is claiming mechanical difficulties.”
“That’s a little hard to swallow with two wrecks within the same hour, but not surprising. They have to tell the public something. So far there are also three terrorist groups claiming responsibility, but they’re late to the party—we gave British Airways a specific schedule a week in advance. There will be another accident each day they don’t meet our payment schedule.”
“Has any money been transferred yet?”
“Not yet. But it will. We’re offering them a bargain. Those 747-800s are going for a little over three hundred million dollars each, not to mention the lawsuits and loss of business. British Air can pay the ransom or shut down.”
“Who’s next?”
“Emirates airline. As soon as they saw the British Airways crash they responded to our demand. First payment is seventy-five million. With all that oil money they won’t even miss it.”
“Where’s our boy?”
“Still in London. As soon as we get payment we’ll move him to Rome.”
“Very well. Take good care of him.”
“We have a whole contingency with him. He’s got more security than the queen.”
“Too bad we don’t have a few more just like him.”
Hatch smiled. “We might. We found the last Glow.”
“You found Michael Vey?”
“Yes. And we ran a diagnosis of Vey’s E patterns. He has the strongest el-waves we’ve come across yet. He could be the most powerful Glow of them all.”
“Promising. Where are you keeping him?”
“We don’t have him yet. But we have his mother. And he’s on his way to Pasadena right now. He has the idea that he’s going to rescue his mother. He’ll be disappointed to learn that she’s not here.”
“Will he cooperate?”
“You know what it’s like bringing in these Glows when they’re older. But he’s been living just a little above poverty, and like I said, we have his mother. He’ll be persuaded.”
“Inform the board the moment you have him.”
“Of course.”
Hatch set down the phone. He loved it when a plan came together. And everything was going according to plan.
