Utopian Day (11 page)

“
You cleaned up well, J.T.,” Nick
said. “You no longer look like the hippie guru you appeared to be
when you came aboard yesterday. I’m glad to see Mia’s recollection
of your suit size was correct.”

“
It’ll do the job,” J.T.
responded. “Let’s just get this over with and get out of
here.”

A short Asian-looking man in a three-piece suit came
briskly across the floor towards where they were seated. As he came
near, he walked directly to where Nick was seated and extended his
hand.

“
Welcome back, Mr. Bartonovich,”
he said.

Nick shook his hand and turned towards J.T.

“
This is my colleague, of whom I
spoke to you earlier.”

Mr. Takata extended his hand towards J.T. and they
shook hands. “Hello, so glad to meet you.” Mr. Takata motioned
towards an elevator at the far end of the atrium that was flanked
by two armed guards. “Please, follow me.”

As they walked, J.T. spied a pen on the circular
desk counter. When he passed by, he pretended to trip on the back
of his shoe, putting his hand out to catch himself on the counter
and palming the pen. One of the guards reached out to help steady
him. “Thank you,” J.T. said. The whole incident took no longer than
a few seconds, and no one seemed to notice he had pocketed the
pen.

They entered the elevator and Mr. Takata took the
key card from around his neck and slid it into a card reader in the
elevator control panel, then punched in a code. The elevator began
moving down, below the first floor. Less than a minute later, the
doors opened to reveal a red carpet leading up to a wall of bars,
behind which was a layer of bullet-proof glass. Two guards with
machine guns hanging down by their sides were stationed beyond. As
Mr. Takata approached, one of the guards on the inside punched a
number in an electronic keypad and opened the door for them to
enter.

Once the door was closed, Mr. Takata proceeded
around the corner, where the room opened up to reveal yet two more
armed guards flanking a vault. Mr. Takata turned to face the group.
“Mr. Thornbacker,” he said, addressing J.T. by name for the first
time. “Please place your hand on the scanner to verify your
identity.”

He motioned to the hand scanner mounted to the side
of the vault door. A bar of light passed up and down the scanner
screen, scanning J.T.’s hand, and then the whole screen turned
green. Mr. Takata then scanned his own hand with a similar result.
Finally, he placed his key card in the card reader and typed in a
code on the keypad. The electronic locks could be heard disengaging
from the large vault door. Mr. Takata turned the manual locking
wheel counter-clockwise and slowly pulled open the eighteen-inch
thick door.

He was only inside for a few moments before he
returned, pushing a cart before him which was stacked high with
large bundles of one hundred dollar bills. He motioned to one of
the guards, who shut the door and locked it. The large locking pins
could be heard sliding back into place once again as Mr. Takata
pushed the cart over to a table that was off to the side.

“
Seven million, nine hundred and
ninety-five thousand dollars in one hundred dollar bills, as you
requested,” Mr. Takata announced. He handed J.T. a clipboard with a
withdrawal slip attached to it, then handed him a pen. “Please sign
here Mr. Thornbacker.”

J.T. signed the slip and handed it back to Mr.
Takata. Nick opened the briefcase he had brought along and produced
two duffle-bags that, when expanded, were large enough to hold the
huge pile of cash sitting on the cart. The two commandos helped
divide the money between the two bags, each taking one. The group
then proceeded back the way they had come and up to the bank lobby.
Mr. Takata shook hands with Nick and J.T., then made his
departure.

On the way back to the marina, Nick, who was seated
in the front of the car, turned around to face J.T. “I’m afraid I’m
going to have to ask you to put on a blindfold, old friend.” Nick
nodded to the commando in the back seat. The commando produced a
blindfold and secured it in place, covering J.T.’s eyes.

About thirty minutes went by while he was
blindfolded. The car stopped for about ten minutes. It sounded like
two people exited the vehicle, but when J.T. started to reach up
and loosen the blindfold, a strong hand reached over and prevented
him from doing so. “No. Leave the blindfold on,” came a stern
warning.

A few minutes later, the car started moving again.
When the car finally came to a stop, J.T.’s blindfold was removed
and he saw that they were back at the marina where they had left
the cigarette boat earlier in the day. They got into the boat and
headed back in the direction of the yacht.

Chapter Nineteen

Later that evening, dinner was served on the yacht.
Angel-hair pasta topped with a local variety of fish that James
didn’t quite recognize, with grated Parmesan cheese and diced
jalapeños to top it off. It was better food than he had eaten in
his whole life. Laura seemed to be enjoying herself, and even J.T.
seemed more relaxed than he had been at breakfast. James allowed
himself to relax a bit and even enjoyed the banter back and forth.
The guards standing around with guns at their sides seemed the only
reminder that they were still prisoners.

Shortly after dinner, they were dismissed to their
cabin for the remainder of the evening with a complimentary bottle
of wine. The door was shut and locked in place. Laura sat down on
the couch and reached out her hands towards the corners of the room
in a long stretch before interlacing her fingers behind her head
and leaning back on the comfortable cushions. She seemed like she
didn’t have a care in the world.

J.T. walked over to the table where the bottle of
wine had been placed and proceeded to open it up, letting it
breathe for a few minutes before pouring himself an inch of the
dark red liquid in one of the glasses they had been provided. He
closed his eyes and lifted it up to his nose, inhaling slowly and
deeply. At last, he sat the glass down on the table, finished
filling it along with the two others, and then walked over to
Laura, stretching his arm out to hand her the glass.

“
Here, take this,” he
said.

Laura opened her eyes and reached out her hand to
take the glass.

“
Thanks, although I’m not certain
I could put anymore in my stomach right now.”

“
We have some decisions to make,”
J.T. responded cryptically. He walked over to the table and handed
James the other glass before sitting down on a chair that he had
placed between them so that he could see them both equally well. He
motioned for them to draw in close to him and he began to speak in
a whisper.

“
They may be listening to us, so
speak quietly. We have to decide what we are going to
do.”

J.T. took a sip of wine before he continued.

“
I know that Nick has offered you
each a lot of money to go along with his plan. I think that we need
to look at all of our options and decide together what our next
move is going to be. Whatever we do, we need to do it together.
First off, I’m not entirely certain that Nick won’t decide to kill
us all. However, if he doesn’t and he keeps his word, then we need
to think it through. If any one of us decides to go back to the
states and turn ourselves in, then we should all go. Otherwise,
those who don’t go back will be hunted down all the more
quickly.”

“
Wait just a minute,” Laura
interrupted. “What do you mean, turn ourselves back in? Like Nick
said, if we turn ourselves in, there is no guarantee that we won’t
get even more jail time tacked on to our sentences. And even if we
don’t, we all have long sentences to finish, regardless. If I have
a million dollars to live on, why do I want to go back and turn
myself in?”

“
Well,” J.T. responded. “There are
a few things you need to consider. First off, if we don’t go back,
there is the fact that the FBI takes a very dim view of escapees.
We are all likely on the most wanted list by this point, which
means that a team of FBI and other law enforcement officers are
looking for us this very minute. If they catch us, and they often
do catch those on the most wanted list, then we are all likely to
end up with more jail time than we can shake a stick at, and in a
maximum security prison.”

“
If they don’t catch us, then we
are going to be looking over our shoulders for the rest of our
lives, waiting for the moment when someone might. I don’t know
about you, but that is not the way I plan to spend the remainder of
my life on this planet.”

“
So what do you suggest we do?”
asked James.

“
I’m not suggesting anything just
yet. Let’s just put all the cards on the table first and see what
kind of a hand we’ve got. Let’s consider what happens if we go
back. Turning ourselves in is easy enough. We show up at the United
States Consulate in George Town and tell them who we are and that
we want to surrender. What happens after that is debatable. We will
likely each get interrogated separately for as long as it takes to
convince them that we are telling the truth. If we tell them the
truth, then any money we have been given by Nick will be forfeited.
Next, we get shipped back to prison – and likely NOT Utopia, to
serve out the remainder of our sentences. Unless, of course, they
don’t believe us and decide to revoke the contracts we signed, and
put us in for the remainder of our original sentences and then
some. If we try to lie and pretend we didn’t get any money, then
we’re depending on them not finding out that information. If they
catch Nick, then he will tell them outright we have the money and
we’re on the hook for lying to the FBI – not a good
idea.”

“
So you’re saying we’re screwed
either way,” Laura lamented. “There’s no way they are going to
believe us. We’re three convicted felons! It’s not like we’re all
paragons of truthfulness or anything.”

“
Listen to me,” J.T. continued,
“I’m not saying I have this all figured out either and I’m
certainly not suggesting we decide tonight. We have almost two more
weeks before we’re going to be cut loose, whatever that means. All
I’m saying is that we should begin to consider our options and come
up with a plan together. Can we agree on that?”

After a few moments of silence, Laura responded,
“I’m willing to talk about it, but that’s all I’m going to commit
to at this point.” She took a long drink from the wine glass,
wanting to rewind to the good feeling she’d had after dinner,
before she was so abruptly confronted with the reality of their
situation.

J.T. looked over at James, who had been silently
considering everything that had been said. James slowly nodded his
head up and down. “O.k., let’s make a plan. But like she said,
we’re just talking. I’m not ready to commit to anything
either.”

Satisfied that they had at least agreed to talk
about making a plan together, J.T. stood up from his chair and
walked over to the starboard portal, where he could just see the
sun setting in the distance. He stared at it for several minutes,
finishing his glass of wine and watching the darkness descend.

Silas McGruder immediately spotted the slightly
beat-up silver van and the lanky driver who was sticking his long
arm out of the window and waving at him as he exited the terminal
at Owen Roberts International Airport. He ambled over to the
passenger side of the vehicle and deposited his tired body in the
seat, uttering a tired greeting to his driver as he did.

“
Hi, Marty.”

“
Helloo, Mr. Silas,” came the
cheery response. “Welcome back, my friend.”

Marty pulled the van away from the curb and guided
the van back towards George Town.

“
Tell me everything you saw,”
Silas prompted him wearily.

“
I see dah man in dah nice suit
from dah picture you sent me. He came in with tree otha people.” He
held up three fingers to emphasize the point.

“
You mean three other people?”
Silas asked.

“
Dat is what I said, mon, tree
otha people,” Marty continued. “One of dem look like dah man in dah
orange shirt wit dah beard, but he had shaved it off.”

“
Yeah, I could tell from the
pictures you sent me. What I want to know is, where did they go
after they left the bank?”

“
I try to follow dem, but dey take
da narrow streets, mon. I could not follow dem o dey see me. So I
did what you tell me to do. I stop an’ call you.”

“
Good job, Marty. Good job. Now
get me to my hotel before I pass out.”

The rhythmic noise and vibrations from the road
lulled Silas to sleep as he leaned his head against the window.
When he awoke, the van was pulling in to the hotel that he had
booked the night before on the internet. He turned to Marty as he
got out of the van.

“
Pick me up tomorrow morning at
6:00 a.m. I want to make sure we get everything ready before they
come back to the bank tomorrow.”

“
O.k., Mr. Silas, I see you
den.”

Silas checked in to his room and sat down in one of
the chairs. He took out his cell phone and began scrolling through
the pictures that Marty had sent to him. From the pictures, he
could tell that the two unidentified men were probably the hired
security. It wasn’t going to be a walk in the park, but he had
about ten days or so to plan things, so time was on his side. He
set the alarm on his phone for 5 a.m., took off his shoes, and laid
down on the bed. As he fell asleep, he thought to himself, “J.T.
Thornbacker may have pulled off the great escape, but the game is
definitely not over, not by a long shot.”