A shot goes off and a man in the crowd still trapped falls. Panic ensues. The robbers are serious.
What's to be done?
More police arrive, led by their chief, Benoît's boss, Hector, known to all as a tough guy. But he's never impressed Chloé, who knows his weak points.
He takes control and addresses the robbers, demanding that they lay down their weapons and release their hostages, or else he'll throw gas to poison them.
In response, this time it's a woman who is shot.
Hector can't believe it. He had already been told that a man had been shot first. He talks to Benoît, suggesting that he put his men outside to keep a close eye on the bandits, who have no choice but to let them go.
What nobody knew was that the two shots that “killed “ the two hostages were only fake bullets fired to put the victim to sleep, not to kill him. So as far as the bandits were concerned, they had committed no crime.
Outside, there are five auto-taxis waiting for them. The plan is for one man and one hostage per cab, making ten. The four women and their tableau will join the first four cabs, while Chloé will jump into the last one.
Ten plus five divided by five makes it.
The glass walls are lifted and the thieves, their hostages and their loot are let through in a slow-moving circular form, threatening to shoot at the slightest misstep.
They arrive at the cabs and methodically one man, one hostage and one painting and its carrier per cab. Plus Chloé,
The trunk was opened to allow the painting's bearer to put it in, then closed. The cabs set off in different directions, forcing their pursuers to decide which way to go. The chief suggests that nothing be done, as they'll be hearing from them soon, but warns the traffic police to keep an eye on the cabs in the directions they've taken.
A rather difficult task, as the cabs all look alike.
After a good half-hour, each cab arrives at its destination.
By walkie talkie, the bandits communicate, at the risk of being overheard, but without revealing their identity or position.
An hour later, the following announcement comes over the radio:
In exchange for Mona Lisa and four other paintings, we demand a ransom of 10 times 10 million Euros to be deposited in 10 different locations, which we will let you know within the hour.
Remember, there are ten of them, and ten million each is a good deal.
After an hour, we decide on the drop-off points.
The ten premises turned out to be elementary schools, and the pick-up would be at the same time as the children finish their classes, i.e. 4.15 p.m. tomorrow.
The police have twenty-four hours to obtain the 100 million and divide it into ten packages of 10 million each to be deposited between the main entrance and the sidewalk. This package will be a school satchel like those carried by students.
So we know that our ten characters are all not far from the school in question.
The next morning, before the 4:15 p.m. drop-off, a new message: if the order is not obeyed, at the appointed time the Mona Lisa will be cut into ten pieces.
From their hiding places, the men stare through binoculars at the drop-off point to ensure that the mission is accomplished. Their intention is that each man will arrive at the meeting point with two babies on him. One on his back, the other in his arms, to avoid being shot at and possibly killing the baby.
It's 4.15pm and the packages haven't been dropped off. Half an hour later, at each of the points, a school satchel is dropped off absent-mindedly by a student who seems to have forgotten it on the spot. The police notice it, open it and find a piece of Titian's painting "Bacchus and Ariadne". A piece of equal size is found in each of the other nine spots. The painting has been cut into ten pieces.
That same evening, on the same radio station, the thieves inform us that the next painting to be cut into ten pieces will be that of Mona Lisa. The police try everything, but can't find a single member of the group. Seriously, they're wanted for the crime of stealing priceless paintings, not for killing two people in the Louvre, who woke up three hours later. We're expecting the same scenario the next day.
Indeed, at 4.15pm the next day, with the money still missing, it's Botticelli's Birth of Venus that ends up being cut into ten equal pieces. We understand that the men want to keep the Mona Lisa as their trump card, and there's no question of them cutting her up.
The thieves are getting impatient. To date, two mock murders and two destroyed paintings, and no progress.
What can they do?
They could find a buyer for the two remaining paintings, but who'd want them knowing they'd been stolen. The Japanese are notorious for buying such marvels for big money. We've seen it with Van Gogh and Picasso, but these were obtained rather honestly.
This could be a card to play should the operation prove unsuccessful.
They decided to wait and be patient.
The next day, the radio announced that it had received another message from the thieves: Next time it won't be a painting cut into ten pieces, but rather a hostage who will be skinned and delivered in ten pieces.
This time it's too serious.
The police capitulate and advise that the ten parcels will be delivered to the right places at the right time.
As a matter of fact, this is what happens. The thieves can't believe their eyes. One by one, in full view of everyone, with two babies protecting them, they seize the parcel in the middle of a bath of children leaving school, jump on one of their cabs, drive around the block, disembark while the cab is still moving, and stop in an alley where a group of individuals tear the car into pieces in a matter of minutes. This procedure is the same in all ten districts.
The police, believing they were doing the right thing, concealed a GPS chip in each schoolbag to track and locate the men. This custom is known to all, including our bandits. They soon discovered this electronic chip in the schoolbag along with the money, and made sure to throw it at any car or truck on the road.
One can only imagine the futile errands run by the police.
Let's not forget that all ten were masked, so their identities were not known to anyone.
They had planned to sneak out of the country, and had each bought a ticket for an organized trip with a whole group to Jamaica. No one paid any attention to this group of vacationers, and in the time it took to tell it, they were on a plane.
Earlier, they had left their hostages tied to a chair, hoping for them that someone would find them, but no harm was done. As for Raphaël's Mona Lisa and La Belle Jardinière, they were rolled up in a long conical case, the same used for paintings, but when given to the luggage, this case was declared to be fishing rods that one of the men was taking with him on a trip.
On the plane, an above-average hostess overheard a conversation between two of the malefactors and thought they were the famous Louvre bandits.
Without missing a beat, she heads for the cockpit and informs the Captain. He takes note and notifies the ground of the discovery.
Half an hour after the plane had left the Charles de Gaule runway, the passengers suddenly sensed that the plane was turning back. Panic sets in. The Captain has to intervene to inform the passengers that there has been a technical failure and that they must return to fix it.
Some calm down, but not our bandits. They consult each other in a hurry and imagine that the cat's out of the bag. If the plane lands, in the time it takes to tell them, it will be swarmed by the police and everyone will be under suspicion, although the stewardess will remember the two whose conversation she overheard, and will hasten to identify them Our heroes will be caught and the escapade will come to an end.
But what to do?
As the plane began its descent into Charles de Gaule, two men stood up, each grabbing a stewardess by the neck, knives in hand, and headed for the cockpit, warning the Captain not to land, or they'd slit their victims' throats. The Captain does nothing, and one man begins to slit his throat, blood pouring out. The other shouts:
-Do you want me to do the same to the other one?
The bleeding stewardess is thrown to the ground, and this time the man seizes the navigator, knife at his neck, and beseeches the Captain to take off again.
Meanwhile, on the ground, people are getting impatient and asking if all is well, that the police are there to welcome the bandits. This confirms their fears, and they're glad they took the initiative.
The captain informs the tower that all is well and that the flight will continue as planned.
- We're not landing, we're continuing on our way, five by five.
- But you say you have the Louvre thieves with you.
- Sorry, we were wrong.
The two bandits call two more of their comrades and ask them to see if there's a doctor on site to treat the injured stewardess. The whole plane realizes that there are terrorists on board, and panic sets in again. We have to decide quickly what to do. There's enough fuel for a long haul, but where to go from here? Hopefully, Paris has forgotten about the intervention, so Jamaica won't be told to take over.
But nowadays, with everyone having a cell phone, many passengers call Paris and inform their interlocutors that they are caught in a hijacking.
Our heroes realize this and confiscate all the devices.
Too late, everyone knows.
By the way, when the captain replied to the control tower, "We're not landing, we're going five-by-five", what the hijackers didn't know was that five-by-five is an internal code meaning "we're in danger". Consequently, it was understood that on arrival in Jamaica, they would all be hunted down.
Now that the die has been cast, the ten lascars take control of the plane and tell everyone to stay calm, that they'll arrive at their destination and forget about the incident.
The Captain is told to keep his course for Jamaica, and on the way we'll decide what to do next. The navigator is left to breathe a sigh of relief, but a man, this time armed with two knives, is on the lookout.
Suddenly, a man rises from the middle of the plane, addresses one of the kidnappers and asks him who their leader is. He shoves him back into his seat. He got up again and demanded to see the boss, as he needed to speak to him.
But this man was dressed very differently from the others. He didn't look like someone on vacation. Well-dressed, rather serious-looking. He was traveling alone.
-Who are you and what's your name?
-I'm Russel Williams and I work for the Bahamian government.
-Just a moment, I'll be right back.
The man heads for the cockpit, addresses Chloe and explains that a strange guy wants to talk to her.
-Go get him
Once they're face to face. The Bahamian asks if they can sit down, as he'd like to talk to her about an idea that might help them.
-I understand your situation very well. I imagine, as you do, that when we arrive in Kingston, the police will be waiting for you, and that will be the end of your trip. In exchange, I can ask you, say, ten million dollars to solve your problem.
-Oh yes, and how?
-From here, I can contact my government and ask for permission to land in Nassau, while asking the captain to confirm his approach to Kingston airport and let the authorities think we're going to capture you.
I'll tell my government that you've handed over the ten million, and on arrival, three limousines will be waiting, taking you to a hotel we control, giving you time to decide your next move.
-You know, dear Mr Williams, ten million is a lot of money.
-Yes, but last time I checked, you made a hundred, so it's only ten percent.
-So you're a businessman and I'll talk to you like one. Okay, but on a few conditions: Since you claim to be up to the task, we'll need Bahamian passports for my entire team of five men and five women. While we're staying with you, we'll need to keep a close watch on our hotel and our movements. There's still one thorny point: once we've left the airport, this plane will continue on its way to Jamaica and everyone will know we're in the Bahamas. We'll be picked up at your place immediately. How do you expect to hide and protect us and our millions? What will your government tell France and the world, given that you've joined forces with brigands? And if we leave the Bahamas, where will we go so as not to be discovered? I don't think so, Mr. Williams.
- Let me communicate with my government and we'll see if better ideas come along.
