LARS PAULISSEN REVEALED HIS escape plan to Tobias Jensen. Patting his top dresser drawer, he said, “I have a key to unlock the porthole. Last year we bought a bunch of padlocks, and I have the master key to them all. Tonight, I’ll open the port, knock a hole in the canvas, and send a Morse code message. Maybe someone on the shore will pick it up.” Just then a key rattled outside the cabin and the door burst open. Mobuto stood flanked by two men with machine guns. Mobuto marched Lars to the bridge and ordered him to talk to the family of engineer Jon Johansen. Today was the dead man’s birthday, and the family was calling to wish him well. Lars took the phone and read the typed message Mobuto had written. “Jon is well. As a birthday treat, he went ashore for a day on the beach.” After grabbing the phone and hanging it up, Mobuto took Lars for a walk on the deck. It was his first time out of his room since construction had started on his ship.
