Q-Eng

Dadgar had said that he would accept bail in one of three forms: cash, a bank guarantee, or a lien on property. Cash was out of the question. First, anyone who flew into the lawless city of Tehran with $12,750,000 in a suitcase might never reach Dadgar’s office alive.

Second, Dadgar might take the money and still keep Paul and Bill, either by raising the bail or by rearresting them on some new pretext.

(Tom Walter suggested using counterfeit money, but nobody knew where to get it.)

There had to be a document that gave Dadgar the money and at the same time gave Paul and Bill their freedom. In Dallas Tom Walter had at last found a bank willing to issue a letter of credit for the bail, but Howell and Taylor were having trouble finding an Iranian bank to accept it and issue the guarantee Dadgar required.

Meanwhile, Howell’s boss Tom Luce thought about the third option, a lien on property and came up with a wild and whacky idea that just might work: pledging the U.S. Embassy in Tehran as bail for Paul and Bill.

http://www.amazon.com/On-Wings-Eagles-Ken-Follett/dp/0451...

ransom の話が出た時にスグこの話を思い出して少し読み直してみた。この本はどうして読んだのだったかはあまり記憶にないなぁ。

これを知っていたのであの金額は現実的ではないな、と思った。大体、今流通している米ドル紙幣は１００ドル紙幣が日本の１万円札にあたる感じだ。まさかSWIFTは使えないだろうし。

猪瀬さんの５千万円のカバンの件をあてはめると、アレよりも小さめのものがいくつ必要だろうか？

或いは英文のようにL/Cを開くとしても opening bank/accepting bank ナンカ無いだろうし。

この英文はホントにあった話のようです。陣頭指揮に当たったのは後に米大統領選にも出た Ross Perot 氏。

出版からは３０年経っているかな?　firstly, secondly… としていないのがいいですね。話は飛びますけれど、NHKの基礎英語３のスキットには /actually/ が今まで何度出てきたでしょうね。かなり嫌です。

アマゾン小窓とウィキペディァリンク張っておきますね。

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_Wings_of_Eagles