jamesq | Roy Hinkley, Criminal Mastermind

I didn't write this, just FYI.

For those of you wondering why the professor couldn't repair the ship:

Roy Hinkley clutched the flashlight in his teeth as he carefully made
his way forward through the hull of the Minnow. No easy task with the
pitching cased by the storm. The next few minutes would be critical to
carrying out his plan. Skipper Grumby had been fooled by his falsified
weather report, and would never taken the ship out -- with passengers
aboard no less -- if he'd had any idea of how severe the storm would
be. The oafish Willie Gilligan -- who reminded Hinkley of the useless
TV character, Maynard G. Krebs -- was easily duped into cooperating.
And what was going on between Grumby and his "Good Buddy"? Was there
more than met the eye? Hinkley would soon find out.

Hinkley reached his chosen spot at the bow, and carefully attached the
small explosive charge and set the timer. He had to re-join the others
before he was missed. The Minnow was now close enough to the island
that when the charge blew a hole in the hull, they would be forced to
land at the island. The radio was already sabotaged; there would be no
distress call from the Minnow.

It had taken five years to get this far. First, there was the
fortunate discovery that the Ex-Nazi with the embezzled fortune, had
escaped to the United States and adopted the persona of Thurston J.
Howell, III. It was simple enough to blackmail Mr. "Howell", to
provide the funding Hinkley needed.

A network of caves provided a convenient place to set up his
equipment. All he had to do was choose the spot directly above one of
the hidden entrances to build his hut, and he could readily access his
equipment without the others suspecting. Additional hidden entrances
would allow him to move freely about the island without being
detected.

. . .

The storm had abated and the welcome sunlight began to dry off the
soggy and exhausted passengers. They cautiously climbed from the
broken hull of the Minnow, onto the beach. Had it not been for the
courage of the fearless crew, the Minnow would have been lost.

Hinkley urged them to explore their new home. He suggested where to
look for a spring that would supply drinkable water. He directed them
to a grove of banana plants. He seemed to have an unnatural intuition
as to where to look and what to avoid on the island. They would come
to trust him. He already had all the equipment he needed to supply
their needs secreted away in the caves. Well, those needs he chose to
satisfy.

. . .

"Professor" Hinkley, as they now knew him, stepped out and announced to
Ginger that the shower he'd built into her cabin was ready for use.
She would never find the observation camera he'd hidden there, or any
of the other cameras strategically scattered about the camp.

Mary Ann was jealous, and demanded he build one for her as well. Ever
charming, he agreed, explaining: "We'll have to make the best of
things. We're here for a long long time."

EPILOGUE: 40 years later

His experiments on the castaways over the last four decades had been
useful. He was now ready to move on to the next phase of his plan.
Now, he would welcome his next set of subjects.

This time, he'd carefully chosen his target. He would not make the
mistake he'd made four years ago. The last time, the plane had only
one passenger aboard; an excellent subject, but a single person was
not sufficient for what he had in mind. Oh, observing him was
interesting in its own right, but how much solloquizing to a volleyball
could Hinkley stand? Hinkley tired of this, and had arranged for a
broken piece of plastic to "coincidentally" wash up near Noland's camp,
and insure that he had enough material to build a raft to leave the
island. Noland hadn't seen enough, nor been aware of Hinkley's
presence, that Hinkley couldn't afford to allow him to escape.

Hinkley reached his subterranean complex and powered up his equipment.
Radio jammer: ON. False navigational beacons: ON. Transmitter: ON.
He keyed the mike and spoke calmly and authoritatively: "Oceanic
Flight 815: This is Honolulu ATC. We have an emergency. Please copy
down this modified fight-plan..."