Justin — who had won the coin toss to see who would be the captain on this flight — turned to the seven passengers in the cabin and, deepening his voice and developing a drawl, said: "Folks, welcome to Air Impact! Flight 2036 to…»
"Flight 2038," whispered Frank.
"Right, Flight 2038, to, ah, Freeport," said Justin. "I'm Captain Justin Robert and this is my copilot, Frank Teeterman."
Frank waved a little salute.
"We're almost through our checklist," said Justin, "so in just a few minutes we'll be closing the door and giving you a safety briefing, then we'll be on our way." Justin had practiced this speech in front of his bathroom mirror. He thought it came out pretty good. He turned back to his checklist.
"Hey." It was Snake's voice, from the back. "How 'bout we go now."
"What?" said Justin, turning back around. The retirees also turned around to administer a group glare at Snake, who was sitting next to Jenny, who had her eyes closed and was leaning her head against the window. Eddie was across the aisle, looking glum.
"I said, let's go now," said Snake. He was thinking about the punk getting away. Snake figured the punk, being basically a lowlife like Snake, would not go to the cops. He was probably just saving his own ass, which was what Snake would have done. But Snake still wanted to get out of there.
"Sir," said Justin, "we have to finish our preflight checklist, then we'll go. It's for your safety, sir."
Snake almost showed him the gun right then. He even thought of a good line: I got my safety right here, asshole. But he decided to give it another minute or two.
"Officer!" shouted Matt, darting through the airport congestion and waving his arms at Monica, whom Matt had spotted near the American Airlines domestic counter. "Officer!"
"You found them?" asked Monica, running toward him.
"We found the little guy" said Matt. "With the beard. Back this way." They were running together now.
"Just him?" asked Monica. "Alone?"
"Yeah," said Matt.
"Did he say where the others are?" asked Monica. "I didn't talk to him," said Matt. "My dad said come get you."
"Good work," said Monica.
"The airport is laid out how?" asked Greer.
"The main concourse is a big semicircle," said Baker. "Gate concourses radiate off it."
"This about the middle?" asked Greer.
"Pretty close," said Baker.
"OK, then," said Greer. "We'll stop here."
Seitz pulled over and stopped next to a NO STOPPING ANYTIME sign. They got out of the car and headed for the terminal entrance.
Greer, talking to Baker, said, "My guess is, these morons already fucked up somehow, attracted the attention of the cops here. Should be easy to find 'em. When we do, we need your help to get the suitcase, get custody of the perps, and get outta here quick and quiet as possible. OK?"
"OK," said Baker.
"But no matter what," said Greer, now talking to both Seitz and Baker, "we get the suitcase."
As they entered the terminal, they were almost knocked over by two men with walkie-talkies, running toward their left, the direction of the Delta counter. They could hear shouting corning from that direction, then a scream. "Bingo," said Greer.
Puggy could not believe it: his angel! Here! He held her hand and looked into her eyes, which were at exactly the level of his eyes. For a minute, he couldn't even hear what the other lady was saying to him.
"Please," Anna said, for the third time, "where is my daughter? Please."
"Puggy, you must help," said Nina. Pogey, you mus help.
Puggy got it now. The girl.
"They're down that way," he said, pointing back through the security checkpoint, down the flight concourse toward the Air Impact! gate. "They got on a plane."
"Oh my God!" said Anna. She grabbed Eliot's arm. "We have to get down there!"
"Right," said Eliot, looking around desperately. Where the hell was Matt? Where was the lady… there she was!
"Over here!" he yelled, waving to Monica and Matt, who were sprinting through the crowd.
"What's he say?" said Monica, reaching the group, panting.
"He says they're on a plane," said Eliot. "Down that way."
"Show me where," said Monica, grabbing Puggy's arm and striding toward the security checkpoint. Puggy, reluctantly letting go of Nina's hand, stumbled behind Monica.
"Police emergency!" shouted Monica, as she reached the head of the checkpoint line. "Out of the way, please!" Dragging Puggy, she went through the metal detector, which beeped because of her badge. Immediately, she found her path blocked by the rotund man.
"Listen," said Monica. "This is a police emergency. I need to go down that concourse with this man, and I need you to notify the airport police right now that…»
"I have to scan him," said the rotund man, waving a handheld scanner toward Puggy.
"Did you hear me, for God's sake?" shouted Monica. "I said we have an emergency down there. We have a hostage sit — "
"AND I SAID I HAVE TO SCAN HIM," replied the rotund man, brandishing the scanner in Monica's face. Rules were rules.
"Scan this," said Monica, yanking the scanner from his grasp and flinging it over her shoulder. She shoved past the rotund man, dragging Puggy behind her.
"Hey!" said the rotund man. "Hold it! You can't… HEY!"
"Excuse me," said Eliot, coming through the metal detector and pushing past the rotund man, followed closely by Anna, Matt, and Nina. "We're with them."
"STOP!" shouted the rotund man, trying unsuccessfully to block this renegade group. "SECURITY!"
"SECURITY!" chorused the X-ray woman, and the stern woman at the end of the conveyor belt, and the other checkpoint workers. "SECURITY! SECURITY!"
There was an officer assigned to this checkpoint: His name was Ralph Pendick, and he happened to be the older, but not a whole lot smarter, brother of Jack Pendick, the man who earlier that evening had alertly foiled the attempted squirting of Jenny Herk by firing bullets randomly in a parking lot. Ralph Pendick's orders were to remain at the security checkpoint at all times, and he had tried mightily to comply with these orders when he first heard, on his walkie-talkie, about the trouble down at the Delta counter. He had watched, with mounting envy, as other officers ran past, headed for the action; there was never any action, here at the checkpoint. Finally, unable to stand it any longer, Ralph had abandoned his post and headed for Delta, which meant there was nobody to heed the cries of the personnel at his assigned checkpoint, who were still yelling "SECURITY!" at the rapidly receding figures of Monica, Puggy, Eliot, Matt, Anna, and Nina.
The rotund man waddled quickly over to a wall-mounted phone, grabbed the receiver, punched a code, and began shouting into it, nearly incoherent with excitement. Security had been breached! A police officer was involved! People had gotten through without being properly scanned! They could be carrying… concealed laptops!
"You see what it is?" asked Leonard. They were at the edge of the now huge mob in front of the Delta counter.
"Nope," said Henry, craning his neck. "All's I see is people tryin' to see."
"Well, fuck it," said Leonard. "I say we go to the counter."
"Worth a try," said Henry. He led the way, pushing through the crowd, which was shouting in several languages. From what snatches of English they picked up, they gathered that there were police ahead, and somebody hurt, and something crawling. As the crowd got denser, they struggled forward, Henry shoving people aside, each labored step strengthening their resolve to get… out… of… this… crazy… fucking… place.