“That was frickin’ awesome,” Hail laughed, and he started clapping his hands.
The rest of the crew cheered, clapped and yelled. A few of the younger pilots did little happy dances. Hail leaned his head back, took in deep breaths, and he said a silent prayer of thanks to any powerful entity who might be listening.
Back on the ground, Kara jumped out of the SUV and ran over to the Land Rover. The car was still idling in the middle of the runway. She walked around to the passenger side of the vehicle, opened the door, and then popped open the glovebox. She was hoping to find some duct tape, or wire, or anything that could be used to tie up Baako before he regained consciousness. Instead, she found something much better. Inside the glove box was a bag of nylon handcuffs. All sorts of sizes to fit all sorts of criminals. She pulled out what she thought was a large pair that would fit Baako and stuffed the rest of the bag into her front pocket. She ran back to the SUV and was pleased to see that Afua’s brother hadn’t moved an inch.
Leaning down, Kara used nylon handcuffs to secure his hands, making sure they were tight, but wouldn’t cut off his circulation.
Kara heard a murmur coming from somewhere. At first, she thought the sounds were coming from Baako, but then she saw Kornev’s face appear where the Suburban’s passenger window had once been.
“Are we still alive?” he asked.
“I am, but you look like hell,” Kara told him.
Kornev had a badly swollen black eye, a bloody nose and Kara guessed he had suffered many other injuries. Kornev had been bounced around in the back of the SUV like a wet shoe in a dryer.
Kornev stuck his head out the SUV’s window and threw up.
“That’s just beautiful,” Kara said.
She searched through Baako’s pockets and found his cellphone. From memory, she dialed Marshall Hail’s cellphone’s number.
Hail excused himself from the celebration in the mission center of the Hail Proton. He stepped through the bulkhead door opening and closed the thick door behind him. In the hallway, he heard nothing but the muted drone of the ship’s engines and his own phone ringing.
Hail placed the phone to his ear and said, “Hi, Kara. How are you?”
“I’m doing pretty well, Marshall. Fortunately, I had my seat belt on and the SUV was built like a tank.”
“You didn’t get shot or anything, did you?”
“I got a lot of anything, but I didn’t get shot. To tell you the truth, I thought I was a goner until you had Seagulls headbutt Baako.”
“Who’s Baako?” Hail asked.
“Afua Diambu’s twin brother,” Kara said. She waited for a response.
“Whoa,” Hail said. “You have to be kidding me? We just thought he was some double that Diambu had pulled off the street.”
“Nope, and you could imagine how shocked I was when I walked into Diambu’s compound and saw his twin brother sitting there on the couch.”
Kara looked down to her right and noticed that Baako was beginning to come around.
She told Hail, “Baako is starting to wake up.”
Hail said, “I had no idea that Seagulls could do that much damage.”
Kara told Hail, “Well, I kind of helped a little by slamming the door into Baako’s face after the drone hit the back of his head.”
“Good work,” Hail complimented her. “You give good door.”
“It’s what I do. I was trained in all sorts of door war craft when I went through CIA spy camp.”
“Yeah, right,” Hail laughed.
Kara laughed, and then she laughed some more, but not at her stupid joke. She laughed at coming so close to dying and then narrowly thwarting the dark figure toting the sharp scythe. Death had come for many people today, but she had not been on its list.
Baako had now regained enough of his faculties to realize he was in handcuffs. He made a feeble attempt to test the strength of his bindings. After a few vexing seconds, he simply dropped his hands back into his lap and leaned up against one of the blown-out SUV tires.
“My plane is waiting for you at the airport,” Hail told her. “I can have them fly it over and land it on the runway in front of you.”
Kornev’s head was laying bent back at a 45-degree angle, resting on the headrest of the seat. He was staring directly up into the headliner of the SUV to stop the stream of blood dripping from his nose. Kornev found a napkin and had torn parts from it to make corks for each nostril.
Kara told Hail, “No, that won’t be necessary. I have some loose ends I need to tie up here. I will catch a ride back to Kornev’s place on his crappy plane.”
“Really?” Hail asked, surprised by her response. “I mean, it still has to be hot there. That couldn’t have been all the guards Diambu had at his compound.”
“I’m not worried about that. I have Baako, and I have his gun. Diambu’s soldiers don’t have anyone to fight for right now. There is a power vacuum that needs to be filled, and I intend to make sure it gets filled by the right person.”
Kara heard Hail sigh over the phone. She had heard that same sound from him only a few other times. Most of those times he had been lost in the memory of his family. Then he had resurfaced back to the real world with a sorrowful sigh…the same one he had just used with her.
Across the runway, Kara saw two more Land Rovers appear on the tarmac. They turned and began driving toward her.
Hail asked, “Before you leave, will you do us a favor and package up the drones for transport? We are going to land Foreigner on the runway for the pick-up.”
“Sure, no problem,” Kara said.
There was a long silence on the phone. Kara felt that Marshall wanted to say something special to her, but he didn’t know what to say. Nothing too committal because it was something he couldn’t take back. If it was too over the top, it might be considered a faux pas that might possibly prevent them from moving forward. Kara sensed that Marshall felt he was on a tightrope, attempting not to lose his balance.
When the silence had reached the point of being too awkward, Kara let Hail off the hook and said, “Listen, Marshall. I’ve got to go. I want to thank you for everything you have done for me.”
There was a moment of silence before Hail said, “It sounds like you’re saying goodbye.”
“No, not at all,” Kara lied. “If it wasn’t for you and your team, I wouldn’t be breathing right now. I just wanted to say thanks.”
After another beat, Hail said softly, “You’re welcome.”
Kara watched as the vehicles drew closer, and just when she was getting ready to disconnect the call, she heard Marshall say, “I miss you.”
Hail’s words induced a prick in her heart. Cupid was not shooting arrows. Instead, it was shooting needles of emotion she had to compartmentalize to consider later.
Kara walked over to Baako and placed the tip of the Sig Sauer on his swollen temple.
“Tell them to back off,” Kara told Baako, and she pulled back the hammer of the pistol with her thumb.
The Land Rovers came to a quick stop in front of the demolished SUV, and a dozen guns were brought up and trained on Kara.
“Tell them,” Kara insisted.
Baako looked up and feebly told the men, “It is OK. Go back to the other end of the runway. I will call for you when I need you.”
Kara didn’t know if the men would follow Baako’s commands because Baako was not Afua. But did these men know that? She didn’t have a clue if Afua’s men could tell the brothers apart. If it hadn’t been for Baako’s cheery disposition and lack of the wound that had been photographed on Afua’s leg, she almost didn’t tell them apart. Still, she was encouraged when the soldiers lowered their weapons. The men in the Land Rovers returned to their seats. Their vehicles made a wide looping turn and began driving back toward the other end of the runway. Kara walked over to the Land Rover that Baako had been driving and noticed a few bottles of water scattered on the floor of the vehicle. Keeping the gun in her right hand, she used her left hand to thread her fingers under the lips of the two water bottles. She brought them back to the backseat of the SUV where Kornev was convalescing. Kara tossed the bottle to him, hitting the Russian smack in the head and he groaned. She handed the other bottle to Baako, who was still sitting on the ground next to the Suburban.