“Down to it,” Jake said.
“Down?”
“The problem is how to get the hatch unlatched. They only open from the inside.”
“I’m still a little unclear on the ‘down’ part of the plan,” Tuck said. At some point he was going to be on top of a 747 and heights made him nervous.
“Let me worry about that,” Jake said. Then he snapped his fingers as if conjuring the answer to his problem out of thin air. “I’ve got the answer right here in front of me. What was I thinking? I’m working with the master.”
Tuck looked around, thinking that Jake was talking about someone else. “Are you talking about me? I don’t know how to do anything.”
“But you’re wrong, Tuck, you’re wrong. For this part of the plan we need the cooperation of a flight attendant. Come on, let’s get my bag. I’ve got an extra change of clothes you can wear.”
“What’s wrong with these clothes?” Tuck asked. He was still wearing the oversized and now distressed hand-me-downs of Sebastian Curtis.
“Like you have to ask.”
Jake spent an hour studying flight schedules and talking to counter people at the different airlines. Tuck took the opportunity to call the hotel to check on Sepie. She answered on the second ring. “Hello. How much is washer-dryer combination?”
“What?”
“Maytag washer-dryer combination with minibasket and wrinkle guard. How much?”
“I don’t know. Maybe a grand. Are you okay?”
She’d put the phone down and he heard her shouting at the TV, “Is a grand! Is a grand! You fuckin’ mook! Oh, no.” She picked up the phone again. “You wrong. Is eleven nine nine suggested retail. You lose.”
“You’re watching ‘The Price Is Right’?”
“They give you things if you know how much. Is very hard.”
“Do you need anything?” Tuck asked. “I can call room service from here and have them bring you some food.”
“Perfume and lipstick,” Sepie said.
“That’ll have to wait. I’ll be back soon, okay?”
“Okay. Tuck?”
“What, Sepie?”
“What is washer-dryer combination?”
“I’ll explain later. I have to go now.”
She hung up on him. Evidently, her fascination with plumbing and television didn’t extend to the telephone. He found Jake talking to a girl at the United counter who was obviously taken with the grungy pilot’s charm. He saw Tuck and said good-bye.
“I’ve found our plane and the crew assignments. We have a ten-minute window to get to Gate 38 so you can work your magic.”
The plan was for Tuck to spot a flight attendant coming off the plane, get to know her, and convince her to go back into the jet and throw the latch on the emergency hatch before the plane was cleaned and moved away from the terminal. They waited at the tunnel into Gate 38. The passengers had long since deplaned, as had the pilots.
“Remember, you want to go ugly,” Jake said.
“I know,” Tuck said. He’d changed into Jake’s clothes, which fit him, at least, even if he looked like a guitar player for a Seattle grunge band.
“And old if you can get it.”
“I know,” Tuck said.
“You want a woman who looks like she couldn’t get laid in a men’s colony.”
“I know,” Tuck said. “Would you back off? I haven’t done this in a while.”
“Like riding a bicycle, buddy.”
The first flight attendant out of the tunnel was a pretty blond woman, about twenty-five. “Pass,” Jake said.
The next was a man, and the next a tall black woman who could have been a runway model.
“They’re killing us here,” Jake said. “How would you feel about going for the guy? He’s our best chance so far.”
“Fuck off, Jake.”
“Just an idea.”
They waited for five more minutes before a tired-looking woman in her fifties came down the tunnel pulling her flight bag behind her.
“Go to it, stud,” Jake said. He gave Tucker a little shove.
Tuck shoved back without taking his eyes off the woman. “I can’t do this, Jake.”
“What?” Jake Skye grabbed Tuck’s wrist and pretended to be taking his pulse.
Tuck pulled away from him. “I can’t do this.”
“Don’t pull this shit on me, buddy. She’s getting away. This is what you do.”
“Not anymore, I don’t.”
“Well, I sure as hell do.” Jake pulled off the flannel shirt he was wearing open over his black T-shirt and threw it to Tuck. “Go back to your hotel and wait for me to call. What room are you in?”
“Twelve-thirty.”
Jake pushed the T-shirt sleeves up just enough for his biceps to show and took off down the concourse after the middle-aged flight attendant.
Tuck went outside and found the shuttle to the Hyatt Regency. During the ride back to the hotel, he realized that he had no idea how to explain a washer-dryer combination to someone who had never worn shoes or a shirt until two days ago. He decided to go with magic.
62
Like Clockwork Spies
Malink found the old cannibal in a small clearing in the jungle, urinating on a young banana tree. “I brought you food.” Malink dropped the basket and sat down under a tree. Sarapul seemed to be taking a long time at his task.
“Sometimes it’s hard,” Malink said.
“Sometimes I can’t go at all,” Sarapul said. “It hurts.” He shuddered and turned around with a grin, smoothing down his thu. “But not today.” He sat down next to Malink and reached into the basket for a hunk of fish.
“I heard the music last night,” Sarapul said. “The white bitch comes more often now.” He offered Malink a piece of fish and the chief took it.
“There are three chosen in only ten days. I think they won’t come back sometimes. Vincent says that she is not the Sky Priestess. The pilot said she will kill us.”
“Then we must fight.”
“Knives against guns? You remember the war.”
“I remember. Come.” He got up and led Malink through the underbrush to a hollow log. He reached in and pulled out a long bundle wrapped in oiled sharkskin. “A man must take the strength of his enemies. If he cannot eat him and take his strength, he must take his weapon.”
Sarapul unwrapped the bundle to reveal a World War II vintage Japanese bolt-action rifle. He had obviously been visiting this spot because the rifle was covered with a thin coat of fish oil and gleamed like new. “I cut off his head and took his gun.”
Malink remembered the wrath of the Japanese on his people after the solider disappeared. “You did that? You were the one?”
“It was a long time ago,” Sarapul said. He reached into the bundle again and pulled out three shining cartridges. “But I saved these.”
“They have machine guns,” Malink said.
“She doesn’t.”
The call came a little after midnight. Tuck had slept since he got to the hotel, stuffing toilet paper in his ears to block out the noise of the television and Sepie talking back to it.
“Take a cab to general aviation at the airport,” Jake said. “The hangar you want says Island Adventures on the side. I’ll be waiting.”
Tuck climbed out of bed and turned off the television.
“Hey,” Sepie said. She was sitting cross-legged on the floor about a foot from the screen. Tuck crouched and took her face in his hands. “Tomorrow at six you take the tickets and go downstairs. Tell the man at the desk you want to go to the airport. The bus will take you.”
“I know this,” she said.
“Just listen. A tall man with long hair will be there.”
“Right. Jake,” Sepie said. “I know this.”
“If he’s not there, go to one of the men in the blue hats and tell him you need help getting on your plane. He’ll help you. When you get to Houston, go into the airport and call this number. Tell the woman who answers that I told you to call. She’ll help you.”
“And you will come and get me soon, right?”
“I’ll try.”
“What about Roberto?”
They hadn’t seen the fruit bat since the mascara bombing. “Roberto will be fine. He’ll live here, but I have to go.” He kissed her on the forehead and before he could pull away she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him on the lips so hard he thought he might have cut his lip.