Toys

Chapter 72

The military stealth jet shot across the English Channel like a dark arrow cutting through the heart of the night. Lucy and I sat at the plane’s rear, both of us silent, brooding. We had plenty to think about, trying to prepare ourselves for whatever might be coming next: probably a world war.

“I have to make an important stop along the way,” Lucy said, standing up abruptly. “Sorry I didn’t tell you before, Hays.”

I nodded, though not completely following her. “Where are we stopping?” I asked.

Then I saw that she was readying a parachute-and that the red jump light was starting to flash.

“I thought we were going to the southeast of France,” I said. Even at the jet’s terrific speed, we couldn’t have made it there already.

“You are. I have some other business to take care of first. I’ll catch up with you as soon as I can. Godspeed. If there could possibly be a God. What was that old song-‘God Bless This Mess’? I always liked that sentiment. Good-bye, Hays.”

I stared at her in complete disbelief. “Wait a minute-you’re just leaving me?”

“There’s no time to explain a couple hundred years of European history to you. But don’t worry, Hays. You’ll be met at your drop zone.”

“Met by who?”

“The eminence grise of Interpol.”

“The what? The who?”

“The person behind the scenes who’s the real power here in Europe. Hays…” She looked at me earnestly, and I thought she was about to tell me something important, or maybe even personal. For some odd reason, I wanted her to. But she only said, “I wish it didn’t have to be like this. But it does. As Sir Nigel said, we’re in a war. A war of the worlds. This is the Big One.”

Lucy waved as she stepped into the jet’s parachute airlock and the door slid closed. Ten seconds later, no more than that, it reopened with the chamber empty.

Strangely, I felt incredibly alone with her gone. Maybe I had begun to think of Lucy as my only link between two hugely different worlds, Elite and human. Or maybe I just enjoyed her company. She seemed to know about everything, and she could make me laugh, even at times when I shouldn’t.

But I didn’t have long to ponder Lucy and myself before my own jump light started flashing. I immediately sealed myself into the airlock. Seconds later, I tumbled out into the cold, dark sky and was batted around like a feather by the jet’s furious turbulence.

The whipping air got less fierce as I raced farther in my plunge toward earth. At an altitude of approximately three thousand feet, I popped open the chute. There was the satisfying shock of the harness seeming to yank my body upward.

Now I had some control, and I was able to study the landscape below.

Far to the south, I could see the long, glittering curve of the Cote d’Azur and the black emptiness of the Mediterranean Sea. Eastward lay the majestic Alps-huge, craggy, and mysterious shadows in the moonlight.

And directly underneath me-an impossibly small circle of flares marked my target.

I started furiously working the parachute cords to make sure that I landed close by. I was completely trusting Lucy now-and the humans of course. That was still unsettling to me-trusting them. But what other choice did I have?

My acute night vision didn’t pick up any signs of hidden enemies. Just a single vehicle waiting midway inside the circle of flares. It sure wasn’t a military transport.

It was a limo.

And the eminence grise? Where was he? Inside this fancy car?

I glided to earth as silently and invisibly as a ghost, landing in a forest with the crisp scent of pines filling my nostrils and the ground beneath my feet softened by their duff. For a full minute, I stayed crouched there, listening and watching the long, shiny, silver vehicle.

There were no sounds other than the wind through the tree branches and the timid rustlings of a few small animals on their nightly quest for supper.

I eased down onto my belly and started moving toward the flares-and the mysterious car parked out in the middle of nowhere.