Criminal Mischief

30

Early the next morning, Stone got Faith on the phone and brought her up to date. “We can’t fly away until the FBI gives us the all clear, but I don’t see why you and your crew shouldn’t go out there right now, do your preflight inspection and get everything ready to go.”

“Okay.”

“And you can take our luggage and get it aboard.”

“Will do.”

“One thing: do not, on any account, let anyone take the airplane out of the hangar. We don’t want them to confuse our G-500 with the one flown by the bad guys.”

“Got it,” she said. “The airplane stays in the hangar.”

They hung up.

“I think I’ll go for a walk,” Dino said. “Felix, you up for that?”

Felix assented.

“Oh, no you don’t,” Stone said. “We have no idea where Zanian is, and he might spot the two of you and follow you home. We can’t have that.”

“So, I have to go by myself,” Dino said.

“It would be better if you didn’t go at all,” Stone replied. “That way you can stay out of trouble.”

“Sorry about that, Felix,” Dino said. “Let’s see if we can find a good movie on the TV. You like Lassie?”

“Well,” Margot said, stretching and yawning. “I think I’ll have a nap.”

“Need any help with that?” Stone asked.

“I’ll scream, if I get into trouble,” she said and headed for the bedroom.

“So, it’s you, me, Felix, and Lassie,” Dino said to Stone, switching on the TV.

“Pass on the Lassie movie,” Stone said. “My apologies, Felix.” He thought that, if he tried hard, he might hear Margot screaming for help.

They had exhausted each other twice, when Margot’s handbag started ringing. “That can be only one person,” she said, “or a wrong number.” She got out of bed and shook the phone out of her bag, still ringing. “Hello?... Well, of course it’s you. Where are you?... I’m not there, and I’m not telling you where I am, until I get some answers... Well, for a start, what is our next destination? A girl likes to know these things... My bags aren’t there because I sent everything to be laundered and dry-cleaned. Everything smelled of tropical sweat.”

Stone was regaining consciousness now, and tuning in to her conversation.

“What’s our schedule?... When are we getting out of here?... Felix is at a groomer. He got into something awful, and the smell was unbearable. He should be back soon... Now, where are you, and where are we going?... What is Lanai? All right, where is Lanai?... And it has a runway long enough for the Gulfstream?... How on earth did you get there? All right, all right, don’t tell me anything! Except one thing. I want my money back today. No, no, Viktor, no more delays. I want it wired to my bank at the hour of opening for business, and I’m not budging from Honolulu until that happens... Well, then, stick to masturbation. At least you’ll be doing it with somebody you love!... Okay, it’s an old joke, but it has the virtue of being true... I’m tiring of being on the airplane with those creeps, Dad and Mom. I have trouble falling asleep with them on the same airplane... They are not harmless! She told me they have killed more than two dozen people and never been arrested!... Now, I’ve drawn the line: this is where you come through or where I get off. Take your pick. All right, don’t call me again until the money is in my bank and I’ve spoken to the manager there. You have all the account information. Two and a half million dollars... I’m not going to quibble with you over change, just do it!” She hung up.

“Well,” Stone said, “that was an interesting conversation. I think I can fill in his lines. Did he say anything I couldn’t figure out?”

“He says he’s going to wire the funds first thing this morning.”

“In what time zone?”

“New York.”

“Do you think he’ll really do it?”

“Possibly. We’ll just have to wait and see.”

“Are you going to stick to your guns?”

“You’re damned right I am. I have a better chance of sharing in the reward than I have getting it back from him.”

“The reward will take longer,” Stone said.

“Then I’ll just have to be patient. I’ve got enough from my parents’ estate to keep body and soul together until they come through. Thank God Viktor never got his hands on that!”

“Good for you.” Stone found a tourist map of the islands. “Here’s Lanai,” he said, pointing to an island south of Oahu. “That’s where he is?”

“He said he plans to leave from there.”

“So, that’s where the airplane is?”

“He didn’t say, exactly. For all I know he could be downstairs in the bar.”

“That’s a big help.”

“What I need is a long soak in a hot tub,” she said, kicking off the covers.

“Can I watch?”

“You can help,” she said. “You can scrub my back.”

“I prefer your front.”

“That, too.”

“You go get started,” Stone said. “I’ll be along shortly.”

She left the room, and he heard the tub running. Stone called Brio Ness and got the same annoying young man he’d spoken to last time. “Call her on the airplane and tell her to call me,” he said.

“And who is this, again?”

“It’s Stone Barrington, and you can tell her I have an update on what’s happening here.” He hung up. Ten minutes later his phone rang. “Yes?”

“It’s Ness. Do you know how hard it is to get to sleep on an airplane?”

“Yes, and it’s not particularly hard, if you have a clear conscience.”

“And why wouldn’t I have a clear conscience?”

“I’m not absolutely certain you have a conscience at all,” he said. “Do you want more info?”

“Yes!”

“There’s another Hawaiian airport in play.”

“ ‘In play’?”

“He may not be in Honolulu, and his Gulfstream may be on its way to Lanai.”

“Isn’t that a Hawaiian front porch?”

“No, it’s an island off Maui that’s owned mostly by a tech wizard, and it has a runway long enough for the Gulfstream.”

“Are you sure it’s there?”

“No, but Zanian just called somebody and hinted that he was, and that he might be leaving from there.”

“Leaving for where?”

“No idea.”

“So, let me get this straight; I’ve got people at Hilo and Honolulu and both he and the airplane might be on Lanai?”

“Possibly.”

“I don’t want to hear about possibly! I want certainty!”

“Do you know anybody at any government agency who can produce a live satellite shot of the airport at Lanai and who can identify a Gulfstream 500 on sight? Who can read the tail number?”

“Probably.”

“Then you’d better get ahold of him right now and put him to work! Where are you now? What’s your ETA to Honolulu, or somewhere?”

“I’ll see what I can do,” she said, ignoring his question, then hung up.

Stone, muttering to himself, went looking for a bath.

An hour later, leaving Margot in a pristinely clean state, he heard his phone ringing in the bedroom and went there to answer it. “Hello?”

“It’s Faith,” his pilot said. “Your airplane is gone.”