Criminal Mischief

31

Stone’s knees went a little weak. “What do you mean, my airplane is gone?”

“Gone, as in not there.”

“Not in the hangar? Maybe they towed it out to wash it, or something.”

“It’s not on the ramp, and the FBO isn’t even open, yet.”

“Check with the tower.”

“I have already done so, after half a dozen attempts to get them to answer. They just opened.”

“And?”

“And zip. They have no information on the whereabouts of your airplane.”

“I’ll be out there as soon as I can,” Stone said.

“Please.”

Stone hung up.

“What’s wrong?” Dino asked. “You’ve turned an odd shade of white.”

“The airplane is gone.”

“Zanian’s airplane?”

“No, my airplane.”

“You mean like, poof, it’s gone?”

“Like poof,” Stone said, looking for underwear and socks. Faith had taken all his things to the airport, except for one change of clothes. He got his pants on.

“Come on, Stone,” Dino said. “There must be some logical reason for this. Airplanes don’t just go poof.”

“Poof is what we’ve got on our hands. I’d planned to fly that aircraft across a chunk of the Pacific and home today, but I’ve got to find it first.”

Dino got dressed, too. “Well, let’s go, I’m as interested in this as you are.”

“Not quite,” Stone said, heading for the door. Felix met him there. “Did Faith take Felix’s bag with all his food and toys?”

“Faith took everything.”

They got into a cab. Stone gave the address to the driver and then sat, dumb.

“I hope you’re thinking about this problem,” Dino said after a while.

“How could I think about anything else?”

“Good point.”

They screeched to a halt in front of the FBO, where the lights were just coming on. Stone found a lone young woman busying herself with opening.

“I’d like to report a missing airplane,” Stone said to her.

“That happens sometimes. There are thieves everywhere. Is it a single-engine or a twin?”

“It’s a Gulfstream 500 jet.”

The young woman froze. “What are you talking about?”

“Do you remember having the linemen put it in your hangar?”

“Yes.”

“Well, it’s not in your hangar now. Do you see it on the ramp?”

She opened a door, stepped outside, then returned after a couple of minutes. “You’re right,” she said.

“Thank you.”

“Should I call the police?”

“Well, if the airplane isn’t in your hangar and it’s not on the ramp, then it must be in the air,” Stone said.

“Right.”

“What do you suppose the police could do about that?”

“Find it when it lands?”

“Lands where?”

“You’re right again,” she said. “So, I should do nothing?”

“For the moment,” Stone said. He got a cup of water from the watercooler and downed it. His phone rang.

“Hello?”

“It’s Ness.”

“Where are you?”

“In your airplane.”

“Oh? I didn’t know you were type-rated for a G-500.”

“I’m not, but we brought a G-500 crew with us to fly Zanian’s airplane back. They weren’t doing anything so, I thought, what the hell?”

“You’ve stolen my airplane? Who do I call about that, the FBI?”

“You used to be a cop, didn’t you?”

“I did.”

“Wasn’t there ever a time, when you were in pursuit of a perp, when you took a civilian’s car for the chase? Happens in the movies all the time.”

“It happened to me twice in fourteen years, but I never commandeered anybody’s airplane.”

“ ‘Commandeered’? I like that word. Has an official ring to it.”

All Stone could do was sputter. “Where are you going?” he asked.

“Don’t worry, the tanks are all full. We checked.”

“Where?”

“We’re headed to Hilo first. If he’s not here, we’ll try Lanai. By the way, this is a really nice airplane. Did you come by it honestly? Usually, when people have personal assets this expensive, they’ve acquired them by, shall we say, extralegal means?”

“I paid cash,” Stone said. “After-tax cash.”

“Well, I guess that means we don’t get to keep it, doesn’t it?”

“Don’t worry, you can keep Zanian’s airplane when you arrest it.”

“Oh, good. Gotta run.” She hung up

Dino and Faith walked into the FBO. “It’s nowhere to be found,” he said.

“I just got a call from Brio Ness,” Stone said. “The FBI has commandeered the airplane to search for Zanian.”

“Can they do that?”

“Do you remember the time when you and I were chasing an armed robber, and we threw an old lady out of her station wagon and took it?”

Dino smiled. “Yeah, I remember. She raised hell about that with the captain, didn’t she? Good thing we caught the son of a bitch.”

“Well, I’m going to raise hell with the director of the FBI about it,” Stone said.

“If she catches Zanian, it won’t do any good.”

“Then I’ll use this to press for early delivery on the reward.”

“Do we still get the reward if we’re not there when she captures him?”

“Damn right, we do.”

A while later, Faith walked over. “Stone, your airplane just landed and is taxiing in,” she said.

Stone looked out the window and discovered that it had begun to rain, hard. The G-500 turned off the runway and disappeared into the gloom.

“Special Agent Ness seems to be headed for the main terminal,” Faith said.

“She would,” Stone replied, “knowing that I’m waiting at the FBO.”