Scandalous Behavior

52

Dr. Don Beverly Calhoun sat at the breakfast table, reading the morning papers. He finished the Times, then picked up the Daily News, and to his regret, found what he had been looking for. MAD EVANGELIST VISITED BY THE POLICE. AGAIN. Mad? This upset him. Did people really think that of him? Whatever; it was time to act. He went into his study, looked up a number, and called the charter company with whom he held a quarter of a share of a Citation CJ4. “This is Dr. Calhoun,” he said.

“Good morning, Dr. Don,” the woman replied. “What can we do for you today?”

“I’m going to need a larger aircraft,” he said.

“Are you reaching for a new destination? Something beyond the CJ4?”

“Rio.”

“Well, let’s see, that’s a little over four thousand nautical miles. That would require two fuel stops in the CJ4, being conservative.”

“What would it take to go nonstop?” He had visions of getting successfully out of the country, then being arrested at a fuel stop. “What about a Gulfstream 450?”

“Lovely airplane, with a range of 4,350 nautical miles. Even in that you’d be cutting it close to go nonstop. You’d really need a Gulfstream 550 for that distance. May I make a suggestion?”

“Go right ahead.”

“We’ve recently received a new Citation Latitude, one of the first off the line. She has a very comfortable wide-body cabin with six feet of headroom, and a range of 2,700 nautical miles. She could do just one fuel stop, say one of the Caribbean islands, then on to Rio, and she wouldn’t cost you anything like the 550, or, come to that, even the 450. The Latitude might be the ideal compromise.”

“I’ve read about that airplane in the aviation magazines. Sounds good.”

“When did you contemplate traveling, and will your wife accompany you?”

“Oh, it’s not for us, we’re sending a couple of employees down to do some business. I’d like for them to go tomorrow morning.”

“Let me check.” A pause, and the sound of a keyboard being tapped. “Yes, we can do that: say, an eight AM departure? It’s going to be a good eight-hour flight, plus the fuel stop, in, shall we say, Aruba? The good news is, you remain in the same time zone, so there’ll be no jet lag, the way there would be on a transatlantic crossing.”

“That’s fine.”

“May I have your employees’ names?”

“Herman Carter and Cheylyn Stefan.”

“You’ll have to spell that last one for me, and I’ll need their dates of birth and passport numbers. We have to file them a day ahead of the flight with the IACRA program.”

“Hold on a minute, and I’ll get them.” He went to his safe and extracted the two passports from a file, then returned and read her the information.

“And the expiration dates of their passports?”

He gave her those and their addresses.

“Good, that’s all we need. We’ll have provisions for two meals each aboard, and let me give you a price, with credit for your CJ4, of course.” She tapped some more keys and gave him the number.

“That’s fine. You can use the credit card you have on file.”

“Perfect, Dr. Don. We’ll look forward to seeing them aboard. They’ll have two pilots and a flight attendant.”

“Thank you.” Calhoun hung up and went back to the kitchen, where Cheree was putting their breakfast dishes into the dishwasher. “We’re on for eight AM tomorrow,” he said.

“How long is the flight?”

“Two legs, about four hours each, plus one fuel stop.”

“Why can’t we go nonstop?”

“Because we’d need a Gulfstream 550. We’ve got a very nice new airplane called a Latitude, and it’s half the money. That’s good motivation for a fuel stop.”

“I guess so.”

“You don’t sound very happy about this.”

“What, about fleeing the country ahead of the cops?”

“We’re not fleeing the country ahead of the cops. We’re not about to be arrested.”

“That’s not what the News said this morning.”

“Fuck the News,” he said angrily. “What do they know?”

“The charter company has to report our names to the Feds. What if they stop us?”

“We’re using different passports, a couple of people who work for me, who look enough like us for their photographs to work. They were chosen for the resemblance.”

“And what is the apartment like?”

“You’re going to love it. I bought the place right after the Olympics at a great price. Seven rooms and a view of Rio that won’t quit.”

“Does it have furniture?”

“Completely furnished by the best decorator in Brazil, and there’s a Mercedes in the garage.”

Cheree sighed. “Well, I guess it’ll have to do.”