“Huh?”
“Wood is organic. Metal or plastic is inorganic.”
“Ah. I don’t know.”
“I would have to make two, then. The simple one is a penetrator. The other would require either a magnet or suction of some sort. How long would it have to remain in place?”
“An hour?”
“Exposed to the elements?”
“The miniaturization is very simple. But given your limited options for a propellant, and the need for accuracy, both devices would have to be the same external configuration.”
“I guess so.”
“My man can do it,” Michelle said, confidence radiating off her gorgeous face.
The Mole blushed. But he didn’t deny it.
“I’ll need at least three of each of them,” I told him.
“Okay,” I said to everyone, “here’s how we’ve got to work it.
Flacco and Gordo will be handling the ship. Levi will ride along with us. With me, Gem, and Max, that’s six.”
“Plus the two props,” Gem added.
“I’m not so crazy about that part,” I told her.
“You said yourself, they would be perfect cover for your persona,” she replied.
“But I’m only going to need the cover for—”
“An extra tenth?” she said, lassoing me with my own words about raglan sleeves.
“Okay. That part’s true. But there’s no guarantee that—”
“There is a risk. They
Gem wasn’t wrong about the payments. This whole crazy thing was emptying my stash so deep I’d be into my case money by the time it was over.
“Right,” I told her, surrendering. “That’s a pretty good load for that boat, I think. Michelle, you stay here and keep the old man calm. Mole, you know what to do if he gets twitchy. Prof, you and Clarence and Randy stay here, too. Everybody hangs until you get the word. Things work out like we plan, Randy motors the old man back to Key West, where he can try out his recovered virility. If it doesn’t, cut your losses.”
The Prof nodded agreement. The others may not have caught what I meant, but our years together Inside had given us a different level of communication. If they had to get out of there fast, the old man wouldn’t be coming along on the ride.
“This thing looks like a prop for a sci-fi movie,” Levi said a few days later, the Mole’s creation cradled in his arms. “What’s this little canister thing?” he asked, touching what would be the clip if the thing were a real firearm.
“A pressure regulator,” the Mole told him. “This is a modified air rifle.”
“Okay, I get it. Hell, they use these things in the Olympics now. Supposed to be unreal for accuracy.”
“It should deliver the … projectile between five and seven hundred yards perfectly,” the Mole assured him.
“That’s no distance,” Levi said. “What am I supposed to hit with it?”
“We don’t know yet,” I told him.
Whatever the Mole cooked up for me worked better than I’d even hoped for. The boat made me a little sick—okay, maybe a
One day Gem came into the stateroom where I spent most of my time. “I am going to give you a manicure,” she announced.
“What the hell for?”
“Because a rich old man would not have hands like yours. I cannot do much about the …”
She let her voice trail away. My hands are like my life: some of the breaks hadn’t healed straight. And the scars spoke for themselves, if you knew how to read them.
“It doesn’t matter,” I told her. “Once he—”
“It is part of your role,” she said, solemnly. “Another tenth. Besides, you know how much I love your thumb in my mouth. It would be nicer if it was manicured, perhaps?”
“Sure,” I said, letting it go.
“If you wish, I can easily teach one of the children to do it, too. That would be right in character.”
“No!”
“Burke, what is so wrong? It would just be part of the—”
“I said no. That’s the fucking end of it.”
Gem got to her feet, a thoughtful look on her face. Then she turned away from me, sticking her thumbs in the
