handsome, uniformed pilot, talked into his microphone, then listened, snatched off his headset and began explaining. “There's been another Hearts killing. They want you, Dr. Coran, to get in the limo provided by the city and go with the motorcade. The two of you will be staying at different locations in the city to keep your cover, Dr. Desinor, so you're to remain on board the plane until all the hubbub dies down.”
“ Then what?”
Lieutenant Sand looked at her quizzically for a moment as if the question was beyond him, then stated, “I… I assume then some one'll be along to pick you up as well, Dr. Desinor.”
“ You mean I have to sit here and wait?” Kim complained.
“ Sorry…some welcome to the Big Easy, huh?” The pilot's dark eyes then flashed on Jessica. “Later, Jess, I'd be happy to show you some of the nightlife. What a ya say?”
Jessica looked from Ed Sand and back to Kim Desinor, and with a near-mean grin, she said, “Sure, Ed… I'd love it.”
Kim, unsure why Jessica's attitude toward her had so quickly and coolly changed, stepped away from the door and allowed Jessica and Ed another private kiss, which Jessica seemed to initiate for Kim's benefit, as if to show Kim that Jessica was far more woman than the psychic who'd frightened off Paul Zanek. Or was it part of the self-destruction which Jessica seemed bent on?
Kim didn't bother closing the cockpit door.
On the shimmering cracked concrete surface of the taxiway, P.C. Stephens was standing in a bright wash of light in a beige suit, waving at the plane and signaling Jessica Coran to dash for the limo, where his entourage stood all around him, men in dark suits, all looking quite official and important. Some of the others looked like dignitaries and luminaries of New Orleans, prepared to hand Jessica the keys to the city. “Yeah, that bastard Stephens sure knows how to keep a secret, doesn't he?” Jessica said, snatching down a carry-on from an overhead compartment.
From the carry-on bag, Jessica pulled the strange black rosary beads with the crystal amulet that had so unsettled Kim in Paul Zanek's office. “Thought you'd want to get this back,” she explained, handing the rosary to Kim. “Use it carefully and wisely, right?” She sounded kind and gentle when she said it, her mood swings perhaps partially due to medication she was on, Kim silently decided as she took the dubious offering.
“ See you in the media,” Kim replied. “And so will Matisak, Jess. But I have no doubt your pilot friend will make you feel safer.”
“ Hey, if I wanted safe, I… I'd have stayed in Virginia, surrounded by guys a lot bigger and tougher than Ed in there.”
“ You see any media out there?” Kim asked.
“ Where there's cops, there's media. But by the time Stephens pulls out with me, you'll be in the clear. Ed'll see to it you get to the scene if no one shows, so never fear. Who knows, Ed might even loosen you up a bit, Doctor. And remember, from here on, we don't know each other from Adam, okay?”
Jessica was about to deplane when Kim reached out and held her firmly by the forearm. Their eyes met. “I didn't mean to imply any more than what my signals tell me, Jessica- about the falling sky, I mean. You came to me, remember?”
“ Yeah, I remember, and maybe I'm already regretting it.”
“ Come on,” shouted Ed. “They're getting real antsy at the bottom of the ramp for you, Jess. Got to get you into that limo quick's possible. Soon as the door opens, go, and I'll see your bags make it to the Hilton.”
“ Later and good luck, Dr. Coran,” Kim told her as Jessica dashed from the plane. Kim cautiously peered on from a hack window at the scene, feeling an overwhelming sense of detachment from the ballyhoo below, yet also a great, rising concern for Dr. Coran. At the same time, she wondered what the other woman wanted or expected of her.
She watched Jessica Coran now as she raced for the limo, and in a moment she was swallowed up in its plush interior, seated alongside P.C. Stephens and Lew Meade, New Orleans area FBI chief, a bland, squat little man who looked more politician than policeman, making a nice counterweight to Stephens only in build.
Kim wondered just who they'd send for her-and how long she'd have to sit here pretending she didn't exist before someone came for her. She still wondered about the fanfare below, why Stephens had made such a to-do of it all. “When're they going to send someone for me?” she asked the pilot.
Ed Sand's boyish, even devilish, grin flashed over her. “Not to worry, Dr. Desinor. No one's likely to overlook you, not in the least.”
She ignored the innuendo and the glint in his steely eyes, saying, “If the fools wait long enough, the crime scene'll be so cold, I'll make a complete ass of myself.”
“ Hardly likely from what Dr. Coran tells me about you, Dr. Desinor.”
She wondered what Jessica had confided to the pilot and why. “Well, if this is the way they want to play it out, then maybe I'll just be on the next plane for Quantico and be back in my lab before lunch. What a ya say?”
There was a call from the tower and Ed Sand retrieved his headphone set, taking in the message. He finished with a look of ebullient pride showing. “They told me to tell you that your ride's on the way, an unmarked vehicle and no cameras. They'll take you to the crime scene, and like I said to Dr. Coran, I'll see your bags get to the Mississippi Marriott downtown.”
“ Thanks, Lt. Sand.”
“ No problem, Doctor.”
“ Say, Lieutenant, how long has she-Dr. Coran-been flying?”
“ Not long. Just took it up, in fact.”
“ Is she any good at it?”
“ Fact is, she's damned good… got a natural gift for it, I'd say.”
Kim nodded. “I've heard she's very good at whatever she takes up. How long have you known her?”
“ Well, not long really…”
“ Not long?”
“ Well, we just sorta met on takeoff.”
“ Jesus, Lieutenant, and you allowed her to take off? You didn't let her land this thing, did you?” How damned persuasive the woman is, she thought.
“ Told me she'd flown with other pilots out of Quantico,” he replied as if this explained everything. “And the way she handled the controls, and given who she is… well, I just didn't see any reason to doubt her.”
“ Did she? Land the plane, I mean.”
He hesitated before lying, worried now about the kind of trouble Kim could get him in.
Letting him off the hook, she said, “Ed, will you do me a favor while you're in New Orleans?”
“ Well, if I can, sure.”
She picked up a trace of West Virginia in his drawl. “Watch her while she's here in New Orleans, will you?” she told him.
“ Sure… I intend to… intended just that.” He smiled widely now at the task Kim had given him.
“ How long can you stay in the city, Lieutenant?”
He cleared his throat as if he had to think about this. “I got some leave coming. Thought I'd requisition it by fax this afternoon. Maybe a week… maybe more. Depends what's cooking… at the base, I mean.”
Kim breathed heavily, the motorcade a dim sight, the sirens now a whisper in the distance. “Where the hell's my ride!” she moaned. Then down below, an unmarked car pulled into the gates facing south and skirted amid the shadows of a series of nearby hangars until it came to rest below the Lear jet. Ed was careful to keep himself and his uniform from sight, and there were no markings on the jet to indicate to the casual observer that it was in any way connected to the U.S. government.
Kim grabbed her own carry-on, and from atop the ladder she tried to make out the occupants of the car, but the front windshield was masked in a stark, tropical glare until Kim put on her Coasta Del Mar sunglasses. As she made her way down the Lear's carpeted steps, her Polaroid lenses cut cleanly through the daunting glare sprawled across the windshield. Her glasses, the same as those used by Virginia State Troopers, allowed her to see the Hoss Cartwright look a like in the passenger seat and the handsome features of Alex Sincebaugh behind the wheel.
Somehow she knew they'd send Sincebaugh for her.
“ Alex Sincebaugh?” she called out, extending her one free hand through his window.
“ Yeah.” He held onto her hand for a moment. “But how'd you know?”
