'NO!' screamed the large man. 'COME BACK!'
The husband drove three blocks before speaking.
'OK,' he said. 'You call the movers.'
17:01
'You know this guy?' Baker asked Greer. They were standing with Henry, who was watching three police officers and two paramedics unwrap Daphne from Leonard, who had regained consciousness. So had Daphne's owner, who was being formally taken into police custody and had already been handed business cards by four personal-injury attorneys who happened to be on the scene.
'Oh yeah,' said Greer, 'I know Henry from the old days, in Jersey. I used to interrogate him alla time, back when I worked organized crime.'
'Wasn't that organized,' said Henry. 'Which is why I got out of it.'
'You're saying you're retired now?' asked Greer. 'Workin' on the stamp collection? Drinkin' Ensure?'
'More or less,' said Henry.
'Sure,' said Greer. 'Listen, much as I would enjoy hearin' you explain to these officers why you come to their airport wearin' a piece on your ankle, I got important federal business, OK?'
'Real good chattin' with you,' said Henry, turning back to Leonard.
'OK,' said Greer, to Baker and Seitz. 'These are assholes, but not the right assholes. I need to talk to somebody in charge.'
'That guy there, I'm pretty sure he's the head airport cop,' said Baker, pointing to a white-haired man in a shirt and tie, talking on a cell phone and holding a walkie-talkie, which was emitting a drumbeat of messages and static. Greer walked over.
'No, nobody got hit,' the white-haired man was saying. 'Just the snake.' He listened for a moment, then said, 'I don't know what kind. A big snake.'
Greer was holding his badge wallet in the man's face.
'FBI,' he said.
The man waved the wallet away.
'We don't need any help,' he said. 'We got this.'
'No,' said Greer, 'I need somethin' from you.'
'Well, it's gonna have to wait,' said the white-haired man, turning away.
Greet stepped a few paces away. He pulled the odd-looking phone from his pocket and pressed a button on it. He waited for two seconds, then spoke for about twenty. He pressed another button and put the phone back in his pocket, then walked back and stood next to the white-haired man, waiting. The white-haired man, ignoring him, continued talking on his cell phone for about thirty seconds, then stopped and listened.
'What?' he said. He looked up at Greer. Greer showed him his badge again.
'Yes,' said the white-haired man, into the phone. 'He's right here.' He listened some more, frowning.
'But ... ' he said, then listened some more.
'OK,' he said. 'I got it.' He shut off his phone, looked at Greer.
'My name's Arch Ridley,' he said. 'Tell me what you need.'
'I need you to find out if anything else unusual has happened in this airport in the last thirty minutes,' said Greer. 'Besides this mess here.'
'Lemme call the security office,' said the man. He dialed a number, waited, and said, 'Doris. Arch. Listen, is there ... What? Oh, Jesus. When?'
'What?' asked Greer. Ridley raised his hand, indicating wait a sec.
'No, that's not your fault,' he was saying, 'all this radio traffic. So what else did they ... OK ... OK ... shit. OK. Keep the phone line open. I'll call right back.' He shut off the phone.
'What?' said Greer.
'Five minutes ago,' Ridley said, 'the tower here got a message from a pilot on the ground, saying he had a guy on his plane, with a gun, telling him to take off.'
'Oh Jesus,' said Greer.
'The tower tried to get more, but they're not responding,' said Ridley. 'The plane taxied out and just took off, just now.'
'Shit,' said Greer. 'For where?'
'It's an Air Impact! flight,' said Ridley. 'Prop plane. It's supposed to go to the Bahamas.'
'OK,' said Greer, 'listen. Call the tower, tell 'em to watch the plane, keep trying to raise 'em. Which way is the Air Impact! counter?'
'That way,' said Ridley, pointing, 'little over halfway around the concourse. I can ... '
But Greer, Seitz, and Baker were already running.
15:21
