“Where’d you get the gun?”
“It was Bobby’s.”
“The boyfriend? Wait. You didn’t kill him
“Of course not!
“Hey, I
“I guess.”
“And Gwennie helped you?”
“Yes.”
“But how? You only blew into town how many days ago?”
“Four.”
“And you met me three days ago.”
“So?”
“Now you’re hotwiring cars, killing made men, turning Gwennie into an accomplice. Next thing you know-”
“I hired Gwen.”
“You what?”
“Hired her. To run the girls. For the Top Six.”
“How the fuck?”
“I told you I’ve got a wonderful business sense.”
“Gwen’s going to run my girls?”
“Gwen and I are going to triple your business. If you’ll give us the chance.”
“How?”
“We’ve got plans.”
“You’re making me very nervous, young lady.”
“Can I be frank? You’re acting like an atheist at a Pentecostal convention. But think about it. Roy was your biggest threat. I got rid of him. Gwen coming back was your greatest wish. I got her for you. I was your greatest desire, and now I’m yours. Anything you want, anything you need…you get. No matter what it takes. Just let me in, sweetheart. Let me into your business.”
“You can hotwire a car?”
“Yes.”
“Will you teach me?”
“If you’re a good boy.”
He leans over, kisses her breast.
Then says, “That took balls, killing Roy.”
“You see any balls down there?”
“Not really.”
“Maybe you should take a closer look…”
38.
Donovan Creed.
Cincinnati.
THE PILOT TURNS and points a grim finger at the fighter jets on the runway.
“We should wait till they move, sir.”
“Yeah, but I’m in a hurry.”
“They’re blocking the runway.”
I’m running late because of some work I had the geeks perform this morning, and Callie just called to say she’s on her way to the private airfield in Cincinnati to pick me up. Due to a faulty igniter, the jet I flew in on has been grounded. It’s forty-five minutes to the nearest airport, and they don’t have any private jets currently available for charter anyway. So I found an old Cessna 1SP in the hangar that can be legally flown by a single pilot. Since one of the private pilots has to stay with the broken plane, I hired the other one to fly me to Cincy in the Cessna. We wasted thirty minutes fueling and checking the systems, and now the fighter pilots are back on duty, sitting in their cockpits, twiddling their thumbs. They’re not in my chain of command, which means they don’t move unless the defense department tells them to.
Unfortunately, it’s lunch hour at the Pentagon.
So here at Sensory, the fighter jets continue to sit at the far end of the runway, blocking our takeoff.
“You’ve got plenty of room, don’t you?” I say.
“Technically, yes. But it’s never a good idea to take off on a runway that’s in use. I could lose my license.”
“Those fighter pilots think they’re hot shit,” I say.
“They do indeed, sir.”
“You know they’re sitting there laughing at us.”
“I expect you’re right, sir.”
I move from the cabin to the cockpit and strap myself into the co-pilot’s chair and say, “What’s your name, son?”
“James Rogers.”
“What do your friends call you, Jimmy?”
“Buck, sir.”
“Buck Rogers?”
“Yes, sir.”
“I like that.”
“Are you planning to fly us, sir?”
“No. But maybe it’s time I asked you a question.”
“Sir?”
“Who’s the real pilot here, son? You? Or those guys?”
“
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Then let’s show ’em what we’re made of.”
“For real?”
“You know you want to.”
“I do. But you can’t just go around doing whatever you want all the time.”
“Of course not. But you can do whatever you want when your cause is just.”
“What
“True love.”
“Sir?”
“Can there possibly be a more noble cause?”
“Uh…”
“Light the fires and kick the tires!”
“Sir?”
“Make them shit their pants, son.”
“Yes, sir!”
He revs up the engine and taxis onto the runway. Then looks at me and says, “Aren’t you even the least bit nervous?”
“Not at all,” I say.
“Can I ask why?”
“Only three runways in the world make me nervous, Buck. One, Paro, in Bhutan, where only eight pilots in the world are certified to land, and even they can’t do it without setting off all the cockpit warning sirens. Two, Matekane, in Lesotho, where the too-short runway suddenly ends at the edge of a 2,000-foot cliff and your plane is
