second Shin to Monte Carlo, the other end of this trans-world puzzle, and snoop around, trying to figure out who the pirates called in the prestigious playground of the wealthy and how they might be connected to the Z-box.
The only hiccup was the matter of Batman’s mental state. Nolan was able to talk to him privately late in the morning when the others went below for coffee. While Batman had just about convinced Nolan that he was back among the living, and that whatever happened the night before was already ancient history, the one-handed copter pilot didn’t squawk when Nolan suggested he honcho the more subtle, “Beta” side of the plan.
“You’ll look better in Monte Carlo than I will,” Nolan told him.
* * *
THE ATTACK COPTER they’d used in the hostage rescue, one of two the team owned, would not play a role in the upcoming mission. Whiskey arranged to have it ferried back to Aden by the same pilot who’d flown the Bell helicopter during the attack on the pirate base.
When the Bell arrived on the mega-yacht to drop off the ferry pilot, it was also carrying another important component of Team Whiskey: The Senegals. The five seagoing soldiers of fortune, employees of the team’s parent company, Kilos Shipping, had been a vital cog in Whiskey’s success. But because their names were so hard to pronounce, the team just called them the Senegals, after their country of origin. Preferring a day of rest to attending a poofy party, the five West Africans had stayed in Aden after participating in the hostage rescue, relaxing at the team’s headquarters high atop the Kilos Shipping building.
But now that the team had a new mission, they were back. All five would fly out with Alpha Squad.
* * *
WHISKEY WAS READY to go by sunset.
The two Shins had come alongside The Immaculate Perception, one tying up in front, the other in back. Up close, they were odd-looking birds. They had outrageously angled wings, and a radar dome that stuck out from under the raised cockpit, looking like a swollen red nose. And truly, they looked more like boats with wings than airplanes that could land on water. But Shins also had an unsurpassed reputation for ruggedness. And they were a breeze to fly.
The yacht’s crew helped load Whiskey’s gear into the flying boats and then fueled the OH-6 and the Bell for their trip back to Aden. Through it all, the mega-yacht’s very famous passenger never showed her face.
Finally, as the others climbed aboard their respective planes, Nolan and Batman had one last thing to do before they went their separate ways. Standing on the mid deck gangway, Nolan gave one of the sat-phones provided by the agent to Batman, taking the other for himself. Then he opened the business envelope the agent had given him. Inside he found two index cards. Written on one was the agent’s secure phone number. Written on the other was the all-important code word they would use if and when they found the Z-box.
Nolan read it first—and suddenly froze.
Then he said the code word aloud: “Moonglow.”
Batman almost fell over. Nolan immediately felt his metallic hand digging into his arm.
Moonglow …
The exact word Batman said he’d heard from the apparition.
“Stay cool, man,” Nolan told him now, pulling Batman’s metal fingers out of his skin. “It’s just a coincidence. It means nothing.”
But Batman wasn’t so sure.
“You know what they say about coincidences,” he whispered. “‘If they don’t mean anything, how come they happen all the time?’”
9
Above the Indian Ocean
THE SHIN-1 WAS a flying penthouse.
This was no surprise, considering the airplane’s owner was the Sultan of Oman.
A few years earlier, unhappy that his personal 767 jetliner was restricted to landing at airports, too far from his fleet of battleship-size yachts, the Sultan approached the Japanese military, which sold him two civilian versions of the Shins, making His Highness’s transition from air travel to water travel that much easier when he was in the mood. It turned out the Sultan also had many friends in Hollywood, Emma Simms being his favorite. Whenever she was in his part of the world, he gave her unlimited use of the amphibians for whatever she wanted.
Of course, the Sultan had to travel in style, it was in his genes. That’s why the Shin-1’s interior contained a hot tub, a big-screen TV, a half dozen private sleeping cabins, a deluxe galley, a full-sized bar, even a small disco—all furnished with luxurious leather seats and lambs-fur couches.