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Mac made a doctor's appointment for the second morning after he was to return. Abdullah sent two uniforms to the palace dry cleaners that he was to pick up the afternoon he returned. David scheduled staff meetings and briefings with key staff members for his entire first week back. He sent memos to colleagues mentioning issues he would like to discuss, "sometime soon when our crazy schedules settle down a bit."
The a
"And what were those plans, Director Hassid?"
"Mac and Abdullah were to pilot the Phoenix 216 to Tel Aviv, where Potentate Carpathia and his VIPs would inaugurate the first loyalty mark application site open to the public. We understand he has a couple of days of meetings there first."
"Right. He and Reverend Fortunato have extended sessions with the sub-potentates and their religious representatives."
"Mac and Abdullah would return to New Babylon and return in one of the Quasi Twos, bringing with them the young woman from Medical Services who has experience with the biochip-injection system."
"I can tell you right now, David, that I would not want to see that changed. His Excellency is proud of that aircraft and loves to have it shown off to the citizenry."
"Our thought was that Mac would do a little air show, letting people know what that baby can do."
"The potentate will love that," Walter said.
"I would too, if you thought it wasn't to extravagant to let me go along."
"Not at all. You go right on."
"Mac can really make that thing sing. He and his first officer can put it through its paces with the young woman and me aboard, along with the equipment for the application site. Then upon landing, he can introduce the nurse and the equipment while people line up."
"Perfect. His Excellency will get that site rolling, and we move on to Israel, where he has something else pla
When the day came, Mac and Abdullah were up before dawn, and David supervised the loading of the Phoenix 216 for the potentate and his entourage's flight to Tel Aviv. The biggest chore for a cargo crew that had recently lost its chief was the loading of a gigantic pig that had been driven in the night before from Baghdad. "Were there no pigs in the Holy Land?" Supreme Commander Moon wanted to know.
A young Russian who had appointed himself acting loadmaster, with David's blessing, said, "The late Mr.
Hickman, rest his soul, insisted on the biggest, fattest one in the database, and you're looking at him. Or her."
David liked the Russian because he was by the book, and that came in handy later in the day when Ha
"Worked like a charm," she said. "Look at this." She slid across his desk the ordering department's copy of the load manifest. Handwritten under Special Note:
Following repeated efforts by the acting loadmaster to dissuade Ms. Palemoon and her insistence that approval comes straight from Director Hassid, this plane was, In the opinion of said chief, overloaded by at least 2O percent. If this bill of lading Is not countersigned by said director, cargo crew will not be responsible for the airworthiness of this craft.
"I like it," David said, scribbling his signature. "When we all go down, the investigation will begin and end with our Russian friend. He'll be the grieving hero who wishes we would have listened, will probably be elevated to the position he wants, and we-along with millions of Nicks' worth of plane and cargo-will be sadly explained away as human error. Mine."
"I'm so proud of you," Ha
"It's all right, Ha
She sighed. "This really is quite an ingenious plan. I can say that because I had so little to do with it."
"Me too," David said. "If it works, we owe it to Mac and Abdullah. Mac admits to me, if not to Smitty himself, that the best stuff was Abdullah's."
Two mornings later Mac and Abdullah ran through preflight as David and Ha
"Tell yourself that while your plane is going down," he said.
"If I thought it was life or death, I'd stand up to him," Mac said.
"My hands are clean," the Russian said. "Your funeral."
Actually, Ha
The only cargo heavier than it appeared were the pilots and passengers. Ha
"Watch this," Mac said as he maneuvered the sleek jet out of the hangar and onto the runway. As he made his first turn he increased his speed just enough to make the plane sway off course. "That ought to give loadmaster boy something to shake his head over."
Sure enough, as Mac waited for clearance to take off, operations asked him if he was aware the acting loadmaster had lodged an overload notice. "Doesn't surprise me, tower," Mac said. "We'll take the heat."
"You know enough to abort if she's not accelerating."
"Roger."
Mac made the plane fishtail slightly as he picked up speed down the runway and heard one more warning from the tower as he lifted off. "Caution noted," Mac said.
He set a course for Tel Aviv, but when they were equidistant from there and Resurrection International in Jordan, he informed both towers that he was going to land in Jordan as a precautionary measure. "To be safe, we have arranged to have some cargo driven to Tel Aviv."
Lean, with a printed order originating from David, had talked her way onto the tarmac in a nondescript van. She pulled alongside the left cargo bay, where the pilots and passengers helped load two guillotines and a half skid of injectors into the van. Mac set the autobrakes and the autopilots, and all four occupants crawled into the van and lay on the floor. Leah slowly drove between two hangars where Mac could peek through the window and still see the plane.
He communicated with the tower via portable radio and remote controlled the plane's taxi and takeoff. As the Quasi gradually faded from sight, Mac communicated to the tower through an intentionally distorted co
"Advise abandoning show, considering," Resurrection Tower said. "Repeat?"
"Consider abandoning air show and proceed to immediate conventional landing." "No copy, tower."