Aces Abroad

"And what do you want?" The large man took a skewered cherry from his drink and rolled it between his manicured thumb and forefinger. The other man stood, smiled, and shook Jayewardene s hand. The gesture was studied, a political greeting refined by years of practice. "I'm Senator Gregg Hartma

"Thank you, Senator. I hope your shoulder is better." Jayewardene had read about the incident in the newspapers. "It wasn't as bad as the press made it sound." Hartma

"I believe." Jayewardene bowed. "May I join you."

"Certainly," Hartma

Jayewardene sat down next to Hiram, whose bulk partially obscured Chrysalis. He found her profoundly disturbing to look at. "Several things perhaps. Where were Elephant Girl and that man going just now?"

"To catch the ape, of course." Hiram looked at him as one might at an embarrassing relative. "And rescue the girl. We just found out about it. Catching the beast is something of a tradition." He paused. "For aces."

"Is that possible? I don't think Elephant Girl and one man can manage that." Jayewardene turned to Hartma

"Personally I don't really care what happens to Mr. Braun." Hiram twirled the small, red plastic sword from his drink. "And I think the feeling's mutual."

Hartma

"Yes. One would hope." Jayewardene folded and unfolded a cloth napkin. "But such a rescue should be carefully pla

"Yes, they did rather fly off the handle," Chrysalis said, taking a sip of brandy.

Jayewardene thought he caught a glint of mischief in Hartma

Hiram and Chrysalis both laughed. Hartma

Chrysalis motioned to the waiter and pointed to her glass. "Which one of the stewardesses is he trying this time?"

"Upstairs, trapped in the darkness together. If anything will help Tachy get over his problem, this is it. The doctor's not to be disturbed right now." Hiram held the plastic sword above the table and made a fist with his other hand. The sword fell and stuck in the tabletop. "Get the point?"

"Could we give him a message for you?" Hartma

Jayewardene pulled out his snakeskin wallet and handed Hartma

"I'll do what I can," Hartma

"Nice meeting you, Mr. Jayewardene," Chrysalis said. He thought perhaps she was smiling, but couldn't be sure. Jayewardene turned to leave but stopped short as two people entered the bar. One was a man whom Jayewardene judged to be in his late thirties. He was tall and muscular with blond hair and a camera slung over his shoulder. The woman with him was as stu

Peregrine was a vision he would willingly linger on. Jayewardene stepped out of their way as they joined the others in the booth.

They were still lighting candles and lamps in the lobby when he left.

It was hard to arrange for a helicopter with the ape on the loose, but the base commander owed him more than one favor. The pilot, headgear under his arm, was waiting for Jayewardene at the chopper. He was dark-ski

Jayewardene nodded to the pilot and spoke to him in Tamil. "I had requested a bullhorn be put on board."

"Already done, sir." The pilot opened the door and crawled up into the cockpit. Jayewardene followed.

The young Tamil was going through a checklist, flipping switches, examining gauges.

"I've never been in a helicopter before," Jayewardene said, buckling his seat belt. He pulled against the belt, testing it, not exactly happy that it was fraying around the edges.

The pilot shrugged and put on his helmet, then cranked the engine, took the stick, and engaged the rotor. The blades whopped noisily and the helicopter lifted slowly into the sky. "Where are we going, sir."

"Let's head down toward Ratnapura and Adam's Peak." He coughed. "We'll be looking for a man on a flying elephant. American aces."

"Do you want to engage them, sir?" The pilot's tone was cool and professional.

"No. No, nothing like that. Just observe them. They're after the ape that escaped."

The pilot took a deep breath and nodded, then flipped on the radio and picked up the mouthpiece. "Lion base, this is Shadow One. Can you give us any information on a flying elephant? Over."

There was a pause and crackle of static before the base answered. "Your target reported heading due east from Colombo. Approximate speed one five zero kilometers per hour. Over."

"Acknowledged. Over and out." The pilot checked his compass and adjusted his course.

"Hopefully we can find them before they locate the ape. I don't think they have any real idea where to look, but the country isn't that large." Jayewardene pointed to dark clouds ahead. As he did there was a flash of lightning. "Are we safe from bad weather?"

"Fairly safe. Do you think these Americans would be stupid enough to fly into a storm?" He pointed the chopper toward a thin spot in the wall of clouds.

"Hard to say. I don't know these people. They've handled the creature before, though." Jayewardene looked down. The land beneath was rising steadily upward. The jungle was broken here and there with tea and rice fields or water reservoirs. From the air the flooded rice paddies looked like the shards of a broken mirror, the pieces reassembled so that they almost touched each other.

"Something ahead, sir." The pilot reached under his seat and handed over a pair of binoculars. Jayewardene took them, wiped off the lenses with the tail of his shirt, and looked in the direction the pilot was pointing. There was something. He rotated the adjusting knob and brought it into focus. The man on the elephant was pointing toward the ground.

"It's them," Jayewardene said, setting the binoculars on his lap. "Get in close enough for this to be heard." He raised the bullhorn.

"Yes, sir."

Jayewardene's mouth and throat were dry. He opened his window as they got closer in. The aces didn't seem to have noticed them yet. He switched on the bullhorn and set the volume control near the top. He saw the ape's shoulders and head above the treetops and knew why the Americans were paying no attention to the helicopter.

He stuck the bullhorn out the window as the chopper moved in. "Elephant Girl. Mr. Braun." Jayewardene thought Golden Boy was inappropriate for a grown man. "My name is Jayewardene. I'm an official with the Sri Lankan government. Do you understand what I am saying?" He spoke each word slowly and carefully. The bullhorn vibrated in his sweaty hand.

Jack Braun waved and nodded. The monster had stopped to look up and bare its teeth. It stripped the foliage off the top of a tree and set Robyn in a crook between two bare branches.