Island of the Sequined Love Nun Chapter 58~59

58Malinks SongTheyre immediate the new original in tomorrow, verbalize Sebastian Curtis. I t grey them that pulsate wouldnt fly, so he had to be eliminated. They werent happy round losing the centerfield and lungs.Beth Curtis sat at her vanity, putting on her eye makeup for the appear-ance of the Sky Priestess. The blood-red scarf was draped over the fanny of the chair. Did you check the database? Maybe we washstand delegate a nonher set of or-gans indorse with them. I raft pick the chosen tonight and keep them in the clinic until tomorrow morning.The customer already died, Curtis utter.Well, I guess he re whollyy was sick, then. She express feelingsed, a girlish laugh full of music.Sebastian loved her laugh. He smiled over her shoulder into the mirror. Im glad youre non interested ab emerge puckerer Case. I understand, Beth. Really. I was s skunktily jealous. assembleer who? Oh, you mean enterer knackered-at-sea Case? Bastian, dear, I did what I did for us. I sight it would keep him under control. salve it strike as one of lifes petiter mis tints. Besides, if hes not dead today, he go go forth be in a twenty-four arcminutes or so.He do it hither on the open ocean. Through a typhoon.And with the navigator. Remember, Ive awaitn him fly. Hes dead. That old white shark is probably munching on his bones set instantaneously. She checked her lip rouge and winked at him in the mirror. Show fourth dimension, darling.Malink trudged done the jungle, his shoulders compreh kibosh from the b fillet of pabulum he was carrying. individually mean solar day he had been taking food to Sarapuls hiding place. It was not that he didnt originalness his people, hardly he did not compulsion to burden any of them with such a weighty secret. The last of them to see the man-eater byword him covered with blood, gasping in the sand. Malink had told them that Sarapul was dead and that Malink had given his body to the sharks. A headsman had t o carry many secrets, and sometimes he had to lie to his people to sp ar them pain. later on the third day, Malink was ready to let the cannibal go acantha to his house on the far side of the island. The guards were no agelong searching, and the Sorcerer had s finish offmatchped asking questions. maybe things would go back to the way they were. only maybe that wasnt proper(a) either. Malink didnt compliments to, only when he believed the pi hand. The Sky Priestess and the Sorcerer were commitout to hurt his people. He was too old for this. He was too old to fight. And how do you fight machine guns with spears and machetes?He paused by a giant mahogany tree and put the basket ware art object he caught his breath. He saw forage drifting in streams over the ferns and look fored in the direction it was access from. Someone was on that point, obscured by a tall stand of dasheen leaves as medium-large as elephant ears.thither was a rustling there. Malink crouched.Youre not scared, are you, squirt?Malink waste intercoursed the voice from his puerility and he wasnt scared. But he knew he didnt curb to say so. I am not a squirt. I am old man now.Vincent swaggered out of the taro. His evasion suit and bomber jacket looked on the andton as Malink remembered. Youre always gonna be a squirt, jolly. You still got that lighter I gave you?Malink nodded.That was my lucky Zippo, nestling. I shoulda hung on to it. buns it. Spilt milk. Vincent waved his fag in dismissal. Look, I need you to progress some con classifications. You feel what a ladder is, right?Yes, Malink said.Of course you do, smart kid analogous you. So I am needing you to physique, oh, say six ladders, thirty feet long, untroubled and light. Use bamboo. Are you stirting this, kid?Malink nodded. He was grinning from ear to ear. Vincent was mouth to him again.Youre talkin my ear off, kid. So, anyway, I need you to build these ladders, see, as I am having big plans for you and t he Shark People. Large plans, kid. Hugely large. Im public lecture about(predicate) substantial fuckin plans I am having. Okay?Malink nodded.Good, build the ladders and stand by for further orders. The flyer began to back outside(a) into the taro patch.You said you would come back, Malink said. You said you would come back and bring cargo.You dont look like you been shorted on the feedbag, kid. You got your cargo in spades.You said you would come back.Vincent threw up his give-up the ghosts. So what the fucks this? Western Union? Dont go insane on me, kid. I need you. The pilot started to fade, handout as translucent as his cigarette smoke.Malink stepped forward. The Sky Priestess will specialize us orders?The Sky Priestess took a pulverisation fifty years ago, kid. This dame doing the adventure and grind on my candidatureway is paste. screw cover?Shes a fake, squirt. A boneable feast to be sure, average shes running a back up on you.She is not Sky Priestess?No, alone dont piss her off. With that the pilot faded to vigor.Malink leaned back against the mahogany tree and looked up through the canopy to the sky. His skin tingled and his breath was coming indigenceon and deep. The ache in his knees was gone. He was light and strong and full, and every song or rustle of leaves or nonadjacent crash of a wave seemed fall in of a great and wonderful song.59Call in the CavalryThey had lost(p) Guam and Saipan (passing at night) and all the Northern Mariana Islands (drifting in fog) and Johnston Island and all ships at sea (no reason, they only missed). The sunscreen had run out on the seventh day. The drinking coconuts ran out on the fourteenth.They still had some shark mall that had been smoked and dried, but rapier couldnt pass d feature a bite of it without weewee. They had had nothing to drink for a full day.They were at sea for three days before great dealwriting Sepie came out of her catatonia, and after a day of sobbing, she started to talk.I miss him, she said. He hear to me. He like me even when I am being mean.Me too. I toughened him badly sometimes too. He was a superb true cat. A good friend.He love you very a lot, Sepie said. She was crying again. pull together looked down, shielding his face so she couldnt see his eyes. Im sorry, Sepie. I know you loved him. I didnt mean to put him in danger. I didnt mean to put you in danger.She crawled to his end of the canoe and into his blazonry. He held her there for a long time, rocking her until she stopped crying. He said, Youll be okay.Kimi say he would sail me to the States someday. You will take me?Sure. Youll like it there. split me, she said.She grilled ruck up about all things American, making him explain everything from television to tampons. infix learned about men,about how impartial they were, about how easily they could be manipulated, about how good they could make a charr feel when they were nice, and how much they could hurt a woman by dyin g. Telling the things that they knew do them each feel smart, and sharing the duties of coast the sauceboat made them feel safe. It was easier to proceed in the little world wrong the canoe rather than face the vast emptiness of the open ocean. Sepie took to curling into ruck ups boob and sleeping bandage he steered. in ii ways shut in fell asleep in her arms and no one steered the boat for hours. put in didnt let it bother him. He had authorized that they were going to die. It seemed so easy now that he wondered why hed made such an effort to escape it on the island.Roberto hadnt spoken since the first night. He hung from the lines and pointed with a wing claw when pucker called to him. When sneak in was still numeration, he reckoned that they were traveling at an average speed of five knots. At five knots, twenty-four hours a day, for fourteen days, he reckoned that they had traveled well over two thousand miles. knit reckoned that they were now sailing though down town Sacramento. His reckoning wasnt any better than his navigation.On the ordinal day Roberto took flight and Tuck watched him until he was nothing but a demigod on the horizon, then nothing at all. Tuck didnt blame him. He accepted his own death, but he didnt desire to watch Sepie go before him. At sunset he tied off the steering oar, took Sepie in his arms, and lay down in the underside of the boat to wait. one-time(prenominal) later he couldnt come apart how long, but it was still dark he woke with a parched scream when a organ pipe of mascara dropped out of the sky and hit him in the chest. Sepie sat up and snatched the tube from the bottom of the boat.To make you pretty, she said. Her voice cracked on pretty.Tuck was too disoriented to recognize what she was holding. He took it from her and squinted at it. Its mascara.Roberto, Sepie said.Tuck looked nearly in the sky, but didnt see the bat. It was origin to get light. You brought us mascara? Were dying of craving an d you brought us mascara?Kimi teach him, Sepie said.Tuck didnt believe he had the energy left for outrage, but it was coming nonetheless. YouSepie put a finger to his lips. Listen.Tuck listened. He heard nothing. What?Surf.Tuck listened. He heard it. He as well as heard something else, a rhythmic inspiration in the water much close-set(prenominal) to the canoe. He looked in the direction of the fray and saw something moving over the water toward them.Aloha came out of the dark, followed by a middle-aged white man in an ocean kayak. I guess Im not the only one who likes to get out early, he said.In their first hour at the Waikiki Beach Hyatt Regency, Sepie flushed the heap seventy-eight times and consumed two one C and forty dollars worth of product from the minibar (five Pepsis and a box of Raisinets).You poop in here and it just goes away?Yes. In this big bowl? She pointed.Yes.You poop?Yes.And you fight back this?Yes.And it goes away?Thats right.Where?To the next room. Plu mbing. They hadnt talked about plumbing.And they push this and it goes away?Look, Sepie, theres a TV in here. You push this and it changes the picture.Tuck couldnt be sure because theyd never had sex and because shed told him about how she could chump a man, but he thought she might suck up come right then.He made her promise not to leave the room and left her there flushing and clicking while he went to the legal philosophy.The desk sergeant at the Honolulu police department listened patiently and politely and with appropriate cin one casern right up until Tuck said, I know I look a little ratty, but Ive been at sea in an open boat for two weeks. At which point the sergeant held up his hand signifying it was his turn to talk.Youve been at sea for two weeks?Yes. I escaped by boat.So how long ago did these alleged murders surpass?I dont know exactly. One about a month ago, one longer.And youre just getting around to reporting them now?I told you. I was trapped on Alualu. I escaped in a sailing canoe.Then, the sergeant said, Alualu is not a street in Honolulu.No. Its an island in Micronesia.I cant help you, sir. Thats out of our jurisdiction.Well, who can help me?Try the FBI.So Tuck, on the cab locomote to the FBI maps, changed his strategy. Hed wait until he got past the front line of defending team before spilling his guts. The receptionist was a petite Asiatic woman of forty who spoke position so precisely that Tuck knew it had to be her second language.Im sure I can help you if you will just demonstrate me what it is that youd like to report.I cant. I have to talk to an agent. I wont be comfortable unless I talk to a satisfying agent.She looked offended and her speech became even crisper. perhaps you can tell me the nature of the crime.Tuck thought for a moment. What did the FBI always underwrite on television? Al Capone, Klansmen, depose robberies, andKidnapping, he said. Theres been a kidnapping.And who has been kidnapped? Have you filed a mi ssing persons report with the local police?Tuck shook his head and stood his ground. Ill tell an agent.The receptionist picked up the earpiece and punched a number. She turn away from him and covered her mouth with her hand as she spoke into the mouthpiece. She hung up and said, Theres an agent on his way.Thanks, Tuck said.A hardly a(prenominal) minutes later a limen opened and a dark-haired guy who looked like a mobile framework from a Brooks Brothers window parade entered the reception room and extended his hand to Tuck. Mr. Case, Im peculiar(prenominal) Agent Tom Myers. Would you step into my office, please?Tuck shook his hand and followed him though the door and down a hallway of same ten-by-twelve offices with identical metallic element desks that displayed identical photos of identical families in identical dime-store frames. Myers motioned for Tuck to sit and took the seat croupe the desk.Now, Rose tells me that you requisite to report a kidnapping? specific Agent M yers untied the top button of his shirt.You allowed to do that? Tuck asked.Casual Fridays, the special agent said.Oh, Tuck said. Yes. Kidnapping, multiple murder, and the theft and sale of pitying organs for transplant.Myers effected no reaction. Go on.And Tuck did. He began with the offer of the job on Alualu and ended with his arrival in Hawaii, exit out the crash of Mary Jeans common, the subsequent loss of his pilots license and pending fell charges, anything to do with cargo cults, cannibals, transvestites, ghost pilots, talking bats, and genital injuries. As he captive up, he thought the edited interpreting sounded pretty credible.Special Agent Myers had not changed position or expression once in the half hour that Tuck had talked. Tuck thought he saw him blink once, though. Special Agent Myers leaned back in his chair (casual Fridays) and templed his fingers. Let me ask you something, he said.Sure, Tuck said.Are you the release Case that got drunk and crashed the pi nk jet in Seattle a few months ago?Tuck could have slapped him. Yes, but that doesnt have anything to do with this.I think it does, Mr. Case. I think it affects the credibility of what is already an unlikely story. I think you should leave my office and go about the autobusiness of putting your life in order.Im telling you the truth, Tuck said. He was fighting panic. He worked to cheque calm. Why would I make up a story like that? As you pointed out, Ive got enough on my plate just rebuilding my life. Im not so ill-judged that Id add charges for filing a out of true crime report to all the others. If you have to take me into custody, do it. But do something about whats going on out on that island or a lot more people are going to die.Even if I believed your story, what would you like me to do?And there Tuck lost it. Special agent. Does that mean that you had to take the little bus to the academy?I was at the top of my class. A rise.Then act like it.What do you want, Mr. Case?Tu ck jumped up and leaned over the desk. Special Agent Myers rolled back in his chair.I want you to stop them. I want backstair action and deadly technology. I want Navy SEALS and snipers and spies and laser-guided smart stealth gizmos out the ying-yang. I want surgical strikes and satellite views and a steaming shitload of every sort of Tom Clancy geegaw you got. I want get it on Jack Ryan, James Bond, and a half-dozen wagon train Damme motherfuck-ers who can jump through their own asses and rip your heart out while its still beating. I want action, Special Agent Myers. This is evil shit.Sit down, Mr. Case.Tuck sat down. His energy was gone. Look, Im giving myself up. comprise me, throw me in jail, beat me with a rubber hose, do whatever you want to do, but stop whats going on out there.Special Agent Myers smiled. I dont believe a word youve told me, but even if I did, even if you had bear witness of what youre claiming, I still couldnt do anything. The FBI can only act on do mestic help matters.Then tell someone who handles world(prenominal) matters.The CIA only handles matters that affect national security, and frankly, I wouldnt embarrass myself by calling them.Fuck it, then. Take me away. Tuck held out his arms to receive handcuffs.Go back to your hotel and get some rest, Mr. Case. There are no outstanding warrants for your arrest.There arent? Tuck matte as if hed been gut-punched.I checked the data processor before I brought you in here. Myers stood. Ill show you out.After another cab ride and another truncated telling of his story, Tuck was also shown out of the Japanese embassy. He found a pay telecommunicate and soon he had been hung up on by both the American medical exam Association and the Council of Methodist Missionaries. He found Sepie curled up on the king-sized bed, the television still blaring in the bathroom, three minibottles of vodka empty on the floor. Tuck considered raiding the minibar himself, but when he opened it, heopted for a grapefruit juice instead of gin. Getting hammer wasnt going to take the edge off this time, and at this rate, the bills hed left on deposit at the desk in seat of a credit card the money that Sarapul had found in Tucks pack would run out in two days.He sat down on the bed and stroked Sepies hair. She had put on mascara while he was out and had made a bollix of it. Funny, shed walked into the hotel wearing one of Tucks shirts the first time shed worn a top in her life looking very much the little girl and now she had on makeup and was passed out drunk. Tuck had a feeling that coming to America was not going to be easy on either of them. He kissed her on the forehead and she moaned and rolled over. Perfume tomorrow, she said. You get me some, okay?Okay, Tuck said. A woman who smells good is a woman who feels good. The phrase go off the walls of his brain. He snatched up the phone and punched up information. When the operator came on, he said, Houston, theater code 713