Chavez rubbed a fleck of blood he’d missed on the side of his hand. He’d used wet wipes and hand sanitizer to clean up as best he could, and then finished the job in the restroom. Like most men’s rooms overseas, there were no paper towels, making Chavez glad he’d taken up his father-in-law’s practice of carrying a handkerchief. Head wounds were terrible bleeders, though, and he had a couple that made him look like a zombie if he didn’t keep an eye on them. He felt like a zombie, that was for sure. The pain in his head grew with each minute that ticked by.
“ETA one hour on the nose,” Adara said, startling Chavez a little when she sat down next to him with her own bag of popcorn. “We can stand on our heads for this long.” She turned half in her seat, assessing his wounds — and he had many — then used the long white paper bag to gesture at his left eye. “You need a few stitches right below your orbital,” she said. “Can you see okay? A blow like that can rattle your vision.”
“I’m good,” Chavez lied.
He still hadn’t gotten used to seeing Adara with black hair. A perfectionist, she’d taken the time to dye her eyebrows, too. One bottle of Indonesian hair dye and she’d gone from looking like a badass Tinker Bell, to… well, still badass, but not quite right, like the evil doppelgänger of her actual self. It was more than a little unsettling. Chavez kept that to himself, though, particularly since he’d been the one to give her the dye.
“Thanks, Doc,” he said. “I’ll hit a clinic as soon as we get home.”
As a former Navy corpsman, Adara was often referred to by the team as “Doc.” She slipped into the role with ease.
“I have lidocaine on the G5,” she said. “I can stitch it up for you, as long as we don’t have too much turbulence. The sooner the better with facial wounds.” She grinned. “And my copay is cheaper than a doc in the box.”
Chavez gave a slow nod, thinking it over. She’d stitched everyone on the team at one time or another, even back when she’d been director of transportation, before Clark and Gerry had tapped her to be an operator.
“Okay,” he said. “It is a hell of a long fl—”
The radio bonked, coming in garbled as two people outside tried to speak at the same time.
Chavez and Adara sat up straighter in their seats.
Midas came over the radio next, sounding tense, like he was talking through clenched teeth.
Chavez turned toward the door in time to see the man behind the counter at the FBO come up with a pistol.
“Gun left,” he snapped, for Adara’s benefit. He gave the man behind the counter a quarter-second benefit of the doubt. There was a slim chance he was protecting himself from the newcomers outside.
The night manager swung the gun in a wide arc, crossing Adara first. Both she and Chavez fired at the same time, both rounds catching him center-mass.
“One down inside,” Chavez said over the radio. “We’re still good, but the cops can’t be far away.”
Adrenalized, Chavez forgot about his pounding headache. Unfortunately, it hadn’t forgotten about him, and he swayed on his feet as he moved toward the door that led to the ramp. “Do not let these guys ID you.”
“Negative,” Chavez snapped, regaining his balance by sheer force of will. “Adara and I will slip out the back door to the flight line before they come in. We’ll work our way around to the south if we can. Jack, you sit still. Midas, you guys wait until they are about to hit the door, and then haul ass. Peel out, make a lot of noise like you’re bolting. Hopefully they follow you. Jack, if you can, slip away after they leave. We’ll rendezvous at the alternate site in four hours.”
The alternate site was a church downtown that he’d designated when they first arrived in Manado. It was a long way from the airport — and the F-15s — but if Chavez sat still, Calliope would be long gone before they got here — and he and Adara would likely be dead.
Pistol in hand, Chavez grabbed the door and gave Adara a nod to let her know he was ready. He could barely see out of his left eye, his head was on fire, and he was sure he had at least two bruised ribs. Yeah, things were just peachy.
Adara grabbed her pack and threw her body across the counter, reaching for the button to buzz open the exit to the ramp. Chavez held the door until she got there. A quick peek outside said they were clear, and they ran into the sticky blackness.
