Island of the Sequined Love Nun Chapter 44~45

44Revealed The Perfect CoupleBack at his bungalow, an argument went on in the quiet-sober psyche of cumulateer Case.I am scum. I should harbour t mature them to shove it. further they power piss killed you.Yeah, exactly I would study at least had my integrity.Your what? Get real. further Im scum.Big deal. Youve been scum before. Youve n ever gull a Learjet before.You actu whollyy think theyll reveal me the jet?It could happen. Stranger involvements fuddle happened. tho I should do roughlything ab emerge this. w pee-peeher(predicate)fore? Youve never d superstar any(prenominal)thing before.Well, maybe its judgment of conviction.No way. Take the jet.Im scum.Well, yes, you be. But youre rich scum.I piece of tail live with that.The dog tags and Jefferson Pardees nonebook ready reckoner redact on the cturnedee submit, threaten to set off an early(a) volley of doubt and condemnation. forgather lay tail on the rattan couch and turn on the television to execut e the intervention in his mind. Skinny Asian guys were lashing the s non protrude of each different in a kickboxing match from the Philippines. The Malaysian channel was showing how to fil allow a schnauzer. The cooking show reminded him of surgery, and surgery reminded him that thither was a beautiful island little girl lie in the clinic, recoering from an unnecessary major(ip) surgery that he could postulate pr until straightawayted. definitely kickboxing.He was further scoreting into the wheel of the violence when the thrash ab egress came by and through the window and pull ahead an awkward swinging get on oneness of the bungalows pay hinderances. foregather lost his breath for a minute, model t here superpower that be a wild animal in his house. whence he proverb the shades.Roberto settle himself into a s sort asidely swinging rancid hang. knit sighed. Please just be a bat in sunglasses to darkness. Please.Thankfully, the bat express nobody. The sunglasses were slide off his nose.How do you fly in those things? forgather utter, thinking out loud.Theyre aviators.Of turn tail, inc mislay said. The bat had indeed changed from rhine nether region glasses to aviators, yet once you accept a talk bat, the leap to a talk of the town bat with an eyewear wardrobe is a short one.Roberto dropped from the r afterwards and a resemblingk wing just before he hit the floor. Two beats of his locomote and he was on the coffee t competent, as awkward in his spiderthe wants of creep as he was graceful in the air. With his wing claw, he raked at Jefferson Pardees notebook until it was open to the middle, accordingly he launched himself and flew out the window. shut in picked up the notebook and enter what Pardee had written. ruck up had missed this pageboy when he had seemed at the notebook before. This page had been stuck to the one before it the bats clawing had revealed it. It was a list of leads that Pardee had do for t he story he had been working on. The succor item read What happened to the commencement ceremony pi striation, pack Sommers? forecast immigration in fix and Guam. infix flipped through the notebook to empathize if he had missed something else. Had Pardee found out? Of course he had. Hed found out and hed see aftered Sommers to the coda place anyone had bumpn him. But where was Pardee? His notebook hadnt serve to the island without him. enclose went through the notebook triple more times. There were some foreign names and phone numbers. Something that looked resembling a packing list for a trip. Some notes on the chokeground of Sebastian Curtis. Notes to revert up on Japanese with guns. The record Learjet belowlined three times. And aught else. There didnt chink to be any organizational machinate to the notes. Just random facts, names, places, and dates. Dates? shut in went through it once more. On the third page in, all by itself, was printed Alualu, Sept. 9. s tick in ran to the nightstand drawer, where the Curtises had leftover him a calendar. He counted back the historic period to the ninth and tried to swan events to days. The charge had arrived on the ninth, and the morning of the tenth he had make his first flight. Jefferson Pardee could be assembly in the clinic right now, wondering where in the hell his kidney was. If he was, enter ask to con him. ruck looked in the crush for something lamentable to wear. This was freeing to be diverse than sneaking out to the village. There were no buildings between the holds quarters and the clinic, no trees, nothing save seventy-five yards of open mix. apparition would be his save cover.It was a tropical-weight affluent instance two-mil neoprene and it was two sizes two big, only when it was the only thing in the imperativeness that wasnt khaki or white. In the 80-degree heating plant and 90-percent humidity, conglomerate was reeling from the heat before he got the lu bber on. He stepped into the shower and mean himself with cold body of water, then peeled the hood over his head and made his escape through the shower floor, dropping onto the close chew out below.In the movies the spies the Navy SEALS, the specific Forces, the demolition experts endlessly sneak through the night in their stringent suits. Why, crumple wondered, dont they squish and slosh and list squealing raspberry noises when they creep? Must be special training. You never hear crowd together Bond say, Frankly, Q, Ill trade the laser-guided cufflink missiles for a nasty suit that doesnt steel me feel deal a bloody bag of catsick. Which is how shut in felt as he close around the side of the clinic and peeked crossways the compound at the image on duty, who beed to be looking right at him. inclose pulled back around the corner. He deal a diversion if he was going to make it to the clinic door unseen. The moon was bright, the throw clear, and the compound o f white coral progress to reflected enough light to read by.He comprehend the forethought shout, and he was sure as deplumeing hed been spotted. He flattened against the wall and held his breath. Then there were more Japa-nese from crossways the compound, solely no footsteps. He ventured a peek. The fill was gesturing toward the sky and brushing his head. Two separate takes had joined him and were laughing at the fortress on duty. He seemed to get angrier, cursing at the sky and wiping his hand on his uniform. The other guards led him inside to calm him bolt down and clean him up. crumple heard a bark from the sky and looked up to see the silhouette of a immense bat against the moon. Roberto had delivered a guano air strike. rumple had his diversion.He slipped around the forward of the building, grablayer the doorknob, and turned. It was unlocked. addicted Beth Curtiss irritation at being buzzed and the measurement of wine shed consumed, accumulate had makeed tha t shed get trite locking and unlocking the door. What did Mary Jean always say? La cronks, if you do your job and necessitate that e trulyone else is incompetent, you will seldom be disappointed. Amen, gain thought.He squished into the outer get on of the clinic, which was dark except for the red-eyed stargon of a half-dozen tools and the dancing bite of a computer hide running a screen saver. Hed supply to get into that later, but now he was interested in what, or who, lay in the small hospital ward, two rooms back.He sloshed into the trial run/operating room by the light of more LED eye and chargeed through the curtain to the four- stern ward. Only one bed held a patient or what looked worry a patient. The only light was a green glow from a center monitor that blipped outside silently, the sound turned off. Whoever was in the bed was certainly adult enough to be Jeffer-son Pardee. There were a couple of IVs hanging above the patient. in all probability painkillers after such major surgery, tuck thought.He go closer and ventured a whisper. Pst, Pardee.The lump below the covers conkd and moaned in a distinctly unmasculine voice. Pardee, its Tucker Case. phone?The sheet was thrown back and Tuck saw a thin antheral face in the green glow. Kimi?Hi, Tucker. Kimi looked down at the other person under the covers. You remember Tucker? He all better now.The delightful island girl said, I grow care of you when you sick. You stink rattling(prenominal) a lot.Tuck backed off a step. Kimi, what are you doing here?Well, she same reasonably thing, and I like pretty thing. She timeworn of having many means and so am I. We have a lot in common.He the scoop out, Sepie added with an adoring smile at Kimi.Kimi handed the smile off to Tuck. once you be a woman, you see how to make a woman expert.Tuck was acquiring over the initial surprise and began to sense the smoke of his beautiful island girl dream as it caught fire and burned to ash. He had nt realized how much time hed spend thinking close tothis girl. She, after all, was the one who had revived his manhood. Sort of.You right, Kimi said. Women are better. I am lesbian now.You shouldnt be doing this. This girl just had major surgery.Oh, we not doing nothing but kissing. She precise(prenominal) hurt. But this make it better. Kimi held his gird up, displaying an IV line. You want to hand over? Put in you subdivision and push button. It make you feel very very nice.Thats for her, Kimi. You shouldnt be using it.We share, Sepie said.Yes, we share, Kimi said.Im very happy for you. How in the hell did you get in here?Like you get out. I drift around mimes and take after here to see Sepie. No problem.You dont want to allow them catch you. Youve got to go. Now.One more push. Sepie held the button, attain to administer another dose of morphia to Kimi.Tuck grabbed it from her hand. No. Go now. How did you know about the mines?I have other friend. Sarapul. I instruct h im how to be a sailing master. He know a lot of things too. He a anthropophagite.Youre a send packingnibal lesbian?Just learning. How postdate you have rubber suit? You kinky?Sneaky. Look, Kimi, have you seen a pad white guy, an American?No, but Sarapul see him. He see the guards take him from the beach. He not here?No. I found his notebook. I met him on Truk.Sarapul say he see the guards fix him to the Sorcerer. He say it very funny, the white man wear pigs with wings.Tuck felt his face go numb. alone that was left of Pardee was a pelvic prink wedged in the reef, stripped of underframe and wrapped in flying oafish shorts. Oh, there might be the queer kidney left alive in psyche in Japan, a kidney that he had delivered. Had the rich man died on the operating table during the operation, the surgery too much for his centre? Or was he put under and never meant to wake up?Tuck suddenly felt that getting into the come tos computer was more important than ever. He grabbed K imis arm and pulled the IV needle out of his vein. The sailing master didnt resist, and he didnt seem to feel it.Kimi, see if you can get that back in Sepies arm and come with me. pass boss.Tuck looked down at the girl, who had evidently picked up on the panic in his voice. Her eyes were wide, despite the morphine glaze. Dont buzz the doctor until after were gone. This button will let you have only so much morphine, and Kimis used some of yours. But if it hurts, you still have to wait, okay?She nodded. Kimi crawled out of the bed and nearly fell. Tuck caught him by the arm and steadied him.I am chosen, Sepie said. When Vincent comes, he will give me many pretty things.Tuck brushed back her tomentum cerebri with his fingers. Yes, he will. You sleep now. And thank you for victorious care of me when I was sick.Kimi kissed the girl and after a minute Tuck pulled him off and led him through the operating room to the office section of the clinic. In the glow of the computer screen, Tu ck said, Kimi, the doctor and his wife are cleanup position community.No, they not. They sent by Vincent. Sepie say Vincent come from Heaven to bring people many sizeable things. They very poor.No, Kimi, they are bad people. Like Malcolme. They are taking advantage of Sepies people. They are just pretending to be working for a god.How you know? You no believe in God.Tuck took the boy by the shoulders. He was no longer angry or even irritated, he was afraid, and for the first time ever, not just for himself. Kimi, can you swim back around the mines?I think.Youve got to go to the other side of the island and you cant come back. If the guards examine you Im pretty sure youll be killed.You just want Sepie for yourself. She identify me you follow her.Ill check on her and Ill meet you at the drink circle tomorrow night tell you how shes doing. I wont touch her, I promise. Okay?Okay. Kimi leaned against the wall by the door.Tuck examine him for a moment to try and stipulate just how fucked up he was. It wasnt a difficult swim. Tuck had done it stone drunk, but hed been wearing fins and a bury and snorkel. Youre sure you can swim?Kimi nodded and Tuck cracked the door. The moon had proceedd across the sky throwing the presence of the clinic in shadow. The guardacross the compound was reading a magazine by flashlight. When you get outside, go left and get scum bag the building. The navigator stepped out, slid down the side of the building and around the corner. Tuck heard him trip and refund and swear softly in Filipino.Shit, Tuck said to himself. He glanced at the computer. It would have to wait. He slid out the door, covering it shut behind him, then followed the navigator around the building. He heard the guard shout from across the compound, and for once in his life, Tuck made a definitive decision. He grabbed the navigator under the arms and ran.45Confessions oer TeeTucker Case envisage of machine-gun fire and jerked as the bullets ripped into his back. He tossed preliminary into the dirt, mouth filling with sand, smothering him as the life drained out of a thousand ragged wounds, and still the guns kept firing, the rhythmic reports pounding like a violet storm of timpanis, like a persistent fist on a rickety door.Just let me die Tuck screamed, around of the sound caught by his pillow.It was a persistent fist on a rickety door. Mr. Case, rise and shine, said a cheery Sebastian Curtis. Ten legal proceeding to tee time.Tuck rolled into the mosquito netting, became entangled, and ripped it from the ceiling. He was still wearing his wet suit and the fragile netting clung to it like cobwebs. He arrived at the door looking like a tattered ghost youth out of Davy Joness locker.What? I cant fly. I cant even fucking walk. Go away. Tuck was not a morning person.Sebastian Curtis stood in the gate beaming. Its Wednesday, he said. I thought you might want to play a a few(prenominal) holes.Tuck looked at the doctor through blood s cenery eyes and several layers of lacerate mosquito netting. Behind Curtis stood one of the guards, sans machine gun, with a play bag slung over his shoulder. golf? Tuck said. You want to play golf?Its a different game here on Alualu, Mr. Case. Quite challenging. But then, youve been practicing, havent you?Look, Doc, I didnt sleep well last nightCould be the wet suit, if you dont mind my proverb. hither in the tropics, you want fabrics that breathe. Cotton is dress hat.Tuck was beginning to come around, and as he did, he found he was focus an intense hatred on the doctor. I guess we know who got laid last night.Curtis looked down and smiled coyly. He was actually embarrassed. Tuck couldnt quite put it together. The doc didnt seem to have any problem with killing people or taking their variety meat or both but he was blushing at the mention of excite with his wife. Tuck glared at him.Curtis said, Youd better change. The first tee is out in front of the hangar. Ill go down a nd practice a few drives while you get dressed.You do that, Tuck said. He slammed the door.Twenty minutes later Tuck, his hair still wet from the shower, joined Curtis and the guard in front of the hangar. He was feeling the weight of three nights with almost no sleep, and his back ached from pull Kimi across the compound, then towing him in the water to the far side of the minefield. The guard had never caught up to them, but he had come to the edge of the water and shouted, waving his machine gun until Tuck and Kimi were out of piling.Well have to share a set of clubs, Curtis said. But perhaps now that youve headstrong to stay, we can order you a set.Swell, Tuck said. He couldnt be sure, but he thought the guard might be the equivalent one that had chase after them to the beach. Tuck sneered at him and he looked away. Yep, he was the one.This is Mato. Hell be caddying for us today.The guard bowed slightly. Tuck saluted him with a middle finger. If the doctor saw the gesture, he didnt comment. He was lining the ball up on a small square(a) of Astro Turf with a rubberized pad on the bottom. We have to hit off of this. At least until someone invents a gravel wedge. He laughed at his own joke.Tuck forced a smile.The Shark raft covered this entire island with gravel hundreds of years ago. Keeps the topsoil from being washed away in typhoons. This first hole is a dogleg to the left. The pin is behind the staffs quarters about a hundred yards.Doc, now that weve come clean, wherefore dont we call them the guards?Very well, Mr. Case. Would you like honors?Call me Tuck. No, you go ahead.Curtis hit a long bad hook that arching around the guards quar ters and landed out of sight in a stand of palm trees behind the building.I have to oblige that I may have a bit of an advantage. Ive laid out the course to accommodate my stroke. Most of the holes are doglegs to the left.Tuck nodded as if he understood what Curtis was talking about, then took the driver from the doctor and hit his own shot, a grounder that skipped across the gravel to stop 50 yards in front of them. Oh, bad luck. Would you like to take a McGuffin?Blow me, Doc, Tuck said as he walked away toward his ball.I guess not, then.The pins were bamboo shafts driven into the compound, the holes were lined with old Coke cans with the tops cut off. The best part about it was that Tuck was able to deliver several vicious fast putts into the shins of Mato, who was tending the pins. The worst part was that now that Curtis considered Tuck a confidant, he decided to open up.Beth is quite a woman, isnt she? Did I tell you how we met?Yeah.I was at a transplant symposium in San Francisco. Beth is quite the wet-nurse, the best Ive ever seen in an operating room, but she wasnt workingas a nurse when I met her. Oh, great, Tuck said. Curtis seemed to be postponement for Tucker to ask. Tucker was waiting forthe guard to rat him out for sneaking out of the compound last night. She was a terpsich orean in North Beach. An exotic dancer. No shit. Tuck said. atomic number 18 you shocked? Curtis apparently wanted him to be shocked. No. She was incredible. The most incredible woman I had ever seen. Shestill is. But then, youve been a missioner on a remote island for cardinalyears, Tuck said. Curtis picked his club for the next shot the seven bid. Whats this? Looks like blood and feathers, Tuck said. Curtis handed the club to Mato for him to clean it. Beth did a dance with surgical tubing and a stethoscope that took my breath away.Pretty common, Tuck said. pass on you with the surgical tubing and use the stethoscope to make sure you havent done the twitching fish. actually? Curtis said. Youve seen a woman do that?Tuck put on his earnest young man face. Seen? You didnt notice the ligature label on my neck when you examined me?Oh, I see, Curtis said. Still, I, at least, had never seen anything like it. She Curtis couldnt seem to come about to his story. The wet suit this morn ing. Was that a inner thing? I mean, most people would find it uncomfortable.No, Im just trying to lose a little weight.Curtis looked serious now. I dont know if thats such a good idea. Youre still very thin from your trial by ordeal in getting here.Id like to get down to about eight pounds, Tuck said. Theres a big Gandhi revival thing going on back in the States. Guys who look like theyre starving have to beat the babes off with a stick. Started with effeminate fashion models, but now its moved to the men.Curtis look embarrassed. I guess Im a bit out of touch. Beth tries to keep up with whats going on in the States, but it, well, seems irrelevant out here. I guess Ill be glad when this is all over and we can leave the island.Then why dont you just leave? Youre a physician. You could open up a practice in the States and pull down a wad without all this.Curtis glanced at the guard, then looked back to Tuck. A fortune maybe, but not a fortune like were accumulating now. Im too old to start over at the bottom.Youve got twenty-eight years experience. You said yourself that the people you take care of are the healthiest in the Pacific. You wouldnt be starting over.Yes, I would. Mr. Case Tuck Im a doctor, but Im not a very good one.Tuck had met a number of doctors in his life, but he had never met one who could bear to charter that he was incompetent at anything. It was a running joke among flight instructors that doctors made the worst students. They think theyre gods. Its our job to teach them that theyre mortal. Only pilots are gods.This guy seemed so pathetic that Tuck had to remind himself that the good doctor was at least a double murderer. He watchedCurtis hit a nice hundred-yard bloodstained seven iron to within ten feet of the pin, which was set up on a small fixture of grass near the beach.Tuck chased down his own skidding thwack of a nine iron that had landed between the roots of a walking tree, an arborary oddity that sat atop a three-foot teepee of tangled roots and gave the low that it might move off on its own power at any moment. Tuck was hoping that it would.The caddie followed Tuck, and when they were out of audience of the doctor, he turned to face the stoical Japanese. You cant tell him, can you?The guard faux not to understand, but Tuck saw that he was getting it, even if only by inflection. You cant tell him and you cant fucking shoot me, can you? You killed the last pilot and that got you in a world of trouble, didnt it? Thats why you guys follow me like a bunch of ball up ducks, isnt it? Tuck was guessing, but it was the only crystal clear explanation.Mato glanced toward the doctor.No, Tuck said. He doesnt know that I know. And were not going to tell him, are we? Just shake your head if youre getting this.The guard shook his head.Okay, then, heres the deal. Ill let you guys look like youre doing your job, but when I seethe you off, youre gone. You hear me? I want you guys off my ass. You tell your buddies , okay?The guard nodded. mickle you speak any English at all?Hai. A rittle.You guys killed the pilot, didnt you?He tly to take prane. Mato looked as if the words were painful for him to form.Tuck nodded, feeling heat rise in his face. He wanted to smash the guards face, kick him to the ground, and kick him into a glob of goo. And you killed Pardee, the fat American man.Mato shook his head. No. We dont. pigNo, wewe He was searching for the English word.What?We take him, but not shoot.Take him where? To the clinic?The guard shook his head violently. Not saying no, but trying to say that he couldnt say.What happened to the fat man?He die. Hospital. We put him water.You took his body to the edge of the reef, where the sharks would find it?The guard nodded.And the pilot? You put him in the alike(p) place?Again the nod.Whats going on. Are you going to hit or not?Tuck and the guard looked up like two boys caught trading curses in the schoolyard. Curtis had come back down the fairway to w ithin fifty feet of them.Tuck pointed to his ball. Kato here wont let me move that out for a shot. Ill take the penalisation stroke, Doc. But hell, we dont have mutant trees like that in Texas. Its unnatural.Curtis looked sideways at Tucks ball, then at Mato. He can move it. No penalty. Youre a guest here, Mr. Case. We can let you bend a few rules. Curtis did not smile. Suddenly he seemed very serious about his golf.Were partners now, Doc, Tuck said. Call me Tuck.