Micro

He saw a flash of brown fur gleaming with silver-tipped guard hairs, a pair of wings flaring impossibly wide, blocking out the moon, and a wide-open mouth filled with a set of canines like chisels…

The micro-plane spiraled down, its wing broken, its cockpit empty, and landed in foam slick near the beach, where it vanished.

Chapter 44

Diamond Head Lighthouse 31 October, 11:45 p.m.

Rourke dozed for a while, but awoke when he became aware that Danny Minot had not returned from the privy. Time had passed; the fire had burned down. He got up and hurried down the tunnel toward the privy; Danny wasn’t there.

The Redoubt was a sprawling warren, with many unused tunnels; perhaps Danny had gotten lost in a tunnel. Rourke went into a side tunnel, and called, “Mr. Minot! You there?” Nothing. Another tunnel yielded silence. Then Rourke noticed air moving in the tunnel. The hangar…he ran to the hangar, and found the doors open, a plane gone.

He closed the doors, then woke Rick and Karen. “Your friend has gone. He took a plane.”

They weren’t sure what had gotten into Danny. Perhaps he had become frightened, gone into a panic, with his arm in such bad shape, and had decided to fly to Nanigen on his own. It showed more courage than Danny seemed capable of.

“Maybe we should fly out and try to find him,” Karen suggested.

Rourke forbade it. “He’s gone. The wind could take him anywhere over the island.” And he said it was too dangerous to fly after dark; the bats were out. “It’s almost suicidal.”

Danny might already be dead. And if he survived the flight, it wasn’t clear how he planned to get inside Nanigen.

“It doesn’t make sense,” Karen said.

“Sheer panic,” Rick said.

Vin Drake sat in his car. The beam from the lighthouse swung around above, shining through the branches of trees overhead. The moon washed the scene with silver. What a beautiful world it truly was. He felt almost placid. He was high above the world, walking on a tightrope and doing it well.

A black pickup swung in and parked next to Drake. Drake got out and climbed into the truck. He explained the situation to Makele. “He’s in the air. He knows a cure for the bends. He’s going to tell me when he lands.”

“Then?” Makele asked.

Drake didn’t answer. He put on the radio headset and began calling, staring up toward the mountains. “Daniel? Daniel, are you there?”

He heard nothing but a hiss of airwaves. He turned to Makele. “Watch for his running lights. Red and green, very small.”

“What are you going to do with the kid?” Makele asked.

Drake ignored him. “Wind’s blowing from Tantalus. He should be here any minute.”

A car swung into the parking area. Drake snatched the radio off his head and stared. “Check it.”

Makele edged closer to the parked car and saw a couple inside getting friendly with each other. He told Drake there was nothing to worry about.

Drake resumed calling, but with no answer. Cars passed, and the lighthouse beam circled many times. The couple in the parked car went out of sight. The two men stared up into the sky, trying to see any lights against the backdrop of stars. “Little Danny was lying,” Drake remarked.

“About what?”

“About a cure for bends.” Lying to make me save him. Ha.

They listened for the whine of a micro-plane. Don Makele saw that the wind was blowing pretty hard. If they didn’t see the kid, he’d get blown out to sea. Drake removed something from the trunk of the sports car and placed it in the back of the pickup truck. Then he said: “I’m giving you three more shares. Now you’ve got seven shares. That brings your net worth to seven million.”

The security man grunted. Then he said: “What do we do with the kid?”

“Question him.” Drake tapped on the radio headset. It could communicate with micro-humans.

“After that?”

Drake didn’t reply for a bit. Then he leaned against the pickup truck and slapped his palm on the metal. Gazing into the sky, he murmured, “The bugs are bad tonight.”

“I see,” Makele said.

The two men watched a while longer. Makele backed up a few steps, moving alongside the truck, and glanced at the object Drake had placed on the bed of the truck. It was a plastic fuel container. He could smell the gasoline.

Drake called some more, finally ripped off his headset. “Mr. Minot had an accident. Or he changed his mind.” He got into the pickup truck and handed the keys of his sports car to Don Makele.

“What do you want me to do with your car, sir?”

“Drop it at Nanigen. Take a taxi home.”

Drake started the truck and it roared off on the Diamond Head Road. As he watched the headlights disappear, Makele shook his head.

Chapter 45

Rourke’s Redoubt 1 November, 1:00 a.m.

Karen and Rick were curled up inside the magnet, waiting out the night.

“We’re the last ones,” Karen said.

Rick smiled thinly. “I didn’t figure we’d end up together, Karen.”

“What did you figure?”

“Well, I thought you’d survive. Not me,” he said.

“How are you feeling?” she asked him.

“Perfect.” That was a lie. His face had become streaked with bruises, and his joints ached.