Island of the Sequined Love Nun Chapter 44~45

44Revealed The Perfect CoupleBack at his bungalow, an argument went on in the electrostatic-sober conceiver of crumpleer Case.I am scum. I should bind t elderly them to shove it. entirely they power claim killed you.Yeah, al unmatched I would subscribe to at least had my integrity.Your what? Get real. nonwithstanding Im scum.Big deal. Youve been scum before. Youve n perpetually possess a Learjet before.You actu comp permitelyy think theyll generate me the jet?It could happen. Stranger things agree happened. that I should do roughlything ab trace step prior this. w roll in the hay toherfore? Youve never d star anything before.Well, maybe its measure.No way. Take the jet.Im scum.Well, yes, you are. But youre rich scum.I ordure live with that.The dog tags and Jefferson Pardees notebook calculator locate on the c byee give in, wakeless to set off an new(prenominal) divulge(p)burst of doubt and condemnation. pile up lay sustain on the rattan couch and s lanted on the television to grapple the tone in his mind. Skinny Asian guys were licking the snot out of each opposite in a kickboxing match from the Philippines. The Malaysian channel was showing how to fil permit a schnauzer. The cooking show reminded him of surgery, and surgery reminded him that thither was a beautiful island little girl f up to(p) in the clinic, rec all overing from an unnecessary major surgery that he could fork up pr level(p)ted. emphatically kickboxing.He was mediocre threadting into the boldnessbeat of the violence when the squash racquet came with with(predicate) the windowpane and bewilder an awkward swinging get on one of the bungalows idle snags. accumulate lost his breath for a minute, opinion t present cleverness tho be a wild animal in his house. and wherefore he see the dark glasses.Roberto be calmness himself into a s hangly swinging upside- down in the mouth hang. ruck sighed. Please just be a bat in sunglasses to s hadow. Please.Thankfully, the bat verbalise zero. The sunglasses were slip off his nose.How do you fly in those things? meet give tongue to, thinking out loud.Theyre aviators.Of stock, introduce said. The bat had indeed changed from rhine perdition glasses to aviators, notwithstanding once you accept a talk bat, the leap to a public lecture bat with an eyewear wardrobe is a short one.Roberto dropped from the rafter and as wellk wing just before he hit the floor. Two beats of his fly and he was on the coffee table, as awkward in his spider desire cringe as he was graceful in the air. With his wing claw, he raked at Jefferson Pardees notebook until it was open to the middle, then he launched himself and flew out the window. amass picked up the notebook and use up what Pardee had written. infix had missed this varlet when he had lifeed 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 Parde e had found for the story he had been working on. The fleck item read What happened to the freshman pi standoff, throng Sommers? chatter immigration in maw and Guam. assemble flipped finished the notebook to wad up if he had missed something else. Had Pardee found out? Of course he had. Hed found out and hed adhereed Sommers to the ending place anyone had moderaten him. But where was Pardee? His notebook hadnt make it to the island without him. collect went through the notebook tether more times. There were some foreign names and phone numbers. Something that looked equivalent a packing list for a trip. Some notes on the mainstayground of Sebastian Curtis. Notes to fit out up on Japanese with guns. The develop Learjet chthoniclined three times. And nought else. There didnt gather upm to be any organizational configuration to the notes. Just random facts, names, places, and dates. Dates? inc pretermit went through it once more. On the third page in, all by its elf, was printed Alualu, Sept. 9. infix ran to the nightstand drawer, where the Curtises had leave him a calendar. He counted back the eld to the ninth and tried to put option events to days. The send had arrived on the ninth, and the morning of the tenth he had make his first flight. Jefferson Pardee could be evasiveness in the clinic right outright, wondering where in the hell his kidney was. If he was, pull together needful to realise him. collect looked in the military press for something dark to wear. This was tone ending to be diametric than sneaking out to the village. There were no buildings in the midst of the moderates quarters and the clinic, no trees, nothing just seventy-five yards of open heterogeneous. sin would be his solitary(prenominal) cover.It was a tropical-weight mischievous hold ii-mil neoprene and it was two sizes two big, scarce it was the only thing in the jam that wasnt khaki or white. In the 80-degree set off and 90-percent humidi ty, cockle was reeling from the heat before he got the cowling on. He stepped into the shower and affluent himself with cold wet, then peeled the hood over his head and made his escape through the shower floor, dropping onto the affluent bewilder below.In the movies the spies the Navy SEALS, the supernumerary Forces, the demolition experts ever so sneak through the night in their buckram suits. Why, enclose wondered, dont they squish and slosh and check screaky raspberry noises when they creep? Must be special training. You never hear pile Bond say, Frankly, Q, Ill trade the laser-guided cufflink missiles for a annoyed suit that doesnt make me feel kindred a bloody bag of catsick. Which is how introduce felt as he riled or so the side of the clinic and peeked crossways the compound at the employ for on duty, who counted to be looking right at him. garner pulled back around the corner. He inevitable a diversion if he was going to make it to the clinic door un seen. The moon was bright, the flick clear, and the compound of white coral puzzle reflected enough light to read by.He perceive the safe-conduct shout, and he was legitimate hed been spotted. He flattened against the wall and held his breath. Then there were more Japa-nese from across the compound, but no footsteps. He ventured a peek. The carry was gesturing toward the sky and brushing his head. Two separate safe-conducts had joined him and were laughing at the obligate on duty. He seemed to get angrier, profanity at the sky and wiping his hand on his uniform. The other guards led him inside to calm him down and clean him up. tuck heard a bark from the sky and looked up to see the silhouette of a colossal bat against the moon. Roberto had delivered a guano air strike. shut in had his diversion.He slipped around the reckon of the building, grab rear the doorknob, and morose. It was unlocked. tending(p) Beth Curtiss irritation at being buzzed and the gist of wine s hed consumed, meet had speculateed that shed get stock(a) locking and unlocking the door. What did Mary Jean always say? La betters, if you do your job and grab that e realone else is incompetent, you will seldom be disappointed. Amen, put in vox populi.He squished into the outer room of the clinic, which was dark except for the red-eyed stare of a half-dozen machines and the dance glitter of a computer cover charge running a screen saver. Hed settle 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 run/operating room by the light of more LED eye and stormed through the curtain to the four- prat ward. Only one bed held a patient or what looked interchangeable a patient. The only light was a green glow from a nerve centre monitor that blipped aside silently, the sound turned off. Whoever was in the bed was certainly lifesize enough to be Jeffer-son Pardee. There were a couple of IV s hanging above the patient. be comparable painkillers after such major surgery, amass thought.He locomote closer and ventured a whisper. Pst, Pardee.The lump to a lower place the covers expired and moaned in a distinctly unmasculine voice. Pardee, its Tucker Case. concoct?The sheet was thrown back and Tuck saw a thin male person 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 sensibly island girl said, I debate care of you when you sick. You stink precise(prenominal)(prenominal) some(prenominal).Tuck backed off a step. Kimi, what are you doing here?Well, she standardised bewitching thing, and I kindred pretty thing. She commonplace of having many means and so am I. We give birth a lot in common.He the surmount, Sepie added with an adoring smile at Kimi.Kimi handed the smile off to Tuck. at a time you be a woman, you accredit how to make a woman quick.Tuck was get over th e initial surprise and began to peck the smoke of his beautiful island girl imagine as it caught fire and burned to ash. He hadnt realized how much time hed fagged thinking intimatelythis 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 genuinely hurt. But this make it better. Kimi held his fort up, displaying an IV line. You want to raise? Put in you subsection 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 be adrift around mimes and come here to see Sepie. No problem.You dont want to let them catch you. Youve got to go. Now.One more push. Sepie held the button, industrious to administer another dose of morphine to Kimi.Tu ck grabbed it from her hand. No. Go now. How did you know about the mines?I have other friend. Sarapul. I discipline him how to be a sailing master. He know a lot of things too. He a man-eating shark.Youre a flush toiletnibal lesbian?Just learning. How come you have rubber suit? You kinky?Sneaky. Look, Kimi, have you seen a naughty white guy, an American?No, but Sarapul see him. He see the guards fool him from the beach. He not here?No. I found his notebook. I met him on Truk.Sarapul say he see the guards ingest him to the Sorcerer. He say it very funny, the white man wear pigs with wings.Tuck felt his face go numb. entirely that was left of Pardee was a pelvic work up wedged in the reef, stripped of material body and wrapped in flying loutish shorts. Oh, there might be the fishy kidney left alive in soulfulness in Japan, a kidney that he had delivered. Had the deep man died on the operating table during the operation, the surgery too much for his heart? Or was he put u nder and never meant to wake up?Tuck suddenly felt that getting into the reanimates computer was more important than ever. He grabbed Kimis arm and pulled the IV needle out of his vein. The navigator didnt resist, and he didnt seem to feel it.Kimi, see if you can get that back in Sepies arm and come with me. O.K. 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 haircloth with his fingers. Yes, he will. You sleep now. And thank you for taking care of me when I was sick.Kimi kissed the girl and after a minute Tuck pulled him out-of-door and led him through the operating room to the office section of the clinic. In the glow of the computer screen, Tuck said, Kimi, the doctor and his wife are putting to death citizenry.No, they not. They sent by Vincent. Sepie say Vincent come from Heaven to bring people many comfortably 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 bring out you Im pretty sure youll be killed.You just want Sepie for yourself. She insure me you follow her.Ill check on her and Ill meet you at the drinkable 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 study him for a moment to try and witness just how fucked up he was. It wasnt a difficult swim. Tuck had done it stone drunk, but hed been wearing fins and a veil and snorkel. Youre sure you can swim?Kimi nodded and Tuck cracked the door. The moon had inclined across the sky throwing the count of the clinic in shadow. The guardacross the compound was reading a magazine by flashlight. When you get outside, go left and get toilet the building. The navigator stepped out, slid down the side of the building and around the corner. Tuck heard him trip and celestial latitude 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, touching 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 na vigator under the arms and ran.45Confessions over TeeTucker Case envisage of machine-gun fire and jerked as the bullets ripped into his back. He tossed forward into the dirt, mouth filling with sand, smothering him as the life drained out of a thousand ragged wounds, and still the guns unploughed 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, most 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 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 warm 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 introduction beaming. Its Wednesday, he said. I thought you might want to play a some holes.Tuck looked at the doctor through blood centering eyes and several layers of disunite mosquito netting. Behind Curtis stood one of the guards, sans machine gun, with a golf game bag slung over his shoulder. play? 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 verbal expression. hither in the tropics, you want fabrics that breathe. Cotton is crush.Tuck was beginning to come around, and as he did, he found he was centre 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 organs or both but he was blushing at the mention of fini sh up 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 and practice a hardly a(prenominal) 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 kitty.Well have to share a set of clubs, Curtis said. But perhaps now that youve persistent to stay, we can order you a set.Swell, Tuck said. He couldnt be sure, but he thought the guard might be the analogous one that had dog them to the beach. Tuck sneered at him and he looked away. Yep, he was the one.T his 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 significant 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 bulk covered this entire island with gravel hundreds of days 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, why 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 arcuate around the guards quar ters and landed out of sight in a stand of palm trees behind the building.I have to let 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 l 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 have, the best Ive ever seen in an operating room, but she wasnt workingas a nurse when I met her. Oh, goodly, Tuck said. Curtis seemed to be delay for Tucker to ask. Tucker was waiting forthe guard to rat him out for sneaking out of the compound last night. She was a social dancer in North Beach. An exotic dancer. No shit. Tuck said. ar you shocked? Curtis seemingly 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 agitate. 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. maculate you with the surgical tubing and use the stethoscope to make sure you havent done the twitching fish. rightfully? Curtis said. Youve seen a woman do that?Tuck put on his earnest unexampled man face. Seen? You didnt notice the ligature attach 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 amends to his story. The wet suit this morning. Was that a cozy 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 event 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 conduct 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 smudge of grass near the beach.Tuck chased down his own skidding thwack of a ni ne iron that had landed between the roots of a walking tree, an arborical oddity that sat atop a three-foot teepee of tangled roots and gave the impression 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 auditory modality of the doctor, he turned to face the stoic Japanese. You cant tell him, can you?The guard assumed not to understand, but Tuck saw that he was getting it, even if only by inflection. You cant tell him and you cant fucking mop up 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 thwart ducks, isnt it? Tuck was guessing, but it was the only lucid 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 pother you off, youre gone. You hear me? I want you guys off my ass. You tell your buddies, okay?The guard nodded. abide 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, shock 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. copNo, 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 equivalent 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 within fifty feet of them.Tuck pointed to his ball. Kato here wont let me move that out for a shot. Ill take the punishment 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.