To read this serial novel from the beginning, go here.
The Embryonic Express
"Why the hell would anyone hijack a plane to Des Moines? Couldn't they find a flight to Cuba?" It was a college-aged youth on the other side of the aisle.
Dumbass general public, Cardinal thought. "Election year is coming up," he said, sharply. "These days, Iowa is crawling with presidential candidates. Ever thought of that?"
Everyone on the plane was bent over, head against knees. Marsha looked at Cardinal, her eyes searching his face. "No, we aren't going to die here," Cardinal said. "These guys are amateurs. I could take them all out in thirty seconds. Which is, by the way, the amount of time it would take me to run the length of the plane and brain each one of them with a pull-out tray."
"You don't think they have a bomb?" Marsha said.
"Oh, hell yes they have a bomb. But they're afraid to use it. These guys aren't the dying type. Look at that fool up in the front, the leader." She peaked over the top of the seats. "He's wearing a face mask and thinks that makes him Mr. Anonymous. I got five pictures of him with my cell phone as he was boarding. You can see the beads of sweat even in the photos."
The leader kept looking at the display on his cell. He paced hesitatingly. Finally the phone rang.
"Yeah?" He paused, listening. "FBI, huh. Well, Detective Bryant, you're taking to Rufus, head of the Embryonic Liberation Front."
Cool, Cardinal thought, ELF.
"We believe that all embryos are living persons, even frozen ones. We demand that all the frozen embryos at the fertility center here in Dallas be delivered to the plane, or we will blow it up, and all the passengers with it. We want all the embryos, or everybody dies."
"All right," Cardinal muttered. "Time to thump the ELFs." He stood up and walked up the aisle.
The head ELF looked at him in disbelief. "Stop! What do you think you're doing? Do you want to die?"
Cardinal said, "Be cool, guy, I'm on your side. Let me show you something. I'm just going to reach for my wallet. I'm going slow." He moved his hand to his breast pocket and plucked out his billfold. He opened it and took out a card.
Head ELF took the card from him. "You're with f the National Antiabortion Society?"
"Charter member, friend. Been blowing up abortion clinics since 1985." Cardinal paused and looked at the briefcase at the Head ELF's feet. "Nice design you've got there, if I do say so myself. All plastic, so it never tips the metal detectors. I bet you carefully painted the lining of the case with lead paint so it looks like shorts and shirts on the X-ray."
Through the holes in the ski mask, Cardinal could see Head ELF's eyebrows go up.
"Yeah, I'm a pro," Cardinal went on. "One time I went on a plane with a pro-choice friend. I told him to hold a briefcase that I had painted to look like a nuke on X-ray. I'll never forget his face as security hauled him away. He screamed, 'John, John, what's going on?' and I said, "Mohammad! How could you!" His real name was Scott and he was from San Francisco, but the guards didn't figure that out until the second or third beating."
Head ELF paused long enough to suggest astonishment. "So what do you want?"
"Want? Not a thing. I thought i might help you out a little, since you seem a bit, uh, well --" he cupped his hand around his mouth and temporarily dropped his voice to whisper, "--Inexperienced. I could help you get what you're after, unless, of course, you'd rather pull it off on your own." Cardinal turned his shoulders towards the back of the plane, as if to walk away.
"No, wait. We can use you."
"I thought you might," Cardinal said. He moved his right hand to his belt, pushing back the blazer and revealing a service revolver. "Meet the SZE 45. I call her Suzie. She's all plastic, with plastic pellets. Invisible to metal detectors, courtesy of the CIA. Salvaged it from one of their agents yesterday morning. He was, uh, sleeping. The gun's Top Secret. I'd be in prison if they knew I had one. Ordinarily when I tell something like that to someone I have to kill them, but since we're on the same side now, I'm prepared to make an exception."
Next Episode: The Game of Chicken