“Place your right hand on the scanner plate please.”
I looked down and there was a small glass plate sitting beside the notebook. It was just large enough to hold a man’s hand. I did what I was told.
“Hold it steady for sixty seconds, please.”
I was thinking to myself that I’d somehow been kidnapped, and was being held prisoner in a James Bond movie by this time. I hadn’t seen so much security since the Pope, God bless him, had come to town. I decided to be friendly.
“Hi. Lovely day today.”
No response.
“Lovely suit you’re wearing.”
Still no response.
“Think it’ll rain today?” That joke always got a laugh these days.
Nothing. What the hell.
“Say, are you free for dinner tonight?”
Ahah! This time she flicked her eyes up for a brief second, and almost smiled. I could see her repress it. I had just started to think that my charm was weak but still intact, when she spoke again.
“Make it back in one piece and we’ll see then.” She didn’t look up. “You’re clear, move through.”
While she spoke, she extended her arm and guided me to the back and through the interior doorway. I was still wondering what she meant as I stepped into the main area of the interior. Where to begin?
The plane was outfitted for a king. Well, maybe not a king. I didn’t actually know any kings, so who knows what they like? But it was outfitted lavishly, that much I could say for certain. The first half of the area was laid out in a lounge fashion. The pile carpet was deep and rich. The couches and chairs were plush looking, finished in a matching fashion with a material I couldn’t identify without touching first. The primary colour of the decor was deep green, sort of a forest green, which was what the carpet was done in. The rest of the amenities were various shades of the same colour. The tables were natural wood, dark and reddish, something I’d not seen before. About halfway back, there were rooms, on either side, with a hallway in the middle. It looked as if the likeliest guess would be cabins, with a full-service head as well. Towards the back half of the room, I mean it was a room, the Commander was standing in front of a woman who was seated. I couldn’t see her clearly from where I was. Therese looked up at me from her spot in a lounge chair on the left of me, about five metres away and shrugged as if to say ‘Damned if I know’. She was half-way between the Commander and where I stood. It appeared that she’d settled in quickly. There was a slew of magazines on the table beside her and she already had a drink in her hand. It was either orange juice or a screwdriver, either of which sounded good right now. The thought of orange juice reminded me of breakfast. I glanced at the door behind me but Kelchasa was nowhere to be seen. I wondered if he would come in at all. Maybe not.
I was standing near the door, where I’d just come in, and had been taking in all of this splendor. It occurred to me that I should partake of some. I walked over to where the Commander was standing. When I got there, the conversation stopped cold. Not a good sign usually. I looked at Commander Jack and raised my eyebrow.
“Room for one more?”
He gave me a brief glance and turned back to the woman seated a few feet away from us. She was dressed pretty much the same as the door-deputy, white blouse, ladies’ business suit, etcetera. The one difference was a sensible one, she was wearing flats instead of high heels. Jack proceeded to introduce us.
“Colonel, I’d like you to meet Mister Jeffry Claxton. Mister Claxton, I’d like you to meet your superior for the duration, Colonel Godsen.”
We spoke Godsen’s name in unison. I had cottoned on as he made the introductions. She stood to shake my hand. I must have had the look of a simpleton on my face, because as we shook hands, she said “So pleased to meet you Mr. Claxton. Yes, I’m a woman. I see that is causing you some consternation. Please be assured that I do deserve to be here, and in charge, because I’ve proven my worth and my abilities. I don’t believe that the fact that I’m a woman should interfere with our mission. If you do, then adapt quickly.” She smiled all the while she spoke.
I finally found my voice. “Right you are, Colonel. No problems here.” At the same time, I put on one of my best smiles, coupled with a ‘sincere look’, just for good measure.
Her shake was firm. Strong, even, and her hand was warm to the touch. I idly wondered about the old saying, ‘Cold hands, warm heart’, and if the reverse were true. She took her hand back, and focused on the Commander again.
“Well Jack, it’s lift-off time. Say hello to Rita for me, I’ll give her a call when we get back.”
‘Jack’ gave me a direct look which I didn’t care to interpret, then turned around and left. Just like that the dynamics of the room changed. I wasn’t sure what came next, but I was saved the bother of figuring it out for myself.
“Take a seat, Mr. Claxton, I’ll be right back.” The colonel reached out to the overhead control panel above her seat and touched a call button, then walked away down the little hallway in the back, disappearing through one of the doors. At the same time a young gentleman appeared in the end of the hallway headed my way with a small tray. I decided to settle myself as told and sat down in the chair nearest me that faced forward. I didn’t feel like taking off sideways. I wasn’t sure what it would be like, but I was sure I didn’t want to find out. The steward, I assume, gave me my OJ, and indicated that breakfast would be served immediately following takeoff. He dropped the tray on one of the tables near the exit door on his way out towards the front of the plane. He returned a few minutes later with our luggage, and stowed it in a closet in the front of the room, picked up his tray, and headed back to the rear.
I glanced over at Therese, but she was still flipping through a magazine as cool as if she were waiting for a bus. Fine.
I could be cool under pressure too if someone else was carrying it for me. This was shaping up to be one hell of a week. The talk I was going to have with George when I got back… it seemed that I was in for a fun time. Under the command of a colonel, yet. And a field rookie to boot. I can’t imagine any effective military or paramilitary organization that would grant colonel rank to an individual who hadn’t been field-proven. All of these thoughts were going through my mind as I dug the cellular out of my briefcase and dialed George.
It only rang once, and Sergeant Dixon answered. “Good morning, Belnor’s office, may I help you?”
“Dix, it’s me, Jeffry. Let me speak to George, will you?” There was a hesitation on the line, it was short, but I could tell. I jumped right in. “Dix, all kidding aside, Okay? I’m sitting in a barrel of piranha here, if he’s not in, where’s he at?” She came back instantly this time.
“Are you at the airport, Jeffry?”
“Yes, I am. But more to the point, where’s George?”
“Umm… shouldn’t you be on your plane now?” I was beginning to become irate. And I really liked Dix.
“I’m on my plane, Okay? What’s with the third degree here? And where is George? Dix, please…”
“I don’t hear the engines. Are you sure you’re not fibbing?” This wasn’t how I had anticipated the call going.
“Fibbing? Dix, have you lost your mind? What are you doing here? What’s the deal? Come on… out with it.” Now I was using my most sincere voice. Which was difficult, because at the same time I didn’t want anyone hearing me going through this routine. Fortunately, Dix broke before I did.
“Well… I wasn’t supposed to tell you where he was until you had taken off. You know, until you were in the air.” It was starting to click.
“You mean until I couldn’t turn around and go home, right?”
“Yeah, I guess so.”
“Okay, pretend I’m flying as we speak, right? Now pleeease Dix, where is he?”
“I don’t know about this Jeffry, I mean, he was adamant, and you know full well that I do what he tells me to do. He always knows what the right move is, you know?” I was about to blow a gasket
by now, and I still couldn’t raise my voice without sharing with the whole airplane. For a private plane, it was big, but not that big. I hunched down in my seat and turned to the window, making faces to myself.
“Dix, are you there?”
“Yeah, right here.”
“Okay, listen up.” When you run into an immovable object, the best defense is to drop the unstoppable force maneuver and switch to a sneaky force. “You know the Eagles are coming to town on their “Hell Freezes Over” tour, right? You following?” Right away the tone changed.
“Oh sure, you’d have to be dead not to know that. What does it have to do with us though?” There was a bit of confusion, but I had her hooked, I knew it. Slowly, accentuating every word, I spelled out the deal.
“I will give you, Dix, two tickets, front row centre…” I held it for a second, letting it build. “AND… arrange a backstage pass for you and your fiancé, Morgan. Deal?” I didn’t let it sit.
“Dix, are you with me?”
“You can’t do it. No way. They’ve been sold out to the floorboards since day one. No way.”
“I’ll have them delivered to you at the station tomorrow, no sweat.”
“Jeffry, if you’re conning me…”
“Scouts’ honour, Dix. Really. I’ve had them for two or three weeks now, I just didn’t pick them up. Honest.” She finally broke.
“Oh, my God, backstage? Shit, oh! … sorry, I have to call Morgan, he’s going to pass out, I swear. Oh, my God.”
“Dix, get a grip kid. I need to know where George is, remember?”
“Oh, right. Okay, here’s a number where you can reach him ‘till about ten. After that he’s incommunicado for about ten hours, then he has another number for a couple of days.”
I punched the number into the scratchpad memory on the cell phone as she read it off to me. “Swell, now, what do you mean, out of touch for ten hours? That’s a long time for George. Too long.”
“Yeah, actually…” She stopped midsentence. “Is that the plane engines I hear?”
I think I slumped a bit. “Yeah, it is.”
“Oh great. Well, I guess you’re in the air now, right?” I played along.
“Right.”
“Right. So, George took a little vacation. He’s going to the Middle East for a few days of Fun-In-The-Sun.” I shouted.
“WHAT?” Therese turned at that. And the desk-jockey-who-would-be-field-operative walked into the room. Dix hurriedly reinforced the promise I had just made to her by saying, “Remember, you promised.”
“Yeah, yeah. Whatever. Expect them tomorrow.” I hung up thinking that Dix was a lot smarter than she let on most of the time. Blondes.
I turned my attention to the now-seated Colonel Godsen. She gave an appearance of professionalism. I’ll give her that. She had dark hair and a dark complexion and beautiful skin really. Her nose was a bit small, but some would call it pert. Probably not to her face of course. I smiled, and reached for my orange juice. Maybe the sugar would cheer me up.
~
Chapter Ten
T
he Colonel set a briefcase of her own on the table next to mine. Hers looked more expensive. Naturally. The engines started to wind up mightily, and the jet lurched to the left as a tow vehicle started to pull us into place down the runway. Therese continued to be disinterested, so it was just the two of us at the moment. Cozy.
Godsen flipped the cover on her briefcase and pulled a file folder out, closing the case and setting the folder on top of it.
“Mr. Claxton. You may have some preconceived notion of what your role is to be on this mission. Let me dispel those notions right now. I want you to be aware of who I am, and what it is that I do, and who I do it for. The only reason this becomes relevant to you is because I will be needing your help this trip. There’s a tie-in with what you’re working on just now and with some work you’ve done in the past. You have a very impressive international resume Mr. Claxton. I do apologize for the partial deception employed in acquiring your aid in this matter. From having read your dossier cover to cover recently, I believe I would be accurate if I said you likely feel a bit… Pissed Off, I think would be the term? Do you think we could discuss it first, and then you could choose rationally whether or not to continue being… upset?”
The air had become oxygen deprived while she talked, and icy fingers were crawling up and down my spine. All I could think of was that this woman had acquired access to my file. The file. The one I didn’t like to think about anymore. She was talking about my stint with the SAS boys. I was going to throw George off a very high building. Maybe twice.
I held up my finger, indicating a pause.
“Excuse me Colonel, if you don’t mind, I have to make a quick phone call.”
I got up and moved to a seat closer to the exit and dialed the first number Dix had given me. It seemed to ring forever. George picked up after I’d stopped counting.
“Belnor here.”
“Jeff here.” My voice had lost a lot of its natural warmth, and George picked it up right away.
“You airborne Jeff?”
“You tell me quick now exactly why I shouldn’t pop the hatch and jump ship before we lift, buddy. You’ve got about thirty seconds.”
“Have you had a chance to go through the file I gave you just before you left?”
“Screw the file George. What gives? You’re headed out for where, specifically? That’ll do for starters.” He didn’t hedge.
“Beirut.”
My voice was wooden now. “Beirut.”
“Yeah, then Paris. It’s all connected Jeff, I’m telling you, read the file.”
“Lebanon? Shit. You have no clue, do you? What the hell are you doing going to Lebanon? You work for the Toronto Police Force, not the C.I. bloody A. Nobody in their right mind goes to Beirut willingly. Especially not North Americans.”
“Yeah, I know. Now don’t get your shorts in a knot man, just…”
“Just yourself. You don’t have clue one, you know that? What about the kid? What about Sarah? I swear to God I could kill you myself right now. This smells George. Tell me, Godsen’s a spook, isn’t she?”
“Yes.” No hesitation, no apology.
“I see. In that case, there’s no point in taking a dive right now. They’ll just come back to get me. I might as well get something to eat and catch some zee’s. If I remember right, I’ll be needing my strength before long.” I paused long enough to let out a long sigh. The engines started really winding up, then the pilot let go of the brakes, and the whole plane threw itself down the runway like a maniac machine gone wild. I could picture the view from the cockpit, the runway unrolling in front of your nose, and at the last minute the wings finally grab some solid air, and it’s a done deal. Skyborne. The starting point for so many missions. Just as I was thinking it, we lost contact with the ground. That same old feeling. “Just tell me this. When did you get on board with these folks? How long has it been?”
“About six months now.”
“Six months, eh? That’s almost long enough to lose your soul pal. I hope you know what you’re doing. I really do. Will you be available later at the second number Dix gave me?”
“Yes, I’ll be ‘catching a few zee’s’ of my own. Call me when you want. When you get settled in at the hotel. Don’t worry about waking me, I’ll make sure that your call gets passed. In the meantime, look over the file I gave you. We’ll talk later.”
“Right. Safe journey.” I closed the connection.
Godsen was still sitting where I had left her. The plane was still in a climb, but it was a smooth one. The initial burst of power and steep climb was over. You could move around if you were careful. I walked back over to my first seat and settled myself again. She started to talk but I interrupted her.
“I’m going to have something to drink now, maybe a screwdriver or two. Yes, definitely two. Then I’m going to do some reading. Then we’ll talk.” I stood up, holding my briefcase with one
hand and ringing the call button with the other.
Godsen stood as well, and said, “We’ll talk later then. Say one hour?” She just smiled and went back to one of the rooms. The same one she’d been in before. Since she’d left, I had no reason to move my seat, I had all the privacy I was going to get right where I was, so I sat back down. Before I was buckled in, the steward was at my elbow with a small pitcher of what looked like orange juice but wasn’t, and a glass filled with ice. I gave him my breakfast order before he could slip away. I felt sure that they would have whatever I asked for. That’s the way it was with these people. Amenities were never a problem until you were in the field swinging in the breeze, and no-one remembered your name or the fact that they had sent you there in the first place. I knocked back two glasses of my fortified juice before I opened the file. Swell bunch, spooks.
By the time, I’d finished the first page of the file George had given me, I’d forgotten all about my angry words of a few minutes before. The file was made for very interesting reading.
It seemed that I’d underestimated my old pal George. He had been on the trail of an international troupe of bank robbers for months now. The file was as hot as the trail he was running to ground. There was a shadow presence that was running the finance side of the show for this group, but there hadn’t been any exposure on them yet. The group was called ‘les Invincibles’-, which loosely translated ‘The Invincible Ones’. So far it had proved to be true. They’d been in operation for about sixteen months, according to Interpol, and had hit some European cities twice, some more often. Paris, Milan, Berlin, Marseilles, the list was a ringer for those whirlwind tours that take you through Europe in fourteen days. They operated under the umbrella of a terror brigade, using the same M.O. every time.
The Diamond Dust on Dragonfly Wings: A Jeffry Claxton Mystery Novel Page 23