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“Anxious to get offourbig little island?” Rivers asked.
“No, sir,” Cutler said quickly. “My wife and I have never run from trouble. We just want to show you, despite your misgivings about us and what you see as our grandstanding, that we’re willing to do anything that helps the cause.”
Rivers turned to Mac. “Who do you think should go, Dr. MacGregor?”
Mac didn’t hesitate. “Jenny and Rick.”
Rivers said, “Any reason why you think that?”
“Because they’re smart, they’re brave, and if they seesomething flawed in the army plan there, they won’t bullshit you, General. Or waste time we don’t have.”
“Are you okay with a mission like this, Dr. Kimura?” Rivers asked Jenny.
“If Mac is, I am,” she said.
“Then I’ll arrange a plane,” Rivers said.
Mac said, “Small problem, sir. I’ve made that trip more than once. The Galápagos Islands are forty-five hundred miles from here. That’s at least eight hours by plane, even with a tailwind.”
“Not my plane,” J. P. Brett said.
CHAPTER 75
Hilo International Airport, Hawai‘i
The fastest private jet on the planet was the Peregrine, and Brett had flown one into Hilo.
Mac stood with Jenny and Rick on the tarmac as the pilots went through their final checks before departing for the Galápagos. Brett had promised they’d land at José Joaquín de Olmedo International Airport in just over five hours. The copilot had collected their two small duffel bags; Jenny and Rick were traveling light, hopeful that they’d be in the Galápagos for only a few hours.
Rick gave Mac a quick hug.
“Your bride happy about this little adventure?” Mac asked him.
“What do you think?”
The Peregrine’s engine fired up; it felt like another small tremor was running through the ground underneath them.
“Donotdie on me while I’m gone,” Jenny said. “Because you know how much that would piss me off.”
“Well, now, we can’t have that, can we?” Mac said.
Over Jenny’s shoulder, Mac saw the copilot at the top of the airstairs.
“Dr. Kimura,” he shouted over the roar of the engines, “just about time for wheels up.”
It was unclear whether Mac or Jenny initiated their embrace, but they suddenly had their arms around each other.
“You take care of yourself,” Mac said softly into her ear.
“Don’t have your first scotch until I’m back,” she said.
Mac gently kissed the top of her head and stepped back, his hands on her shoulders. He smiled.
Jenny nodded and smiled back. “I feel the same way,” she said. She shrugged his hands off her shoulders, stepped toward him, and kissed him so quickly and lightly, it was almost as if their lips hadn’t touched.
Then Jenny Kimura turned and walked toward what she was already calling the Brett Jet. She climbed the stairs and disappeared through the door without looking back.
Mac stood at the window in the terminal and watched Brett’s fastest-in-the-world personal-jet taxi take off, the backdrop of its steep ascent the summit of Mauna Loa.
