Mac made a doctor's appointment for the second morning after he was to return. Abdullah sent two uniforms to the palace dry cleaners that he was to pick up the afternoon he returned. David scheduled staff meetings and briefings with key staff members for his entire first week back. He sent memos to colleagues mentioning issues he would like to discuss, "sometime soon when our crazy schedules settle down a bit."

The announcement of Walter Moon's ascension to Supreme Commander was made without pomp and went barely noticed. David, reporting to him officially the first time, asked casually if his own Israel-related plans should be scrapped in light of the change in personnel at the upper-management level.

"And what were those plans, Director Hassid?"

"Mac and Abdullah were to pilot the Phoenix 216 to Tel Aviv, where Potentate Carpathia and his VIPs would inaugurate the first loyalty mark application site open to the public. We understand he has a couple of days of meetings there first."

"Right. He and Reverend Fortunato have extended sessions with the sub-potentates and their religious representatives."

"Mac and Abdullah would return to New Babylon and return in one of the Quasi Twos, bringing with them the young woman from Medical Services who has experience with the biochip-injection system."

"I can tell you right now, David, that I would not want to see that changed. His Excellency is proud of that aircraft and loves to have it shown off to the citizenry."

"Our thought was that Mac would do a little air show, letting people know what that baby can do."

"The potentate will love that," Walter said.

"I would too, if you thought it wasn't to extravagant to let me go along."

"Not at all. You go right on."

"Mac can really make that thing sing. He and his first officer can put it through its paces with the young woman and me aboard, along with the equipment for the application site. Then upon landing, he can introduce the nurse and the equipment while people line up."

"Perfect. His Excellency will get that site rolling, and we move on to Israel, where he has something else planned."

When the day came, Mac and Abdullah were up before dawn, and David supervised the loading of the Phoenix 216 for the potentate and his entourage's flight to Tel Aviv. The biggest chore for a cargo crew that had recently lost its chief was the loading of a gigantic pig that had been driven in the night before from Baghdad. "Were there no pigs in the Holy Land?" Supreme Commander Moon wanted to know.

A young Russian who had appointed himself acting loadmaster, with David's blessing, said, "The late Mr.

Hickman, rest his soul, insisted on the biggest, fattest one in the database, and you're looking at him. Or her."

David liked the Russian because he was by the book, and that came in handy later in the day when Hannah was sent to the hangar to order the loading of cargo onto the Quasi Two. At last, because she had been assigned to David for the work in Israel, she could meet with him in his office without suspicion.

"Worked like a charm," she said. "Look at this." She slid across his desk the ordering department's copy of the load manifest. Handwritten under Special Note:

Following repeated efforts by the acting loadmaster to dissuade Ms. Palemoon and her insistence that approval comes straight from Director Hassid, this plane was, In the opinion of said chief, overloaded by at least 2O percent. If this bill of lading Is not countersigned by said director, cargo crew will not be responsible for the airworthiness of this craft.

"I like it," David said, scribbling his signature. "When we all go down, the investigation will begin and end with our Russian friend. He'll be the grieving hero who wishes we would have listened, will probably be elevated to the position he wants, and we-along with millions of Nicks' worth of plane and cargo-will be sadly explained away as human error. Mine."

"I'm so proud of you," Hannah said, shaking his hand. "You kill me on my first assignment for you." It appeared she was struck by the lack of humor in that, given David's recent loss.

"It's all right, Hannah," he said. "I catch myself using death references all the time, as if even I can't remember."

She sighed. "This really is quite an ingenious plan. I can say that because I had so little to do with it."

"Me too," David said. "If it works, we owe it to Mac and Abdullah. Mac admits to me, if not to Smitty himself, that the best stuff was Abdullah's."

Two mornings later Mac and Abdullah ran through preflight as David and Hannah boarded the Quasi. The Russian fussed and shook his head, trying to get the pilots on his side. Mac told him, "He's the boss. You can only do what you can do, and then you have to remember you're the subordinate."

"Tell yourself that while your plane is going down," he said.

"If I thought it was life or death, I'd stand up to him," Mac said.

"My hands are clean," the Russian said. "Your funeral."

Actually, Hannah had overstated the weight of every piece of equipment she'd loaded onto the plane. The cargo was big and bulky and strained at the cords, but the center of gravity was perfect and would allow Mac to navigate without adversely affecting the attitude of the craft.

The only cargo heavier than it appeared were the pilots and passengers. Hannah had reminded them that should anything float to the surface from the wreckage, it should be their suitcases with clothes, shoes, personal belongings, and toiletries. Everyone carried an extra suitcase so they could leave evidence in the water and still have necessities.

"Watch this," Mac said as he maneuvered the sleek jet out of the hangar and onto the runway. As he made his first turn he increased his speed just enough to make the plane sway off course. "That ought to give loadmaster boy something to shake his head over."

Sure enough, as Mac waited for clearance to take off, operations asked him if he was aware the acting loadmaster had lodged an overload notice. "Doesn't surprise me, tower," Mac said. "We'll take the heat."

"You know enough to abort if she's not accelerating."

"Roger."

Mac made the plane fishtail slightly as he picked up speed down the runway and heard one more warning from the tower as he lifted off. "Caution noted," Mac said.

He set a course for Tel Aviv, but when they were equidistant from there and Resurrection International in Jordan, he informed both towers that he was going to land in Jordan as a precautionary measure. "To be safe, we have arranged to have some cargo driven to Tel Aviv."

Lean, with a printed order originating from David, had talked her way onto the tarmac in a nondescript van. She pulled alongside the left cargo bay, where the pilots and passengers helped load two guillotines and a half skid of injectors into the van. Mac set the autobrakes and the autopilots, and all four occupants crawled into the van and lay on the floor. Leah slowly drove between two hangars where Mac could peek through the window and still see the plane.

He communicated with the tower via portable radio and remote controlled the plane's taxi and takeoff. As the Quasi gradually faded from sight, Mac communicated to the tower through an intentionally distorted connection that he believed he was losing radio power. He asked if they could inform Ben Gurion Tower that he was on schedule, would still perform the air show, and would appreciate it if they could be cleared for landing immediately following. He also hinted that he wished he had unloaded a little more cargo, but he was confident he could handle the rest of the trip.

"Advise abandoning show, considering," Resurrection Tower said. "Repeat?"

"Consider abandoning air show and proceed to immediate conventional landing." "No copy, tower."