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“Well, that’s what they think, and that’s what they told the goddamned insurance company!”
“Who told us they were not going to pay up until ‘the matter is settled,’ ” Mrs. Halloran said. “And then gave us thirty days to find—what was that line, Terry?”
“ ‘Another carrier,’ ” Halloran said. “They canceled us, in other words.”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” Castillo said.
“Why should you be sorry?” Mrs. Halloran asked, unpleasantly.
“Because it’s unfair,” Castillo said.
“Well, what the hell are you going to do?” Halloran said. “They’re the goddamned FBI and I’m a small-time used airplane dealer. Who’s the insurance company going to believe? ”
“You said,” Mrs. Halloran said, pointing a finger six inches from Miller’s nose, “—what the hell did you say? That you didn’t think Alex voluntarily did something or other?”
“I think you’re going to have to consider the unpleasant possibility that Captain MacIlhenny was forced to fly that airplane off Quatro de Fevereiro,” Miller said.
“Off where?” Mrs. Halloran demanded.
“That’s the airport in Luanda,” Halloran said and then turned to Miller. “How did you know that?”
“The full name, Mrs. Halloran,” Miller said, “is Quatro de Fevereiro Aeroporto Internacional. It means ‘the Fourth of February,’ the day Luanda got its independence from Portugal. ”
“So, what the hell?” she replied.
“I was there, ma’am, when the airplane took off,” Miller said.
“You were there?” she challenged.
“Yes, ma’am,” he said and handed her his Army identification card. “I’m an Army officer. I was the assistant military attaché in Luanda.”
“I thought you said you was from the Homeland Security? ”
“Jesus, Mary-Elizabeth, put a lid on it!” Halloran snapped. He snatched the card from his wife’s hand, examined it, and handed it back to Miller.
“Major, huh? You said you was there when it took off?”
“I happened to be at the airport,” Miller said. “I saw it take off. And then, when we—the embassy, I mean— learned it had refused orders to return to the field, I was sent to the hotel to see what I could find out about Captain MacIlhenny. The manager let me into Captain MacIlhenny’s room. And it was clear that he hadn’t taken his luggage with him. Or even packed it . . .”
“Leading you to believe what?” Halloran interrupted.
“I think somebody made him fly that airplane off,” Miller said.
“Like who?”
“Like someone who wanted to use it for parts, maybe,” Miller said.
“Yeah,” Halloran said. “So what are you doing here, Major? ”
“I’ve been temporarily assigned to Homeland Security to see if I can find out what really happened to that airplane. And Captain MacIlhenny.”
“So what’s your theory, Mr. Assistant Attaché, or whatever you said you are, about what happened to my brother?”
“I just don’t know, ma’am,” Miller said.
“They got him to fly the airplane where they wanted it and then they killed him,” Halloran said.
“How can you even think such a thing?” Mrs. Halloran challenged.
