“No gag,” I said. “I have your money.”
He narrowed his eyes for a moment. Then he took another look around, like he was trying to spot the hidden camera.
“You’ll excuse my political incorrectness,” he finally said, “but you’re not an Indian. And there’s only one of you.”
“Right on both counts. There’s been a change in plans.”
“A change in what?” There was a look of pure amazement on his face. “Did you actually just say that?”
“I did.”
I kept breathing. I kept my legs locked straight.
“Throw me the bag,” he said. “Understand that if you do anything else, Mr. White here will shoot your head clean off your body.”
I tossed the bag to him. I kept my hands up afterward. I waited and watched while he opened the bag and took a quick scan through the stacks of hundreds.
“Okay,” he said, “so explain to me why I’m finding you here on a jet ski instead of two Indians on a boat, like I was expecting.”
“I told you, there’s been a change in plans. I came out here to personally deliver the money to you, and to explain the situation.”
He looked amazed again. I figured I should probably change my approach a bit.
“I’m not trying to dictate anything,” I said. “I just ask that you listen to me. I assume you’re Corvo, by the way.”
“Wow,” he said. “Okay, then. This should be interesting. Get in the boat.”
I hesitated.
“If you want to talk, talk,” he said. “But you’ll do it here in my boat.”
Mr. White lowered his rifle. He handed it to Corvo, who simply held it by the barrel as Mr. White extended one hand to me. Either it was a gesture of extreme trust or they knew that nobody would be so stupid as to try something.
“I’m not that old,” I said, brushing aside the man’s hand and climbing over the rail of their boat. I lost my balance for one instant and the man grabbed me. There was a pure animal strength in his grip as he straightened me up and gave me a quick once-over. My wallet came out of my back pocket. My cell phone out of my front pocket. These items were placed on one of the seat cushions. He patted down the rest of me, from shoulders to ankles.
Mr. White took back the rifle. With his hands free now, Corvo opened up my wallet and looked through its contents. I knew all he’d find would be my driver’s license, a few credit cards, and maybe a hundred dollars in very wet bills.
“Alex McKnight,” he said, reading from my license. “What do you do for a living?”
“I rent out cabins.”
He pushed down his sunglasses for a moment and looked at me.
“Something tells me that’s not all you do. But let’s go somewhere where we can be a little more comfortable. Have a seat.”
He straightened his sunglasses, sat down behind the wheel, and pushed the throttle forward. Any questions about actually sitting down became moot as I was thrown back onto the seat cushions.
Mr. White tucked the rifle behind him. Now that he knew I wasn’t carrying, he clearly couldn’t imagine me being any kind of threat. I couldn’t imagine it, either. I sat there and felt the wind against my wet clothes as Corvo took the boat straight out into the open water of Lake Michigan. He took a quick glance back over his shoulder to make sure I was appreciating the ride. I gave him a nod. Yes, I get it. You’ve got the fastest boat in the Great Lakes.
When he had taken us about ten minutes away, he throttled it back. I turned and looked at Gull Island. It was a small thing on the far side of the world now. Lou and Vinnie and Buck were somewhere on the other side of it, safe for the moment. Corvo swiveled in his chair and faced me, not bothering to look where he was drifting. We were miles away from anything.
He picked up my cell phone and looked at it. For once, I didn’t get a wisecrack about how old it was. Then he picked up my wallet. This time when he opened it, he took out the license and examined it closely.
“Paradise, Michigan,” he said. “That’s in the UP, right? Near Sault Ste. Marie?”
“Yes.”
“How far is it from the Newberry airport?”
“Forty miles, maybe.”
“Yes, you see? Now it’s coming together. Forty miles away. I’m going to ask you some questions now, and I’d like you to give me some totally straight answers. Are we okay with that?”
He took his sunglasses off. He had dark eyes. I couldn’t tell if maybe he had some Latin blood in him. Maybe even Indian. There was definitely a mix of races going on, along with something else. Robot or space alien or something. He looked me dead in the eye and he didn’t waver for one second.
“I’ll be straight with you,” I said.
“Good. Okay. So first question. Were you at the airport that night?”
“No, I wasn’t.”
“The two Indians. They were there.”
“One of them was. The other came to pick him up when he called. You have to understand something.”
He looked taken aback again. But this time he was smiling.
“I have to understand something?” he said. “Really? Okay, then. Enlighten me.”
“I don’t know what the Kaisers told you, but I’m sure it’s all bullshit. Those two men had nothing to do with what happened at the airport.”
He was nodding his head. He was still smiling.
“The two men we’re talking about,” he said. “Buck Carrick, and the other one. Vincent LeBlanc. Right? Those are the two men?”
“Buck went along for the ride. That’s all. When things went wrong, he just wanted to get away. So he called Vinnie. End of story. What the Kaisers told you-”
“Was bullshit. Yeah, no kidding. You don’t think I know that?”
He just sat there, shaking his head, still smiling, still drilling two holes through me with those eyes.
“Alex, how well do you know the Kaisers?”
“I just met them today for the first time. It wasn’t a good experience.”
He laughed a little at that one.
“I don’t imagine it was,” he said. “But even if you just met them today, can we agree that they would sell out their own grandchildren to protect themselves?”
“Yes,” I said, recoiling at the very idea of Kaiser grandchildren. Maybe coming to visit them at their rented summer house on the island.
“Here’s the situation. You see, we had a business arrangement as of last month, and I thought everybody was getting along just fine.”
“After you muscled in on their operation, you mean.”
I wasn’t sure why I said it. It just came out and it hung there in the air for a moment. Then, before I could even see how he did it, a knife appeared in Corvo’s right hand. He twirled it between his fingers.
“After we agreed on the new arrangement, is how I prefer to put it. If you don’t mind.” His voice didn’t change at all, but the blade was more than enough. He was an absolute master at twirling it, I had to give him that much.
I nodded for him to go ahead. I tried to look him in the eye and not watch the knife.
“I know the Kaisers have the place on Beaver Island,” he said. “They think they can hunker down there and send me out a bag of money and a couple of Indians to take the blame for them. If it seems like I’m playing along, believe me, it’s only because I know I’ll catch up to them eventually.”
“They’re on the ferry back to the mainland right now.”
“Let them run. It doesn’t matter. I’ll find them.”
“I don’t think they’re running. In fact, I’m pretty sure they’re going back to their house.”
“Do tell,” he said, looking a little surprised.
“I think they’re under the impression that you’re all square now,” I said, nodding toward the bag of money.
He shook his head slowly. Almost sadly. Like the very idea of this was just too much to bear. We were facing directly west now, the sun bright in my eyes.
“So where are they?” he finally said.