Susan frowned. "Frank, they haven't even reached the comet, yet. I wouldn't get your hopes too high."
Frank grinned and took her in his arms. "I'm not too worried, honey. If there were anything wrong with the ship, just about any catastrophe that could have happened would have happened by now. Of course, there is the possibility of some sort of catastrophic failure, but I'm not too worried." He paused, and his grin faded. "At least, I'm not worried about mechanical problems. This thing with Yoshi scares me to death. That little fanatic could have set space travel back fifty years. Yoshi made it through all our psychological testing, and scored high enough to be selected for the crew. Did we miss another quirk in somebody else? Is Ron going to suddenly go berserk and start trying to kill everybody?"
She laughed. "Ron is the most stable person up there. He's not interested in killing people; he just wants to take things apart and put them back together."
He kissed her. "Thanks, honey. You're a treasure. You always know just what to say."
Chapter 9
Four days later, two weary Kanos stepped off a bus in Olongapo City, Philippines. The slightly overweight, gray-haired man in the flowered shirt with the large sunglasses approached a Philippine National Policeman. He chattered to the police officer in Tagalog for a moment, and indicated a restaurant nearby. The police officer replied in the same language, and nodded. The American said, "Salamat Po," and rejoined the woman. They crossed the busy, sunny street, dodging the traffic, squeezing between stopped vehicles, and entered the restaurant, where the American ordered in English.
Some twenty minutes later, a PNP Sergeant entered the restaurant, looking around with a puzzled expression. He noticed the two westerners, but paid them no attention until the man waved enthusiastically. He was almost to the table before he recognized the man.
"Tito Frank!" He said with a broad grin as he took an empty seat. "You have aged, and put on weight!"
Frank grinned. "Hair dye and padding, Toro. Thank you for coming." He introduced Susan to his son-in-law Rogelio, more commonly known as Toro.
Toro looked delighted. "You are Tito Frank's new wife?"
It was Frank who answered. "Not yet, Toro, but soon. As soon as this is over."
Toro grinned. "Good. Tito Frank needs another woman, to keep him out of trouble."
Susan glanced at Frank and smiled. "I'm not sure one woman is enough to do that, Toro, but I'll do my best."
Toro sobered and looked around worriedly. "The kanos are looking all over for you, Tito Frank."
Frank nodded. "I know, Toro. I need your help. I no longer have my Philippine cell phone, with all the numbers plugged into it. Could you do some calling around for me?"
Toro shrugged. "Of course, Tito Frank."
Frank smiled. "Good. Of course, you'll have to avoid mentioning my name, but here's what I need. First, call Inday or Marco and have him drive down here and pick us up in his owner jeep, not the SUV. Then call Maria. Tell her to meet us at the small house, and tell her we'll be coming to spend the night."
There was a silence before Toro replied, "But that is all? What else can I do to help?"
Frank thought. "Well, for one thing, you can keep an eye out for kanos looking for me and keep me posted. You can also pick me up a new cell phone, nothing fancy, and some 'load'; minutes. You can bring it out when you and Alcely come out to the small house for dinner tonight. Seven o'clock?"
Toro flashed a blinding smile. "Seven o'clock," he agreed. "But if Cely hear you call her Alcely like a stranger, you'll be in big trouble!" He waved and strode from the restaurant.
Frank and Susan dawdled over their meal, chatting, until Frank suddenly said, "There he is." She looked out the window and saw a shiny silver older-model jeep with an equally shiny hard top pull up outside. As she approached it, she noticed it was unpainted metal. Frank helped her into the cramped back seat. "Sorry, honey," he said, "but I have to sit in front. It's done that way here. Women's lib hasn't hit here yet."
Frank tried to take Susan's mind off the terrifying traffic by talking about Marco's jeep. "It's all stainless steel," he said. "During and after World War II, the U.S. had two big bases and thousands of men stationed here. And that meant thousands of jeeps. Filipinos bought them as surplus, and started using them for everything. Some became small buses, and evolved into those jeepneys that irritate you so much. But for some reason, Filipinos love the look of those old-style jeeps. This one is a replica, of course, built of stainless steel on a custom frame. The engine is a Toyota diesel, but it could just as easily be any of a dozen others. They're sold as kits, or as complete vehicles, short ones, long ones, soft tops, hard tops, it's all up to the owner. So, they're called 'owner jeeps'."
Susan tried to listen to Frank, but kept getting distracted by the traffic. After awhile, though, it began to thin out. After passing through a town Frank called "Subic city," they took a hard left and they were on what she would describe as a two-lane country road. But that didn't mean they travelled at highway speed; not with all the chickens, dogs, children, motorcycles and tricycles that kept wandering onto the road without warning.
Finally, though, they pulled into a carport attached to a small two-story concrete block house. It was surrounded by a low wall, but displayed none of the fancy grillwork she had seen on many of the houses here. "This is my 'bachelor pad'," Frank explained. "I showed you the 'big house' back down the road. Well, that is where everybody thinks I was living, here. But since Yoli died, I actually was pretty much staying here."
A slim, middle-aged woman with long, shiny black hair streaked with silver came out to greet them, calling him "Meester Frank." Frank introduced her as "Maria," and said she was the servant, a combination housekeeper and cook. Susan was unsurprised. Frank had explained to her that it was common in the Philippines for those who could afford it to have household helpers, male and female. By western standards, the cost was low, and it freed up the householders to occupy themselves with other tasks.
Susan was not yet sure how she felt about all this, but she had a feeling Frank would keep her plenty busy without worrying about doing laundry or cooking meals.
Frank immediately borrowed Maria's cell phone, and retrieved a number.
"Jaymo? It's your Kano cousin. How's business?" He paused, listening. "Well," he said, "It just got a whole lot better. Or worse. It seems you're having troubles with your water supply. Yeah. Really bad. You're going to have to shut down the resort for repairs and renovations. Yeah, it'll probably be at least a month or so." He chuckled. "Yes, Jaymo, of course I'll be paying. Yes, the whole place. Well, I'm sorry you'll have to cancel the reservations. But with a contaminated water supply, you simply have no choice." Another pause. "Yeah, I'll be out there tomorrow afternoon to survey the damage. I'll probably have to stick around to supervise the repairs. You know how these Filipino workers are." He laughed. "Okay, see you then."
He turned to Susan. "Okay, we have our hideout. A few years ago, I lent a cousin a few thousand pesos to build a resort on a beach up the coast, just south of San Antonio. A lot of Filipinos who try to start a business don't have much business sense. But Jaymo is as sharp as they come. He's already paid off the loan, and he says he's bought the properties on each side of him to expand. We're going to take over the whole place. I'm afraid his business will take a hit, but I'll be paying him enough to make up for it and get a good start on that expansion after we leave. I used to go up there quite a bit, so I paid to have the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company run a special DSL line from San Antonio. That means Internet access will be no problem.