The Puppets of Washington Box-Set 2 (Books 5,6 & 7)

Chapter 20

Chapter 20A few minutes after they arrived at the private airfield out of Abbotsford near Vancouver, they boarded a handsome-looking jet. It was fitted with a half-a-dozen comfortable seats, three on each side of the cabin. There was a computer screen and keyboard on a small table. The whole décor told Talya that this must have been one of the government officials’ transport planes. The area at the back seemed to be large enough to contain a full galley, but the door being closed, Talya couldn’t see what was inside. She sat down in the second seat and the CSIS agent sat in the seat facing her.

“We know that you like croissants for breakfast, so that’s what I have ordered. We also know that you like your coffee black with two lumps of sugar. Once we’re in the air, my colleague will get you a tray of your favorites.” He smiled.

Talya could have slapped him; she was so angry. Yet, she remained quiet. ‘His colleague’, the driver – the picture of an athlete in a suit too tight for his muscular body – came on board with a pilot and a co-pilot. They bowed courteously and Talya inclined her head in reply. It’s never a good idea to be despicable towards a pilot; you don’t want to distract him unduly.

Twenty minutes in the air, at cruising altitude, ‘the muscle-bound colleague’ got up from the seat across the aisle from Talya and went to the galley. As she was looking out the window at the cotton puffs jostling for a comfy space amongst themselves under the light-blue sky, she thought of Khalid. She hoped that he understood the message. Talya knew where this plane was taking her; not to where she would have liked to land, but close enough. If they had had time to talk about it, she would have told Khalid why Nassau was so important. Now he could come to the same conclusions as she did during her long flight from London to Vancouver.

Breakfast came almost unexpectedly. The agent facing her smiled again when his colleague deposited the tray on the table, which he pulled out from the side box under her window. He had been right, her ‘favorites’ were staring at her – and she was hungry. She ate in silence.