Page 65 of The Presidents Shadow

I ASSUME THAT the Earth is still turning. But if so, that’s the only thing that has kept moving during this lockdown. As we make our ascent in the stolen airplane, I look down at the highways and byways below.

No cars are driving. No trains are moving. No planes are flying. I take that comment back. There is one plane flying, and it has quite a lot going for it—fold-down cots for napping, microwavable food, and about fifteen bottles of a decent burgundy, to name a few.

We’ve been in flight twenty minutes when I ask Burbank, “How do you think we’re doing? Are you feeling sure of yourself?”

He answers calmly. “Number one, I’m doing fine. Number two, I’d feel more sure of myself if I could see the friggin’ fuel gauge. We’ve either got a full tank or we’re going to have to call an audible for a landing in Greenland.”

My own flying ability is practically nonexistent. I try to conjure up some hidden brain power that could help. I’m coming up with nothing. We’re traveling too far over open ocean for me to chance using my mind powers to give the engine a boost.

Tapper and Margo are buckled into the swivel pods behind us. In case they couldn’t hear our conversation above the engine’s roar, I turn to reassure them. “Everything is going fine.”

Margo, resting on her cot, rolls her eyes. “No, it’s not, Lamont. I heard Burbank say that the fuel indicator is out.”

Caught. In a lie.

“Let me look,” she says, unlocking her safety belt.

The lights all over the control panel make it look like the Christmas tree in Rockefeller Center to me.

But Margo stoops over, looks back and forth, up and down, and says, “Burbank, this is a ‘partner control’ fuel indicator. You’ve got to press the Vision Clarification button at the same time you press the Current Allotment Fuel switch. ”

And that’s exactly what she does.

“Almost totally full,” she says.

Unable to embrace humility, I say, “Ah, yes. I forgot about that. I must be tired.”

Margo gives the tiniest smirk and says, “Despite having slept most of the time we were trapped in our hotel?”

“Yes, despite that,” I say.