“About thirty minutes before we showed up at your condominium.”
“And how big is Naranu?”
“About nine square miles.”
Clark and Tony made the connection simultaneously, and glanced at each other.
“They aren’t going to have time,” Tony said. “Nine miles means nothing to these fucking things. Hell, I wouldn’t be surprised if they could sprint across that fucking island in under an hour.”
“They can’t search the island in an hour, but they can ravage it within a day,” Ruby stated. “Which is one of the reasons why time is of the essence. Not to mention our primary objective—stopping the Dark Ones before they awake Dagon and summon him to this realm of existence.”
Diamond called down the aisle. “Now you see why it was imperative that we left your condominium as quickly as we did.”
Tony nodded. “Yeah, I do.”
Clark bit his lip, concentrating. He thought about Diamond and Amethyst’s weird behavior. They’d seemed intensely focused on something, as if in some sort of meditative trance. Then there had been a little turbulence and the strange flash he’d seen out of the corner of his eye. After that, the two operatives had seemed to be okay again. Soon after, Ruby had announced that they were arriving.
The pilot’s voice came over the intercom system again. “Please fasten your seatbelts as we prepare for landing.”
Clark’s seatbelt was already fastened. He took a look out the window, which was on Tony’s right. Tony was peering through it too, and the sight that met them both was stunning. A vast sea of jet-black ocean, light cumulus clouds dotting the sky like gossamer draped below the stars and moon. He was able to discern the point on the horizon where the sky and ocean met. Clark craned his neck up, trying to get a better glimpse. He saw what looked like an island in the distance. He motioned toward it with a tilt of his chin. “Is that it?”
“No, that’s one of the Micronesian islands,” Ruby said. “Naranu is to our left.”
Clark and Tony turned to the left, trying to look out the windows on that side of the plane. The aircraft was banking a left turn, and the window view was filled with the dark, moonlit Pacific Ocean at fifteen thousand feet and descending.
“Well, there’s a first for everything, I guess,” Tony said. He settled back in his seat, drink clutched in his right hand.
“What’s that?” Clark asked.
“I’ve done a lot of shit in this life,” Tony explained. “I’ve driven from Jersey to New York with millions of dollars in a suitcase stuck in the trunk. I’ve killed God knows how many people. My partner Vince and I kept a cannibalistic serial killer on retainer to help us get rid of bodies. I’ve made love to incredibly beautiful women, been tortured by members of the Monteleone family, pissed off the Russian fucks that tried to move in on our turf, and traveled to such exotic locations as East Brooklyn, Brinkley Springs, West Virginia, and fucking Newark, New Jersey. I’ve been chased by and fought the fucking Clickers and Dark Ones in the basement of a nuclear power plant with a guy that became the President of the United fucking States. And according to our hosts, I’ve also apparently fought with zombies in Finland in an alternate reality—and God knows what else. But this shit…traveling eight thousand fucking miles an hour to get to Naranu in under an hour?”
“Yeah.” Clark felt like someone had punched him in the gut. He’d genuinely been starting to like the foul-mouthed hitman, but after listening to Tony rattle off a list of offenses so nonchalantly, he realized that the two of them didn’t have so much in common after all.
At least, he hoped so.
Clark shivered, but Tony didn’t notice.
“See,” Tony continued, “that’s some shit. I can honestly say that out of all the other shit I’ve done, this fucking plane trip beats it.”
“You can say that again,” Clark agreed.
“Okay. Out of all the other shit I’ve done, this fucking plane trip beats it.”
Amethyst turned around and glanced at them. “Nobody likes a smart ass, Tony.”
Tony winked at him. “That’s where you’re wrong. The ladies love a smart ass. Just ask Ruby.”
If she heard him, she didn’t reply.
Tony and Clark settled back in their seats, preparing for touchdown on Naranu. Clark downed the rest of his Gin and Tonic and traced his finger around the empty glass. Incredible as it sounded, Clark was still trying to wrap his head around what they’d just experienced. Everything he’d heard about Black Lodge was true. It was no longer a rumor. He was in their presence, had been subdued and abducted by them and was now in a plane flying to Naranu at an impossible speed so they could save Jennifer Wasco and the other scientists and perform God knew whatever task they had in mind for Tony—stopping some ritual that would awaken a fish god. It all fit with everything he’d heard about them. And he couldn’t do a goddamn thing about it except sit back and try to enjoy the ride.