The Heist

Kate. You are in your element.”
    “That’s funny, because I sure don’t feel like it.” Kate waved over a waitress and ordered the same breakfast as her father’s. “Thank you for coming all this way on such short notice.”
    “Are you kidding? They’re having a seniors slot tournament this afternoon and Engelbert Humperdinck is playing here tonight. I’ve always admired that man.”
    “Why?”
    “It takes balls and an iron will to stick with a name like that and become a success.”
    “That’s not his real name,” Kate said. “It’s Tommy Dorsey or something like that.”
    “There was a big-band leader named Tommy Dorsey.”
    “Now you know why he changed it to Humperdinck.”
    “Well, it still takes guts. He could have changed it to Bobby Darin.”
    “There already was a singer named Bobby Darin.”
    “Yeah, but
his
real name was Walden Cassotto. See my point?”
    “Not really,” Kate said.
    “How’s the op going?” Jake asked.
    She told him everything, and the telling took them through breakfast and two more cups of coffee. When she was done, he stared at her over the rim of his coffee mug.
    “You left a makeup artist, a playhouse builder, and an actor in charge of holding a prisoner?”
    “That’s why I called you. They could use some backup.”
    “I’ll stick around until you return, and I’ll bring in another man. You remember my buddy José Rodarte? We did a lot of missions together. He’s a big, mean Mexican.”
    “No, he’s not. He’s absolutely lovable. That’s why he played Santa Claus for the kids on the base every Christmas. Come to think of it, didn’t he just have a hip replacement?”
    “That’s what makes him so mean. He told me it feels like they gave the hip serrated edges, heated it up until it was white hot, and then shoved it into place through his ass.”
    “That’s too vivid,” Kate said, glad that she’d already eaten before she had that image in her head.
    “José lives in Palm Springs now with his wife, who plays mahjong with her friends every day in their house. It’s worse than being in a Turkish prison. He’ll appreciate the excuse to get out of there.”
    “If this goes wrong, Dad, you’ll both be accomplices in the commission of a federal crime.”
    He waved off her concern. He did that a lot lately.
    “José and I both took an oath to serve God and country and I think this qualifies, even if some judge might disagree,” he said. “When are you heading to Bali?”
    “Tomorrow morning,” she said.
    “I was there when we propped up Suharto in ’66 and again thirty-two years later when we brought him down. Spent some time in East Timor, too. More bullets in the air than mosquitos.”
    “That was a while ago. Indonesia has calmed down since then. It’s a tourist destination now, a big honeymoon spot.”
    “It may look like a tropical paradise with its white sand beaches, swaying palm trees, azure waters, and colorful fishies, but it’s a mirage. It’s like putting a flower bed on a minefield.”
    “I can think of worse places to be. You haven’t seen Thermal yet and smelled the Salton Sea.”
    “You’re going into a country made up of hundreds of different cultures speaking hundreds of different languages spread out over thousands of islands that are consistently ravaged by malaria, dengue fever, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, tsunamis, foreign invasion, ethnic warfare, rampant corruption, and extreme poverty. And that’s just in the last hundred years and on a good day. Don’t be fooled by all the pink Aussies on the beach sipping cocktails served by beautiful Indonesian women with big smiles. It’s a dangerous place. So I’ll have a little care package waiting for you at Benoa Harbor when you get there.”
    She smiled at her father. “A basket of fruit, bottled water, suntan lotion, and insect repellent?”
    “Something like that,” he said. “Who should I send the fruit to?”
    Kate opened the envelope she’d picked up at the desk and pulled out her passport. “This is so
not
funny,” she said.
    Jake raised his eyebrows. “Bad passport photo?”
    “Nick Fox has an annoying sense of humor. Send the fruit to Eunice Huffnagle.”
    Jake gave a bark of laughter. “That’s a hideous name.”
    “It’s the least of my problems.”
    Kate gave him directions to Encino Grande and went looking for Willie. She found her still at poolside reading
Chapman Piloting & Seamanship
.
    “I see you’re cramming,” Kate