The Heist

buckets and poured onto swaths of sand that baked in the sun. Later, the thin layer of dried sand that was saturated with salt was shoveled into baskets. Torajan women carried the baskets on their heads to a bamboo hut, where they were emptied into a crude wooden sieve lined with mesh. Seawater was poured on the sand, dissolving the salt and carrying it out through the mesh into wooden channels leading to outdoor troughs. The water eventually evaporated, and the salt that remained was gathered up with carved coconut shells and put into new baskets.
    The tribe kept a small amount of the salt for their own use but sold the bulk of it to wholesalers. It didn’t bring in much money, but it was reliable income apart from whatever they were paid by Griffin. More important, it was a tradition and a ritual, one they weren’t willing to give up just to sweep Griffin’s floors.
    “I wouldn’t want you to attempt an escape out of boredom,” Bob said to Griffin, Willie, and Kate, “so I’m going to let you work on the salt flat.”
    For the rest of the day, Griffin lugged seawater to his designated patch of sand, and Kate and Willie scooped up layers of dry, salty sand into baskets, carried the baskets into the hut, and poured the sand into the sieves. Kate played the spoiled heiress, complaining and periodically abandoning her job to stagger off in search of shade. In truth, she was keeping a head count of the pirates, tryingto get a sense of how many men were on the island and how well armed they were. Her estimate was about a dozen, not counting how many were on Bob’s mother ship that was anchored on the other side of the island. No way to get a count of them. All of the men had automatic weapons and knives. None of the men looked especially smart.
    Late in the afternoon, Griffin, Willie, and Kate were given a dinner of rice, dried fish, and fruit, which they ate outside in silence. After dinner, Kate and Willie were led back to the cave and Griffin remained at the house.
    Nick was waiting in the large chamber beyond the boulder. He had whisky and fresh fruit set out on a flat rock, lit by candlelight. “Welcome home,” he said.
    Kate poured out a shot of whisky. “The pirates are searching the island for you.”
    “They’re not searching very hard, and I can’t blame them. There are only two ways off the island, either on the boat they are using to go back and forth to their Bugis schooner, or on the seaplane they think none of us knows how to fly. So while you two were relaxing on the beach today, I scouted the island.”
    “How many men are guarding the dock?”
    “None. And I only saw two men out on the schooner. I’ve counted a dozen men on the island.”
    “Me, too.”
    “I have a plan,” Nick said.
    Kate sipped the whisky. “Mine’s better.”
    “You haven’t heard mine yet.”
    “I don’t have to. You are a con man. I’m a trained soldier. The escape is a military op, that’s
my
bailiwick. We should make our move at two A.M. by overpowering the two guards. Willie willhead for the seaplane and get it ready for flight while I get Griffin and you steal the laptop. Unless it’s too risky to get the laptop. The laptop is a bonus, not a necessity. We’ll have Griffin and his passwords, and if we can’t figure out which bank he’s stashed the money in, then Diego de Boriga can squeeze the name out of Burnside. All we have to do is get Griffin to the seaplane.” Kate turned to Willie. “Can you fly it?”
    “Sure,” Willie said. “A plane is a plane.”
    “This one takes off and lands on water.”
    Willie shrugged. “I’ll pretend it’s a runway.”
    “That doesn’t fill me with confidence,” Kate said.
    They all knocked back another whisky.
    “Okay,” Kate said. “I’m feeling more confident now.”
    “Your plan is actually the same plan as mine, with one key difference,” Nick said. “I’ll get Griffin while you make the run for the laptop. The con isn’t over. You have to look at the long game. If we want Griffin to come with us willingly, we need to stay true to the characters we’re playing. Eunice Huffnagle wouldn’t be leading an escape, but the guy her father hired to protect her might.”
    “Good point,” Kate said. “Okay, we’ll switch jobs.”
    “We’re also going to need a distraction to keep the pirates occupied while we make our escape.”
    “I’ve got that covered,” she said.
    Nick smiled. “Then we’re good to go.”

The first thing Nick