Love

37Bombs and Bribes The itching started a week after the first flight. It began on his scalp and a few days later, as the wounds on his arms, legs, and…

34Water Hazard Jefferson Pardee was trying desperately not to look like a sea turtle. He’d managed to find the surface, catch his breath, and put his mask on. Blood from…

32The Missionary Position The guards came for Tucker at sunset, just as he was slipping into the cotton pants and shirt the doctor had left for him. The doctor’s clothes…

29Safe in the Hands of Medicine “How are you feeling today?” Sebastian Curtis pulled the sheet down to Tuck’s knees and lifted the pilot’s hospital gown. Tucker flinched when the…

27Girl Talk Sepie washed the pilot’s hair in a bowl with pounded coconut and brackish water. She had been taking care of the unconscious white man for two days and…

24Valhalla: From the Runyonese Vincent Bennidetti was sitting at an oversized table dealing five-card draw to five other guys and relating the story of the crash landing of the Sky…

20Leadership’s a Bitch The storm had been easy on the Shark People. A little thatch lost from a roof here and there, a cookhouse blown over, some breadfruit and coconuts…

15The Navigator Out on the edge of the world, with no place to stay, no way to move on, no job, no life, no friends; hurt, confused, hot, thirsty, and…

10Coconut Telegraph Jefferson Pardee dialed the island communications center and asked them to connect him to a friend of his in the governor’s office on Yap. While he waited for…

8The Humiliation of the Pilot As a Passenger Once on the plane, Tucker unfolded the letter from the mysterious doctor and read it again. Dear Mr. Case: I have become…

4Pinnacle of the Pink Pyramid A low buzz of anticipation ran through the halls of the hospital. Reporters checked the batteries in their microrecorders and cell phones. Orderlies and nurses…

PART ONEThe Phoenix 1 The Cannibal Tree Tucker Case awoke to find himself hanging from a breadfruit tree by a coconut fiber rope. He was suspended facedown about six feet…

Chapter 35Sculptures Sunset cast a warm orange across the great Pyramid, while below, the Emperor enjoyed a cappuccino on a concrete bench and Bummer and Lazarus battled for the remains…

Chapter 34Hell Breaks Loose A wave of anxiety washed over Jody as she woke up. “Tommy,” she called. She leaped out of bed and went into the living area, not…

Chapter 33Ship of Fools Tommy led them down a narrow hallway and into a large room paneled in dark walnut and furnished with heavy, dark wood furniture. Paintings and bookshelves…

Chapter 32All for One, and… Well, You Know They might have been the Magnificent Seven or the Seven Samurai. If each of them had been a trained professional, a gunfighter…

Chapter 30Cops and Corpses “This guy is pissing me off,” Cavuto said, expelling a blue cloud of cigar smoke against the file drawers of the dead. “I hate this fucking…

Chapter 29Paying Respects Gilbert Bendetti liked his job, really liked his job. It was a government job, of sorts, so the benefits were good and the work easy. He liked…

Chapter 27Bridging the Boredom Half past midnight. He stood at the top of the southwest tower of the Oakland Bay Bridge, some fifty stories above the gunmetal-cold bay, thinking, Jump…

Chapter 26At the End of the Night… The Emperor worked a wooden match around the end of a Cuban cigar, drawing and checking until the tip glowed like revolution. “I…