“Let me talk to ’em, ” Cat said as he missed his approach. “I need to practice the radio. ”
“Not now, ” Macovich said through his mike. “You’re gonna have to do a flyover ’cause you was way too high for that approach, and I got a feeling the tower’s gotten a complaint about the way you’re flying, so the best thing is let me deal with them and you just take your headset off for a minute, ’cause it ain’t gonna be pleasant, whatever the tower’s got on its mind, I can tell you that! Don’t get so damn close to the fence! Pull it up to eight hundred feet and just fly the damn helicopter while I deal with this!”
Cat took off his headset and squinted through his Oakley sunglasses, trying to make out the very dark shape of trees looming ahead.
“Thirty-Sierra-Papa, ” Macovich transmitted to Andy. “I’m busy right now. ”
“Roger. I’m well aware of that, ” Andy’s voice came back, and his tone boded that he knew exactly what Macovich was doing. “Your student is in violation, ” Andy used aviation vernacular.
“What you mean?” Macovich was getting increasingly alarmed and pulled up on the collective to clear the trees, a reflex he scarcely noticed anymore because he had to fight for the controls routinely when giving this NASCAR dumbshit a lesson.
“Just inform your student that the tower needs you to return to the ground ASAP, ” Andy ordered Macovich.
“Roger, ” Macovich reluctantly replied, and he tapped Cat’s headset, indicating for him to put it back on. “We gotta problem, ” Macovich told Cat. “It’s my ship. Don’t make me tell you again to get your hands and feet off the controls! We got us a big mess with the FAA and I’m gonna have to deal with it so you don’t get in any trouble and we don’t end up grounded. ”
“Shit!” Cat exclaimed. “The race! There better not be any fucking problem! The world-famous driver I work for ain’t gonna put up with no problem, and he’s good friends with the gov’ner and the president of the United States and will get your ass fired!”
“Don’t you worry, ” Macovich said, speeding back to the Richmond airport. “I’ll handle it. ”
The only thing that got handled was Cat, who within the hour was in the city lockup, crowded inside a dark cell full of inmates who kept telling each other to shut up and continued to go on and on about some puppy that had gotten flattened in a hit-and-run. Andy called Hammer the minute he got home. He informed her of everything that was going on, including the reassuring news that Popeye might be alive and would be rescued at the Winston Series race.
“That rotten snake, ” she said of Macovich. “He can just turn in his gun and badge when he gets to headquarters. You call him and tell him to report to my office at eight sharp. ”
“I respectfully disagree, ” Andy said. “Smoke and the other road dogs don’t know Cat’s identity has been revealed and he’s now in jail. ”
“And he’s also missing in action, as far as they’re concerned, ” Hammer reminded him. “Don’t you think they’re going to be a bit suspicious when he doesn’t show up to fly them to the race?”
“I think I’ve got a way around that. ”
“Let’s hope so. ”
“I’ll fly the governor in a four-oh-seven and make sure he, Moses Custer, and whoever else, get safely in their box, ” Andy laid out his plan. “And we’ll have at least twenty troopers and EPU in plain clothes strategically stationed. Macovich needs to fly Smoke and his road dogs as expected. Don’t worry, I’ll get it all arranged. ”
“Balony, Andy!” Hammer wasn’t convinced. “There will probably be a hundred and fifty thousand fans at that damn race. Twenty troopers can’t begin to protect the governor and his guests and manage such a crowd if something bad goes down. The first shot fired and there will be a riot and people will get crushed in the stampede. Cars will run off the track and crash. It will be a terrible disaster, and I just don’t think we’re equipped to control it.