“Well, he did give them to us,” Derek remarked.
“After a struggle. Come on, Derek, let’s get back to the plane and hop over to La Trinité.”
“That’s where my father had his headquarters, isn’t it?”
“Yes. That’s where I last saw him, and that was the postmark on the letters and the packaged pearls he sent us.”
Charlie and Derek took a battered taxi driven by a barefoot native back to the airport. The water basin where Charlie’s plane was tied up to a long ramp adjoined the airport.
They got there just about noon. They saw a commercial plane come in for a landing.
“That’s the plane from Curaçao, Derek.”
They watched the plane taxi in. They had to pass right by it on the way to the seaplane. The door of the plane opened as they went by. Passengers began deplaning. Derek looked back at them. He grabbed Biff’s uncle by the arm. Charles Keene swung around in time to see Dietz and Specks come down the unloading stairs.
“Come on, don’t let them see us.” Keene took Derek by the arm and hustled him away.
“This calls for a change in plans,” Biff’s uncle said. “Something must have gone wrong. I’m really worried about Biff now. I’ll fly you over to La Trinité, then get back to Curaçao. You’d better lie low. Dietz will be heading for La Trinité as soon as he learns we’ve beat him to the punch again.”