“Obviously,” Malone agreed. “But we don’t want to start up any more questions than we have to.”
“And how about the plane itself?” Her Majesty went on. “Do you think they’ll let us take off?”
“I don’t know how they can stop us,” Malone said.
“You don’t?”
“Well, they don’t want to cause any incidents now,” Malone said. “At least, I don’t think they do. If they could have captured us—me, or Lou, or both of us, depending on which side of the argument you want to take—anyhow, if they could have grabbed us on their own home grounds, they’d have had an excuse. Lou got sick, they’d say, and they just took her to the hospital. They wouldn’t have to call it an arrest at all.”
“Oh, I see,” Her Majesty said. “But now we’re not on their home grounds.”
“Not so long as we stay in this plane, we’re not,” Malone said. “And we’re going to stay here until we take off.”
Her Majesty nodded.
“I wish I knew what they thought they were doing, though,” Malone mused. “They certainly couldn’t have held us for very long, no matter how they worked things.”
“I know what was on their minds,” Her Majesty said. “At least partly. It was all so confused it was difficult to get anything really detailed or complete.”