The Robber Princess

Chapter 7. Slowly at 450 Knots

Chapter 7

Angelica was enraptured. She had seldom been out of Rochevaux, and then only to Switzerland, Italy, or France. Before this adventure she had flown on an airplane only once in her life and watching the world pass below at 450 knots mesmerized her. She listened enthralled as her older sister described the dozens of countries she had visited, all the capers she had perpetrated-usually with others from Marcelo's group. Regina knew all about art and jewelry; she could handle (and hide) enormous amounts of money; she could speak six languages well and six more passably (though Japanese still eluded her); she could even fly a jet plane! Angelica felt very small and insignificant in comparison, realizing just how sheltered, even cloistered, her own life had been. Having tasted real adventure for the first time, she wanted much more.

"I wish I could have taken you with me," Regina had said, "but I think you know now why not. I had to wait until you were eighteen just to get you out of the country. But by then you seemed happy studying world literature at university and pulling you away from that didn't feel right. And forgive me for saying so, but you always seemed closer to Mother than I. I didn't know how you would react to knowing about all this. Fewer than twenty people in the world know what I do and I couldn't risk your telling Mother ... at least, not before I was ready to leave Rochevaux for good."

By the time Brickelstein and Folkering had reached Innsbruck to catch their flight to Frankfurt, Regina and Angelica were landing at Sal Island, Cape Verde, to refuel. But the first order of business was passports. Even at a private airport they had to go through passport control and customs. Regina had not travelled under her real identity since her college days; instead she had accumulated a half-dozen forged passports over the years from other European countries where she could pass as a native. She found the Swiss passport usually worked best.

"You'll need a new identity," mused Regina as she stared at her sister intensely. This was Angelica's first impersonation so it had to be simple. "I think ... Swiss. We'll use your real birthdate and you'll still be my sister." Regina disappeared into the back of the cabin and emerged with a camera and white foam board. She had Angelica pose in front of the board, snapped some pictures, and disappeared in the back again. A few minutes later she handed her sister a bright red Swiss passport.

"Start memorizing your new name and address," Regina commanded. "We're from Geneva. I'm a bank executive and you're my sister. The passport control officers in Buenos Aires know me as Marie Ardouin-Giroux. They think I come to deposit gold bonds in the Argentinian branch of Banque Privée Cornavin. You're my younger sister Mireille. You're traveling with me on holiday. Other than that, just be yourself. Don't try to pretend that you're in the banking business too." She winked. "Not yet, at least." Then Regina exited the plane and met an airport official on the tarmac. Angelica stayed in the cockpit and watched Regina and the official greet each other warmly. Angelica was impressed; she had never seen her sister deal with people so easily-it was as if leaving Rochevaux had transformed her into a completely different person. Angelica liked the alt-Regina very much and wanted to become like her.

Regina signed some papers and a tanker truck approached. During the refueling, Regina stepped back into the plane and pulled out her phone. She dialed a number and said something in English that struck Angelica as strange. "Maxine," she said. "Departing Alpha-Echo-Papa, estimated zero nine hundred local, in three days. Myself, plus one. All is well." Angelica listened as a male voice in the receiver said something she could not make out. Then Regina said very deliberately, "Confirmed, all is well." She paused again, then said "Thank you," sounding relieved.

"What language was that??" asked Angelica.

Regina chuckled. "I was calling Marcelo to tell him to expect us. We always use code when talking long distance. Our German colleague invented it."