To read from the beginning, click the photos on the right.
Chapter XXXVIII pgs. 251-252
Sandy Pumpkin: She couldn’t have been on that plane at 2:18. Especially the way airports are these days. You have to get down there one to two hours ahead of flight time to make it through security. And the way Spiderman talked – or typed – she was with him for a while. It sounded like they talked throughout the afternoon and into the evening.
Big Bad Wolf: Let’s say her bags were already packed and in her car, and she’d bought the ticket ahead of time. She’d need about an hour to drive from Berkeley to San Francisco Airport – that’s on a good day with no traffic. And it would take her at least another half hour to park the car and catch a shuttle to the terminal. She should get to the airport one to two hours ahead of flight time. At a bare minimum she’d need a half an hour to make it through security. Security for a flight to Tehran has got to be more stringent than to other cities. And she’d have to board fifteen minutes ahead of flight time, at the very least, or they wouldn’t let her on the plane. That gives her a few minutes to meet Spiderman.
Sandy Pumpkin: It doesn’t sound right to me.
Brat: I have a bad feeling about this.
Big Bad Wolf: I wonder if she got her inoculations and a passport. I’ll have my staff do some more checking.
After he’d turned off his computer, Ivan made a note to have one of his staff check for traces to corroborate the Spiderman story, but, actually, he’d already made up his mind. Johanna was either dead or in terrible danger, and he couldn’t imagine a common criminal being able to fake Johanna’s departure to Iran.
Feeling scared and helpless, Brat Googled “United Religions” and was surprised to find a link to a prayer chain:
Allah, Your name be praised, have mercy on your child, Jody and be with her in her peril.
Comfort and bless and save, dear Lord, all those in peril, our soldiers, Iraqi and Afghani men and women and children, and especially our friend, Jody.
Keep watch, dear Lord, for those who work or watch or weep this night, and give your angels charge over those who sleep.
Great Jehovah, God of Israel and Isaac and Jacob, I ask your blessing for all your children. Keep them safe this night and the next.
May the power of the Buddha protect all in danger.
My Lord Ganesha bless and protect.
The prayers and blessings continued. They numbered in the thousands.
Worlds away in Mississippi, Martha Jacobson knelt before her statue of Mary thumbing the rosary, feeling God’s touch in the beads. She’d prayed the prayer every night since she’d been told that Johanna had run away to Iran. “Keep watch over Johanna, and bless her and keep her safe.” She pressed the rosary to her heart, and, weeping, stroked it, wishing she were holding her daughter instead of glass beads. “Please, Lord, for the sake of my love, for the sake of Jesus Christ and the Virgin Mary, please, Lord, return Johanna in safety. Amen.”
