Dr. Munroe shuffled to where his lover lay, stooping to kiss her furry head, “I shall return for you, my love.”

“Like hell you will,” Stella muttered.

“What was that?” the doctor snapped, his face going red.

“Nothing. Now…let’s…go,” Stella said back in slow, over-enunciated tones, like you might address a small, stubborn child.

The doctor, hurt and offended, huffed, “There’s no need to be condescending; I am a genius you know.”

“Yeah, yeah, a real genius,” Stella snarked as she led him into the hallway, “Genius with a monkey fetish.”

The mad doctor, now showing his mad side, twirled and screamed, “She’s an ape! An ape! Why is that so hard to understand?“

Stella thumped him in the middle of the forehead with the butt of her .38, “I ain’t here for understanding, doc, just a bounty. Now march, lover boy.”

In minutes they were in the hanger where Stella had stashed her gyro-plane, ‘Ol Gertsy’. The jungle air wafted in through the hanger doors, moist and sweet, a heady aroma. Wait, open doors?