As Jhondie took off from the island, Max realized this was
some kind of poetic justice for all of the people that she'd terrified on her
motorcycle over the years. Jhondie
hugged the ground, lights off, trying to get to the other side of the mountain
that jutted out of the island. She had
to stay low enough to avoid radar. Once
they got around the mountain, without running any lights, it would be almost
impossible to find them.
Every thought in Jhondie's mind was focused on getting the
plane to the other side of the valley.
They had the fuel to make it a good portion of the way to Seattle. She already knew where she could refuel, no
questions asked. Her eyes scanned the
dark, the enhanced vision making the shadows into solid objects. She flew directly towards the mountain,
banking hard at the last second. At
this altitude, there could be no mistakes.
There wasn't any room for a recovery.
Then suddenly, they were over the water. Behind them, they could see searchlights
whipping around, trying to spot any aircraft.
She throttled the engine to the edge of its envelope, trying to get out
as much power as she could. Within a
few minutes, the edge of the East Mountains cropped up. She raised the altitude, bringing the nose
up to just under the stall point.
Towards the north, she could see the running lights of other planes that
had been scrambled. If one of them
spotted her, they'd all be toast.
The plane scraped over the mountains, and Jhondie jagged
towards the northeast, dropping back into a low altitude. Once she thought a fighter whipped over
them, but since nothing blew the plane up, she continued on, not speaking,
barely breathing, everything focused on getting them home. Her eyes ached from the strain of
continually using the enhanced vision, but that was the only way to avoid low
objects and still run in the dark.
Dawn began to spill over the edge of the eastern
horizon. As the sun started to fill the
sky with light, all three of them began scanning the sky. They were alone up there. They had gone into the jaws of Manticore and
had made it back out alive.
As the plane began to fill with sunlight, Bryn started to
stir a little. Her dark brown eyes
blinked a few times as she tried to figure out what Lydecker was doing to her
now.
"Bryn?" she heard a familiar voice say. There was someone up ahead turning
around. She was in a confined space,
but she wasn't tied down. She tried to
focus on the person speaking to her. A
face swam into view. Max.
"Max?" she croaked, reaching up to touch the face. She wasn't sure if this was real or
not. She felt real skin under her
fingers. Max's hand closed over hers,
her face filled with happiness.
"It's me," she said brightly. "We promised we'd come for you."
Now Bryn could vaguely remember being taken from the
hospital. There had been others there
too. Who was it? Of course.
Zack.
"Hey, baby sister," she heard him saying. "Welcome back." She smiled at him. They
had kept their impossible promise to her.
She was in a plane. Who was
flying this thing?
"Zack, hold the stick for a second," she heard a girl's
voice pipe up. It was familiar
somehow. The pilot turned around, removing
a pair of aviator sunglasses. She
smiled at Bryn, and Bryn realized that she would recognize those eyes anywhere.
"Jhondie," Bryn said with a smile. Jhondie took her hand for a second and gave it a squeeze. The plane dipped slightly, and she let go
fast to get control back from Zack.
Bryn leaned against Max, and closed her eyes. She was still exhausted, but now she had her family with her. That was all that counted.
***********
When they heard that the plane had cleared the valley, both
Alicia and Logan gave a huge sigh of relief.
There had been silence for way too long to make them comfortable after
they heard Cole's transmission. They
didn't know about the fight, or what had been said then, but Alicia had a
horrible feeling that Cole might have played them. As dawn raced towards Seattle with the approaching aircraft, she
felt a great deal of tension ease, only to be replaced with uncertainty.
Now what? She had
listened to Cole. Every word. As much as she wanted to deny it, he was
terribly right about so much. She
didn't like being outside. And they
would hunt her now. Her and the
baby. Was it fair to do that to her
son? All it would take was one call,
and Cole would meet her wherever she wanted.
We can make tonight go away, she kept hearing him say in her mind. She could deal with loneliness. That was simply part of being the
leader. What she didn't like was the feeling
of being alone. Even here, where she
was supposed to have allies, she was not trusted in the slightest.
She stood up, and left the room. Logan followed her. "You
okay?" he asked, sounding a little concerned.
She stared out the window. It
was still dark, but she could see clearly.
The whole city was perpetually dark.
Dark, dirty, and full of miserable people. None of them would ever be able to accept her as one of
them. She'd been different for far to
long to ever be a norm now.
"I'm fine," she said softly. "Just a little tired."
She looked up at him. "I just
need a few minutes to myself," she said.
He nodded and started to go back to the computer when she stopped
him. "Did you ever find Max's mother?"
she asked.
"The institution where she was sent was attacked by
terrorists about two years after she was put there," Logan answered. "They said the women there were victims of a
government breeding program. Nobody
really believed the story after the terrorists burned all of the records, and
ended up getting half a dozen of the women they were trying to 'rescue' killed. Without the records, we don't know who she
was or if she died then or later."
"I'm sorry," Alicia said softly. She was silent, and Logan went back to the computer.
He keyed the headsets.
"We have a possible problem with our guest," he said quietly, not
wanting Alicia to hear. "One of them
did a number on her head. She's not
looking like she'll be here long."
"Keep her there," Zack ordered coldly. Cole got to Alicia? He cursed mentally. After what he'd learned about what Cole
could do, yeah, he could have gotten through to a scared, vulnerable person.
"That may be easier said than done," Logan replied thinking
about the last time he'd tangled with Alicia.
He couldn't help but look at the wall she'd cracked with his body.
"Cook her something," Max suggested. "Keep her busy there. Jhondie, what's the ETA?"
"We're going to have to refuel. Couple of hours maybe."
"Listen to this," Logan said low. He set the recorder to play into the headsets, but not out loud
so that they could hear what Cole said to Alicia. Logan got up and went into the living room. Alicia was still staring out of the window,
her arms crossed, face perfectly expressionless.
"They're going to be here real soon," he said. "I'm going to whip up a huge breakfast for
everyone." She didn't respond.
He went into the kitchen, and didn't notice her go back to
the computer. She wanted to talk to
Zack. It was silly, she knew, but a
little reassurance would help right now.
Something to say that she was one of them in a strange way. He wouldn't say anything in the slightest bit
intimate in front of others, thank God, but she just needed him to be there for
a minute.
The headsets were already busy. Strange. She turned the
volume to the speaker extremely low, and listened in, rage filling her as she
heard what was being said. That son of
a…he'd recorded it. That way they would
all know why she cut and ran. Cole was
right. There was only one group of
people in the world that she belonged to.
She snapped off the volume, and went into the computer.
A good solider prepares for every contingency. Long ago she had done a few things so that
if she were ever stuck somewhere without any funds, she would not have to
contact base to get supplies. It was
more a point of pride really. If she
fouled up with what she'd been given, she wouldn't want to have to admit to
needed more. So, she'd redirected some
funds from various locales. Not enough
for any one to be alarmed, but enough to assist her if needed. She had never been worried about those
government accounts being audited.
There were enough people that wouldn't want an accounting of that cash
to keep her dabbling safe.
The bulk of the money was held in a Swiss bank account. It would be routed through a Caribbean bank,
and then put to the US institution of her choice. She checked the exchange rates.
At current, there was a little over two million dollars in there. Enough to keep her settled for a good long
while. She made a couple of transfers,
and got the codes to remove the cash from the US bank.
She went into the kitchen.
"I'm going to lay down for a while," she said, sounding exhausted and
pitiful. "Let me know when they come
in, OK?"
"Sure," he said, glad she was going to go to sleep. "You need anything?"
She smiled a little.
"Just some sleep." She left the
room, and went into the guest room. She
grabbed her gym bag, and peeped out the bedroom door. He was still in the kitchen.
With absolute stealth she slipped out of the apartment, making no noise
whatsoever. To Hell with him. To Hell with them all. She was a solider, and it was time she
started acting like one. Soldiers did
not need emotional ties to outsiders.
They relied on themselves, and maybe a few of their own for backup. As she left the building, her eyes were cold
and dry. She was a solider.
