Chapter 3

I do not own claymore

Once inside the jet, the refugees settled into the seats and waited while Helen and Roger went through the final checks.

With seat belts fastened securely, the sleek jet taxied into place and soon the engines spooled up and the exhaust whine became a muted roar.

Suddenly, the jet surged forward gathering speed and pushing the passengers into their seats, the plane vibrated and bumped along the less than perfect runway.

Moments later, the vibrations ceased and the floor tilted back as the jet streaked into the predawn sky. There was a brief bumping noise as the gear retracted and the jet became even smoother as it continued to climb into the heavens, finally leveling off at 40,000 feet.

When the plane had leveled and the seat belt warning light went dark, Roger got up from his co-pilots chair and came back with a big grin on his face. He and George embraced enthusiastically and began laughing together.

Roger exclaimed with a big grin on his tanned face, "We did it! We pulled it off without a hitch."

They faced the wide eyed lamias and George declared joyously, "Mia is going to be so happy! We have worried about you guys ever since we left Algeria."

Roger grinned at him and asked, "Have you called her yet with the good news?"

At George's pained expression, he chortled and remarked,"I thought so! You better call her and let her know, do it now!"

For emphasis, Roger handed him his open satellite phone. It already had their home number on its view screen, Roger reached over, pushed the "Send" button and said cheerfully,"You're committed now fellah!"

After a couple of rings, George heard Mia answer, "Hello?!"

He exclaimed happily, "We've got them! We are leaving Mali right now and they're with us!"

"Wheee!" Cried Mia.

George handed the phone to Ayesha and said happily. "Someone wants to talk to you!"

For the next few minutes, the phone was passed from one refugee to another. They all cried tears of joy and laughed at the same time, Natalie got into the giggles when she talked to Mia and Phillip got very sentimental with her.

Katherine and Rosalind gabbed about what clothing they wanted to get and were curious about meeting prospective suitors.

Ayesha gave her lots of motherly advice and wisdom. When George finally got the phone back, he said soothingly, "Babe? We will be there just as soon as possible. Once we leave African airspace it'll be a lot safer, less likelyhood of a handheld missile attack. Our plane is equipped with countermeasures for such things and our pilot is one of the claymores, her reaction speed is scary fast."

Mia, in a worried tone, asked, "Would they try to shoot you down?"

George said reassuringly, "No worries babe, we're at cruising altitude now. Handheld missiles are only good for low flying aircraft, like at takeoff or landing. Besides, the French military have put a really tight lid on things here in Mali. I'm honestly surprised we were able to borrow one of their big cargo helicopters, Henri and Roger must have something on someone in a high place."

Mia chuckled and remarked drily, "Knowing those two? You're probably right."

George heard voices in the background and asked. "Is someone there with you? I'm hearing voices."

Mia replied gaily, "Iris and Magnolia are here with me. They decided that, 'I was not going to be all alone while you are off playing the hero!" She said with a giggle, "We're watching bad movies, cooking food and having fun. My friends really want to be here when you all get here, they're dying to meet my family. Though I fear they'll kidnap Natalie 'cause she's so cute!"

George laughed and said, "That won't be such a bad thing, she'll keep them distracted after our girl is born so we'll be able to bond with her for a little while at least."

Mia laughed and said softly, "I can't wait til you're in my arms again my love!"

George smiled slightly and said wistfully, "I know exactly how you feel. I'll be home in a few more hours and we'll make up for lost time, I promise!"

He signed off and handed the phone back to Roger with a smile.

Roger grinned at him and said, "I take it there's a welcoming committee at home?"

George grinned back and replied, "Mia"s friends from the costumer's shop are there with her to protect her from boredom while I'm away. They want to meet the family, though we'll inspect their vehicle before they leave 'cause Mia thinks they'll kidnap Natalie!"

Ayesha's ears perked up and she asked curiously, "Who wants to kidnap Natalie?"

George laughed and replied cheerfully, "Just some friends of ours, the people who made all of Mia's clothing for her. The girls are all at our house right now, keeping her company and waiting to meet all of you. Mia joked that she fears they'll kidnap Natalie 'cause she's so cute!"

Katherine and Rosalind were now listening and Rosalind asked, "Mia's friends are waiting to meet us?"

George smiled at her and said, "Mia made quite the impression when she went to get measured for clothing. They had never seen a lamia before of course, though they had helped make a lamia costume for a young woman. The pictures I've seen of her costume look pretty good actually. They really want to meet you all, so I can only imagine the effect all five of you together will have."

Ayesha looked thoughtful and commented hopefully, "Perhaps the world really has changed. When I met Phillip it was right after my parent's death, other than my father, I had never seen a human except from a distance. My mother had drummed it into me that humans were dangerous and were to be avoided. I saw Phillip for the first time and at once, I felt he was different. Not just in his appearance but the feelings I got from him, I cannot explain it any other way. I just had a feeling of gentleness from him. I was so very lonely and I took a chance and allowed him to see me, to my delight he didn't reach for a weapon, he just looked at me with amazement. Then he smiled and offered me something to eat and some water."

She glanced over at Phillip who was talking to Natalie, "Almost thirty years later, he's my husband and father to our four children. Now we're going to a new world to be with our grandchild to be."

She reached out with her tail and wrapped its tip around Phillip's waist and drew him into her arms as she said with a smile,

" Yeah, I'm still nuts about this man!"

The refugees had slept through the refueling in Spain and partway across the Atlantic, waking only when the jet's landing gear came down for the landing in Tampa, Florida. George woke from his doze and looked around at the others.

Natalie was coiled up next to a window and she was peering out with wide-eyed wonder at the scenery below.

Ayesha and Phillip were sleeping soundly with her long tail coiled loosely around him. George smiled at the two, he and Mia slept the same way.

Unconsciously, he wrapped his arms around himself and realized he really missed her, her continual nearness and readiness to slip her tail around him and pull him close, had become central in his life.

All else was secondary to him, he realized that while he would continue to work in his chosen field, he would resent the time spent away from his wife and would pine for her until once again, her tail was coiled around him and they were one again.

Helen's voice announced, "Please fasten your seat belts as best you can. We're landing to refuel and won't be leaving the aircraft." Everyone sat up and fiddled with seat belts while looking out the windows of the jet.

Rosalind asked curiously, "Aren't we in Arizona? I don't see any cactus down there."

George chuckled and replied, "We're in Florida. You won't see many cacti around here, once you get to Arizona you'll see so much cactus, you'll get tired of it!"

Rachel announced, "We'll be doing a bit of a layover here and we'll have some food delivered to us. Then we'll leave at midnight for Arizona and arrive well after dark there. We have a friend at Phoenix international who works the night shift and he'll sign us off and we can disembark without prying eyes watching us."

The pizza arrived quickly and the brightly colored boxes were laid out before the hungry refugees. Helen grinned and said cheerfully, "I love living in this day and age!" as she rubbed her hands together and started to reach for a slice of the cheesy circle of flat bread before her, then paused.

Helen turned to Ayesha and said politely, "I'm forgetting my manners! Would you like some? You can go first."

Ayesha smiled back and replied happily, "I've never seen food like this before, I'm not sure what is good. It all smells so wonderful!"

George leaned in and said quietly, "Here, allow me, mom." He delicately picked out a small assortment of the gooey, cheesy slices, laid them on a paper plate and presented it to Ayesha, telling her, "Mia likes these kinds the best, she'll start out with one slice each of her favorites and a glass of the raspberry tea."

Soon, the refugees were sitting and happily noshing and talking all at once.

Helen ate her two slices and sipped at her drink, Roger noted this and remarked, "For someone as active as you are, you sure don't eat much. Watching your weight?"

Helen chuckled and replied with a grin, "Nah! I just don't eat much, never have. I'm surprised I got down those two slices! Now, drinking I can do!"

Roger grinned and reached for more pizza only to discover that the lamia girls had absconded with it, so he contented himself with the nibblies portion.

George borrowed Rachel's laptop and sent an email off to Her Majesty, Henrietta Maria, it read briefly:

"Your Grace,

We have extracted my family from Algeria without undue incident, and are now waiting to take off from Tampa, Florida. Our next stop will be in Phoenix, Arizona around midnite, we have a friend at the airport who will sign us off at customs. I will send word at once upon our safe arrival. On a more personal note, Anna Karloff has requested an interview with us as soon as it is possible. She and Mia regularly communicate now and have become friends. As for me, I cannot adequately express my gratitude at your considerable support of our efforts at effecting this rescue mission. I am fairly certain that you hear flowery, courtly speech without letup. So I'll limit this to simply saying, thank you very much!

Yours in gratitude,

George Bryce"