Chapter 2
Ten minutes earlier…
"What do I do? What do I do?"
So soon was Rafael reluctantly on his way back to the sanctuary. He did not know how to break the news. He landed on a tree branch.
"How am I going to live with myself after this?"
"Rafael!"
"Huh? Who? What? Blu!"
"Yep. It's me. Lovely day for a fly, it seems." Blu said with high spirits.
"Uh… yeah. Uh… Blu, there's something…"
"I don't think anything can break this lovely day."
"Well, if you say so Blu? Now I'll be on my way now." Rafael was about to fly off.
"Rafael? Where's Jewel?"
Rafael cringed at that last word. Jewel. Do I have to tell her now, he thought. He'll be heartbroken. If I tell him, he'll never forgive me.
"Rafael?"
"What?"
"I asked you a question, Rafael." Blu said nicely.
Rafael frowned, something that caught Blu in a slight worry, but it was going to be an understatement. "Rafael? Where's Jewel? Is there something wrong?"
"Uh-Blu… Uhm…" He could not say it, but the secret was going to be out sooner than later. "Blu… Je…wel… Jewel's gone."
"Gone? You mean gone away?" His heart was pounding now.
"No Blu… She's gone… forever."
Blu could not believe it. It had been such a beautiful day. Had he been deceived? "No. No. Stop joking Rafael. Rafael, I trusted you." Perhaps it was not a good day to fly.
It did not take long for Blu to be on his way to Linda. He raced there knowing perhaps that Linda will know what to do. He was in shock. He still could not believe it. Jewel could not be gone forever. He just saw her a while ago. She kissed her chicks. Blu was worried at first, but she told him everything was going to be alright. She left with Rafael, but she never returned. He could not just tell his children she was gone. What were Jewel and Rafael doing there anyway? Jewel is strong. He knew that whatever happened to her, she would get out of it okay. He just needed to hurry. Blu quickly flew over a wooden guard house where Jewel and Tulio were.
"Squawk-squawk."
"It's Blu." Linda told Tulio. Another look at Blu and Linda knew something was off. "Blu, is there something wrong."
A few minutes, they were now on the move on a jeep. Linda was on the wheel while Tulio was on the side. Blu was accompanied by Pedro and Nico. "Blu, where's Rafael?"
Blu frowned. "He won't be coming with us."
"Oh." Pedro and Nico were silent.
"I hope we find Jewel soon." Linda said.
"Not to worry, Linda. I attached a GPS device on Jewel's leg and with this tracker, we'll be able to track her known location in real-time."
"What does it say?"
"According here, she seems to be mobile."
That's a relief, Blu thought.
"Hmm…. It appears that she is headed to the old airfield where those poachers took her and Blu before."
"That's not far from here." With that, she accelerated to get to the airfield as soon as possible. They sped there reaching the gates of the airfield in hardly two minutes. They all exit the vehicle and were now on the strip.
"According to this tracker, Jewel should be here any minute now."
"Landing gear."
"Down."
"Flaps."
"Set to full."
"Spoilers.
"Armed."
"Landing checklist complete. We should be landing any minute now."
"Sir, 400 feet."
"I don't see anything, do you?" Linda asked.
"No." Tulio replied.
"200 feet."
"She's very close now. She's coming on the opposite end of this strip."
They look at the opposite end. They did not see Jewel, but something else.
"Is that a…"
"British Cargo?"
"Oh my… Run away!"
50… 40… 30… 20…
Minimums…
Retard…
10…
"I have ground contact."
"Spoilers." Harding pulled the lever that extended the spoilers. Moody reached for reverse thrust, not that it would work though. The plane was slowing down now and it seemed as if they had a chance.
"80 knots."
Linda, Tulio, Blu and the gang were now running or flying for their lives. As far as they know, a jet aircraft was chasing them on the runway. After a few seconds though, they seem to have out-chased the plane and they somewhat lower the pace to relax a bit. After the ordeal, the group returned to the just landed aircraft. It did not take long before the crew got out of the plane. "First responders?" Harding asked.
"No. We're looking for a bird." Linda replied.
"Congratulations, you've found it." Moody replied sarcastically, showing his hands to their 757 aircraft.
"Okay…" Linda replied confusingly. She approached Tulio. "Tulio. What does your GPS say? Where's Jewel?"
Tulio was confused for a moment. The tracker was not making sense. "According to my tracker, she's… right…" He looked at what was in front of him. It was the plane. "…right in front… of us." His fears were growing now. "Sir, what brings your plane here in such a remote place?" Tulio asked.
"We crashed here. Our plane was climbing when we hit something at 2500 ft. We lost both engines and glided all the way here." Moody answered.
"Quite lucky actually. Air Traffic Control didn't have much information on this strip, so we actually didn't know where this place was. Good thing we saw it last minute. Had we landed elsewhere, I don't think we would have made it." Harding added.
"Oh no. Jewel!" Blu yelled as he approached on of the left engine. He noticed the fan blades were severely damaged. A part of the blades were missing and there was a hole inside. Blu went in without hesitation.
"Blu don't go in there! It's not safe!" Jewel yelled.
He did not listen. He needed to see Jewel. He searched his way inside the wrecked engine, but he found her. Miraculously, she was still in one piece, but she had a large wound on her forehead bleeding profusely. He took her out of the engine with his beak. He brought her out in view of everyone: Linda, Tulio, Pedro, Nico and the two pilots.
"Unbelievable." Moody just thought. "You know this bird?"
"Yes. She's Jewel, our blue macaw and she's endangered." Tulio replied before leaving the two airmen to tend to Jewel's wounds.
"Small world, eh Captain?" Harding asked.
"Small world indeed."
Jewel slightly opened her eyes. "Blu?"
"Jewel's awake." Blu said. "Jewel, you're going to be alright."
"Yeah, hang in there Jewel." Nico replied as well.
Tulio approached the wounded bird. "Hang on, Jewel. This may sting a bit." After that, Jewel fell unconscious.
