Chapter 20

Saturday morning brought clear skies and a raging desert sun. And with that sun a relentless heat that almost (note the almost) had me dreaming of gloomy rainy Los Angeles and wishing clothes were not a necessary part of our wardrobe. Even the microscopic blast of air we experienced as we ambled outside of our makeshift barracks could not ease the twenty pounds of sweat that sought to cover my face. And just how Fang could stand wearing black, black, and then more black – beyond me. My white Hard Rock LA t-shirt and denim shorts suited me just fine.

My only consolation – a free-wheeling flight just ten minutes away. Angel was spot on (imagine that) with her premonitions and at our briefing yesterday afternoon, Colonel Bell asked us to perform for his troops. Gazzy and Nudge could barely contain their excitement but I could feel Fang's tension as he stood beside me. When I snuck a glance at him through my blond wisps, his jaw was tight, his lips steel. Fang abhorred the air shows – and rightfully so. I mean, we did almost get taken out by a one-armed sniper and treated to an M-Geek smashing fest at our last two. But still – kinda hard to turn down Colonel Bell – especially since they'd put us up for the past week and a half and catered their food allocations to our ravenous appetites.

"Candy's here," I whispered to Iggy as we prepared for flight.

"Candy's here? Really?!" Gazzy exclaimed, craning his head toward the makeshift bleachers strewn out by an airstrip.

"Yep," I said. "And she's got a whole bag of snickers if you can behave yourself." Yeah – last thing Nellis Air Force Base needed was a Gaz bomb that would linger for days.

"K, Max!" Gazzy galloped ahead toward Fang and Angel who led the way toward a platform near a crowd of hearty gatherers, all decked out in matching fatigues.

Iggy and I shared a smile and I noticed an extra spring in his step.

"Max, I was thinking," Nudge began and I rolled my eyes into my head. "I was thinking that since we're going into town to see a movie tonight maybe we could walk around a bit too and see just a little bit of Las Vegas. I'm sure it would be safe and no one would really even notice us. I bet there's lots of people and we could just blend in and - "

I put my arm around Nudge's shoulder. "I think we might be able to look around… just a little. Maybe you can spring for a pedicure."

"Yes!" she squealed. "I know just where to go too." Nudge continued to speak her plan to the skies as she bounded away from Iggy and me.

The six of us reached our destination, scaled a set of stairs that led us to a small stage. We reached Colonel Bell – an incredibly tall, domineering man who with one look could scare a private into the latrine. He had big bushy eyebrows underneath stately glasses and a grey mustache almost like Hitler's. Fortunately, that was the only parallel to the ex-psycho world leader. As soon as Jeb and Brigid dropped us off at Nellis (and disappeared just as quickly, thank God), Colonel Bell welcomed us with open arms, treated us like we were his own flock… er… children.

On the stage, Colonel Bell performed introductions even though most everyone knew who we were and that we'd been on the premises for over a week. No one knew the true reasons behind our air force furlough – including us – but Colonel Bell deemed it a mission of high importance to national security and a top secret one at that.

After the brief intro, music blared from several loudspeakers and Angel jumped into my arms and I vaulted her into the air. Her wings fanned out immediately and she took several strokes to propel herself upward. Fang performed a similar feat with Gazzy who threw his arm up, pointed at the sky and screamed, "To infinity and beyond!" Fang launched himself up behind him while Nudge and Iggy filched running starts on the small stage before stretching their wings out and joining the others a few hundred feet up.

And then there was me. I ran to the bottom of the steps and away from the crowd. When I was a safe distance away, I turned to the already astounded crowd and sprinted toward them at full speed. Just when I was a telephone pole's length away from the bottom riser, I threw my body upward, unfurled my wings and glided straight toward the spectators. When I was but inches from them, I turned my body upward and soared directly over them, kicked my speed into hyper drive and united moments later with my crew in the clouds, already in a tight V formation.

Flying. Freewheeling through the clouds. Soaring through the skies.

Nothing. Like it. E-ver.

"See anything?" I asked Fang as the two of us slid behind the other four, inverting our standard V. He'd been scanning the vicinity as soon as we hit the two foot mark. That was fifteen minutes ago.

Fang cocked his head slightly toward me, diverted his eyes in the opposite direction.

"Nope." That one word carried a pound of tension.

"It's restricted air space. The flock should be safe."

"Yep," Fang replied, without conviction. He scoured the area below us – again.

"You're not going to be any fun tonight, are you?" I half-heartedly teased, then sped out of the way of one of Gazzy's spontaneous mid-air tumbles.

Fang flashed me a fleeting quarter smirk, then reached for my hand. He grabbed my other hand so that we were facing one another. "Finale," he stated as though he was really ready to get this over with – which of course he was. We elongated our bodies vertically as Nudge and Iggy soared around us. Angel flitted like Tinkerbell, zipping from one side of us to the other, looking like a hummingbird who just downed ten cups of coffee. Gazzy hovered above us. Fang and I drew a final circle with our bodies and just as we separated, Gazzy stopped flapping and dropped between us. Simultaneously, Fang and I zoomed upward at super sonic levels and then rocketed directly above the hordes of camis. Gazzy stopped his fall in the nick of time and escalated above the crowds as well, practically kicking out the glasses of a lanky private in the stands.

After twenty minutes of orchestrated flight and three Gazzy dive bombs later, the six of us brought it home. We landed one by one at Colonel Bell's side and as soon as Angel touched down, the crowd broke into tremendous applause. Would never tire of that.

Colonel Bell's moustache faded into his beaming grin and he at once strode toward us, patting backs and shaking hands. Candace ambled our way, repeating her father's gestures. Some of the folks in the stands were indisputably fazed, but most engaged in cheers for the new bird kids on the block.

I glanced at Nudge. She and Gazzy milked the ovation with encore flips and short bursts through the air. Candace engaged Iggy in some sort of convo as my attention drifted toward Angel. Her angelic features bore none of the playfulness from moments earlier. Instead, her stoic gaze fixed on Fang.

He noticed her stare as well, quickly darted his eyes about the landing strips, then returned his gaze to Angel, squeezed my hand, and said.

"I don't have a good feeling about this."