Quinn fought the stick, barely managing to stay airborne as her crippled plane staggered toward the jungle canopy below. She was practically standing on the right rudder pedal and still the craft crabbed to the left.

It was just enough… the plane slipped through what looked like a small hole in the canopy and was flying through a surreal green tunnel for a moment before touching down with a bounce and roll on a short and narrow runway made of rammed earth. The plane stopped just short of the green wall at the end of the runway and Quinn cut the engine, sitting there shaking for a few moments before she managed to clamber out and walk unsteadily toward a tiny building.

When she emerged a few moments later she saw a small brown figure walking around the plane, running his hands over the gaping hole in the left wing. He looked up as she approached and his worn face crinkled into a smile.

“You are one ballsy lady. I would have bailed. I can’t believe you managed to make it all the way here and land! Thank you…”

“You know no thanks are needed Felipe. I would have carried this here on my back if I had to. Now go, Rosa needs her medicine… and her father.”

“You are a saint…”

“Far from it my friend. Oh so far from it…” She turned and busied herself with a roll of aviation tape, roughly patching the torn skin of the plane’s wing.

“What the hell happened anyway? That’s a really big hole!”

“Yeah well they were shooting at me with a really big gun…” she chuckled. “La Policia don’t like it when you raid their infirmary…” deceptively delicate looking fingers carefully bent the thin metal back to lie mostly flush with the undamaged skin before holding it in place and covering the lumps with layers of tape.

“I think maybe I didn’t just hear that. You ever need anything, you mention my name, ok? I might be retired but no one forgets O Burro… and everyone knows I am in the debt of Beija-Flor de Aço.”

“Steel Hummingbird? Really?”

“Hey I didn’t start it…”

She abruptly turned and leaned down to give him a quick hug before climbing back into the cockpit. With a final wave she cranked the engine over, wiggling each control surface to make certain all was in good order. Within a minute she had disappeared back into the sky through the hole in the jungle.

The man feared by drug lords and heads of state alike shook his head, muttering to himself as he disappeared into the treeline.

She would have to avoid Rio Branco for a few months after that stunt but it was worth it to help a child who would have suffered horribly to her death due purely to the selfishness of the men who called themselves police. The cynical part of her that always figured every angle knew that having her father as an ally could help her to survive. She winged south and west and in another hour and a half Sena Maduriera slid beneath her as she continued another 15 miles to a hidden airstrip, this time having considerably less difficulty in landing.

As was standard procedure, she sat in the plane for a few minutes after taxiing over to a small parking area. She carefully climbed out after the prescribed amount of time had passed, acutely aware that at least 2 snipers had her in their sights. A single figure ghosted from the trees and quickly checked the aircraft over, signaling its emptiness to the others waiting before he straightened up and extended his hand to the much taller woman.

“Welcome to you Quinn Campbell. We are honored to host Beija-Flor de Aço but we were not aware you were coming. I am afraid I must ask you to come with me quickly. You will understand when you see.”

He plunged into the jungle at a near run and she followed, the same speed looking effortless on her larger frame as she silently loped behind. A few hundred meters later they burst out into a small ground clearing where the underbrush and the bottom layer of overgrowth had been cleared, leaving 3 layers of forest canopy intact overhead. Fairly primitive looking dwellings surrounded a central firepit and a few animals wandered around looking disinterested. It was a surprise to step through and into a very modern climate controlled dome and the cool refreshing air took a weight off the lungs that one tended to just ignore after a while.

Several other people were sitting around, staring at screens and frantically typing. A large screen dominated the room, displaying the outline of the southeastern US and the Caribbean. The map was crisscrossed with lines indicating courses and as they watched, one of the green lines coming from Nassau vanished.

“Is that…?” she couldn’t keep the horror out of her voice.

“That was an A380… almost 900 people. The Americans just shot it down.”

One by one traces disappeared and in her mind’s eye Quinn could see screaming passengers plummeting in flames toward the water far below…

At last there were no green traces, only the baleful red of American fighters and attack craft. The screen flipped over to a view of the Nassau waterfront, crawling with landing craft. A man’s panicked voice cut through the rattle of gunfire and the crash of heavier weapons.

“American forces have landed here in Nassau and Freeport. It looks like the soldiers are just shoo…”

Suddenly the camera lurched and spun to show a man’s face, a faintly surprised expression fading as a trickle of blood came from the hole in his forehead. The image cut out as he started to fall. Most of the video feeds in the room blanked until their users brought up feeds from elsewhere.

The deep dread that had driven Elena and her to flee without their spouses 6 months before flowered into a certainty in Quinn’s heart. The war she had seen coming for a decade now was finally starting and she could only hope beyond hope that Tom and Lynne had gotten out in time.

For now though, she had to get back to Elena and get her somewhere safer than Cuba.

Elena rose from her chaise lounge as the sun dipped behind a large palm, gathering her tablet and satphone data rig into a large carryon and slinging it over her shoulder. Another boatload of refugees was due from the Everglades just after midnight and she was, as always, nervous.

Thinking a drink might calm her down a bit, she strode around the pool and over a footbridge to the bar on an island in the center of the pool. She sat at the end away from the screens, unwilling to watch another football or baseball game. She didn’t mind either sport but after 6 months of them she needed a break.

She had just taken a sip of her martini before the bartender came up to her looking distressed.

“Dona, you must come see!”

“I don’t want to watch another baseball game but thanks Tomas… Can you get me something to eat?”

He was clearly agitated, as was evidenced by the fact that he actually grabbed her arm and tried to pull her toward the end of the bar mounted with screens.

“The war… it has started just as you said it would Dona! Please help me, my family… I know you can get out but can you take my children?”

“Shit… Tomas, lets see how bad it is before we make any decisions, ok?” In her mind she could not turn off the endless cycle of nightmares, all of which ended up with Lynne dying before her…

Tomas toggled his earbug to take a call. He listened for a moment, then took the bug out of his ear and handed it to her.

“Its for you.” She took the earbug and polished it off on her coverup.

“Elena Wachowski?” The voice in her ear was tinny, distracted.

“This is she?”

“Lynne… your wife sent a delayed message to you. She says “Anchors Aweigh!’”

“Please… when was the message sent?” Her face was drawn, lines creasing her forehead.

“We just got it… it was a time delay drop from almost a week ago.”

“Was there anything more?”

“Just that and the notation in Morse… DWKW”

“Fuck...” Her determined reluctance to cry deserted her and she sobbed on Tomas’s shoulder.

“That means they bugged out in the rig we left… Gods I hope they are ok…”

Tomas had switched over to speakers so everyone could hear the radio traffic.

“Wait, I’ve got something else... its very faint…”

For just a moment voices came clear through the ether.

“PAL 135 heavy, identify your passengers”

After a moment. “Are you serious? We’ve got over 800 passengers!”

“PAL 135 heavy, I repeat, identify your passengers. Look port and you will see your fighter escort.”

“PAL 135 heavy, we see the escort but do not understand your request. We can supply you with a flight manifest?” The voice sounded bewildered and surprised.

“Negative PAL 135 heavy. Supply us with an accurate accounting within 2 minutes or you will be shot down”

“You can’t do this! We are a civilian aircraft! What the hell is wrong with you?”

“PAL 135 heavy, instructions follow.”

A long silent moment before the flat emotionless voice of the fighter pilot came back.

“Pray.”

There was nothing more.

The horror show played out, the same as it had all over Earth, splashed across their screens and blaring through speakers that normally carried music, feeling almost distant until the shockingly sudden death of the reporter. The ensuing hours were a slow motion nightmare. Hours later she clung to Tomas, wishing desperately that he was Lynne and wondering if her love was even alive.

There was nothing sexual between them, just the sharing of warmth and hope... and a terrible paralyzing fear. Deep in the night his fear took hold and she woke to him tossing and crying… she could just barely make out “Mama… please mama… don’t make me go away… Why do you hate me mama?”

She held him, stroking his hair away and kissing him on his forehead. He quieted and began suckling on his thumb before she dropped off into a tortured sleep of her own.

Dawn brought nothing except a toll of the dead. The expected boat had not arrived and they could only assume it had been destroyed. She and Tomas had just risen and begun to address a breakfast of avocado with grapefruit sections, drowned in lemon juice and Italian dressing.

Brilliant tropical sun glared down outside the roofed over bar, dazzling the eyes with its reflections from still poolwater.

Elena reached across and clasped his hand, stopping its twisting agony. “Tomas… I will get you and your family out, ok? I don’t know where… maybe Manaus, maybe Punta Arenas. I know Quinn is on her way, we messaged each other last night. 1 am, we need to be waiting at the Marina Chepelin.”

“Should I go get them now?”

“Finish your breakfast first, we have to make everything look normal. When you go get them you should all behave just as though you are coming for a family day since there are no tourists to speak of. You cannot bring anything you would not normally bring on such a day. You understand?”

“Normal family day at the beach, got it. Nothing at all?”

“You can each bring one small thing but it must be easily hidden. Bring any food you have at home, packed for a picnic, you can cook it here or on the beach. No point in leaving it to rot.”

“Maria will not be happy.”

“Would you rather she face what will happen when the Americans come?”

He was silent while finishing his food and left without saying another word.

Elena spent a couple of hours trying to find any further information about what had happened in the Bahamas and growing increasingly frustrated so by the time Tomas arrived with children in tow and his wife carrying a large picnic basket while the two older boys carried a heavy ice chest between them she was quite ready for the beach.

She took the basket from Maria and embraced the diminutive younger woman, holding her for a moment and lending what comfort she had to give. She knelt and embraced each of the children in turn, smoothing tears from the cheeks of the youngest girl and fussing over her doll, fixing its yarn hair just so before tucking it back into her arms where she cradled it.

“Dona Elena, why do they hate us?” the oldest child looked up at her, clear eyed and alert, confident in her self expression.

She had to take a moment to formulate her reply. Alejandra was transgender like her, although her country’s government treated children and adults like her just the same as anyone else. She had grown up simply being normal, unlike Elena’s own childhood which had been filled with hiding, pain and fear.

“I wish I had an answer for you Allie. I think, maybe, that if I were able to understand them I would have to be like them.”

“How can you just not have answers?” Her typical young teen intransigence was kicking in. She had a mathematician’s mind, keen and clear but never satisfied with unquantified data and this obviously got up her nose a bit.

“Just the way the world is. Outside of a classroom or a pure theory setting you almost never have true precision.” Elena looked down into the young woman’s eyes and ruffled her long hair. “Now go get ready for the beach, I know you want to wear the new suit your mama bought you last week!”

The family trooped into one of the bungalows and emerged a few moments later in swimwear. Maria’s suit was a strappy affair that served to enhance her lush figure more than cover it while Tomas wore a similarly skimpy speedo thong that showed off his sharply chiseled darkness. All 3 boys wore something like board shorts and clutched body boards, eagerly gazing toward the beach.

The last to emerge was Alejandra, a little shy in the new bikini. The effects of her hormonal treatment were becoming obvious and she looked like any other 13 year old girl. She took up her youngest sibling’s hand and gently took the doll from her.

“You don’t want her to get wet do you?”

An exaggerated shake of the head was her reply.

“We’re just going to let her sleep inside while we go to the beach then, ok?”

That seemed to be ok and they went inside to put the doll to bed. By the time they came back out Maria and Tomas were engaged in a discussion and quietly asked Elena to take the kids down to the beach. She gathered the children and their boards, getting the two oldest boys to carry the ice chest again while Alejandra carried the basket in one hand and held to her younger sister with the other. Elena picked up a large bag of charcoal briquettes and brought up the rear.

Once on the beach she allowed the 3 boys to go out and play in the water with their older sister watching them as she enjoyed her own play in the gentle surf. Little Sofia wasn’t quite bold enough to go into the water, content with playing around at the edge and squealing as waves caught her bare feet.

The beach was completely empty otherwise. Elena set about getting the large grill going, using the entire bag of charcoal and a liberal amount of lighter fluid before leaving it to burn down a bit and joining the children in the water. The smallest boy had joined his little sister on the beach and they seemed to be enjoying themselves, talking in babble at each other.

The four of them frolicked while keeping a careful eye on the youngest siblings and by the time Tomas and Maria joined them the grill was ready to go. He busied himself being a caveman with the two youngers watching while Maria came into the water and joined in the play. Elena noticed her happy smile and had no trouble deducing what the young couple had been doing in the bungalow.

Seeing their happiness made her heart ache and she tried to keep herself from dwelling on Lynne and Tom and her own fear that they were lost.

“Elena?” Maria was the only one in the family that listened to her wishes and omitted the honorific.

She looked over but didn’t trust herself to speak just then.

“Thank you.”

That shook her out of it. “What?”

“Thank you… for everything.”

“I’m taking everything you’ve ever known away from you, how can you thank me?”

“Because you are saving the only thing that matters. I don’t care about things… well, ok, some, I’m not a nun after all…” She quirked a smile up at the taller woman as they stood waist and thigh deep in the surf. “My family, my children… They matter. Things are just things.”

“You’re taking this really well.” Elena looked over her head, unwilling to see the younger woman’s expression.

“I have known it was coming since before you got here. When Americans are fleeing to Cuba things are very bad. You being here helped me know that there was a way out when the time came and over the past 6 months helping you to save so many others… I just wish I could have done more.”

“You did everything you could… you have to put your family first.”

“What do you think I’m doing? I want my family to have a beautiful day together… we might not get that again.” She captured Elena’s hand and hugged her arm. “Now, Big Sister, shall we go see if my husband has completely destroyed the fish?”

He hadn’t and it was a beautiful day indeed. Their picnic was lavish and they all ate their fill at least twice, the boys managing 3 rounds. By tacit consent the adults had limited themselves to soft drinks as they needed their wits about them later. Sunset stole over the beach and with it the children’s energy seemed to abandon them. Alejandra led her siblings back up to the bungalow and they all rinsed off in the shower before falling asleep in a pile on the large bed.

Tomas and Maria disappeared into another bungalow shortly afterward and left Elena sitting on the beach, staring out over the waves in the direction of Florida. She had not seen her home for 6 months now and in the gathering gloom she wondered if she would ever see it again.

Hours later she rose at a quiet chirp, checked her tablet and went to wake them. Quinn had just sent the go signal and was due to land in under an hour. It was only a mile or so to the rendezvous but there were 5 kids to get ready, last minute bathroom trips required, all the normal things dealt with when preparing to travel.

All too quickly they were turning right onto the short remaining stretch of the Camino de las Antillas and leaving the car to stand at the water’s edge. The night was still, disturbed only by a light wind and moonless. It was impossible to tell where the canal through the mangroves was even though they knew it was directly in front of where they stood.

It was a surprise to them all to see the fat wedge shaped blended wing craft glide almost silently over the water with the small whine of a trolling motor. It drifted gently to just bump the seawall and Elena lowered herself onto the wing before going over and opening a hatch. The others had followed and she helped them through into the cabin before closing and dogging the hatch behind herself. She checked quickly to make certain they were all strapped in before proceeding forward to strap herself into the right seat.

She gave Quinn a thumbs up and got a nod in return. The trolling motor whined to point the nose back toward the canal, clearly visible in the light augmented HUD. There was a short pause as the motor retracted into its housing and the engine start sequence began. Seconds later the buzzing whine of 3 powerful turbofans spooled up and they began to move over the water, gaining speed quickly. Soon they lifted into the air but Quinn kept them within 10 meters of the surface while their speed steadily increased.
Moments later she eased up a little further into the air and suddenly the ocean was replaced by farmland, mostly darkened but visible in the HUD. 20 minutes flying low and fast over Cuba and the ocean replaced land again. Quinn held altitude to under 100 feet for another half hour before she added throttle and they rose quickly to 40,000 feet while the airspeed indicator read 603… just over .9 mach.

“Wow, the new fans really help!”

Quinn grinned in return and engaged the autopilot before unlocking her seat and swiveling around. “Yep! We’re actually cruising at 80% throttle but there’s no way this airframe will go any faster.”

“I got a message from Lynne…”

Quinn’s face was stone.

“I got one from Tom too… they left a week or so ago in the Folbot rig we built. I haven’t heard anything else.”

“Maybe no news is good news?” The plaintive note in her voice tore at Quinn’s heart.

“I think no news is no news.”

“You’re a real stonehearted bitch, you know that?” The smile on Elena’s face belied her words as she drew Quinn into a hug. “I’m so glad to see you. It felt like I was just waiting for the hammer to drop, you know?”

“We can’t go to Manaus.” Quinn’s voice was muffled against Elena’s shoulder.

“But… that’s the last place we had on our contact list! How are we supposed to find each other?”

“I left messages but… I had to burn a Lurk and it turned out he was the local Baron’s nephew. There are people there, people I trust… Tom and Lynne will be taken care of when they make it there and they’ll be able to follow us. We have somewhere else to go anyway.”

“Where? I don’t understand Quinn, what are you talking about?”

“You won’t believe it.”

Quinn turned her attention back to her instruments while Elena stared into the darkness, listening to the soft sounds of a sleeping family and feeling lost, hopeless…