Page 72 of Freedom Fighters
“I’ve seen worse,” Nick said. “It would scare the crap out of you ifwe were up higher. I’m staying under the radar.”
“I noticed.” The surface of the sea looked as though it was only a few feet beneath the wheels of the Cessna. Then Josh spotted a boat heading for the coast and it was almost microscopic, which told him they were higher up than he’d thought.
After ten minutes of flying almost directly east, Nick banked the plane. “Five minutes, Pedro!” he called.“How’s it coming?”
The sound of hissing air had been coming from the cabin for the last few minutes. “I’ll be ready, sir!” Pedro yelled, for he wasn’t wearing a headset.
Nick straightened up the plane and Josh saw the compass was hovering over east-south-east. “You mentionedLas Piedras Grandes,” Josh said. “Now you’re heading for the south end of Vistaria. Does that mean what I hope it means?”
Nick gave him a quick glance. “We’re going to win back your mine for you.”
“In the middle of a hurricane,” Josh finished.
“The President suggested it would be a good idea,” Nick said mildly.
“Because launching an offensive into the middle of a Category 4 hurricane is something heads of state order all the time,” Josh added.
Nick grinned. “It was Duardo’s idea. It’s brilliant.” He outlinedthe strategies and risk-reducing tactics they were taking.
Josh realized that his dash to Acapulco had been even more vital than Nick had suggested over the phone. He was glad he hadn’t waited for a moment after they had ended their phone call last night. “The President of the United States told you to get the mine back?”
“Not in so many words, but this is a big break, Josh. If we can get themine back, the President will look favorably upon the Loyalists.”
“I think he already is,” Josh murmured. “That’s an under-the-table deal he’s made with you. He wouldn’t have done it if he didn’t want to deal openly with you somewhere down the road.”
“I reminded him that if we go under, he’d have to put up with Serrano slopping his soup next to him at State dinners. We look benign next to Serrano.”
Josh could feel tension in his chest loosen. “It’s good to know the President is on Astra Corp’s side. Jason didn’t think he had been heard.”
All the time they had been talking, Nick had been dropping altitude. Now, Josh could make out individual waves. Toward the horizon, the coastline ofLas Piedras Grandeswas a brown smudge. Just ahead, he could see a collection of boats bobbing on the surface,close together. No two boats looked alike, yet Josh knew he was looking at the Vistarian navy.
“Get ready!” Nick yelled. “Josh, could you help Pedro with the door?”
Josh put the headphones over the twin controls and climbed into the cabin through the narrow doorway. Pedro tied a rope around his waist. The other end was tied around the leg of one of the cabin chairs. He cranked open the longdoor handle. Josh grabbed one of the other handles and they slid the door sideways, forcing it back against the air stream rushing down the side of the plane. The plane wobbled as the air pressure in the cabin equalized with the outside and Nick adjusted the control to compensate for the drag of the open door.
The carton of goggles was sitting inside the big plastic bag and the mouth of the bagsealed with a plastic zip tie. Before sealing it, Pedro had blown compressed air into the bag, swelling it up like a balloon, so the plastic was taut. Attached to the bag was a second bag, also inflated, but empty. It would provide more buoyancy to the carton in case it was too heavy for the bag it was inside. Attached to the neck of both bags were four glow-sticks, which Pedro had cracked andshaken up. Their ghoulish green glow would help Flores find the bags in the water.
“Now!” Nick called.
Josh helped Pedro wrestle the awkward bags and carton over to the door and without hesitation, they tipped the parcel out into the air. Pedro immediately pulled the door shut.
Nick banked the plane sharply and Josh grabbed at the arm of the nearest chair as the floor tilted. He looked outthe window. A tiny dinghy set out from one of the bigger dories, heading for the goggles. Josh couldn’t make out where the goggles were as the plane was already too high and too far away. It wasn’t his problem anymore.
The plane straightened, then did a little shimmy, the wings waggling up and down. The air pilot’s form of goodbye.
Josh let out a heavy breath. “And good luck,” he added, to himself.
* * * * *
It was nearly one in the afternoon when they reached the ramshackle and abandoned motel Nick directed them to. By then, Téra carried one of the smaller children, as were most of the adults, including Calli, who walked beside her. It was a subdued line of people who traipsed into the weed-covered parking area of the motel.
The wind had grown stronger throughout the morning. Now it moanedand whistled, plucking at their clothes and tearing loose anything that wasn’t tied down. It wasn’t just tumbleweeds rolling across the gravel road they followed. They watched weeds and small uprooted bushes roll and bounce across their path and once, a sheet of corrugated iron.
Calli watched the iron flip and rise into the air, floating for a moment. “We have to go faster,” she’d said thoughtfullyand reached for the nearest child and picked him up. “Everyone, gear down and move faster. Pass it on.”
The murmur travelled back along the drawn-out line of people trailing behind them. As the children were lifted, the adults increased their speed.
When they reached the motel, Calli turned to Minnie, one of the few adults not carrying a child. Calli had flatly refused to let her. “Assign rooms,please, Minnie. Téra, could you help? Rubén, too. The sooner we can get everyone inside and locked down, the happier I’ll be.”
