Dante Valderez had closed his eyes again, and was sitting tall and still on the large helicopter’s rear cabin bench, across from Lucretius Angelus, who was shifting uncomfortable on his bench in his wet uniform. He looked out the window beside him, down to the dark mountain ranges dotted with the occasional light, far below them. He could hear Dante breathing steadily behind his mask, and looked back at the black uniformed man, his eyelids and scarred forehead relaxed. Lucretius noted that Dante had his arms outstretched over his knees, his hands clenched into fists and his forearms facing upwards. As Dante breathed, he slowly unclenched his fists until his hands were open and his black-gloved palms showing. Lucky was so busy looking at Dante’s hands that he didn’t notice that Dante was now staring at him calmly, his black eyes wide open and serene. 

The harshness in his eyes soon returned as pulled back his open hands and gripped his knees firmly, and Lucky looked up startled when Dante commanded him, “Lucretius, you are trained as a communications officer; contact the QuadriStar and tell General Thompson that I will transmit the next target location shortly.” Lucky hesitated, unsure about how to do as directed, when Dante added, “Go up front in the cockpit, the pilot will assist you with the radio.”

Lucky got up quickly from the bench and went to the front of the helicopter, entered the cockpit and quickly sat in the co-pilot seat, strapping himself in. He leaned over to the pilot, shouting his request; the pilot pointed at a headset near Lucky’s head and dialed the radio controls on the dashboard. Lucky put on the headset, and started calling out to the QuadriStar, using the codenames he was trained to use in the field to set the secure radio transmission channel. Once done, he passed along the message from Dante and waited for a response. He nodded when the response came back, and he turned in his seat to look back at Dante, giving him a thumbs up, to which Dante just nodded slightly. 

Not sure what to do next, he stayed in the cockpit, and looked out the window to see the moonlit desert valley stretch far below them. They passed a long ribbon of red and white lights of the interstate highway, and the pilot announced over the cabin intercom, “Beginning descent into the Morongo Valley, sir, and will level out at 500 feet as we near the coordinates you provided.” The helicopter pitched forward slightly and started to fall rapidly. Lucky stayed in the co-pilot’s seat, gripping it’s sides as he nervously watched the desert floor fill his frame of view and start to rush towards them. After several minutes of quick descent, the pilot eased up on the control stick and the helicopter leveled off, with Lucky able to see now the rocks and bushes on the ground rush past and low hills in the distance quickly looming in front of them.

Lucky jumped at the raspy voice just behind him say, “Find out what the PAB reports are for the Morongo Valley and Joshua Tree Park.” Dante was now leaning forward into the cockpit, grasping the back of Lucky’s seat. Lucky quickly complied and called back to the QuadriStar on the secured channel he had opened earlier. He nodded as he listened carefully to the reports being relayed to him, and turned to Dante, who was looking intently out the helicopter’s windshield at the low hills rising up to meet them.

“This isn’t far from where we apprehended a CIM operative last night,” Dante noted.

“There are several conflicting reports, sir,” Lucky said unsteadily, “One of a Hispanic woman with a child and dog fleeing in a silver import car, and another with an Asian woman on the run with a local Native American smuggler on a motorcycle. A local named Kenji Nobu is implicated in both reports.” Lucky looked up at Dante, worried. “You don’t think they’re talking about Rosa and Theo?”

Dante continued looking at the hills in front of them and instructed the pilot to turn on the helicopter’s search lights. The pilot flipped a switched and Dante reached between them to manipulate a small joystick to move the circle of light on the desert floor below them. It lit up a corrugated metal shack within a fenced compound, and Dante gestured to the pilot to move in closer to it. They hovered around the compound and Dante ran the search light over it, seeing nothing of interest. “They’re not here. Where were the fugitives and the silver car last seen, Lucretius?”

Lucky answered, “At a roadside bar on Highway 62, not far from here. The reports don’t say what direction they were heading when they fled the scene. Local authorities are in pursuit, along with some PAB informers.”

“We’ll wait for more specific information before proceeding to their location. In the meantime, pilot, fly over those hills and land on the other side, where possible,” Dante said, his voice steady but tense. The pilot turned the helicopter away from the shack and followed the slope of the hill nearest them. They flew up and over the ridge, revealing an oasis of palm trees and a tranquil pool reflecting the light of the crescent moon and the twinkling stars above them. Dante moved the disk of the search light over the pool, lighting it up harshly as the wind from the helicopter blades whipped the fronds of the palm trees and pushed down the grasses and bushes surrounding the pond. The pilot found a flat, sandy area clear of bushes and boulders and brought the helicopter in for a landing. 

Before the landing gear of the helicopter could touch the sand, Dante had the side door open and was jumping out. He strode across the sand to the edge of the pond and walked along it’s perimeter in the helicopter’s search light. He stopped and without hesitation stepped into the water, scattering small fish as he waded in up to his shins. He leaned over and reached into the water, feeling around along the bottom and suddenly pulled out from the shallow water a glinting metal object. It was a long sword, and Dante looked at it carefully while he slashed it expertly around in the air in front of him.

“This must belong to Kenji Nobu!” Dante shouted, over the sound of the slowing helicopter blades. He waded back out of the pond and walked in among the tall palm trees, and soon came upon the flower garden that Kenji had carefully tended. In a few swift strokes, he slashed the sword across the bottom of the flowers, cutting them down until the entire garden lay flat on the ground. He leaned down and picked up one of the stems holding the bloom of a yellow rose, and lifted it to the front of the respirator that concealed his nose and the bottom of his face, as if to sniff it’s delicate fragrance. In a rage he crushed the bloom in his fist and threw it down with the rest of the razed flowers.

“Lucretius!” Dante roared, his voice breaking and the sword clenched in his hand, quivering by his side, “Give our coordinates to General Thompson to program into a guided missile for immediate launch! This CIM base is the next target for the QuadriStar!”

*** This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental. ***