Caleb stirred. Something was happening. Not there in the vision, but-
“F-18s!” the pilot’s voice shouted over the intercom. “Claiming we’re violating FAA directives. Forcing us to land.”
Caleb looked outside. They were over water.
“Where are we?”
“You slept long enough,” Nina snapped. “We circled Seattle, and are flying up the coast. Thought it best to avoid complications, but apparently that didn’t work.”
“Get Temple,” Caleb yelled. “Ask him to–”
“Already tried. He’s working it, but his orders are being countermanded.”
“He knows,” Nina said, gripping the back of the chair in front of her. She shot Caleb a worried look. “The boys… I’m a liability right now. They can latch onto me easily, find me anywhere.”
“We have to land,” the pilot called back. “Or they’re promising to shoot us out of the sky.”
“He’ll do it,” Nina said.
“But the Spear-?”
“He must know you have it. Even if the explosion doesn’t destroy it, it’s likely that no one will find it in this wilderness. At least not until Calderon’s done what he plans to do.”
Caleb nodded. “So what do we do?”
“I think I can get you over the border,” the pilot called back, veering sharply then, skimming low over the rugged ice-capped hills. “Then the Canadians will move to intercept. I doubt they’ll take kindly to our boys zipping over there, terrorist threat or not.”
“Then what?” Nina asked.
The speakers crackled. “Then I’ll be forced to turn back and I’ll be escorted to the nearest base. But maybe there’s another way.” Caleb saw that the pilot was leaning to his left, staring down, then checking something on the radar.
“What is it?” Nina asked, then moved into the cockpit to take a look. Movement on his right: another plane dropped into view, close enough that Caleb could see the helmeted pilot inside, turning toward him. He could see the missiles locked under the wing.
Nina came back with a mischievous grin on her face. “We have to act fast.”
Caleb stared at her as he stood up and tried to balance as the plane tipped, banked then dipped away from their uninvited guest.
“What?” He had a sinking feeling in his gut, and not just from the sudden drop in altitude.
Nina went to a compartment, reaching inside. “The pilot assures us he can get us right above it.”
“Above what?” Caleb shook his head before he even found what she was looking for. “No…”
Nina got up unsteadily and slipped something around her shoulders.
Caleb said, “No, please tell me we’re not…”
“Yes,” Nina said, heading toward the cabin after strapping in the parachute. “We’re going to jump out of a perfectly good airplane.”
They dove out together, with Caleb hugging onto Nina for dear life. He was facing her, arms and legs wrapped tightly around her slender body, fingers interlocked under her parachute. He hoped he wasn’t screaming during the descent, but even hours later, he couldn’t recall. It was all a terrifying blur, with nothing but the terrifying certainty that the chute wouldn’t going to open and that he would die with his former lover, slamming into the ocean without even seeing it rise up to meet him.
He had a view of their jet, banking around and heading back—just as something streaked out of the blue, and the cockpit erupted with a fire that split the plane down the middle, scattering its skeleton in all directions. Something soared over the falling debris, and then Nina angled her body, spread her arms and seemed to fly sideways, floating on air currents, spinning…
Caleb nearly passed out when he glimpsed a huge piece of the smoking wing drop past where they had just been. He looked up into Nina’s eyes, where he saw a touch of amusement.
“You’re enjoying this!” he yelled, but if she heard, she didn’t respond. Her eyes were focused on something else. And when Caleb turned his head, he couldn’t see anything except the stretch of blue, capped with streaks of white, and then just miles and miles of shoreline.
“We’re looking good!” Nina shouted, and pointed straight down to something Caleb at first couldn’t make out. Just the act of turning his head and trying to get his bearings during free fall made his stomach lurch, and he wondered how revolted she would be if he was sick all over her right now.
Then he saw it: a rectangular shape below them, white against the Pacific blue. It was getting bigger and bigger. In moments, he could make out other shapes and colors on the rectangle: sections of green, white and smaller bluish rectangles.
“You’re kidding me!”
Nina shifted her weight and took them on a trajectory ahead of the object, which was now expanding in his vision. He could see orange along the sides, and tiny forms strolling on the deck.
“Yes honey,” said Nina as she ripped the cord. “We’re taking a cruise.”
It wasn’t a bad landing, all things considered. After the chute opened Caleb felt as if he’d tear through the straps and go plummeting away from Nina on his own, but he held on, and he saw she was steering—with two straps and handles. Bearing them one direction, then the other, riding the winds, circling around and coming down fast toward the cruise ship. He kept silent, heart in his throat until it looked as if they were way off target and would miss the stern or at best, land on the smokestack, but then an updraft caught them, Nina tugged hard on the left strap and banked them around. They circled over the chimney, then shot over the heads of tourists wearing sweaters and scarves, a few brave souls in the hot pool shielding their eyes to watch what they believed was a cruise-publicity stunt.
And then they set down, right in the middle of the putting green. They scrambled, and Caleb teetered off balance, taking Nina with him, tumbling and getting tangled up in the ropes and the chute—until the fake rock wall stopped their progress with a jarring halt.
“Where… did you learn that?” Caleb asked as they extricated themselves from the mess of fabric and ropes and tethers.
“Montross,” she replied. “He insisted I train with him. Hang gliding, parachuting, steering. Said you never knew when you might need to leap out of a plane and land on something.”
“Sounds like he might have
“Exactly, which is why I went along with it. Now, come on. I’m sure security’s on its way.”
They stood up to the cheers of a large crowd below, surrounding the pool. People were snapping pictures,
