Phoenix (Part 2 of the 2 Part Malevolent Series)

Chapter 4

I look down at my watch, it reads 5:00 p.m. go time.

"Okay, the plan is simple. We'll fly to the airstrip, and seize Mr. Delgado. Hopefully we don't attract attention." Eric says

"Any questions?"

"In the event that peacemakers show up as we seize Mr. Delgado, what will we do?" Tristan asks

"There's 14 of us, including our copilots, so I think we'll be okay." Eric says, "And if that's all, copilots find someone to fly with, and let's head out."

I walk away to a jet in the front, and jump in the cockpit.

"Can I fly with you?" Asks a girl

"Sure, hop on." I say

She climbs up into the seat behind me, we're separated by a porous glass wall, and she faces the other way.

I put my helmet on and fire on the engine, it roars as I'm the first one to do so.

"You've ever flown before?" I ask through the microphone.

"Never flown, I've been a copilot before, so I know the bells and whistles on this jet." She says

I let the engine heat up, "Okay, good. You from here?"

"Yep, well actually I was transferred here after my," she trails off, "Aren't you supposed to be flying?"

I type in the GPS coordinates, 36.7468° N, 119.7726° W.

"Well now I can." I say, I push the thruster forward, and we begin to move. As we crawl to the runway, I realize that I'm the first one. I find the cord to the headset and switch the control to 'Channel and Local.'

"Am I taking the lead?" I ask

"Yep, we leave on your mark." Eric says

I line up the nose of the jet with the runway, and push the thruster half way. As we begin to pick up speed I push it to the max, and we really start speeding up. I lift the nose and we leave the ground, I roll in the landing gears.

I switch it back to Local, although I still here the chatter from our frequency. "I haven't flown in forever."

"How come?" She asks

"I haven't had to, well since the last government attack, and that ended bad." I say

"What happened?" She asks

"Well we were heading into almost certain death, but we didn't know it at the time. I got shot down, but I'm still here so we know how that ended." I explain

"Did the jet just fall out of the sky, or did you manage to land it?" She asks

"I managed to land it." I say

"That's a truly talented pilot." She compliments

"Well thank you." I say, "I forgot to ask you for your name?" I ask

"I'm Kat, and you are?" She asks

"I'm James." I say

"Delgado?" She asks

"Yeah, why?"

"Because you're a pretty bad dude, like a good bad, you know. You're well respected among us common-folk." She says

"Wow, that's cool." I say, "Oh and I like your name by the way. It seems like all the bad-a girls are named Kat, at least in movies and books." I say

"How did you get that stuff? I thought those were outlawed?"

"They were, but my mom kept her movies and books, she even managed to keep them during the night raids to seize all the literature and arts." I say