Sam watched as the beautiful girl, who was half asleep next to him, began to stir. He gently slid his hand forward and entangled hers. “Good morning,” he murmured softly as she smiled at him.
“We’re still alive?” Aliana asked, surprised.
“So far. I still haven’t found a safe place to land. We haven’t gone very far, perhaps 40 miles?”
“Now what?”
“I’m not sure about that, Aliana. You’re the microbiologist. What are we going to do with this obscene virus?”
“You know that it must be destroyed, don’t you?”
“I do. But when we land this ship, they’ll never let it leave her.”
“Then we must destroy it before we land.”
“So many people have already been killed trying to acquire this weapon,” Sam said. “How do we destroy it before they use it to destroy humanity?”
“The burner. That’s what we’ll use. We need to burn the entire container, so that as it melts, the virus won’t have a chance to escape.”
“Can’t it escape as we open the container?”
“No, as long as it remains inside the burner, the virus will die instantly. The heat will most likely kill it before its container melts, anyway.”
“Then let’s do it.”
Sam picked up the metallic suitcase, looked at it once more and asked, “Are you absolutely certain this will work?”
“Yes, I am.”
Sam then tossed the suitcase directly into the blue blaze.
It took a few minutes for the shiny metal case to turn from a gloss to a blazing red, before suddenly combusting. The contents of the glass vials inside it bubbled as it was affected by the heat. Before long, the dreaded contents of the suitcase were finally destroyed.
“It’s over, then?” Sam asked.
“Yes, it’s finally over,” Aliana replied.
He took her in his arms, and held her, as they both sighed with relief. Behind him, Sam heard the distinct sound of something he’d heard many times before. Sam didn’t even have to turn his head to know that the Magdalena was being followed by two Blackhawks.
He only wished he knew who was piloting them.
Sam heard an American’s voice, coming over a loudspeaker, and he gripped the Magdalena’s steering wheel tightly, as he wished that it could help him find an escape route. Advanced as she was when first built, the Magdalena was more than 75 years behind the times when it came to her engineering and was certainly incapable of reproducing the speed and agility of modern day aircraft.
“Sam Reilly, this is Lieutenant Commander Ryan on board the U.S. Navy Blackhawk requesting that you land the Magdalena immediately.”
Sam had no means of messaging the Lieutenant by radio, so he handed the steering wheel to Aliana, and then walked out onto the open-air gangway.
Next to him was the Blackhawk, which he presumed had ordered him to land.
He waved his arms, and then pointed to the mountains and pine trees below, as if to say, “Where the hell do you think I should land?”
“Sam Reilly, follow the Blackhawk in front of you. It will take you to the nearest landing site.”
He waved his arms again to indicate that he would oblige.
It took more than six hours to reach the landing site. Sam concluded since they hadn’t simply been shot down, that the U.S. government obviously wanted something that they had.
Finally, Sam saw a flat grassy area came into view below.
“Okay Aliana, I’ll take over from here.”
“She’s all yours.” Aliana said, looking relieved to turn the steering over to Sam.
Sam took the steering wheel in his hands again. It felt good. After making a couple of slight arm movements, he once again felt in control of the Magdalena.
Next to him, Aliana reduced the acetylene valve until the burner flame was almost entirely extinguished.
“Okay, pull the excess pressure lever,” Sam said. “Remember, small bursts, we don’t want to go crashing to the ground.”
Following Sam’s instructions, Aliana gently pulled on the excess pressure lever.
Above, they could hear the sound of heated air being released from the canopy.
There was no change in their flight.
“Okay, pull it a little more,” Sam instructed.
After the fifth release, the Magdalena began to lose altitude, ever so slightly.
“Okay, let’s increase the flame, just a bit. The ground is coming in a little too fast for my liking.”
There was very little wind.
Sam would have appreciated a slight headwind to help steady the ship, but no wind was the next best thing.
Between the two of them, they continued adjusting the burner flame, the valve release and the speed of the motors, until the Magdalena eventually touched ground on the grassy field.
“Touchdown!” Sam exclaimed.
Aliana then pulled the excess gas release valve, so that the entire canopy released all of its heated air and the Magdalena’s now empty three gondolas sank heavily onto the ground.
Immediately after landing, several Navy Seals stormed the pilot gondola.
“Sam Reilly?” Asked the young man wearing military camos who greeted him. With the soldier’s finger resting just above the trigger of his assault rifle, he gave Sam the immediate impression of a redneck hillbilly who wanted nothing more than an excuse to kill someone. The military needed people like that, he understood. They had their place, and for the most part, they could become excellent soldiers, but they were rarely bright enough to make it in, let alone to remain in one of the Navy's elite SEAL teams.
“That’s me,” Sam acknowledged.
“Stay where you are, and don’t move. Who else is with you?”
“Just one other person. Her name is Aliana Wolfgang.”
“Don’t move or I will shoot to kill you both,” the man said harshly.
“That’s don’t move, sir,” Sam replied to his order.
“Who are you to tell me how to address you?” The soldier sounded irritated, and was just naïve enough not to show any concern.
“I can answer that one,” stated the leader of the SEAL team. “Sam Reilly retains the rank of Major in the U.S. Marine Corps, as a nonoperational adviser, in his otherwise unspecified role — whatever the fuck that is.”
The young soldier looked concerned, and started to justify his ignorance, but Sam ignored him completely and said, “Lieutenant Commander Ryan!” Sam looked genuinely pleased, “How are you, you old bastard?”
“Sam Reilly!” Ryan broke into a grin that matched the width of his enormous hand, as he reached out to take Sam’s hand and shake it. “I never thought I’d see the day that I’d be the one breaking you out of a sticky situation.”
“But how did you get involved here?” Sam asked. “And how did you know about me?”
“We had no idea that you were even involved until we captured Tom. It was just very good luck that the two of us once worked together in Afghanistan. He told me about your exploits. I was a little skeptical at first, and then when he told me that you were involved, I knew it had to be true.”
“But why were we involved in any of this?” Sam asked, referring to the U.S. military.
“Surely you must know why, Sam.”
“I can imagine, but I have no idea how your boss learned of its existence, especially since I first heard about it only two days ago?” Sam was genuinely surprised.
“I find that hard to believe, Sam. So, where is it then?” Ryan Walker inquired.
“The virus?” Sam didn’t even bother to try to deceive his old friend. They had completed countless missions together over the years.