There was satisfaction in Santo’s words,
“Get used to it. You are going back there.”
With froth spewing, she screamed,
“Never. I will never go back there.”
Unable to contain her rage, Maria screamed back,
“You killed Zasha, my first baby and then tried to kill Belle. I hope you die there.”
The Duchess arrogantly said,
“Oh please. If I had not taken Zasha from you, you certainly would have abandoned it eventually. You are not the mother type, you are a scientist, and after she died ---”
Maria was quick to scream out a correction.
“Killed, you killed her.”
A scoff hissed the words,
“Semantics. It was after she died that thanks to me you became a world famous scientist. What did I get in return for the nice thing I did for you? Just look at what you have done to me.”
Maria was still hatefully staring hard at the unrepentant Duchess. Now bearing the expression of an old hag, the Duchess cackled,
“Upon my return, what did I pleasantly discover? You have another baby for me to kill.”
Maria exploded with rage and sudden lunged at the Duchess. Santo just barely managed to hold her back. This encouraged the Duchess to continue her assault, arrogantly threatening,
“I swear that as long as I live, I will kill your precious new baby as well. If it takes years, she will die by my hand.”
Maria knew that she could not live her life fearing for Belle. There was no doubt in her mind that eventually, somehow the Duchess would escape wherever she was imprisoned and ultimately extract insane revenge. Santo saw Maria’s eyes snap to Jessika who was at the desk gathering the broken computers. More accurately, Maria’s eyes were on Jessika’s pistol in the belt holster. Santo knew what she was thinking but did nothing to stop her.
She quickly turned to Jessika, snapped the handgun out of the holster and aimed it at the Duchess. Undeterred, the Duchess laughed and said,
“Oh, what are you going to do kill me? You might as well because it doesn’t matter where you imprison me I’ll eventually kill your daughter. Go ahead. Shoot if you have the courage.”
As Maria’s trigger finger tightened, her hand started to shake. Santo understood that she wanted to pull the trigger but knew what was preventing it. Understanding her struggle, with a slow hand he reached up and gently pulled her arm down. Filled with compassion for her rage, he softly said,
“You have never killed anybody. If you pull the trigger it will haunt you for the rest of your life.”
She tried to sound firm but a slight tremor defeated the effort.
“She is not going to kill our baby.”
As he gently took the pistol from her hand, he assured her,
“No she will not.”
Santo then slowly raised his arm and shot the Duchess in the forehead. He compassionately looked at Maria and calmly said,
“I on the other hand have killed many people.”
When somebody threatens the life of your family, nothing can stop you from protecting them.
Waldorf pretended not to hear the shot and the soldiers ignored the Duchess on the floor profusely bleeding from a bullet to the head. Waldorf casually stepped over the body and reported to Santo,
“We got everything of value. What do you want to do with the bodies?”
Considering what he had in mind, there was coldness in his tone. Maria had never seen Santo so callous and angry.
“Leave them.”
He then looked to the three maids and said,
“Take them anywhere they want to go.”
With a circling hand above his head he ordered,
“All right, load up and let’s get out of here.”
As the soldiers scrambled to the D-wings, Waldorf pointed to a shaking Niko who had stopped chewing on the candy bar and asked,
“What should we do with this one?”
Santo saw Niko staring at his dead boss and asked him,
“How much money have you stolen from various government accounts?”
Confident that they would release him, there was a swagger in his reply.
“Approximately 93 million Euros.”
Reluctantly Santo turned to Waldorf and said,
“Have one of our soldiers drop him off on the first deserted island they get to.”
Understanding the death sentence Niko was shocked and pleaded,
“But how will I get off a deserted island?”
As Santo walked to his D-wing, he coldly yelled back,
“You have money. Buy something.”
While Maria was climbing into the D-wing, she heard Santo’s callous treatment of Niko. Because she was still having trouble accepting his cold heart, it was difficult to understand what he wanted done with Niko. As the D-wing lifted off the cavern floor and flew out of the cave, she looked to Santo and asked,
“You will send somebody for him, right?”
Still not having cooled off, he coldly replied,
“Only if I feel better in the morning.”
When the Captain of the yacht saw Gleb’s headless body tumbling over the cliff he knew what he had to do. Orders were quickly given to pull anchor and set sail for the safety of distance. As Santo and Maria flew out of the cave, she looked down and saw the escaping ship. Knowing that Santo too saw it, she hoped compassion had returned and he would let them escape. He looked to her and as if knowing her thought, said,
“Not to worry, they mean nothing to me.”
With the cave empty, save for bodies, at about a hundred yards away, all the D-wings stopped, hovered and turned to face the island. When Santo gave the command, they fired missiles into the mouth of the cave. The destruction of the House of the Nazarene and a fate that the Duchess had wished upon the Vatican now rained upon her island fortress. Within minutes of the ‘fire order’ the obliteration was so devastating all that remained of the extinct volcano island was torrents of water rushing in to fill the void.
With the D-wings flying east in formation over the Atlantic, Santo sat in silence. It was something he desired. Seeing him wrapped in that military persona she so hated, she interrupted his thoughts by voicing hers. She said,
“It was strange the way she practically begged me to kill her wasn’t it.”
His reply was routine, as if not surprised at all.
“She wanted you to kill her.”
Shocked, she blurted out,
“What? Why?”
“She knew she would be sent back to that so-called Island of Oblivion and couldn’t take it. I guess she thought there wasn’t much difference between that and death.”
It was something Maria had not considered. She also understood that despite the threat to her daughter, she could not have pulled the trigger. Thankfully, Santo had removed the threat for her. For that, she whispered a sincere,
“Thank you.”
His features melted, looked to her and gently said,
“Nobody threatens those I love.”
After producing a weak smile, she gently took his hand in hers.
While still flying in formation, Maria saw Waldorf’s D-wing suddenly leave the group and bank north. Pointing to his departure, she asked,
“Where is he going?”
“He volunteered to take our wounded man to the Nazarene military hospital in Zürich.”
After a thought, Maria quickly realized why.
“Isn’t that where Helga is?”
Santo smiled and said,
“Yes, I suppose it is.”
Maria suddenly understood the ulterior motive.
Seconds later, Santo reprogrammed the GPS and they also left the formation. She asked,
“Where are we going Santo?”
Chapter 47
When Santo entered the new co-ordinance, the canopy turned black and instantly Maria understood their new destination. She became giddy and had to restrain herself from leaning over and hugging
him. He cast a sneaky glance in her direction and saw her great joy. It was the look of a mother finally going to retrieve her dearly missed child.
It took longer to reach the secret location this time but Santo believed it was because of misdirection. It was no use trying to mentally triangulate time and flight speed in conjunction with their last approach to the secret location from the Amazon jungle. With inoperative instruments and a blanked out canopy, they might be sitting on the ground for all he knew.
When the canopy finally turned transparent, they discovered they were sitting in the same clearing at exactly the same spot as before. The dense forest was on the right and there, in front of them was the cabin looking like a page out of a children’s bedtime story. Because the location was a secret, an announcement of their arrival was denied and so nobody was standing by the cabin waiting for them. For that reason, Maria jumped out of the D-wing yelling her daughter’s name.
Although glad to see Liana and Quastima coming to the door, she was disappointed that Belle was nowhere in sight. After a warm hug from each, Maria’s first question was,
“Where is Belle?”
Liana looked to the forest, pointed and said,
“She has been spending most of her time playing with those new friends of hers.”
Maria looked into the forest but saw only trees.
After greeting Liana, Santo strolled into the field with Quastima for a private conversation. He asked,
“What have you discovered about this place?”
Quastima seemed disappointed to report,
“Nothing of value. It appears that we are still on Earth. It is not another dimension or else Maria’s propensity for getting sick near a dimensional gate would have acted up. Here on Earth, the cycles of night and day have fluctuating time variances but here there is none. Exactly on time, to the second, the sun sets and rises. Strangely, and of course pleasantly, the nights are two hours longer than day”
Understanding Quastima’s propensity for sleep, Santo was not surprised that he noticed the difference. Quastima continued,
“The time for each is so accurate that it seems suspiciously programmed.”
As Quastima continued his investigative report, Santo saw Liana and Maria walk toward the forest. Seeing no danger, he looked back to Quastima and heard,
“Because of the longer nights, I seem to be taking fewer naps throughout the day. Also, there is no doubt in my mind that the air is different, perhaps better oxygenated.”
Santo interjected,
“When I asked you to locate this place by the stars, what did you learn?”
“Nothing. All the constellations look indigenous to this galaxy. I’m afraid all I can tell you is that we are probably near the equator.”
Santo was not surprised that an observation alone would not locate this place. He was however hoping to get a little more information than ‘probably near the equator’. While walking back to the cabin Quastima whispered,
“As requested by you, I did not eat the food.”
After thanking Quastima for trying, he again turned his attention to Maria and Liana. In the distance, he saw Belle skipping out of the forest and into mother’s arms. Because Maria was pointing to him and then back to the cabin, it was obvious that she was telling Belle to pack up and get ready to leave.
After packing and walking toward the D-wing, Belle, holding hands with both her mom and dad, said,
“I like it here. There are more friends to play with than in the jungle.”
Maria replied,
“Well, if all goes well, maybe we can visit here again.”
Pleased to hear it, Belle excitedly turned to her dad and gleefully said,
“Did you here that? Mom said we can visit lots of times.”
Santo produced a knowing smile. He understood that because they ate the food, soon none would remember anything of this utopian refuge of God’s forgotten creations.
As Quastima and Liana struggled into the cramped back seat of the D-wing, Santo again looked to the forest. He saw seemingly hundreds of little birds all flittering about waving goodbye. Belle was also waving goodbye to them. Off to the side of the forest he saw three human giants. He thought they might be a mother and father holding the hand of a child, although he was a giant of a child. He understood that the holding of hands was an indication of affection of family. Maria looked down at the waving Belle and asked,
“Did you also visit with the giants?”
“Yes, they are friendly too. They spoke a different language than the fairies but I understood them. It was sad because although they live in a small village in the forest, they said that there are not many of them left.”
As Belle was lifted into the front seat, she added,
“Everybody here is nice and friendly.”
Before the canopy turned dark, Quastima was already asleep. Santo was preparing to lift off when Edward’s voice came through the radio.
“Greetings, Captain. I heard all went well.”
“Yes Edward. I thank you for your help. Without it we could not have been able to save the Vatican and countless lives.”
“Think nothing of it Captain.”
His next words were laced with a touch of humour.
“Although I and my House of the Second Creation will certainly remember that you owe us one.”
Santo chuckled and replied,
“A debt I will gladly repay.”
What Edward asked next confused him.
“Tell me Captain. Is it your wish to maintain a friendly coalition with us?”
“Yes, of course. I thought that was what we were building on.”
“Excellent. That is our wish as well. In that case, you should not be offended when I ask you to please return one of ours.”
Except for the guilty look on Belle, confusion swam through the cockpit. Maria was the first to notice her daughter’s terrible attempt at projecting innocence. A child, no matter the level of intelligence always seemed to have an inherent sense that the game was over. After pouting, a guilty hand slowly opened her jacket and out popped the head of a fairy.
Santo suddenly understood the strange request and got right back to Edward.
“I apologize Edward. It was not our intention to kidnap one of yours. Please do not take it as hostile to your kindness.”
Edward, apparently understanding the ways of children said,
“The action of innocent children should never decide friend or foe. Simply open the canopy and she will return to her proper place.”
Wanting to keep her new friend, Belle pleaded,
“Please can I keep her? She likes me.”
There was kindness in Edward’s reply.
“I understand little one. However, she will not survive in your environment.”
When the canopy opened, like a child obeying a parent’s call, the fairy flittered directly toward the forest. As if the fleeing fairy was an escaping bee that might come back, Santo quickly closed the canopy. Edward said,
“You two have a very special child there. Only a handful of ‘first creation humans’ can communicate with fairies and giants.”
There was playfulness in Santo’s reply,
“Yes, she is a handful.”
Belle looked at her mommy, beamed a smile and proudly proclaimed,
“Did you hear that mommy, I’m special.”
Maria responded,
“Yes, you are a very special little princess. Not many children can say that they tried to kidnap a fairy.”
As they lifted off, Santo set coordinates for the Amazon. Strangely, the return trip took only a few minutes. When the canopy went clear, they discovered they were hovering over tall trees looking down into the clearing of Liana’s house and a very large mound of dirt. Many natives were wildly dancing in the clearing. Maria, fearing for their safety, asked Liana,
“What are they doing?”
Liana satisfied her concern, saying,
“Because of my heal
ing power, they treat me like a goddess. They are asking the jungle spirits to return me.”
Because some of the natives had seen the D-wing before, Santo did not bother to cloak. However, those who had never seen it panicked and ran for the safety of the jungle. On the ground, once the canopy opened, many ran to it trying to touch Liana. When Belle attempted to jump out looking for Jinga, Maria, fearing the crowd would not allow it. Quastima made his way to the kitchen and more to himself mumbled,
“I’m hungry.”
Santo understood that he was always hungry but this time knew it was because he had not eaten the food back at the cabin.
Without Quastima’s help, it took a while for Liana to struggle out of the back seat and to the ground. Eventually she was safely standing amongst the natives. She looked back at the D-wing and after promises of ‘we will come back soon’ and ‘stay well’ were completed, the canopy closed and Santo lifted the craft straight up and out of sight.
Sometime later, midway over the ocean, Maria looked strangely hard at Santo and with deliberate intention revealed a secret.
“I’m hungry too.”
Suddenly he understood that she also had not eaten the food loaded with drugs designed to forget. However, it seemed to be no great consequence to a promise not to reveal what they had seen. He understood that the intent was to keep the location a mystery and that was kept because they never knew where they were or how to get back. Belle broke Maria’s intended message when happily saying,
THe Sentinal Satellite Page 27