Flight

by Bernard Wilkerson

With Eva and Mark separated and cuffed, guards holding rifles on each of them, the two female border guards tore the jeep apart. They removed all their gear and separated it out on the road. They took panels off the jeep and even pulled the seats out. They searched everything.

  At one point Eva thought they were going to dump the extra fuel out of the five gallon jerry cans, but they didn’t.

  Eva’s knees hurt, so she rolled to lay on her side, stretching her legs out. Shay, her guard, didn’t say anything, but kept looking at her in ways that disgusted her. She kept her face passive, helpless.

  It seemed like the guards had been going through the jeep for hours, but it had probably only been about thirty minutes. Then one said something that caught Eva’s attention.

  “What’s this?”

  The woman had pulled the glove box out, and underneath it she found a leather badge wallet. She read it disbelievingly.

  “Mark Dornbush.” She looked down at Mark, who had rolled over onto his side like Eva. “Who are you?”

  Mark didn’t respond.

  “I said, who are you?”

  When Mark didn’t answer the second time, his guard kicked him.

  “The lady is talking to you.”

  He kicked Mark again.

  “This one’ll talk,” Shay called to the others. Great, Eva thought. She was going to get beat up by Moron again.

  He reached down and grabbed her and twisted. Hard.

  Eva didn’t cry out. She pictured kicking her legs, sweeping his out from under him, taking the man down, and wrapping his head between her shins. The right kind of pressure and she could kill him. Theoretically, anyway. No one had ever actually killed anyone that way. But if he hurt her again, she was ready to try.

  Before she decided to do anything, he stopped. She heard a vehicle approaching.

  He looked away from her, staring at whatever was incoming, not paying attention to her, and she tensed, ready to strike. She was fed up with these idiots.

  She glanced up at the machine gun to check on it, and it was trained directly on her. At least that guard wasn’t stupid. She’d have to wait.

  The approaching vehicle, another white SUV like the one in the parking area, came to a stop and someone jumped out of the passenger side, yelling.

  “What in Sam’s name are you numbskulls doing? Let me see that.” He strode over to the guard with the badge wallet. She meekly handed it to him. He tore it out of her hand, glanced at it, and shook his head. He held it up and waved it at the group. “I could tell from the video feed these guys were some kind of federal agents. What do you all think you’re doing? Do they look like terrorists to you?” He glared at the border guards like they were misbehaving children. “You’re lucky these two haven’t killed all of you yet. And you, rocks for brains.” He stomped over towards Eva and her guard, jabbing his finger at the man. “I’ve been watching her. She’s almost killed you five times already. I’m not sure what’s holding her back.”

  The man wore a National Guard uniform with the rank of major, but Eva decided he knew more than just the run of the mill weekend warrior. Maybe the cavalry had arrived.

  The major put his face inches from Eva’s guard. The guard cowed.

  Eva enjoyed the tirade that followed. It ended with the officer taking the guard’s rifle away from him and ordering him to uncuff her. The guard, Shay, obeyed, moving slowly, getting the key from the female guard, shuffling back, and undoing her cuffs.

  As soon as Eva’s hands were free, she thrust her right hand upwards, her fingers bent back out of the way, and caught Shay on the bottom of his nose with the heel of her palm. He crumpled and she stood up.

  Guns were pointed at her, but she noticed the female guard, Lizzy, smiling. The National Guard major waved the guns off.

  “You’re lucky you all aren’t dead,” he shouted to his people. “I attribute that to the professionalism of these agents. Now put all their stuff back, just like you found it.”

  He moved closer to Eva and put his hand out. She took it.

  “Sorry about your man there,” she said.

  “No, you’re not. He had it coming. I’ll court-martial him, but he’ll get off easy. We need every able body we’ve got.”

  “How’d you know?”

  “How did I know you were some kind of agents?” he asked. “I could tell as soon as I started watching the surveillance feed. Have you ever seen a cougar cornered by dogs?”

  “No, sir.”

  “I did, this afternoon.”

  “Dogs can be dangerous,” Eva commented.

  “They might hurt the cougar, but you know what happens next.”

  She nodded and rubbed her wrists. It felt good to get the cuffs off.

  Mark walked over to her, also rubbing his wrists. He had a slight grin on his face.

  They stepped back and watched the guards put everything back together. It took them over fifteen minutes and by then, Eva’s former guard had woken up and risen to his feet. His face and shirt were covered in blood. Eva hoped she’d broken his nose.

  He glared at her and she pointedly ignored him, knowing that would infuriate him further.

  Eventually he was handcuffed and placed in the major’s vehicle. The major shook Mark’s hand and the two exchanged smiles.

  “I hope you’re off to do something important,” the major said. “Someone needs to.”

  “We’ll try.”

  “Fighting aliens, maybe?” the major asked.

  Mark shrugged. “We’ll see.”

  “Good luck. May God be with you.”

  “Thank you.”

  Eva added a thank you also and climbed back into the jeep. Even her Glock had been returned to the spot where she’d tried unsuccessfully to hide it.

  The gate went up, the tire shredders went down, and they were on their way again. Mark drove ninety.

  When they were out of range of the machine gun, he slowed down to a normal seventy.

  “What was that between you and that major?” Eva asked.

  “He looked like a pro. Former agent. Or maybe special forces. Not sure.”

  “What’s he doing as a weekend warrior?”

  “Who knows? Maybe he just wanted a quiet retirement. They’re not all losers.”

  The back of Eva’s head wanted to argue with him. It still hurt. She definitely should have kept her mouth shut. She looked at her hands and her fingers were bruising. She was lucky Shay hadn’t hit her harder.

  She wiggled her fingers for a while and nothing seemed to be broken.

  After that she sat back in her seat, quiet, reviewing the entire incident. She considered what she might have done differently, besides not trying to antagonize her guard. She worried about their next encounter.

  “If the Utahns are getting that touchy, can you imagine what the rest of the country is like?” she asked.

  “I don’t want to.”

  Eva’s thoughts troubled her. The major’s comparison of her to a cougar also bothered her, although it flattered a little. She finally voiced what was on her mind.

  “Would we really have killed all of them if the cavalry hadn’t arrived?”

  “If that’s what it took,” Mark replied. “I don’t know how we would have dealt with the machine gun, though.”

  “He’s what kept me from trying anything. He seemed to be the only one on his toes.”

  “It’s only gonna get worse. And there probably won’t be cavalry next time,” Mark said.

  “What are you suggesting? We shoot first and ask questions later?”

  “If that’s what it takes,” Mark replied grimly. “If that’s what it takes.”

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