Blue Skies

by Ali Vali

  Junior struggled but got into this seat and grunted as he tried to accommodate his leg. “Fire it up and let’s see what happens,” she said as she secured the engine cover. The sun was up and it was almost nine, which meant they’d gone over her goal time by an hour.

  It took three times on the ignition switch, but the engine finally came to life. “Do you read Korean?” Junior asked after Berkley climbed in and locked the top in place.

  “Fluently.” Berkley laughed. “I’ve just been holding out on you to make it interesting. See what you can do with the radio before we get there and get shot down by friendly fire.” She taxied them outside and came close to crossing her fingers that the runway was long enough. “We’ll worry about the tailhook when we get there.”

  “What’s wrong with it?”

  “Nothing,” Berkley said and added, “we don’t have one,” right before she punched it.

  *

  The sun was starting to light the room they had locked Jin in. She shook her head every time Yong opened her mouth to say something. Up to the moment she entered the room she had congratulated herself on how she’d been able to lock away her emotions, and then she’d seen Yong.

  It surprised Jin to realize how much Yong represented all the things that were unresolved in her life, and all the things she hadn’t had the time or chance to do. The most important, aside from seeing her mother one last time, was to have been in love just once. What she’d shared with Yong had been physical, but Yong had never gotten close to owning her heart.

  An all-consuming love would not be her fate, but she owed Yong for what she’d given her. “It’s important for you to get back to work and finish your pilot training,” she said, finally breaking the hours of silence. They had only stared at each other up to then and Jin had seen the longing in her lover’s eyes.

  “I tried to do what you asked, but then I thought there was a chance we’d fly together again. Comrade Nam Chil said it would happen.”

  Jin smiled at her. While Yong wasn’t the love of her life, she did feel a tremendous amount of affection for her. “Our leader is lucky to have you in service, Lieutenant, but our time’s done. That means you have the chance to advance your career if you work hard.”

  “You’re here, though,” Yong said and stopped when Jin’s eyes widened. “From what the men here told me, Comrade Nam Chil is impressed with you.”

  “I’m sure that’s why he’s bringing me to the capital, but before I can go back to the cockpit I’ve got to answer for my part in what went wrong.” It was as clear as she could be without killing Yong along with her. “That might take a while.” She stood and reached out to touch Yong’s arm. “Do you understand me?”

  “But there’s a chance.” Yong sounded as if the answer were a life preserver to what was left of her sanity.

  “As good a chance as my father gave us,” Jin said softly. “Please, for me, go.” After that she turned and picked up the phone Lowe had so kindly set up for her.

  The connection went through on the first try and Jin waited for her grandfather to come on the line. “Father,” she said after he greeted her.

  “Your mother wanted me to tell you that you should be at as much peace as she’s enjoying. It was important to her that I tell you she wasn’t disappointed with you for not being able to make it.”

  “Thank you.” Jin gripped the phone so hard that her fingers were going numb. “I wanted to tell you the same thing, so when the time comes you can explain to Grandmother.”

  “Jin?” her grandfather asked in a tone that was already thick with grief. “Have your plans changed? You’d been planning on coming home.”

  “I’m a guest of Lowe Nam Chil.”

  The short admission made her grandfather sigh. “Your father, did he give you your mother’s gift?”

  “Yes.” The necklace was around her neck and she touched it with her free hand.

  “Let it remind you of those who most love you and it’ll make your assignment easier to complete.”

  “I will, but promise me that you’ll take care,” Jin said as someone knocked on the door. “Send my love to Grandmother. Good-bye.” It wasn’t what she had in mind for the last words she’d share with the man who’d raised her, but he knew how she felt about him. There wasn’t time to elaborate and no real reason to.

  “Captain Umeko,” the guard said. “Comrade Nam Chil needs to see you.”

  “Yong,” Jin said after she’d nodded to the guard so he’d know she heard him. “Thank you for your friendship.” Yong bowed, but Jin knew it was to hide the tears in her eyes.

  “I’ll do as you asked,” Yong whispered as Jin left the room.

  In the light of day the scenery at the back of the house was breathtaking, but not as beautiful as some of the furniture that adorned the rooms they walked past. If this was Lowe’s personal residence, the only other person living better in the country was Kim Jong Il.

  The guard stopped at what appeared to be a sunroom with a large wooden carved door at the opposite wall. They heard the curse and the sound of something breaking even though the door was closed, and it made the man glance back at her before he knocked.

  “Captain Umeko,” he announced.

  “Get her in here and leave,” Lowe said.

  The opulent office deserved more of her attention than just the quick look she took, but Jin couldn’t stop staring at Lowe. For once the cool and cocky sadist appeared exhausted and rattled. At the corner of his desk was a broken phone receiver—and probably what they’d heard break.

  “Good morning, Comrade Lowe.”

  “Have you ever heard of the Haeju site?” he asked and combed his hair back with his fingers.

  “I’ve never been, but one of my father’s nephews is one of the soldiers assigned to that post. It’s isolated and relatively low security, but manned constantly like the other sites like it around the country.” Jin stood with her hands behind her back. “It’s a scrap heap for different government vehicles that are stripped for parts. The one you mentioned is for old planes and tanks, I believe, and because of that it’s only got a two-man security team who are highly trusted by the government. I suppose it’s a good idea since you don’t want someone who’ll fly one of the planes to the nearest airport on the other side of our borders.”

  “So you think someone could get one of them flight ready?”

  “That is their job. To take the planes that are in the best condition and repair them to make them flight ready, but once they do, they don’t get very far since my father said that, despite the trust they have in the personnel, they never keep much fuel on hand. It’s only enough to test the engines once they’ve been rebuilt.” At first she thought this was another one of his circular conversations to draw her out, but something wasn’t right. “Is there something I can do for you?”

  “If I get us a plane, how fast can you get there?”

  “It’s not far from here. Less than thirty minutes.”

  The answer made Lowe calm down until he reached for the phone. When the receiver fell from his hand in two pieces he ripped the entire thing out and threw it at the wall of glass. The sound caught Jin by surprise, and she flinched. She had expected the large pane to shatter, but the phone only fell to the ground as if it had hit a chunk of wood. That meant Lowe had spared no expense to protect himself with bulletproof glass.

  He shouted for a car and grabbed Jin by the bicep and yanked her up against his body. “You need to understand something,” he said, sounding like the madman he was. “I’d threaten you with your life, but I think you’re smart enough to know you’re so close to the end that I can taste it.”

  Jin laughed and took pleasure on looking down on him, their slight height difference apparent at this distance. “Finally, you’ve given me credit for something.”

  “Don’t patronize me, Captain.” Lowe let her go, straightened his back, and took a deep breath. He picked up his coat, stared at it, then dropped it back on the chair. “You’ll
find that I always make it my business to know what motivates the people I have to work with for whatever reason. When you appeared on my screen I knew you wouldn’t respond to threats against your life, just like I know you’d probably never crack in my workroom.”

  “Then what’s this about?”

  “I’ve got a plane waiting at the base where you were stationed before your father decided to punish you,” he said and started walking.

  “I didn’t think Pak confided what he considered his failures to anyone.” The guard that had followed them to the car slammed the door once Lowe had gotten in after her.

  “Pak is the kind of man who catches our leader’s eyes because nothing is as important to him as his own success.”

  Jin glanced out the window to orient herself as to where exactly they were. “If you’re trying to vilify Pak to change my mind about him, then you didn’t study my file as carefully as you said. I already know what Pak loves, and the only thing he’s faithful to is the adornments on his uniform.”

  “Stop interrupting me,” Lowe said and slapped her. “Your biggest problem is that you think you’re so much smarter than everyone else, but all you are is an annoying bitch. I know not to threaten you with Pak. If anything, you’d probably encourage me to remove his eyes and feed them to him. Your grandparents, though, that’s another thing altogether, isn’t it?” He sat back and laughed when Jin looked at him and flattened her hand on her upper thigh. “You can hit me, but you won’t live to enjoy the stinging in your hand.”

  “Stop playing your games and tell me what you want,” Jin said, not fearing any reprisal from him since she got the impression he needed her alive now.

  “There has been no evidence that the pilots you downed are actually dead, so I gave orders at every one of the stops we made before we arrived at my home to be vigilant but not go out of their way to search.” Lowe went on to explain what had been reported to him the night before. “The scrap heap, as you put it, is in the area where this man was found. I’ve been calling all morning and there’s been no answer. Unlike you, the men stationed there know better than to defy orders or abandon their posts.”

  “So that proves what?” Jin had experienced a brief moment of happiness when they drove past the main gate of the base. In many ways this had been the most consistent home she’d ever had.

  “That if these people are actually alive they could be there trying to put together a ride home. I highly doubt it, but I need to know.”

  “Anything’s possible. If I were in the same position, I could have something flightworthy in a day.”

  Lowe grabbed her by the wrist this time and squeezed. “You’d better hope that isn’t the case, but if you need motivation to make sure they actually died this time, if by some chance they’re there, I give you my word that I’ll let Pak take the blame for all of this alone.”

  “And Yong and my grandparents?” Jin put her hand over his since he hadn’t let her go.

  “Yong has been released from my house already, and your grandparents will be cared for until they die of natural causes.”

  “How do I know that’s true?”

  Lowe didn’t move when the car stopped next to a plane and the door was opened. “You don’t, but if you decide to refuse me or you fail at what I’m asking, you will know for sure that you brought about their deaths because I will make you watch as I take my time with all of them.”

  Chapter Thirty-One

  The weather had cleared to a beautiful day with miles of visibility in all directions, which made Berkley laugh at their shitty luck so far. There was only one thing to be grateful for and that was that they hadn’t been captured or even pursued from the time they’d crashed. Whatever the reason, they’d have to figure it out after she got Junior back on the ship and handed him over to the care of the Jefferson’s doctor.

  She took her time getting accustomed to the differences in the small fighter jet but kept her eyes on the skies around her. “You okay back there, Junior?” Their altitude was slightly higher than when they had flown in, but not by much. What she didn’t need was to be picked up on radar since she had no weapons on board and no guidance systems that would alert them to anyone in the vicinity trying to put a lock on them.

  “I feel like shit, but I’m thrilled to be here, ma’am,” he said and laughed. “This will be a great story to tell my grandkids one day.”

  “Hopefully, this is as exciting as it gets, so keep your fingers crossed.” Berkley had the compass in her hand and was flying them in a southwesterly direction figuring that’s where she’d find the Jefferson once they were in open waters. “How’s the radio coming?”

  “Give me a few more minutes and see if I can’t rewire this thing enough to get out at least one message.”

  “That’s all I can spare, and then I need your eyes on the skies, so if you can’t get it let it go and we’ll make due when we’re close.”

  “I don’t know about you, but getting shot down is something I’d only like to do once,” Junior said and she could hear him tapping on something behind her. “The first time we were lucky, but if we fly over the Jefferson in this thing and they don’t know who we are, they’ll need a teaspoon to pick up all the pieces after they’re through with us.”

  “We need to get there before our side can take a shot at us,” she reminded him. “If our hosts for the last couple of days find us first, they’ll drop a nuclear bomb on us before they let us out of here alive.”

  “You could give motivational talks once you’re out of the Navy.”

  “Get the radio working, smart-ass, before we’re spotted and they shove a bomb up our backside.”

  *

  USS Jefferson

  “I understand you’d like to talk to me,” Aidan said to Alan Lewis. Devin had brought him back up to the room they’d been using as an interrogation space after the guards complained about him screaming his demands ever since Devin had locked him back up. “I’m not sure why, since you made it clear that you had told the truth and were done talking.”

  “I wanted to make sure you understood I had nothing to do with what happened to Commander Levine,” Alan said and kept his voice calm even though he was hoarse from all the yelling.

  “That’s for a military court to decide, Lieutenant Lewis. It’s not my call.”

  “I don’t know what Blazer told you, but I had nothing to do with anything.”

  “The fact that I’ve released him should tell you his story is more plausible than yours, and easier to prove.” Aidan never looked up from her paperwork and tried to appear like taking the time to have this meeting was a burden on her schedule. “Secretary of Defense Orr also video conferenced us to say that Jerry Teague and Adam Morris have been detained for questioning and will remain in custody pending an investigation. They’re due for further talks today.”

  “I don’t mean any disrespect, ma’am, but I don’t believe you.”

  Aidan glanced up at him and smiled. “None taken, but you should ask yourself what I have to gain by lying about that. If you’d like I can have the video feed of the meeting cued up so you can watch that section of it.” She waited to see if he’d respond. “Disobeying a direct order that results in bringing down a fellow officer, as well as breaching enemy lines for no reason, are not things that the U.S. government takes lightly. This will be investigated until everyone involved has all the alphabet of agencies crawl up their ass and figure out who’s the easiest person to blame.”

  “And you think that’s me?” Alan said and smiled.

  “Thinking isn’t necessary, Lieutenant. There are three people we’ve found so far and they all tell the same tale. You can believe me or not, I don’t give a shit, but I’m sure Blazer will write to you while you do life for this. That is, if they don’t decide to kill you for Commander Levine and Lieutenant Whittle’s deaths.” She dropped her head again and went back to the reports scattered across the table. “If that’s all, you’re free to go back to your cell.”


  “I want to see the tape,” he said and pulled his arm away from Devin when the MP went to escort him out. It took a few minutes of Aidan typing commands into the computer before Drew’s face appeared on the screen and repeated what Aidan and Devin had told Alan.

  “Anything else you’d like before Devin locks you out of my sight?”

  “I’d like to change my account of what happened,” Alan said, and now looked visibly nervous. “I have the right, and I don’t care if you have to write me up for lying.”

  “What would make me believe you?” Aidan locked eyes briefly with Devin. “If you’re telling me you lied, then what’s to keep it from happening again?”

  “Because you know I lied and you know what happened. The only reason I’m here is to confirm the facts.”

  “Captain,” Luther Oliver buzzed in on the intercom. “I’m sorry to disturb you, ma’am, but you need to get to the bridge.”

  “What’s happening?”

  “We got a partial message on one of our open lines.”

  Aidan noticed that Devin and Alan both looked at the speaker where the message was coming from. “What was it?”

  “Calling the Jefferson, this is Commander Berkley Levine, I’m on my way,” Luther played back for them and Aidan felt as if her blood had drained out of her feet she was so weak after hearing Berkley’s voice.

  “Is that all she said?” Aidan asked softly.

  “I’m positive there was more, but she got cut off.”

  “Devin, get this scum out of my sight. I’ll deal with this later.” She pointed to Alan. “And you, seems like I might not need your story after all. I’m going to get it from the person you tried to screw over.”

  “I have the right to talk to you,” Alan said, sounding like a man facing life in prison.

  “You have the right to shut the hell up and let me get to my job,” Aidan said and left the room. She ran through the corridor, jumping over the door hatches along the way to the bridge. Okay, Cletus, I knew you wouldn’t let me down, but now it’s time to make it the whole way back, she thought as she climbed the steps that would lead to the command center of her ship and a view of the blue skies outside.