Wings of Fire Ch. 01

'If this is being read, then I know that I have succeeded in keeping this weapon safe from the clutches of my greedy and ruthless brother. James, I know you're wondering why I hid this note here with this sword and I promise you, everything will reveal itself in time. Right now, there is something that you need to know; your father is alive! We were supposed to meet him on that night when we were supposed to cross. But we lost all contact and I dared not try to find him, lest your uncle or his friends find out who he is! I can't say much on that right now, for fear of discovery or on the off chance that someone else other than you finds this. I will tell you how to find him though. Find Margaret Bishop, in the Independent Republic of California and ask her about the lone samurai in the green hat. If I am gone when you get this, I hope that you go and find him. He is a good man and had always wanted to be here for you, but because of who is he is, he could not be. Godspeed on your journey my son, wherever you decide to go.'

That was where the note ended, and Jim had to sit down and take deep breaths to calm himself. His father was alive! In the Republic! In the span of several minutes, everything in his world had changed and now, a concrete plan began to form in his mind. It had started as a flight of fancy, something he had planned out for some time, but never had a clear direction of where he would go next. Now he had a destination.

"I know that face James Brighton. It's a face that you get whenever you are about to get up to some mischief," Marisol said in an authoritative tone. "Just what exactly are you planning?"

"I'm leaving Mari," he said with a sigh. "I can't stay here. Not just because of Manfredo's reach but also because its clear that I'm not welcome here anymore. Present company excluded of course!"

Marisol smiled at that last, but it was a sad smile. She knew that things would eventually come to this and as it was, she could not go with. It wasn't that she didn't want to, but it was because she still had her mother and little sister to care for. Her mother had contracted some sort of illness that had left her bedridden and her sister was still in elementary school. It was her salary from being a maid at the estate that kept them all going, and Marisol couldn't sacrifice that.

Jim knew all of this, having spoken with Marisol at length some of the days, back at the estate. He knew that the only way she'd leave was if she could bring her mother and sister along with. The plan that had come together in Jim's head didn't have room for anyone who wasn't mobile.

"I know James. One day it would come to this and that you'd leave. But things as they are, I can't come with you," she said regretfully.

"It's sad that you can't come Mari. I know that you're devoted to your family and I wouldn't ask you to abandon them to the mercy of my uncle Andrew," he replied. "Though I am going to have to leave now, tonight, if my plan is going to work."

"Can you tell me what you have in mind?"

"Honestly, I'd like to, but I can't. When I'm gone, you may be called in for questioning and the only way that I can ensure your safety is if you can honestly say to the police, 'I don't know.'" he stated to her. Although crestfallen, Mari understood his reasoning and watched him pack his things up into his duffle, sheathing his sword and stowing it in the bag. He had just pulled on his jacket when she stood up and crossed the small room to where he stood.

Pulling him down, she locked her lips onto his and kissed him fiercely. Jim reciprocated the kiss, kissing her like he wasn't going to see her again. If he was truly honest with himself, he knew that he likely wouldn't, not with the path that he had set in mind. He drew her in, letting his arms, lips and tongue do all the talking for him, showing Mari how much he'd miss her. They broke apart after what seemed like an eternity, breathing heavily.

"If I can, I'll find a way to come back and get you and your family out of here," he promised to her, holding her in his arms.

"I'll hold you to that," she whispered to him and she caressed his face. With a quick kiss to her lips and forehead, he snatched his hat, duffle and was out the door. Although sad to see him go, Marisol knew that he had his own path to walk, as did she.

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James was out of the hotel as quickly as he dared, donning his hat in the process. Night had fallen, and the street lamps were already on, illuminating the town streets. Jim hurried along, retracing his route back to the airfield, as he went over the logistics of his plan. It was a bit of a distance to get back there but if everything panned out, he wouldn't have much to worry about in the future.

His plan was a simple one; hike back to the airfield, find the keys for the plane that was built and fly it out of this town! There were a lot of variables to consider and any one of them could have his plan come apart, but in this case, he had nothing left to lose. Right now, he was willing to take any risk necessary, in order to pay back those thieving sons of bitches! He soon came upon the dirt and gravel road that led to the airfield and turned down it.

He kept close to the wooded area, in case a vehicle came down the road, so he couldn't be easily spotted. He needn't have worried as no vehicles came down the road in either direction. Jim trekked through the sticks, fallen logs and brambles with little difficulty and soon found the airfield lying before him. There were some basic lights on, making it seem like someone was around, but he knew better.

It was a ploy that Manfredo did to make it look like someone was still at home, to deter thieves. He always was a cheap bastard and that cheapness would bite him in the ass tonight. Jim circled around to the rear of the airfield, where there was a section of fence that had a slight hole in it. It was just large enough for a man to climb through and if he knew the men at the airfield, they were a bunch of lazy fucks who didn't care about fixing shit. He hoped that was still the case at least.

James kept walking along the fence line until he found the opening. It was maybe a foot and a half in width and four and a half feet in height. At a distance, it was hard to tell that it was there and because it was right behind Hangar three, which was hardly used, it was practically invisible. Jim first pushed his bag through, sliding it onto the ground with little effort. He followed though maybe a moment later, doffing his hat and crouching to get through.

Once back on the ground, he put his hat back on, hefted his duffle and double timed it to the main office building. Because it was attached to the main hangar, it was easy to get into, since those arrogant bastards had forgotten to repossess Jim's keys to the place. Before James tried to the door, he listened to the area surrounding him. He heard nothing, no chatter, no footfalls, just the idle night wind and crickets sounding through the night.

Drawing the keys from his bag, he found the correct one and opened the door. Walking in, he went over to the connecting door and let himself in. Walking up the flight of stairs in front of him, rather than going left towards the locker rooms and storage areas, he found the offices that Manfredo and his cohorts used. There were only six rooms on the second floor and from what he could see, they were all dark.

He decided to check the concept office at the end of the hall, as that's where Roberto and Manfredo liked to work. Walking in, he checked it quickly but found nothing. No keys, no designs, nothing. It seemed like Jim was going to have to do this the old-fashioned way and look through each office one at a time. It took him the better part of an hour to look through them, but he found nothing, not in any drawer, cabinet or tabletop.

James was getting frustrated and was contemplating on giving up, when he saw a small sliver of light out the corner of his eye. He turned and saw the light was emanating from Manfredo's office. He didn't know how that was possible, as that was the second place that he'd checked, and it had yielded nothing! Shaking his head and pinching himself to make sure that he wasn't dreaming, he walked over quietly, wondering who could have snuck in behind him!

As he walked in, he saw that the light was coming from a bookcase built into Manny's wall, but it was shifted to the side, like someone had moved it! Drawing closer, he placed his bag at the foot of Manny's desk and saw that the bookcase was a ruse and there was a hidden room behind it! Slowly and quietly, Jim opened the hidden door further and was surprised by what he saw.

In front of him was Roberto Marino, passed out and dead drunk, with no less than three empty bottles of red wine in front of him. A fourth and fifth bottle were on the ground, still corked and they rolled out past him as the opening widened. Jim looked at the door and its housing and noted that a latch of some sort was built into it. It seemed to him that Roberto had walked in here and had forgotten to secure it. For all their sneakiness, these idiots were unerringly sloppy.

With Rob passed out, James looked around and found what he was looking for. The keys to the new plane, his plane, were sitting atop the drafting table, just out of Rob's reach. Carefully, Jim picked them up and tucked them into his pocket. Breathing a sigh of relief that he hadn't woken Roberto, Jim was about to leave when he saw that his blueprints were right there underneath Rob's head!

Jim was about to curse his luck when he thought about what else this room might contain. He resolved to search it and see what else might be in it, before he took his plans back. When he did, he was sure that Rob would wake up, but he'd deal with that problem when he came to it. Noting that there was a small cabinet with flat drawers, Jim thought to have a look through those first. Half of them contained nothing of interest, just some pencils and blank blueprint paper.

It was the last three drawers that caught his interest however. In each drawer was a detailed blueprint for other planes, each one of which was based off his initial design! Although some of the proposed changes didn't make sense to him, aerodynamically speaking, others did. Not wanting to let these plans stay in their hands, James took them and stowed them in some carrying tubes from atop the cabinet and quickly stowed them in his duffle bag.

Going back inside, he looked about and found nothing unusual but saw that a small floor safe stood next to the drafting table. It was locked, and he would have left it alone, but it was then that he spotted a sequence of three numbers, written on a slip of paper. The numbers read; thirty-three, seventeen, one. Thinking that he'd try it, Jim knelt in front of the safe and tried the sequence. After two failed attempts, he nailed it on the third try and he head the click as the safe opened.

As quietly as he dared, Jim turned the handle and opened the safe door. Inside lay thousands of US dollars, probably the whole payroll for the year and Manny had it sitting around inside this safe! He also spotted two brown leather-bound notebooks, one plain and the other with a strange symbol embossed on its cover. Puzzlement on his face, James took them out and stared at them, before opening both. Inside the first was a detailed parts list of his plane, which James knew he was keeping. The other was filled with a series of entries that looked like they were in some sort of cipher, which Jim couldn't read or understand.

Shaking his head, he saw that behind the notebooks, lay several gold bars, also embossed with the same symbol. Jim almost cried out at the turn of his luck! The price of gold by the ounce had skyrocketed since the end of the war and anyone who possessed at least one such bar had enough to buy themselves a mansion with money leftover!

Looking up to see that Rob was still asleep, Jim quickly moved each bar and stack of cash into his duffle bag. Five minutes later, his bag was considerably heavier, the five bars weighing down the duffle, but he could still lift it. The strange notebook also found its way into his bag because from Jim's perspective, if it was locked behind a safe, it had to have some value. He would have to find a way to decrypt the cipher but that was a challenge for another day.

Now that he was almost done, James steeled himself for the last thing to be done. As carefully as he could, he returned to the room and lifted Roberto's head off the blueprints and pulled them out. He laid Rob's head back down on the table and went to put the blueprints in another tube. There were some wine stains on the paper, but they had dried and thankfully, hadn't marred the integrity of the plans.

Just as James had finished rolling and stowing them, Rob started to stir. James froze in place just in front of him, hoping that Rob would go back to sleep. Sadly, he didn't and raised his head off the table, blinking his eyes blearily. He looked straight at Jim, almost like he couldn't believe what he was seeing. Then, with a shake of his head, he blinked again and started to sit upright.

"Jim?" he croaked out, his voice soured by the wine.

"Good night Robbie," Jim said evenly before decking him. His fist connecting squarely with Rob's nose, the drunk man went cross eyed before his head fell back to the table. Jim looked at Rob and was certain that he'd knocked the boy out. Smirking, Jim went back outside into Manny's office, closing the door behind himself and turning out the light. He also scooped up the bottles of wine that were on the floor, figuring to have himself a celebratory drink when he was far away and across the border.

James was just finishing with putting away the last of his spoils, when he heard something. It almost sounded like someone clearing their throat. His head snapped up and he saw a figure there, standing in the doorway. He heard a click and the hallway light turned on, illuminating the figure. It was a woman, but not the one he had hoped for or expected. The woman in standing there, looking down on him in disapproval was none other than Laura Marino, Rob's little sister.

And that's where the first chapter of this story ends folks! I do hope that you've enjoyed this new story idea that I've cranked out. I had a lot of fun writing this one, as I've always wanted to write something that had a Rocketeer/Indiana Jones-esque feel to it. I always loved those movies, though honestly, wasn't too pleased by Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

Anyways, back on topic, I know that I'm being a bit evil in leaving it as a cliffhanger but as a writer, they are lots of fun to write! *chuckles evilly* How will James talk his way out of this predicament that he's in? What is in that notebook that he's discovered? Will he cross the border and find his father? Those answers will come in future chapters of this story, so you'll just have to be patient and wait until more chapters land.

Anyways, thank you for taking the time to read my work and I do hope that you've enjoyed it! I'm open to constructive criticism and will seriously consider any suggestions made about various story arcs. Please feel free to rate and comment on my work down below. If you like what I write, don't be afraid to follow and share, though your views, ratings and comments are quite enough for me.

In the meantime, this is SwirlingJedi, signing off to grab a beer and some quality time with the wife! ;) You will attain whatever you most desire, as long as you believe in yourself. Cheers!