Escaping the Cradle

by Karen Page

Part 45

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Part 45
DATE:FC+168

Mario Berlusconi liked having a private jet at his beck and call. The plush chairs and the ability to go when he wanted made him feel special. He had the money coming from his family's business, but he'd never made use of it until now.

Roberta and Sally had been retained to shuttle Mario around. He was ecstatic when he found they both spoke fluent Italian. It had only been a few days, but they'd already seen a few in the upper echelon of the group. The disaster in Birmingham had caused quite a lot of disquiet.

Today, Roberta had been summoned to Mario's home. A modern villa built to look traditional, surrounded with acres of vineyards. When she got to his office, he was looking out of the window, admiring something in the distance.

Roberta gave a discreet cough. Mario turned to appraise his visitor.

Mario didn't suggest Roberta sit, but said, "Last year, a side project went wrong. I've been trying to rebuild it slowly, but hopefully not in a way that attracted the same attention. I've got a special package to pick up for it in France. Can you take it to Bulgaria? It's in the Schengen zone, so no passports. I will organise it getting to Türkiye."

"All part of the cause," said Roberta.

"Yes. It is projects like this that bring in the money to stop those aliens. The flight will be from Châteauroux-Centre in France to Uzundzhovo Airfield in Bulgaria."

"I've never heard of that airfield in Bulgaria."

"It's disused." Mario informed Roberta.

"I've chauffeured you around. What makes you think I could land at an airport like that?"

"I'm told you've done it before. You did something similar for a Dutch family a few years ago."

"That was never supposed to get out," griped Roberta. Internally she was thanking Mary-Beth for creating such a great fake legend.

Mario grinned. "So, say get there at midnight. A daytime landing at a disused airport might attract unwanted attention."

"I couldn't eat enough carrots to make that work," she said. When she noticed he didn't understand her quip, continued, "There won't be any landing lights. I won't see the runway. Unless you can get several cars to act as temporary runway lights, it isn't safe. I presume you want your cargo undamaged."

Mario looked furious at his idea being undermined. Roberta continued hastily. "However, I like your idea of not landing in the day. Dusk would work and there will still be less people around. We are flying east, and Bulgaria are an hour ahead."

Mario looked at Roberta for a few seconds and then nodded. "I've been told I should listen to experts more often. You know what you need to fly. Go work it out and let me know when you'll be in France and when in Bulgaria. I'll then arrange the meetings at both sides."

"I'll get on with prepping our flight and confirming the plane," Roberta agreed. "Do you mind if I use your lounge to sort this?"

"Not at all. I'll message you today's Wi-Fi password."

Roberta went to the lounge and sat down on one of the settees. She took one with her back to the wall, so she could watch the door and anything happening outside.

One of the great things about the rich. They have decent equipment but a miser like Mario hated paying for upkeep. On the last visit, Roberta had run a discovery program to find out what equipment there was and any obvious security holes. This time she was prepared to utilise those security holes and install backdoors into the video recordings.

She got on with her work planning the flight when her computer disconnected her from the network. Puzzled, she went into the settings. She was still connected but it showed a circle with a white diagonal line through it. All incoming data was going to a protected virtual machine. That only happened if someone on the network was scanning her. Perhaps his equipment was better than first thought.

The phone signal looked strong, and Roberta suspected there was a repeater, so she decided to use a satellite Direct to Cell connection. The planning for the plane journey didn't take long. She made sure she did it in her less secure space so if Mario was keeping an eye, he would see some activity. It was also a method for other investigators to know what she was doing.

After an hour, she sent a report with the plan. She'd hoped to see some visitors, but the property was quiet. After a few days of activity, it seemed odd. Or perhaps this was the normal tempo, and the recent activity was unusual.

"Your networks playing up," Roberta said, when she went to see Mario for final authorisation. He liked to have control on things like that. "I'd suggest you get someone in."

"I had someone in late yesterday," he said, frowning. "What happened?"

Roberta had thought if someone looked and saw her stop using the network, that might have been suspicious. By telling him, there was a chance he might think something had gone wrong and get it removed, or at least not as aggressive. She'd not been able to add the backdoor.

"I've no idea. The connection was intermittent. I just thought you should know. Are you okay with my schedule?"

"Yes. After you've refuelled, go to the remote stand and the cargo will be brought. Remember, this will help finance the fight for humanity's future."

Roberta exclaimed, "Earth First!"

"Indeed," Mario responded plainly. "Have a safe flight. Come back and see me in a few days. We will have more visits to do. Visiting other units direct is a lot more discreet. After what happened in England, be careful. I think someone is watching us."

Roberta switched to English, "As you alluded to earlier, this isn't my first rodeo. Pardon my American phrase."

Mario laughed and Roberta went to meet up with Sally. They had a flight to prep.

"On my way," Roberta texted Sally.

The response was quick. "I'm in the coffee shop. Do you want cake? I'll watch out for you."

Roberta smiled at the use of code and pocketed her phone. Sally was letting her know she was being watched. Mario was certainly getting paranoid. There had also been no sign of Luke yet. He'd messaged to say he was embedded, but that was a different cell. Mario seemed to be acting as the boss, but he didn't seem to have the gumption. Roberta suspected there was someone pulling his strings.

There wasn't any parking near to the coffee shop. She found something in a nearby road and walked down the street. Sally was sat outside, enjoying her coffee, her tablet propped open. This wasn't like the commercial coffee shops found in the UK or America. This was a locally run shop. In rural Italy, having an outsider was unusual and they knew they would be the talk of the village.

"Do you want another?" Roberta asked Sally.

"Please."

"Sofia!" Roberta smiled, going inside and seeing the owner. "Two espressos please."

As she went back to join Sally, she turned to one of the men sat inside. "Thomas. Thank you for keeping an eye on Sally. It's good we're being protected."

Thomas huffed. It wasn't what he'd been doing. He'd been spying on her so was surprised when she'd thanked him. He didn't know what to say to her thanks. Roberta didn't hang around to hear anything from him but went to join Sally.

Sally and Roberta didn't say much. They just enjoyed their coffee and watched the small amount of traffic go by. The pace of life was much slower than where they normally lived, and it seemed strange to relax.

"We need to be going soon." Roberta said, looking at her watch. "We've a flight to prep."

The airport was forty minutes away. The two women just talked about the weather, the vineyards and what gossip Sally had gleaned. The car had been lent to them by Mario, and they suspected it would have listening devices in it. Whoever listened would find out that Mattia and Vittoria were expecting a baby, but Vittoria's parents were furious because he worked on a farm they didn't approve of.

The plane was where they'd left it. The Embraer Legacy 600 gleamed in the light. Going in they saw the FBO had restocked and cleaned, which was what they were paid to do. Planes aren't like cars with keys to lock it. Security was maintained by the airfield.

Roberta filed the flight plan. They'd requested departure in an hour. That gave them time to do the important activities.

"Let's do the checks," Sally said.

They started in the cabin, checking the area for anything untoward. The scanners picked up two listening devices. One under a seat cushion, and one was behind a panel in the galley.

Roberta took them out to the car. It was either Earth Fist bugging them, or it was someone trying to find out what Earth Fist was up to. Either way, having them around didn't help.

When she got back to the plane, Sally was in the cockpit. She'd got some of the panels open looking to see if everything looked as it should.

"Looking good. Do the standard checks," said Roberta. "I'll ask our friends if they saw anything on their feed."

There was two hidden cameras installed in the aeroplane. One that looked into the cabin, and one that showed the activity in the cockpit. The cockpit one was to show if anybody had come in. The cabin one wasn't really to track someone putting in a bug, but for monitoring passengers.

Happy that things were as safe as they could be, they shut the plane door and settled into the cockpit.

"Do you mind doing the first leg?" Roberta asked Sally. "I've got some paperwork to catch up on."

Sally laughed. "Sure, I'll do the flight to France. I got mine done while sipping coffee. If I'd drunk any more, I think I'd have been high for a month."

"It does taste nicer than some of the places at home."

The paperwork that Roberta talked about was basically a log of activities. Not all investigations gave room for updates like that. When they went dark, it was when they didn't dare risk any communication. Those were hard times, especially if they were on a solo deployment. Luke was currently on his own and dark. His only communication had been to let the team know he was in.

It was gaps like this that gave a breather for them. The flight would take them about two hours. During that time, they knew they were relatively safe. And they were flying, which both of them loved to do.

When they landed in France, there was plenty of time. Sally filed the flight plan for their trip to Bulgaria. They couldn't put the destination as the deserted military airport, so they put Plovdiv. They were about 60 miles apart. Roberta took the time to go to the facilities. Even though it was an executive plane, using the toilet on board was never the first choice when there was a proper one just a few hundred meters away.

While Roberta was out, a secure call came through to her phone.

"Hey," Roberta said, recognising who was ringing. She moved to a quiet area of the building.

"Nice finds," Mary-Beth responded.

"Any idea who left them?"

"It doesn't look like the cleaning crew. It looks like it was from your last flight. Mario's driver."

"Mario is getting paranoid. He got someone in to tighten network security. I wasn't able to add the backdoor. Either Mario requested his driver do this to watch over us, or his driver is spying on his boss."

"Neither scenario sounds good," Mary-Beth concluded. "Any idea on the cargo?"

Roberta smiled. Not only had Mary-Beth gone through the videos, but she'd also read the reports.

"No. I don't think we'll like it. The way Mario tried to butter me up. For the good of Earth First."

"Munchkin says she'll have a new program for you next week which will bypass the new security."

"Great news. Anything else?"

"Delta Three Alpha is home," Mary-Beth announced, her voice lighter. "She's been told she can't skip debrief this time."

"Does she know about her sister?" Roberta asked, concerned for her colleague.

"Yes. She knew during deployment, but she carried on. I don't think anybody in the world isn't aware that she's missing. The rescue of the other one is still on people's lips."

"Thanks for the update. Are you going to observe our cargo?"

"Of course. We've got you covered. Good luck."

Roberta grabbed two coffees and made her way back to the plane. She carefully updated Sally, just in case there was anybody other than Overwatch monitoring.

With the plane fuelled, Sally slowly moved it to the distant stand as Mario had instructed. Soon after a large minibus drew up beside them.

A woman got out and approached the steps. "Roberta? Flight to Bulgaria?"

"That's us. I'm Roberta. Do you want to get the cargo onboard?"

The minibus door slid open, and a man got out. "Come on," he shouted and a stream of children stepped off. They looked barely teenagers.

"They won't be any trouble. They're medicated," the woman said. "There are ten of them. Two to a seat."

Brenda's heart sank before she internally reset. She reminded herself that she was Roberta not Brenda. Just for now. Roberta was the owner of a luxury jet startup and ruthless smuggler.

"Come on," Roberta said sharply. "Hop to it."

The children stumbled and Sally grabbed them, helping them into the cabin.

"Is this it?" Roberta asked.

"No. One more."

She went back into the vehicle and dragged out an adult sized person. They had a large coat covering their head, which must have been stifling in the middle of summer.

"Remember what I said," the woman said to the hostage in English. "You know what will happen if you try anything. If you try to escape, we dispose of one of the children. If you succeed, we dispose of two."

Three men followed the hostage onto the flight. The woman jumped in the minibus and departed. With the flight loaded, Roberta raised the steps and shut the door.

"Can you start prepping for take-off?" Roberta asked Sally, who was looking as happy as Roberta felt. "I'll make sure everybody is strapped in."

"Yeah. I'll start taxying in about ten minutes."

Roberta made her way through into the first cabin. The coat was still over the person's head.

"You'll need to uncover them for the flight," Roberta insisted in French. "Oxygen is lower when we are at altitude. They will struggle with that over them."

The guard looked at her blankly. They obviously didn't speak French. She thought about her destination, but she didn't speak Turkish. She repeated it in English.

"No," one of the guards said. "It stays on."

Roberta went to the cockpit where Sally was prepping. "How's your Turkish?"

Sally rolled her eyes and unbuckled. "What's the status?"

"They have someone with a coat over their head. I've told them it needs to be removed due to oxygen."

"You're the captain. You go tell them, and I'll translate."

They went out and Sally translated. When they refused Roberta said, "Then we don't fly. I'm not asking for much, just the safety of those onboard. I will check on the others. I expect them to be uncovered and strapped in when I get back."

The mid cabin had three children, and Roberta helped strap them in. Their eyes were unfocused but there didn't appear to be any sign of bruises. The guard was stood to the side, watching but making no effort to help.

In the rear cabin, there were six on the divan, with one of the guards on the single seat, and one of the older children on the other. The guard had fastened them in, two per belt. It felt like a cattle truck.

"Do you get airsick?" Sally asked the guard in Turkish. "We have tablets if you do. I can't offer the children due to them being 'medicated'."

"I'm fine," he responded grumpily.

They made their way back and offered the same to the guard in the mid cabin. He looked like she was insulting his manhood.

It was the same result with the third guard. He refused too. Roberta turned to see the coat was off the last prisoner. Roberta's heart sank. The coat was off and it was unmistakably Ashleigh. She was looking at the carpet and not at the two pilots.

"How long has she been covered?" Sally asked, glad that Ashleigh hadn't shown any signs of recognition.

"A few days."

"Then I'm giving her an anti-sickness tablet. She will be unwell after being covered that long. I don't want to have to clean up someone's vomit."

She went into the galley and removed a medical box. After rummaging for a bit, she found what she was after. She returned with a blister of six tablets and a glass of water.

The other guard had come to the front. He said to the other, "She hasn't disappeared."

Sally laughed. "Roberta was at the Birmingham rally. That alien loving traitor to humanity had a huge blanket over her. I doubt a coat would have helped. Becky was rescued by the aliens as soon as she was uncovered."

Roberta handed the cup and a tablet to Ashleigh.

"Thank you," she muttered and downed the small miniature tracking device.

"Who's in charge?" Sally asked the guy at the front.

"Me. Why?"

"Because you all refused medication for sickness. If one of you is sick, I'm opening the door and pushing you out without a parachute. Now sit down, or we won't make it to the airport before dark. I'll come and serve drinks once we are at cruising altitude."

"Nicely done," Roberta said as they made their way into the cockpit, shutting and locking the security door. This wasn't a standard door used in the private jets. This one was a bullet proof door like on commercial aircraft. It was a safe refuge if needed.

Sally continued the startup procedure, while Roberta checked her phone. In the secure messaging app, there was a message from Overwatch. 'We see her. Continue flight.'

"We continue," Roberta said, imagining the urgent calls that would be happening between Overwatch and their headquarters.

Sally removed a signal blocker from a hidden pocket in her bag, just in case there was a listening device they'd missed. "These are parts of this job I hate."

"I agree," Roberta said. "But it also means we find lost victims. I'll keep going if it means putting an end to the worst of humanity. We've got ten kids in the back where nobody knew where they were. They might not get their freedom today, but the people back home hate this type of crime. They will put a stop to this. Hopefully before it's too late for these kids."