Free Cannot Unite by Jackie Ivie

the
event the good ole U.S. of A. has the imaging systems I think they
do.”
    “Good. You continue on, then. We’re
leaving.”
    “Right. How, please?”
    “Jumping.”
    His mate stiffened. He tightened an arm
reflexively, bringing her head to the space right beneath his chin.
Without thought.
    “You can’t jump from a jet, KayNan. That’s
why we don’t stock parachutes. Waste of time…although they make
full plane chutes now. We could’ve had them installed. But it’s a
bit late now.”
    “What?”
    “Jets this size don’t have evac slides. They
don’t have access points. The doors are sealed due to the
slipstream. We do have eject seats in the cockpit, though. And
that’s about it.”
    “Slipstream?”
    “Air. Against the door. Seals it shut. Never
mind. Probably not an issue for one of you guys. Besides, most
incidents happen on takeoff or landing. No use jumping from there.
And any mid-air issue is handled by gliding down and landing.
Unless you slam into a mountain or something, of course. And then
it’s kind-a moot.”
    “You have an eject seat, then?”
    “Yep. Just said so.”
    “Then we’re jumping.”
    “Okay. I’ll amend that, too. You can jump
from anything. D. B. Cooper proved you can even jump from a jumbo
jet. But it’s risky. Hell. It’s damn near suicidal.”
    “I’m already dead.”
    “True. But you are not alone.”
    “I’m taking her.”
    “Vampires. Got to love them. Listen, KayNan.
Taking a door out depressurizes the cabin, gives me all kinds of
hell to deal with. You know…things like altitude and wind shear,
and loss of cabin pressure. It’ll be a bit wild. And don’t forget –
our friends next door will most likely notice.”
    “Can we play this hide and seek again with
them?”
    “Unlikely. They’re onto me now. They’re
probably debating whether to blow us up or not since I spotted
them.”
    Jeannette sucked in air. He felt it.
    “Why would they do that?” KayNan asked.
    “It’d take hours to get a search party up to
this bit of wilderness. They’d have lots of time. Let’s see. They’d
have one missing plane with a dead, half-turned pilot. They’d have
a verified kill on a senior V.A.L. associate. Hell. They probably
have an award patch ready with your name on it. There are only a
couple of things stopping them.”
    “What?”
    “One, they can’t get a clear shot. I’m
keeping the angle difficult. And I’m constantly moving. That’s a
big rule of staying alive, you know. Keep moving. That’s how I knew
they were serious. I make a move, they copy it.”
    “How much time do we have?”
    “What?”
    “Once I jump. How much time will I have
before they notice?”
    “You’re determined to leave me hanging,
aren’t you?”
    “What?”
    “The moment you slam your way through the
fuselage, I’ll be hitting the eject switch. Your beautiful
multi-million dollar jet will be history. Not that you vampires
seem to care about greenbacks, but there you go. Jet down. Presumed
missing. We disable the black boxes, too. Just so you know. And
since the accident happened somewhere on the Canadian-US border, it
should create some sort of international consternation before
anyone even starts a search. And by then, I’ll be long gone. No
sense hanging around for the fat lady to sing.”
    “What fat lady?” KayNan really needed a
course on modern vernacular.
    “It’s a euphemism for finale. End of story.
Finis.”
    “Why don’t you just say that, then?”
    “Not near as fun. Look. KayNan. We’ll have a
little time. Those Hunters will have to figure out where to land.
They’ll probably be on full alert, ignoring the second reason we
have not already been blasted out of the sky. All that said…you got
maybe half-an-hour head start.”
    “What about you?”
    “Me? I’ll be yesterday’s lunch. Adios Amigo.
Good riddance. Dead meat. I’ll be on survival tactics. A shadow.
You got stores hidden, right?”
    “Every fifty kilometers.”
    “Good.