Free Commandos by Madlen Namro

strong. She watched her friend, terrified, completely at a loss.
    * * * *
    Everything was set in the hangar. The plane began to taxi towards the runway, guided by a technician’s signals. Levi calmly observed his commandos. His thoughts drifted from the present, pondering their future. He spotted Jo. She was walking towards him resolutely, holding her head high. He did, however, notice some sort of reflection in her eyes. He couldn’t have known that it was because of Victor, or rather his absence here. She kept looking around, hoping to see him. All she could think of was their unfortunate parting. She felt deep remorse. She would give anything for a chance to explain that she had not slept with him just to get some information. Unfortunately, Victor must have thought that. She was aware of it and it was not a pleasant thought.
    “Jo?” asked Levi as soon as she reached him. “I’m ready, Commodore.”
He motioned to the aircraft, gently touching her arm. “Good luck, Captain.” He handed her an envelope with
    the encrypted coordinates of David’s location.
    Jo smiled at him and turned to board the plane. She turned around once more to say her goodbyes and saw Alec running towards them.
    “What’s he doing here?” Jo’s apprehension surprised
    Levi.
“Alec is going with you.” He knew she would not be
pleased, but he couldn’t let her go on her own.
“But…”
“No buts!” Alec interrupted her, slightly short of breath
after his run. “Please Jo, I just want to help.”
He passed her ostentatiously without looking in her
direction and settled down in the pilot’s seat. Jo was
furious. There seemed to be no way out of it. She’d have to
take him along, despite the plans she had for the journey.
She was about to pull the door closed when she heard a
man’s voice from afar.
“Alec! Alec!” The voice was drawing closer. “Get out,
quick; your wife is having the baby!”
Alec was thunderstruck. Jo looked at him, amazed by
his lack of response. The commando must have sensed her
surprise and it lifted him to his feet. He jumped out of the
plane and ran to the car. As soon as he was inside, the
cabriolet screeched around and raced off towards the
hospital zone.
Jo quickly locked the aircraft door. All this commotion
around Alec and his family had turned out to her
advantage. She didn’t want to push her luck. She started the
engine and a second later the cockpit was illuminated by
computer screens coming online. She opened the envelope Levi had given her and punched in the coordinates. As the processors recalculated the data, she looked around and noticed Alec’s bag discarded by the seat. “To hell with it,”
she murmured under her breath and turned the throttle. In his car and driving away from the runway, Alec
turned around just in time to see Jo’s plane take off. “What the hell is she doing?”
It took less than a breath for the ship to lift off and to
quickly disappear from everyone’s sight. Moments later it
was already in open space, moving steadily towards Earth.
Jo reluctantly accepted an uplink from the Luna where Levi
was equipped to directly monitor her progress. There were
no terrorist attacks today. The sky was clear and everything
seemed to favour a quick and uneventful mission. The commodore looked at his console angrily. “Jo, answer me, over.”
“I hear you loud and clear, Commodore.”
“You cannot fly alone. Turn back at once. That’s an
order.”
Silence. That damn silence pounding in her head again. “Jo, do you hear me?” His captain’s insubordination
confirmed his worst expectations. This would not be
pleasant.
“Commodore, I’ll turn back under one condition.” “What?” he asked, although he had a pretty good idea
what this would be about. The blank in her memory was
tormenting her and she was beginning to doubt her own
identity.
“I want to know the whereabouts of Magdalena,” she
said after a moment’s pause.
That was to be expected. The commodore