Our two wild ones slept in until noon. They would be going to
Trinity Site in the mid of night, weather allowing, the forecast in their
favor. They were just catching up on rest, not dodging the mine work,
though accused of that, of course, at lunch on the veranda.
        Pute and Cyby had done the security scans and it had been a
total mission success. They celebrated a little out there on the verand
before going to the barn and spraying dark and light gray camouflage
over the red on Juliet, to match the terrain at Trinity (Kit having
drivved there one of those days each year that they open up the site
to the public). Then they refueled her from the tank on their pickup
and ducktaped the few tiny punctures from the butte rocks.
        They joined the others in the mine for the rest of the day, and it
was the usual dinner and talk - well, besides the stealth mission - and
music after. Then they worked with Puter and did some com with
Sunny and pretty much waited for the right weather.
        They got it just before 3A, clouds forecasted all the way and
back. They took their speed pills, got another projector set and got in
the air, the two of them flying South on the deck along the east slope
of the Sangres, then through the Pedernals, over the Chupadera Mesa,
then Sierra Oscura mountains to the Jornado Del Muerto - Journey of
Death - and Jess landed them on the dirt and gravel road leading up to
Trinity Site, where the first atomic bomb had been exploded 50 years
before.
        They both got their gloves on and ran the boxes, painted in
grays, out away from the monument - the small pyramidal stone pillar
- and saw lights in the sky down South over the White Sands Test
Range. Our guys were on the range there too - prohibited area. They
ran back to the Mooney, the lights heading their way. Jess was pissed
they couldn't have sex there to "dedicate" the spot as they scrambled
their ship down the road and turned right as soon as they hit the air,
trying to get to the hills before being spotted.
        But their luck had run out. The helicopters had them on radar,
Kit's jazzed-up fuzzbuster sirened, and had turned their direction, they
saw before reaching the Oscura.
        Kit thought of one thing. He turned to Jess, they looked at each
other through the gogs and together said, "...and not get caught!"
        They were faster than the choppers, so were outrunning them,
but Kit wondered aloud if they would be scrambling jets. They lost the
helos in the Malpais, and put down on a road they found outside
Carrizozo, one of Billy the Kid's old hideouts, and parked under some
trees and got out to wait.
        Dang if there weren't jets in the sky in minutes out of Holloman,
patrolling that part of New Mexico for a light plane. And, when the next
swath would have brought them too close for comfort, Jess showed Kit
some lights in the sky that swooped down in front of the jets, then
zoomed off to the South, the jets taking after them in hot pursuit.
        "Dam! Did we just see...what I think we saw?" she said.
        "I believe anything now, precious..." he added, equally awed.
"Let's get out of here."
        They jumped back in, got Jule restarted and back in the air, and
stayed on the deck. Jess did the flying, Kit did Pute along with
watching her flying, using the modem to pick up computer com,
focused on White Sands and Holloman, and they got the intel on it.
They were in the clear.
        Kit had to correct her on the controls at one point. She was
headed for a guy wire from a radio tower. They couldn't actually see it,
even with the gogs, but Kit knew there would be one when he saw the
tower. Spraying experience is good. Good for life.
        They got back to the ranch as the sky was starting to lighten and
dove into the feathers with Flee, Stef and Evan, checking with Pute
that they had "no problemo" before going to dreamland. By afternoon,
our three checked in with the Execs, Stef and Ev up in the mine. The E
still had nothing from the Oval, but had told Bill they could contact the
countries who were volunteering help, but were giving the United States
and the rest the full time, and were just letting them know that.
        The guys called Rockhead after that. It was gangbusters. They
needed more planes. So the guys authorized a million bucks more.
Then the girls called home. And Kit called Josh - doing fine - and Mom.
They checked in on the mission - Rachel - then all their finances, made
some more contributions to the funds and called BR to wonder together
when to send out the first Plat, among other conversation. They came
up with morning. Fifty million! Woo! And the vein was still growing! It
was...legend."
        "Don't Mess With Bill" was playing on the radio tuned in to
Monument when they told Flee all about the last flight, and Flece was
livid. They were taking too many chances. But she calmed down. The
chances were necessary, they all knew.
        Maria came over to see if they needed anything. And Ri told them
that she obviously didn't know what they were doing, but she was still
absolutely for it. Even if they had told Jul or the kids. Aw. They ended
up telling her more than anyone else knew then. Almost where they
totally were. Ria was up to speed, and would not be one to squander
their trust, she promised. She was truly impressed with their risk-taking,
especially Jess's.
        "Yeah, maybe you can talk some sense into her, Maria," Flee
commented.
        "Hay," Jess came back, "somebody's got to make sure Cody
doesn't screw up!"
        "Thank you very much, I guess," Kit grimaced.
        Mari left to take beers and grub to everyone up in the mine and
Kit ordered a piano into Casa de Musica in Taos for them to buy,
telling the girls how much Ri had always wanted one. They could
figure out the delivery later. And they went up to help in the mine and
let the guys know about the morning pickup.
        That night Jess worked on a new song. Worked her hardest. A
song about periods. Ouch. She was cracking them all up, though, as
she and the other women came up with the lyrics.
        Later, Jess and Kit talked with F'lecia, asking her if she wanted
to do the third holojector set-up with them or stay out of it. Her call.
Hell, Flece was in. And within the hour, Evan was driving them down
to La Fonda in Santa, with Juli, Es and Stef coming along. They were
going to start some missions in Mexico and would be back in a couple
of days, they told the guys, before their emotion-filled adioses. Puter
had reported again earlier that there had been no detection of their
last two nights' flights, but there was an agent in Santa on the look
for them, a Treasury agent, Pute told them. So they would protect
the kids and the ranch, they thought, and take a cab to the airport.
        BR met them at the airport, as planned, coming even though
they had told him that they were "hot", for them to sign the contract
for the morning's pickup. As they were standing and talking around
"Bravo", BR asked, "have you guys noticed that guy sitting in his
car over there watching us?"
        "Uh...yeah, he looks a little spooky, you think, guys?" Jess
answered first, having seen the match light up to light a cigarette
inside the car too.
        BR continued, "he followed me over here, I think. They've
been watching me a couple days now. I figure it's because of my
Navajo work."
        "Yeah, Supreme Court soon, huh, 'migo," Kit answered,
then added, "well, I guess he's not the one looking for us, then."
        "No. I think he is, guys," BR followed. "I was lying," and
smiled. "Though I do think I've been tagged lately....You guys
haven't been doing anything illegal, have ya. Don't answer that,"
he smiled again.
        "Nah. Not us, BR," Jess snickered. "It's those guys following
us ever since Cody sprung me from Cincinnati I bet." They talked
a little more about that agent there obviously matching up Bravo to
them, so it was time for another plane. Anyway, they loaded the
cardboard box with the projectors into their Cessna, then their
bags, playing like they hadn't noticed the suit.
        "At least he's staying in the car," Flee said.
        "Maybe because our lawyer's here," Jess added. Then they
layed into BR with all their hugs and kisses and the men shook.
Flece was especially tender to BR, though, as she went with the
moment inside her. He is highly attractive, after all, and was plenty
available, divorced like Kit. And BR was feeling like he would like
to pursue it too. Flee was flirting seriously. Definite potential, Jess
was thinking though, yep, he was much older than her.
        Pute cleared them into Mexico as they talked on outside the
401, Flee and BR passionately holding and touching each other, as
Kit preflighted the plane. Then Kit came up with a plan. He asked
BR if he would buy a plane for them, and the B said sure. Kit
wrote a $15o,ooo check and asked him to get a single-engine
retractable gear (BR's a pilot too, so knew what Kit was saying)
and have it flown to Mexico for them, they would arrange the
details as they went. BR was happy to do it for them.
        So it was adios time. The new lovebirds were frustrated; BR
couldn't go, and Flece wanted to make the trip. So it would have to
wait. They sucked their mouths one more time and the three
climbed into their ship and waved to B as they started up and taxied.
They called him on the cell as they rolled out, and he informed them
as he drove out the lot that the agent wasn't following him. And they
couldn't figure that out.
        They flew to La Paz. Got a bungalow right on the Gulf of
California (Sea of Cortez) beach. It was plenty sultry as they went
swimming in the buff and relieved Flee's frustration, though they
had given her some relief during the flight down too. They got a
few hours sleep later.
        In the morning they found a willing doctor, Madeline, and
started a mission. Quarter of a million. They met children and
familia who came to thank them as the word got around like
wildfire in dry weed, and put Maddy in touch with Rachel.
        They called BR and got his good word on the Plat pickup, and
he was OK, unbothered by agents, and had their new plane. Pute or
Cyber still couldn't find anything more on that agent. Just that he was
Treasury, relating that on to BR, followed by the plane instructions.
        They flew on over the water to Puerto Vallarta and spent some
of the afternoon sightseeing and shopping there before flying over to
the East Coast. They found another doctor there, Theresa, to start
another mission in Coatzacoalcos, on the Bay of Campeche. They
put her in touch with Maddy, Rachel and a quarter million check.
Aw, they felt so good.
        "Jeez, Quixote, six weeks ago a quarter-million was a lot of
money," Jess registered. Kit just smiled.
        The town had a perfect little airport near the beach and, after
dinner with Theresa and new friends, they went back to the grass
strip and met BR's friend and flight instructor, Jim, who had flown
their new aircraft in. They transferred their stuff to the Beech
Bonanza and gave Jim instructions as Pute and Cy razzled and
dazzled the appropriate aviation and customs authorities of both
countries, and Jim took the 401 as they checked out their new ship.
        Dark fell, as it does, and they took off after Puter and Cyby
had finished both the work and their romancing. They flew on the
deck off shore - under clouds (thanking the spirits again) - up
toward Corpus Christi, and landed at the airport out on Mustang
Island.
        They walked to the beach, planting the holojector boxes on
the way, got naked and made love in the surf again, having
extremely romantic things to say, or even just infer, as they bobbed
up and down in the gentle waves in the moonlight, the clouds
dissipating. They flew out a little later, over to Corpus for fuel,
taking their last speed pills on the way, and cleared Customs like
nothing had ever happened except their computers' wizardry.
        They flew back to Santa Fe. Jim had flown the 401 to Corpus,
then Taos without a hitch, they learned from Pute as they taxied in,
the morning light filling the sky. There was no agent there, but their
cyguys still had no info on that guy from the other night.
        The kids picked them up at the La Fonda and they went back
to the ranch. After the short return party, they started taking the
"stealth" parts off of Juliet Pop, and started preparing her-him for
paint stripping, once again. It was Friday. The concert feed was
broadcasting all the prep and conditions along with the music all
morning. Then the warm-up bands began. Our three 'meegs and
partners worked in the mine some, then started the party, everyone
happy to see them back OK, sitting around the pond in lawn chairs
or whatever, especially enjoying the new family additions that the
kids had brought up from Mora - a couple of emus and another
couple of llamas.
        Kit called his friend Rob, with Direct TV in Taos, and
ordered two computer-download satellite systems for Cybergirl
and four TV systems for the cabins, including the one still under
construction. Phil and Es said they would pick it all up on Monday.
Then Jul motioned to Kit to come with him. They went into Jul
and Ri's cabin and back to the master bedroom. Jul opened up the
cellar door in the closet and, with a flashlight, showed Kit the two
boxes of Gold and one of Plat that he had stashed. Kit laughed and
whooped and hugged his 'migo, and they talked through their great
fortune together, recalling the moments they had found the cave.
And Julian showed Kit that the cup was also still down there in the
cellar, wrapped in its sheath. Then they went back out to rejoin the
lawn party.

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