Globusz^® Publishing 

n the afternoon of the day they had planned to escape, on returning to the man’s quarters they saw the old man had recovered sufficiently to get up and have a wash. It appeared to do him a power of good, as leaving the wash-rooms they saw a wiry old man standing straight, walking stiffly, a flint of steel in deep set eyes that had seen many sunsets. He had several days’ growth of grey bristles on his face and a head full of grey hair with a few strands that persistently fell forward over his face. The bruises on his body were still pronounced but he took no notice of them, only flinching when putting on his shirt. His fingers, fastening the buttons belied the rest of his appearance; they were long and soft, not the fingers and hands of a peasant that toils in the fields. Once again Miguel went over to commiserate with him and introduce him self. “I must get out of here,” were the first words the man uttered. “It is a matter of life and death but I must get out.”

“Si! It is the same with us all; we all wish to get out. This is not a nice place. Some of us have been here a long time. But first you must get well.”

“No! You do not understand; I must get out of this place tonight. It is urgent.”

Miguel rolled his eyes at this stupidity as he tried to calm the man. The discussion between the two became more and more heated, others joined in and soon the old man was surrounded. Everyone talking animatedly in quick fluent Spanish, the tempo rising with each utterance as Peter, walking past distinctly heard the man say ‘Presa Milagro’. He interrupted the flow and held his hands up for quiet; such was his standing that the other men deferred.

“You mentioned the Milagro Dam, what about the dam,” he exclaimed.

Miguel quickly chipped in. “Seņor Peter, he say the Milagro Dam is to be blown up. Puff!” Emphasised this he exploding the fingers of his hand. “He say terrorists do this soon and there will be great loss of life. It will flood the city of Sao Agusta even.”

Peter turned to the old man, “Please let us sit and you can tell me what you know, Miguel ask Seņor Drew if he would join us.” He addressed the man, “you speak English?” They sat... the old man glad of the rest after standing for all of five minutes.

“Si English, a little... Americano?” he asked.

“No! I’m English! Drew, he is an American.” Peter answered as he waved Drew onto the opposite bunk.

“The Presa Milagro they are going to blow it up, destroy it and flood Sao Agusta, I must escape... today, I must warn them.”

“Who? Who is going to blow the dam? Start at the beginning and tell us all that you know and how you come to be here.”

* * *

It was dark and at last the time had arrived for them to start, they had seen the guards change over at around midnight a few moments ago. Peter and Drew having checked the time it took to assemble the hang-glider, how much time to get the dummy pitched roof rigged were itching to start. But the first thing was for Helen to get here from the women’s quarters. They couldn’t do anything until she was safely across. To take the glider out of its hiding place would be foolish in case she was discovered. If the alarm were to be raised, well then, they where just having a late night assignation, much less punishable than trying to escape.

They had rehearsed with Helen how long it would take to get across from the women's quarters. Though she had already done it twice, after discussing it they had changed the routine slightly because she was carrying her back pack and likely to be a little slower. The first difficulty was going to be, out of the window of the women's toilet and wash-room and on to its flat roof. A new bamboo rope with foot loops had now been rigged fastened to the vent on the roof. Then she had to cross this roof and when all looked clear, down into the yard where the bamboo was stored. Behind a stack of bamboo they had left a space near the short ladder, which was made of bamboo and propped against the wash-room wall to help her down. She could hide in this space whilst waiting for the next stage; it was a sort of 'halfway house’. The next part was the critical moment where they needed at least thirty seconds with no guards looking. When they got the all clear from her and their own lookouts the men would lower the other, longer bamboo ladder, and she would make a quick dash across the open yard, up this ladder onto the flat roof of the two story men's washrooms. They would then lift this ladder back onto their roof.

Helen was dressed in a dark brown mans shirt that she could button at wrist and neck the tight blue jeans and socks over her rope sandals, a dark headscarf tied at the back covered her hair which had been bleached fair by the sun. Dark soot blackened smudges on her hands and face broke up the light areas of skin. She was very nervous, more nervous than either of the two times before, clasping and unclasping her hands to stop them shaking. In the wash-room with two of her friends Gina and Maria, the rest of the women prisoners were next door in the women's dormitory whilst Angie stood at the door keeping a watching brief. Helen was upset, although her three friends new she was going, they were helping her after all, she hadn’t told them how both Peter and her self were going to escape after she left through the window. She just said it was best they didn’t know, but it felt like betrayal and they had helped enormously, even encouraging her when she began to doubt the wisdom of it. What she hadn’t realised was that they were quite content to be left in the dark. They had of course discussed it between themselves and thought that they had a pretty good idea of what was going on. The rumour going around the prison was that they were going to jump off the roof, and with all that black canvas they'd pinched it would make a parachute or maybe a long rope.

Gina was holding her back pack it was full and contained spare under clothes, a sweater, her mosquito net, a blanket and home made canvas mittens. In a small bag was a piece of cloth with a needle and some thread wrapped around it and a short length of recycled sticky tape. In addition she had two bottles of water and some food.

“You’ll be okay Helen, Peter is a good man, and he’ll take care of you, so trust him.”

Then Maria added “Come on now, it’s time to go, I’m sure it’s ten minutes since the guards changed, you can’t keep him waiting, on the last date.”

“Last date!” Helen nearly giggled with the tension, “I hope not, this will be the third time I’ve gone across to their quarters.”

“No! ... I didn’t mean ‘last date’ like that; I meant the last before you go, before you escape. Oh! You know what I meant.”

“Okay! So stop making me jealous, all those men and little old you,” Gina whispered. “Now go or you’ll be late, and don’t forget to pick up that present on the way over, you know where it is.”

Helen, with a nod to little Gina, gave Maria a big hug, and whispered in her ear, “It’s all right, of course I know what you meant. I think the tension is getting to all of us. Say thanks to Angie again. Will you?” After a couple of deep breaths, a hug from Gina and a muttered, “okay,” Helen climbed onto the wash-basin. Then reached out through the small top sash of the window first removing the pegs which were holding the glass in the lower frame, a gentle push, making sure not to drop it, a lift and a twist and the pain of glass was passed back inside to Maria. With the aid of a wire coat hanger she fished around on the flat roof above for the bamboo rope and pulled it down. It dangled in front of the window, a length of plated bamboo strands with three loops attached, one at the bottom, one in the middle and the other near the top. She took the proffered pack from Gina and fastened it to the bottom loop, then turning around climbed out of the window backwards keeping a firm hold on the frame.

‘Don’t look down!’ She thought, don’t look down! But like both previous times she couldn’t resist. Not that she could see much at this time of night just a 100 metre sheer drop of blackness to the rocks she new were there. A slight shudder ran through her as she thought about it, then shrugging it aside she put her left hand through the top loop, her left foot in the bottom loop and right foot in the middle loop still hanging on to the frame with her right hand.

“Pass me the glass,” she said and letting go with her right hand she was totally reliant on the bamboo rope. With a bit of a struggle she put the glass in place and inserted the pegs firmly pushing them home. Helen hung there for a moment, isolated, then, a quick “bye! ... And thanks,” whispered through the open sash, to hear a whispered, “good luck,” from both inside. It only took a push with her feet and her right hand found the top of the roof, another heave and she was lying there with her feet dangling over the void. She crawled forward, quickly pulling up the rope and untying the pack.

That was the first hurdle over, and yes she thought, ‘it was easier than before.’ Pausing to gain her bearings she looked around, it was dark, very quiet and none of the forest noises carried this far. The night breeze she could feel, the warm air drifting over the flat roof disturbed the hairs on the back of her neck. Now for the next stage, quickly crawling across to the other edge Helen peeked over the corner of the pitched roof of the quarters. The area between the men and women’s quarters, divided by a fence down the middle was deserted. But this, ‘the quadrangle’ was faintly lit by a single dirty bulb at the far end. The end of the quadrangle directly below her, fenced off to form the bamboo store was enclosed by three blank walls, the two story men's washroom, the end wall with a sheer drop to the road on the other side and the single story women's washrooms. Watching and waiting there for a moment to check that every thing was clear; she looked over at the men's quarters but could see no movement, just the outline of the building against the sky and there was no sign of any guards.

Quietly she walked in a crouch to the end of the roof. ‘Take care, steady girl, don’t run, be careful, don’t trip, it’s not very easy running with socks over your sandals.’ A moment later she lay face down, pushing her feet and bottom over the edge she felt around to find the top rung of the short ladder, grabbed her back pack and slid over the edge. A step down onto the second rung, it creaked alarmingly and as the ladder scuffed against the wall it sounding horribly loud. ‘Enough to bring all the guards running?’ Next a quick hop to the ground and again she stopped crouching motionless and listened. Nothing! Not a sound! A slight turn of the head and she was looking between the stack of bamboo poles into the quadrangle, now at ground level, still she waited and listened. Her hearing, now so attuned, she could hear the echo of her thoughts but all she heard was a thump, thump, thump, the beating of her own heart working overtime. ‘Wonderful, I’ve never heard that before.’ Then another short pause before she could breathe again and begin searching for the short piece of large diameter bamboo that should be in the corner of the wall. ‘Found it.’ She removed the end culm which was jammed in place and tipped out the contents of the tube, there it laid, a brand new machete still in its leather sheath. With shaking hands she untied her back pack and pushed the machete down, well inside, before retying the pack and replacing the bamboo.

* * *

In the top room of the men's quarters, Drew, was standing back from the window looking across at the roof of the washroom, above his head the hatch into the ceiling space framed the face of Miguel, “Is there any sign of her yet?” the face asked.

“No! ... Not yet, I can’t see anyone on the roof. It can't be a very easy climb up that rope ladder... and with a pack on her back,” Drew answered. The timing was fairly important, they hadn’t wanted to start until ten minutes after the guards changed at midnight, but they could not afford to be much later, they must be ready to fly the moment the moon rose above the mountains about an hour later. This was a compromise, they needed the moon to see where to fly, but didn’t want the guards to see them flying in the light of the moon.

‘Ahh! At last, is that some movement,’ Drew thought, ‘that must be her just looking over the corner of the pitched roof?’ At that moment she looked up straight at him, his stomach gave a quick turn because at first he didn’t recognise her with her face smeared with dirt. ‘Yes! It’s her, a bit melodramatic with camouflage on her face, though not a bad idea. There she goes, across the washroom roof, no panic there, she’s taking her time and walking!’ He turned and looked up at the ceiling, “Miguel... tell Peter to get out there, she’s crossing the roof... I’m coming up,” then another lookout of the window. ‘Where in hell has she gone now? She must already be down hiding amongst the stack of bamboo I suppose.’ He gave a last check around the quadrangle to see all was clear before starting up the ladder to the loft.

* * *

Helen turned and looked up, first at the roof of the two story block in front; it showed just a straight line against the sky no face looking for her. Was she that early? She turned her gaze left to the first window and could vaguely make out a lighter smudge. Then a face, two faces appeared over the edge of the flat roof. A last check around, still nothing moved, taking a deep breath she beckoned for the ladder to be lowered. This was a critical move, now she prayed. ‘Please God give me thirty seconds without any guards walking past.’ A quick run across the open store yard to the base of the ladder, then up, and up, watching her step all the way she just climbed. It was a long way before hands grabbed her and lifted her the last few feet, turning around in time to see the ladder being lowered flat onto the roof. “You're a bit late,” Came a whisper from the shadows.

“Not much, it doesn’t matter,” she heard Peter say. “It’s better that than making a noise and being discovered.”

“I’m sorry, it must be the adrenaline rush”, she whispered. “I thought I was early, is everything ready?” Then after looking around. “Where’s the glider, is everything all right?”

Peter took a deep breath. “Stop! Calm down, take a few deep breaths and remember the plan.”

“Oh! ... Yes! ... I’m sorry,” Helen exclaimed.

“And stop keep on saying you’re sorry, you’ve done well... everything’s going just fine we’re just about to start rigging the dummy roof.”

‘That’s a bit patronising, it’s all right for him,’ she thought. ‘He has hardly started whilst I have ten minutes of adrenaline sloshing around inside me. Still! It’s probably the tension; we must all be hyped up... Heavens! They are making a lot off noise, what are they doing?’ They where rigging the temporary pitched roof. It was going to be a sort of hanger for the hang-glider to be rigged in, so that a casual glance from a guard would not see either them or the glider against the skyline. The theory was that a casual observer may see the wings of the hang-glider or someone moving but is hardly likely to notice that the pitched roof has grown longer!

* * *

Here came Drew and Miguel now carrying a long bundle of bamboo and cloth which they started to unfold. Peter, turning to Helen was most apologetic when he said, “Helen would you go through the door into the roof void as you are in the way here at the moment. ‘Onestly I don't mean it badly but we have practised assembling it before and you would only get in the way where you are.”

‘Hmm! Does he think I’m a little girl or something? But he’s right of course,’ she realised, ‘I just wanted to watch what’s going on.’ Still now was not the time for goofing so without a word she crawled inside, then closed the door behind her in a fit of peak but ostensibly to give them more space. In the darkness she put her back to the wall then sank down, eventually sitting on the floor. This wait, the enforced idleness, was causing her problems. She was now beginning to come back down off the ‘high’ from the adrenaline. She had been pumped up by the excitement of coming across the roofs and now was the calm. Realising this she began to wonder whether or not the ‘high’ would come back. ‘I think I will need a shot of something to run out into black space,’ she thought. ‘Perhaps it is a good thing that it is pitch black, if I could see the drop below, well! Maybe I wouldn’t be able to do it. I must do it though, mustn't I, there is no one else. Peter is obviously the best one to fly the glider, and he cannot escape without me, if he where to leave me behind my life wouldn’t be worth shit.’ Strangely she had not once thought that the glider wouldn’t fly!

There were four of them working on the glider, Peter, Drew, Miguel and another South American whom she hadn’t recognised in the dark. From what she had seen already they appeared to be very quick and thorough, each new what he had to do and when, so there was very little conversation, they were also quiet, which was a relief to her. ‘I wonder how many of the men know what is happening, if they are discovered, or if it gets out afterwards how they managed to escape some of them are going to get hurt by the guards.’ She could look down into the men's upstairs dormitory through the ceiling hatch which had been left open, the ladder still poking through it, but there was no sign of any one moving. ‘Perhaps they were all asleep,’ she wondered!

Peter was glad of the ‘hanger’ this had been worth the extra effort of making. It only covered a third of the flat roof but it did hide them and also allowed the glider some protection from the breeze which had picked up nicely. ‘We should get a good lift from it when we eventually launch, as long as it flies!’ He added to him self. ‘Just as long as these rattan and bamboo lines held together, the joints held, the pegs stay in place, the ‘sail’ didn’t rip, etc, etc. Stop! Pull yourself together; concentrate on what you are doing.’ But his mind continued to wander. ‘How is the time going? How long will we have to wait until the moon rises above the mountains?’ A twist here, a pull there and push the peg through the hole, the assembly continued. ‘I wonder how long it would take to fall the hundred metres or so if something breaks, or this peg falls out, long enough to give her a kiss and say, bye-bye!’ Now the tension was beginning to get to him, not so long ago he had been ultra confident about the design and build, yet now, just when he least needed it, the doubts and the nightmares were beginning to cloud his mind. ‘It is just the idea of running out into that black void,’ he thought. ‘Relying on an untested hang-glider. Had it been such a good idea to invite her along? She was fit, physically, as much as the food allowed in this place, but what was her mental state like? What if they started the run and then she chickened out and stopped, it would be a disaster. The loss of her husband and in such circumstances had been hard, though maybe it had given her extra mental strength. She took the loss hard, but it had led to a drive and determination to get back at the person who had instigated it. Don’t worry!’ he said to him self. ‘As long as the glider is okay! She’s tough, she’ll manage... But hell! I don’t just want her to manage, I need help myself. I need a partner not a passenger. In the end there hadn’t really been much choice, I couldn’t go on my own and leave her here to take the resulting flak, and that’s the end of it. Also there’s no one more suited to go than me... I’ll give her a last chance to pull out, and if she doesn’t take it then it’s a go and there can be no hesitation afterwards.’

At last they where finished, there it was complete in all its glory, four months of hard work, designing, planning, stealing the bits and pieces, and what did they have to show for it, a few bits of bamboo and cloth held together by another few bits of bamboo ‘string’ and some wooden pegs. ‘But it look’s great! Even though I do say it myself.’

Peter reached over, opened the door to the loft and whispered. “Helen, it’s ready.”

She started as if she had been asleep, but was only pretending, playing it cool for Peter’s benefit. ‘As if he would notice!’ Then getting up off the floor she stepped outside, this was the first time she had seen the glider assembled and it amazed her, for a moment she was lost for words.

“It’s huge.” Was her first utterance, “It’s just so big!” turning her head to look at first one wing tip and then through to the other. It was standing on it’s handle cross-bar with the nose resting on the flat roof the wing tips were nearly brushing the false roof at either side. The ‘sail’ was fluttering lightly at the trailing edge. There were thin ‘strings’ or guys of bamboo from each wing tip and centre bar, from the ends of the main cross-bar and from the nose to either end of the handle cross-bar. It was like a macabre spider had been weaving a web over a butterfly The handle had two pieces of bamboo one from each end going up to the main cross-bar and through the black ‘sail’ and then straight up to form a king post, rather like a ‘A’ with the handle joining the bottom and a guy the top. From the top of this king post were other bamboo guys, going to the ends and middle of each of the three bamboo spars and the main cross-bar. Where the main cross-bar and the ’A’ met was a large knot from which hung two canvas slings side by side, just above the handle and in front of these another thicker support line hung down.

After looking over it and feeling the tension in various guys, she stepped back and pronounced her verdict. “Awesome! ... It’s awesome.” And then after a further moment, “can we go? ... Come on, let’s go before one of the guards sees us.”

She was like a little girl now, nearly jumping up and down with excitement, wanting to be on her way, afraid of being discovered at this the very last moment with her hand in the cookie jar. Peter meanwhile was looking on in amused astonishment, he certainly had not expected this reaction, he was anticipating trepidation even for her to look afraid, but she could hardly contain her eagerness. He put out a hand onto her shoulder. “Calm down, slow down, we have to wait may be ten minutes or so for the moonrise.” It was like watching a tyre deflate, and her shoulders sagged a little. “But we can get ready; we need to put on our harness.” He added, trying to bring back the sparkle in her eyes. “First though I need to ask you for the very last time, are you up for this? It’s going to be very scary running out and launching ourselves off the roof, it will be a disaster if you hesitate, there’ll be no shame if you want to pull out now, it’s going to take a lot of guts to jump off this roof.”

“Pull out! ... Are you kidding, pull out! ... At this late stage... no way!” She said in a loud whisper. Then studying his face, “come on let’s get the harness fastened on.” He paused trying to read her thoughts, and then his eyes flicked past her, over her shoulder. She turned around, her back to him, and looked at Drew. He wouldn’t look at her face and dropped his eyes. Then she looked at Miguel who looked away over the edge of the roof. Next she turned and raised her eyebrows to the other man, asking for support. He gestured, with a shrug, turning the palms of his hands upwards. ‘What sort of a woman do they think I am? But then they probably think of me as girl. The sooner we get flying off this roof the better, then their will be no chance of them changing their minds.’ She just knew that Drew was dyeing to step into her shoes at the first sign of doubt on her part. But he couldn’t of course, because she was ready for it, there was no doubt in her mind. Anyhow he wasn’t fit enough! So she turned back to Peter and looked him straight in the eyes, a question on her face but with determination in her mind. ‘I’m damned if I’m going to beg.’

“Okay! ... We go,” Peter said. “Sorry, I had to ask though. Now fasten this harness around you.” Handing out some home made straps. ‘Damn! He thought. Damn! Damn! That was really crass, that’s ruined a very good relationship. I shouldn’t have paused. I laid too much emphasis on the scary bits. It must be getting to me. Perhaps I’m getting scared. Hang on a bit, I am scared! If not then I damn well ought to be. That is if I’ve any sense left.’ He had always thought of him self as a fairly sensible and intelligent guy. ‘Think!’ he said to him self ‘think! Stop your hands shaking. Get a grip man or else you will frighten her even more. She must be scared stiff already, putting a lot of trust in you, in fact she is putting her very life in your hands.’ Then reaching over he began to put on his harness, rather like a parachute harness, first he stepped into it then brought the webbing up around his thighs, next arms through and over his shoulders, around his waist to join in the middle of his back. She began to copy him. ‘Come on man, lighten up a bit, and think! Try easing her tension; she must be at screaming point. See! She almost fell over when putting her foot through that loop.’ He was finished and turned again to see how she was progressing.

‘Damn! But she looks real good, those jeans are really tight... nice looking thighs too!’

“Need a hand with it, here! I’ll give it a pull up around your legs,” he offered, putting a hand on her thigh.

“No! ... It’s okay!” she said, playfully slapping his proffered hand away, “I can manage.” Nonetheless, with this simple gesture, the tension evaporated and a smile played around her face. ‘I suppose that was a sort of apology, a hand of friend ship maybe. Gosh! What am I thinking; a hand on my thigh and everything was forgiven. I must have the ‘hots’ for him.’ This last thought nearly made her laugh out loud as they tied their packs on to the glider.

‘This is one very complicated cool woman,’ Peter thought. ‘Okay she pushed the proffered hand away but that was to be expected, I thought maybe she would be frightened, but no... she looks more worried about being left behind. Perhaps not so surprising but why isn’t she more annoyed. She must realise that Drew and I have been talking about replacing her, instead of that she’s laughing.’

“Now all that is needed is to fasten ourselves on and go. You take the left and I’ll take the right side so I will have the best view of the cliff face whilst we are flying. It will take about six strides before we get to the end off the roof and we dive forward then quickly get your legs up into that sling behind.” Then he added, “After that we should be flying... Meanwhile, we wait for the moon.” Peter was half expecting a question from her, ‘what if!! But it never happened, instead another question came.

Helen, thinking of all the problems, remembered the dampness of the rain forest. “Peter where is the plastic-bag for the glider, I haven’t seen it, and your boots, what about them?”

It came like a bolt of lightening, his boots he new were in his back pack but the bag they had made for the glider. “Drew!” he almost shouted, “the glider bag.” He got no answer! Drew was already in the loft fetching it as he had also heard Helen. A moment later he returned, the bag neatly folded. Sheepishly he showed it to Helen before stepping up to the glider and tucking it into Peters back pack.

The wait started again! It was as if the clocks had been reset and now began ticking again, yet time stood still, it was agonising. At any moment they expected a shout, the South American and Miguel kept a lookout all the time. Helen bent down and pulled her socks up, no good tripping over these when the time comes. She looked at the sling for her feet. ‘It’s going to be a bit awkward to get my feet in that as it’s out of sight behind me’. She reached behind and opened the loop of the sling. ‘Now what!’ Looking about her once again she was biting her lip, the pain distracting her, determined not to ask the obvious. ‘It wouldn’t make any difference however he answered it, even if he could give a sensible answer.’ The tension built up in her mind the longer they waited, the big black void in front of her had all sorts of demons lurking in the depths. Helen closed her eyes for a moment. ‘Stop looking down, look up! Look up!’ Her head snapped back. ‘Ah! That was better now I’m over the worst of it.’ She could make out some of the stars across the valley and slightly lower a thin layer of clouds, where the stars finished, the skyline of the mountains just apparent and below that, nothing, just that black void reaching up to the edge of the roof. She began to get the shakes, to stop her hands from visibly shaking any more she squeezed a fist, digging her nails into the palm of her hand. This hurt so instead she caught hold of Peters hand; he gripped hers in return and gave a little squeeze. She turned to look at his face, there were lines of tension around his eyes until he realised that she was looking at him, and then he turned, faced her and smiled. Quite suddenly the lines of tension changed to experience, he looked very calm, as if he had no worries at all, and so confident that everything would work fine, just like he was waiting for a bus in fact. She mouthed ‘thank you’, at the same time returning the hand squeeze and smiled back at him.

Peter was also finding this wait for the moon a problem, he had already gone over how they were going to take off several times and was starting to think again what would happen if something went wrong. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed Helen, her head bowed and her eyes closed, was she praying? Then suddenly her head jerked up. ‘God! Was she was dozing off?’ A moment later he felt her hand in his, it was shaking! ‘She must be getting more frightened than ever.’ He thought, and gave her hand a squeeze. Then he realised she was looking at him, not just looking though, but studying his face, he forced him self to relax as he turned to look at her. ‘Such a pretty face, not a great classical beauty but often impish and sort off cheeky. At the moment her face was smudged with a few fingers of dirt, he was tempted to wipe them of, just now however she had a serious look with tight lips. Is it excitement or tension? I have to relax her he thought; think of a joke to tell.’ This brought a smile to his face as he was never one to tell jokes, not when he had to think about it. Then she mouthed to him ‘thank you’. For what he wondered, getting her into this mess, he felt his hand crushed as she tightened her grip and her mouth changed to an impish grin. OWE! He mouthed back holding up the offending hand which she immediately let go.

Drew was an intelligent man and very perceptive. The wait was bad enough for him. He could see some of the interplay between them and realised that the situation could only get worse if they delayed much longer. It must be draining their energy; they needed a distraction, better even if they left a little early than endure this wait much longer. He stepped up to Helen wrapped both arms around her and gave a big slow bear hug. “Time to go.” He whispered, feeling her whole body tense and shaking, trying to push him away, he crushed her harder, then still with both arms around her, added in her ear by way of an apology. “We didn’t want you to get hurt, that’s all, and we didn’t want to put you in more danger. Only thinking of you. Peter’s a good guy, look after him and take care.” Releasing her and stepping aside he took hold of her hand and then in an attempt to distract her, whilst gazing into her eyes, he gallantly and in very ‘none American’ fashion raised her hand to his lips. “Good luck!” Next he turned to Peter and took his hand. “You have that letter of mine in a safe place Peter? My signature, those notes to my wife and the senator should validate it, if that doesn’t bring the marines to the rescue then nothing will.”

Peter, full of emotion avoided his eyes, gave a quick pat on his back pocket, “Yes all safe, I’ll see you in about a week, or ten days, but don’t get downhearted if it’s longer.”

There were some lighter clouds about now and looking over at the mountains a faint glow could be seen from the rising moon. At last, the moment had come as the edge of the moon rose over the mountains. It suddenly showed like daylight through eyes that were so adjusted to the dark, and they started to hurry. Helen bent down and pulled hard on her socks again to make sure she wouldn’t trip, then they stepped up to the glider. Fastening each other on to the main support line then lifting the hang-glider. At first it appeared heavy but changed to become very light when they tilted it back and some wind got beneath the sail. Helen turned her head and looked at Drew giving him a quick smile and a nod of her head. ‘To forgive him in case it all went wrong,’ she thought. Peter glanced quickly at Miguel and the other men who were both giving the thumbs up, he turned to Helen. “Ready? ... Right, take six strides and dive forward.”