Flight of the Four

The sun was high in the sky, the wind whistled through the city streets. A rock dove was flying to its nest outside of a dark window. Inside the window was a messy room. The dove sat in its nest and looked in at the lump in the bed, this was normal for the bird; it knew from the years of living outside this window that if it made enough noise to get that lump moving there would be food as a reward.

He lay under the sheet of his single bed, fighting to get a little mare rest before the day began, and then it came. The tat tap tap, of the dove at the window. In his mind he knew that he had to get up, today was important. Still he was reluctant, he knew what getting up would bring. Tap tap tap, it came again. Sleep was gone and his feathered friend wanted its reward for all the noise.

“Shit” he said allowed. He turned and sat up. Long black hair washed and curled around his face, he shook his head to clear his eyes from the mess. He rubbed his left arm, the plate was still prominent under the skin and the scar was still there. Looking at his left leg he remembered the pain and torment that he went through five years ago. Standing up and stumbling from the pain in his leg, Mical went to give the dove its bread for the day. After the bird took the bit of bread from Mical’s hand, his cell phone rang. Picking it up off the table he saw that it was Nicolas calling.

“Hay man, why are you calling so early in the morning?” Mical asked.

“It’s one dude, are you really just now getting up? That’s not good you’re supposed to pick up your sister in fifteen minutes.” Nicolas said trying to hold in a laugh.

“Is it really one o’clock,” Mical looked over to the clock on his stove and it red 1:00, “shit if I’m late Crimson will break my leg again! I’ll see you in thirty bro.”

Rushing about the small room that was his entire home he found a pair of denim jeans and a tee shirt that looked to be clean, “Where are my keys!” he shouted to the wall then spotted them on the table right in front of him. Sliding on a pair of sandals he was out the door and off to the other side of the city.



It was now one ten and Crimson was calling her brother to make sure that he was still coming. The call went to voice mail and she hung up, “If he is not here in five minutes I’ll wring his neck!” she shouted to the sky. This won some unwelcome looks from the passersby. “Don’t give me those looks.” Crimson said with frustration in her voice. She sat on the steep and looked at the picture on her phone of her and her brother after his car crash, and she nearly cried. She never told anyone that she had this picture and knew that Mical could never know about it. She had to laugh at how close she and her brother looked alike, from there black hair to their tan skin.

Suddenly the image changed from her and her battered brother to a more recent one of just him, and the phone vibrated.

“What the hell! You’re late!”

“Hello to you to sis, and I’m not late yet. I’ve still got five minutes.”

“I know, but i know you and if you think you have five you will take fifteen, and then where would we be?”

“Fifteen minutes late for a plain and an entire week with nothing to do.” Mical said with a tone of pain in his voice from the thought of being left behind on a trip that he planned and paid for.

“You see now, how close are you?” Crimson asked.

“If you turn around you’ll see.”

“There is no way that you are in the lobby of my hotel, but for a laugh I’ll look.” She turned around and looked through the glass revolving doors of the hotel, and like she said he was not there. “Ok so what is the trick, you are, I don’t know, in the paint on the wall or something crazy like that? Hello…… Hello…..? That son of a bitch, sorry mother, he hung up on me.”

“Did I really?” Mical asked from the other side of the street, with a grin spread across his face. Crimson turned on her heal and caught his eye. There was the same look of triumph and fear that had been there for five years hidden behind a mask of hummer that was as strong as iron.

Ten minutes later they were walking through the gates of the airport. Crimson looked at Mical and asked “If where going on a weeklong trip, then why do neither of us have any luggage”?

“That’s simple. We don’t need anything but ourselves for this trip.” Mical said with a big grin plastered on his face. “You’ll see in a few minutes when Nicolas and Gordon get here.”

“I hope so all this hush hush crap is so frustrating!” Crimson nearly yelled at her brother. Mical just stud there and looked at the large clock above the flight gate, it was one thirty.

A tall thin pail man with short jet black hair and a rather formal looking black suit followed by a shorter yet larger man with short blond hair and a more casual choice of dress approached the gate. The tall man gave a whistle that caused everyone at the flight gate to look in his direction. He stopped dead in the middle of the seating area and smiled.

Mical looked toward the men, now standing side by side and looking around, and gave off a whistle that was as startling as the first. The two men that where in the middle of the crowd of people, who were looking for the source of the second call, began to walk toward the area from where the sound came to find a man and woman that could have been twins aside from an apparent age difference. The man smiled.

“Mical, you old hunk of metal you, how have you been?” the tall man asked.

“Gordon over dressed as usual I see, and you know that I don’t have that much metal in me.” Mical said with a smile.

Crimson looked at her brother as he walked up to the two men and gave each a huge. “Hold on a second, these are the two friends you were talking about on the phone?” she said.

“Yes they are, and I did tell you that you would be surprised by who they were.” Mical said with a smile. He knew that his old friends had big names in the world; Nicolas was an astrologer and explorer of world renown, using the stars to find lost cities and hidden treasures all over the world; and Gordon the designer, he made suits and dresses for everyone who was anyone and he was Nicolas’s partner in the field.

“So this is Crimson? She really dos look a lot like you Mical but why did you never tell her about us before now?” Nicolas asked.

“To be honest I don’t know, it seems that whenever we talk you never came up. It was always about Crimson’s schooling or my restaurants. There are three of them now you know and both of you still have a table at the new one in Santa Fe in case you forgot the invites and maps I sent you.” Mical said with a tone of pride in his voice; he was the owner and head chief of the Night Star chine, known around the world for having the most unusual yet best food combinations some of which he and his two friends came up with in the teen years.

“We never forgot, we just never got around to it. I don’t know about you but we had to set things up, have replacements, and paper work to push throw before we could even think of leaving the states again.” Gordon said.

“He is right Mical with this trip to plan for and then the grand opening of number three a month befor this, we just could not make it. You understand don’t you?” Nicolas added to try and ease the way Gordon worded the last comment.

“I know I was just being a pain in your asses. You both know that you can come in any time everyone knows you and they know that your meal is on me.” Mical laughed at his friends for thinking that he may have been mad or offended at their failure to show up.

“Hold on!” Crimson said “Your friends are some of the most famous men in the world and you never thought to tell me!” she slapped Mical in the face causing him to stager.

“I don’t see them as these famous men that everyone sees. To me there the brothers that I chose, the people who I shared events with that no one could ever know how much it meant, To me they are my friends the ones that I laughed with when we were kids.” Mical explained as he regained his balance, his cheek turning red from the hit.

“Damn man she has an arm, remind me not to piss her off.” Gordon said with a laugh.

“Did you find a pilot for the plane Nick if we don’t hurry well loose the only way for him to get to the island?” Mical asked. Crimson pulled her arm back for another swing at her brothers face infuriated with the question that he just asked.

“You mean to say that after all this waiting and then the way I found out who your friends where that we may not even get to go on this trip at all?” Crimson asked her face changing to match her name.

Fear of his sister and her rage drove the words from his mouth, but Nicolas was had the news she wanted to hear.

“Yes I did find a pilot and he has the runway for the next five minutes so we need to go now.” He said.

“Good then let’s be off. From my sisters face we have a lot of explaining to do during the flight.” Mical said as crimson lowered her hand and stuck her tongue out at him and walked toward the desk to board the plane.

“Sis we don’t go that way we use the back door over here.” Mical called to his sister whom turned on the spot and stomped toward where he pointed.

On the runway sat a lone plane, it was a small and unexciting plane givin that it was going to take three super stars to a privet island. Crimson could not hold her tongue as she looked in confusion, “Where is the jet?” she asked.

The three men looked at each other and laughed, “Who said anything about a jet?” Gordon asked, “Did you think that your brother had his own jet?”

“No but given who he is friends with I thought that it would be one of your expedition jets, now you’re telling me that we are going to fly in a plane that could pass for the little engine that could with wings taped to its back, this is sad.” Crimson looked at Mical and all he did to reassure her was shrug his shoulders and giggle as her face began to turn a deep red again, and then she marched toward the aircraft. This was not a good first impression that she was making and she knew it but she hoped that when they sat down and got to know each other better that she could save herself.

Once on the plane the four sat in the oddly fancy seats and called to the pilot that they were ready to go. He answered not with words but the sound of the engines starting and the slowly increasing speed of the little craft. Soon they were to the proper height for the trip and the pilot waved his hand to which Nicolas got up and went to the little area at the front of the plane that was separated only by a sliding pain of glass. Nicolas turned on a small monitor that brought up a display like a gps on one half of the screen and words on the other, “These will show and tell you how to get there so you can take your time.” Nicolas said and then returned to the others.

Crimson asked” Why is he not talking?”

“I guess he just don’t want to.” Nicolas answered.

Thus the flight went under way, the four friends caught up on events and news. Crimson talked about her classes in art school and how Mical had called her just last month to come to the new restaurant and while she was there he invited her on this trip. All the men laughed and Mical said, “To be honest I meant to invite you to the first one but I forgot then you started school and with your break this year I thought that now would be a good time to bring you along.” He had a big smile on his face until he felt the sting of his sister’s hand again.

“That’s for forgetting about me for four years!” she shouted, Gordon and Nicolas burst out in laughter until they could barely breathe.

“You’re feisty; I like that in a woman.” Gordon said once he caught his breath.

“Try anything and I’ll cut you nuts off, fry them, and then serve them to you on a bed of pasta!” Mical yelled his eyes fixed on Gordon.

“I don’t know, he is cute and you know that I have bad habit of getting in trouble.” Crimson said with a hint of heat in her voice. Everyone was amused at the spat even the pilot let out a muffled laugh that he tried to hide as a cough.

Six hours passed and the sun was starting to set, “This is taking a lot longer than usual, what kind of directions are that pilot following?” Mical asked while finishing a glass of wine.

“I did tell him to take his time remember.” Nicolas said but the look on his face told everyone that he had been thinking the same thing for some time. He stud up and walked to the cockpit and asked the pilot, “Do you think you could, I don’t know, hurry up or at least tell me why it’s taking so damn long?”. The pilot just turned his head and looked at Nicolas, then went back to looking out at the black night sky. “You’re ignoring me, really? Fine then just get us there.” Nicolas was infuriated, he stomped back to his seat and snatched the bottle of wine off the table, pressed it too his lips and turned it up draining the last if its contents in an instant.

“You could have shared the last of the wine you know,” Mical said his voice full of sarcasm, “I’m sure we’ll be there soon.”

“I take it that this island is not that far from where we started,” Crimson said, “so why is it taking so long to get there?”

“No, it’s usual only a three hour flight.” Gordon said, “Nicolas, are you sure that this pilot is going the right way?”

“He’s got a gps right in front of him, and on top of that it has a double display of directions. There should be no way for him to get lost.” Nicolas said while throwing his arms in the air.

“I’m still wondering why he won’t talk.” Mical said while he looked toward the front of the plane.

Then the pilot slid the glass door open and spoke for the first time the entire flight. “You may want to see this?” he called from the front of the plane, the confusion was apparent in his voice.

“And just what might we want to see in the open night sky, where miles from any mountains or cities.” Nicolas called to the pilot as he stud to return to the front of the plane, the others followed him so see what had made the stone silent man talk, and there it was, a bright ring of light directly in front of them and as the pilot turned the plane the ring followed like it was a print on the glass never seaming to move but never leaving their path. It was getting bigger with each passing moment and the five people looked at each other unable to say a single word, even as hundreds of questions ran rampant through their minds. Then the ring flashed a brilliant blue blinding all of them.

“Your weak but you’ll do for my game,” a dark voice called, the evil in its words chilled them to the bone, “but I only need four of you, one will die tonight then the fun will begin for all of us!” There was a wicked laugh and then only silence, and then nothing at all.