One week later, in the only international airport of the capital, a sneaky figure could be seen closing in on a cargo plane.
Actually, the person in question was dressed in an air cabin janitor's clothes with a high collared t-shirt underneath, a lowered cap, a noise canceling headset and glasses as if to help his sight. With the tools needed for the cleaning job being pushed forward on their trolley, everything could be considered normal since a worker was supposed to do his work and that person seemed to be in the right place to do his.
However, with the way he lowered his head, making his big beard touch his chest and had his head tilted just enough to make his cap hide his eyes from the cameras he seemed to know the positions of, you could almost see red flags raising all over the airport. What's more, with the headset, his ears were never seen nor recorded and the gloves he was wearing prevented any fingerprint from being left behind.
Taking all of that and adding the fact that the person in question was the supposedly dead soldier named Lucas with a forsaken name who had nothing to do there, you bet that it was suspicious as f*ck.
But, hey, as he said when he bought his way back into the country: "You can bribe your way anywhere.". And the hidden part of that sentence is: "If you can't, it just means that the bribe was not enough or that it took the wrong form.".
So, following the way of life that depended on how much you had in your pockets, he found a way to get to the transport he booked to get out of the country.
He had already done everything he wanted to do by coming back and what needed time to finish was left to his brother. He even managed to convince his mother whose restlessness he had been right about to wait a little then when the workers would start building the house, she could find something to sell to them at her leisure which was better than going to the market everyday from dawn to dusk.
Now with unburdened conscience and feeling lighter, once he made it into the plane through the opened hold, he discarded the tools and threw the work gloves amidst them, showing the other pair of gloves he was wearing beneath. Taking his backpack out of the trolley, he went to the front where, upon entering the cockpit, he saw two men, a Latino and a black.
The Latino, on his left, was middle-aged with his hair starting to sport some gray that his original dark color was fighting a losing battle against. He wore a pilot outfit and while everything was average about him, from his height to his features, the joy he was exuding while checking his plane was not. Maybe that was his passion and to have kept it till now at this age was worthy of admiration.
To Lucas' right, the black pilot or rather co-pilot from his outfit and sitting, was black and should be in his late twenty or early thirty. Apart from his above average height, he didn't have anything exceptional going for him at first glance. Even his job, even if he was being conscientious about it, was just that for him, a job.
When he saw Lucas enter the cabin, he nodded at him in greeting without stopping his work.
The former responded with a light "Hey, Louis.", before turning to the middle-aged pilot who was in the middle of some verification and speaking in a deepened voice:
"Roberto, is everything in place? When are we leaving?"
This finally made the pilot, Roberto, pause the checks and raise his head to give reassure his employer:
"Don't worry Mr. Ghost. 15 more minutes and I will contact the tower to get the go ahead so we will leave soon."
"Alright then, I'll wait here for the take off before I go spend the rest of the journey in the hold after watching the way you guys work. Don't care about me, I won't bother you."
There was no response to Lucas' show of curiosity. Or maybe it was a blatant lack of trust but Roberto did not show any negative reaction to it, unlike the younger Louis who frowned a little in distaste. After all, a relationship brought about by money had no trust to speak of.
Money can't buy what really matters. On the bright side, it can only facilitate it and, on the negative side, it can pollute it.
Everyone was just waiting for the other to honor his part of the deal so, with a genial smile and a "Alright.", Roberto resumed his work. The sooner he got Lucas to where he wanted, the sooner he would get his juicy pay.
Some time later, he started contacting the control tower:
"LV-083SA to Control. Come in."
"Control to LV-083SA, we hear you loud and clear. Are you ready to go? Over."
"We are ready to go. Just give us a runway and the green light and we will be out of your hair. Over."
"Alright. Wait for 5 minutes then taxi to runway 13 through Lima and Alpha. Over."
"Copy that. After 5 minutes taxi to runway 13 through Lima and Alpha. Over and out."
After Roberto turned around to give a thumb up to Lucas, the latter started to think about the final destination of the first leg of his journey:
'That old thing tried to be cryptic with his hints: "search for the opposite". Am I supposed to look for the water that the desert lacks, or the sky as opposed to the ground? Couldn't he have made things simple? I'm certain he has a hidden agenda but by not making things clear, is it because he doesn't care, he can choose someone else or does he want to test me before using me if I prove worthy? Will it be as a tool or maybe a successor? I just hope for my life that my choice as the answer is not wrong.'
Suddenly, he was taken out of his thoughts by the movement of the plane, making him look around. Concluding that Roberto was getting to his designated point, he focused back on what the latter was doing.
When they arrived at what he supposed was runway 13, Roberto made some adjustments and waited:
"LV-083SA to Control. Come in."
"Control to LV-083SA, we copy. I can see from here that you are in position. Get ready to start rolling. Over."
"Just waiting for the green light. Over."
"Alright, LV-083SA. The sky is clear, you can take off. Be careful of turbulence, have a safe trip. Over."
"LV-083SA, starting to roll. I will see you guys next week. Over and out."
With the green light given, the cargo plane started slowly before picking up speed and leaving the ground smoothly. Lucas stayed after the take off for a while, looking up at the clouds becoming closer and closer and down at the city he spent most of his life in becoming ever so small.
Thinking about it, it was actually his first time taking a plane. And to think that it would be in those circumstances. It was not even the legal way.
The last thought caused him to chuckle a little in amusement. Shaking his head, he left the cockpit after a greeting to the pilots and went back to the hold where he found a place to sit down.
Taking out the laptop he bought previously from his bag, he secured it on a box facing him, put some music on, took out a wireless game controller and started playing a pirated game he downloaded last week after making himself comfortable for the long journey ahead.