Fortunate Sons

Chapter 45: Flight of the Angels

The sun was barely a sliver of yellow on the still dark field of dusky sky as Taylor peered out the bedroom window overlooking the streets below. Not a single soul, even the most restless of night owls, was out on the streets after Hoa Che, the provincial governor, had issued orders for the entire city to be evacuated.

He could hear the shuffling of feet down in the kitchen and Dix's heavy footfalls on the creaky stairs. People were already up and moving to prepare for the move, gathering up belongings or anything else that was necessary.

"You got the book?" Mitch asked him.

"Got it," Taylor said. "Sue offered to take it but it's too risky."

Mitch and Taylor made their way downstairs where everyone else was minding their own business. Tri had fallen back asleep at the table while Sue had finished packing a bag containing whatever she and Tri needed. Dr. Pearlman stowed away his medical kit while Ma Ahn and Thom reloaded their sidearms. Uncle was bickering with Auntie Lin about her taking the family photos while Dix and Mitch had finished packing the last of their own gear.

"You two going to be ok?" Taylor asked them.

"We'll be ok," Mitch replied. "We'll head for Long Binh and see if there's a way out from there. You?"

"I'm getting hauled off to Bangkok so I can get a flight out to Korea," Taylor answered. "I'll let you guys know when I get to Seoul."

"Be safe man," Dix said.

"Will do."

The two of them headed out the door to the waiting truck with about ten other people in the back. Taylor coiled his arms around Sue, kissing the crown of her head breathing in her scent. "Time to go," he said.

Sue gathered Tri up into her arms along with her suitcase before she kissed Taylor one last time. "I'll let you know when we get into Thailand," she said.

"And I'll let you know when I find a way to get you out of the country."

He waited until everyone else had gathered up their things and headed out the door. By now the streets were already coming alive with people who were starting to head out to the docks, the embassy, the military base or an airfield to get out as quickly as possible.

Taylor watched until Sue blended in and disappeared with the rest of the crowd. The cool morning air penetrated the threads of his jeans and the sky blue button-up shirt he wore but knowing that the heat of day was on the horizon, Taylor figured it would be best to try and walk on.

He looked around at all the families who had been ordered to evacuate, some young, others old and many more in middle age. Some had children, others only had each other while the orphans of St. Andrew's had no one save for the nuns who looked after them. Even the monks and nuns of the Buddhist temples had been ordered to leave, uprooted from their simple lives of prayer and meditation to save them from certain death at the hands of the communists.

People took with them whatever they could carry in their suitcases, urns containing the ashes of their deceased relatives, family photos, talismans of various Catholic and Buddhist figures. Some carried bundles of clothing with others holding tin cannisters full of snacks and rations under their arms. One woman carried her family's black cat in an old orange crate while another helped her elderly and ailing mother.

The more Taylor looked around, the more he had begun to wonder if these people, or even himself for that matter, stood a chance at survival. A terrible feeling of dread and despair boiled up in the pit of his stomach and reached into the very core of his soul. Ten thousand people were going to be displaced and moved elsewhere.....but to where, he hadn't even a faint clue.

All of a sudden, he was startled by the unexpected wail of an air raid siren from somewhere in the distance. People hurried their pace, some broke into a sprint or a run to rush for the nearest place for transportation. Taylor rushed into the crowd, flying as fast as his feet would carry him. As he ran, his only thought was to ditch his belongings and scale the fence at the air-base but he needed everything; his passport, his discharge papers, military i.d and of course the book. Under no circumstances could the book be left behind.

Go.......go to the airfield......don't go to the docks......go to the airfield.....go, go now!!!

Once he rounded the streetcorner, Taylor forced himself to run faster. The sirens wailed and people panicked as they tried to find a way out of the city whether it was on foot or otherwise. Taylor rushed for the one place he know most of them would be going, but the one with a definite way out.

The Tran Vong base was already being rushed with people trying to get out. Men, women and children flooded through the gates to the awaiting planes and helicopters waiting to take them as far away as possible.

"Hold up!!" Taylor shouted amidst the chaos. "Hold up!! Wait!!"

He raced across the tarmac to an awaiting plane, his chest hurting and a stitch tearing through his side. People, soldiers and civilians were urging him to hurry and run up the open ramp. They held out their hands, shouting in an odd mix of English, pidgin and Vietnamese before he finally made it.

Taylor had been the last one aboard before the doors slowly began to close. His last glimpse of the outside world was of people begging and pleading to be let aboard, their outstretched arms grabbing at the doors in desperation. When all went dark, everyone was ordered to strap themselves in and prepare for takeoff.

The engines of the plane could be heard outside, drowning out the frightened cries of Than Ahn's people. Taylor felt everything he had buried deep down welling to the surface and when he couldn't take it anymore, all of it came out. The sobs that racked him weren't heard by anyone else as they were smothered out by the roaring of the engines.

Taylor cried not for himself, but for everyone else he knew. He cried like a banshee sent to mourn the five families of Ireland. Every tear that fell from his deep blue eyes was for Sue, Tri, Uncle, Dix, Mitch and all the rest he had left behind. Several were for the twins, having no clue if they had even survived. A few were for Auntie Lin, who every other soldier had called "Mama" for she had treated them as her own sons.

When his eyes and his throat burned, Taylor finally was able to stop. Everything hurt, his whole body, his mind and even his soul. The plane took off from the runway and climbed high into the sky, carrying its precious cargo with it into the wild blue yonder and hopefully to a safer place.