Covering the last few feet, I went to stand next to Ice, who was standing in a small stand of tough, gnarled pinion pines, and breathing as if she'd just taken a leisurely stroll down the lane. Where I might once have felt envy over her supreme display of physical fitness, I instead just grinned and shook my head.

"What?" she asked, eyebrow raised.

"Nothing," I replied, nudging her a little. "What's going on?"

Following my lover's pointing finger, I noticed a rather large dwelling surrounded on all sides by a high stone wall. The house itself looked to be made of pink adobe with a blue Spanish-tiled roof. It looked slightly run down, as if it hadn't been properly cared for in quite some time. Some of the roof tiles were missing, the yard was an overgrown proliferation of cacti, olive trees, and pinion pines, and the large in-ground pool was thick and green with algae and god knows what else.

As I watched, the black sedan pulled into the compound and stopped in the circular driveway near the front entrance to the house. Several men emerged from the home, all armed, to help remove the boxes the men had brought back with them.

Try as I might, I couldn't see Cavallo himself anywhere which, as I'm sure you might guess, didn't cause me much of a problem at all.

"How did you know?" I whispered to Rio, who stood to the other side of Ice.

When she looked back at me, her expression was one of self-loathing. "I didn't. But I should have." Her large hands were clenched into tight fists, which she beat uselessly against her tree-trunk thighs. "Buncha compounds like this all around here. Drug lords and dictators on the lam hide out here. Been doin' it for over fifty years or more. Didn't realize this was where he was holed up until we got close, though. Damnit."

"Rio, enough." Ice's voice was soft, but the note of command it held was undeniable, and unalterable.

Rio's shoulders sagged.

"Do you know anything about this particular compound?" my lover asked, raking her eyes over the land in question.

The other woman's expression brightened slightly as she shoulders squared. "Matter of fact, I do. A friend of mine was caretaker here for about ten years before the drug lord who lived there went back home. As far as I know, it's been empty for two years, maybe three."

"Is your friend still around?"

"Yeah. Twenty miles or so back the way we came."

"Alright then. Let's head over there. I want an idea of what's inside before I make my move."

Knowing a conversation ender when I heard one, I spun away from the mountain-top view of the compound, then stilled my motion as I tried to mentally adjust to the picture my eyes were presenting me.

What I thought I was seeing was a large fogbank moving in from the east. If fog was yellow, that is. Which it isn't. Like fog, though, it had a mysterious quality to it, and might have even been beautiful, in its own fashion, if not for the ugly yellow color.

Entranced, and a little spooked, to be honest, I looked up. And saw something that, if possible, was even more strange.

It was as if someone had taken a ruler and drawn a perfectly straight line across the sky. To the west of the line, the sky was a clear, vibrant winter blue. To the east, a deep, black void. Black as night, but without any moon or stars to show the way.

It was something I'd never in my life seen before, and it was more than a little frightening.

As if to frighten me further, a freshening breeze blew up, and that breeze was cold. Icy cold.

I shivered inside the flannel Ice had given me, and pulled it tighter against my sweat-drenched skin.

Pony was the next to turn, and like me, she froze when presented with the view. "Dust storm," she muttered disgustedly. "Shit."

"More than that," came Rio's voice from behind. "Monsoon. Bad one, by the looks of the sky."

"A monsoon?" Pony countered. "In December?!?"

"Mother Nature doesn't always read the White Man's calendar," Rio replied.

"She should damn well start, then."

Sensing that a storm of a different type was brewing, I stepped forward, drawing Rio's attention away from Pony. "So, what do we do?"

"We head east, like we were planning."

"Into the storm?" I asked, doubt coloring my voice.

Her dark, somber eyes met mine. "The only way through these mountains is to take that highway, which leads down into a deep valley and crosses a major river. It's fifty miles or more before the valley floor raises up. It's a flood plain. We'll never outrun the storm." She pointed ahead. "There's higher ground back to the east. It's a lot safer, even if it means going into the mouth of the storm."

I looked over at Ice, who nodded her acceptance of Rio's succinct assessment.

"Out of the frying pan and into the fire, huh?"

My lover smiled slightly before stepping up and laying a feather light touch to my back. "Let's go."

Driving through the dust storm was interesting, to say the least. It was like being in a fog bank, and a snowstorm all rolled into one. One choking breath of that swirling dust, however, convinced me that Ice meant what she said when she ordered all windows and vents closed tightly.

Nia rode with us this time, though thankfully she was too busy gawking at this interesting weather phenomenon to break out into song. If I could be grateful to a storm for one thing, it would be that.

The dust soon thinned and then disappeared altogether. My sense of relief lasted, however, for all of about two seconds before the deluge hit.

No simple winter rainstorm, this. Nor even remotely like anything I'd ever been through before in my almost thirty years of living on this planet of ours.

About the only thing I can think to liken it to is going through one of those drive-thru car-washes without using your windshield wipers. The rain came harder than it had any right to, completely swamping the car and making it utterly impossible to see anything but the rippling pool of water battering the windshield.

Lightening flashed in rapidfire bursts, like the finale of a fireworks display in fuzzy monochrome. Thunder boomed and cracked so loudly that I clapped my hands over my ears and feared for the strength of the glass in the windows.

"Ice?" I asked, my voice high and wavery. Though loathe to disturb my partner's intense concentration, I was, quite frankly, scared to death. "Do you think we should maybe pull over until this lets up some?"

"Can't," came her succinct reply as she willed her keen eyes to see beyond the curtain of water the storm laid over the windshield.

"There's...um...c-canals on both sides." Nia's voice floated up from the back seat, even more breathy and timorous than my own.

I could have slapped myself for forgetting that. Long, narrow canals took the place of the shoulders on both sides of the highway, bringing rain and reservoir water into the outlying regions. So, pulling over was most definitely not an option.

Rigid with fear, I tugged on my seatbelt, making sure the connection was secure. I was absolutely sure that, with each passing second-time measured by the rapid, if useless swish-thump of the wipers, beating in perfect synchrony with my panicked heart-we would either plow into Rio's car, or someone else would hit us from behind.

We were flying blind, and we all knew it.

The radio crackled, and Pony's voice filtered into the car. "We're out."

Quickly, I retrieved the mike. "What do you mean? Out of the storm?" Hope flared, high and bright, in my heart.

"We're stopped. A tree's down, blocking the highway."

"How do you know?"

"We just hit it."

"Jesus. Are you alright?"

Static crackled as a bolt of lightening landed frightfully close. I almost screamed as the thunder nearly shattered my eardrums with its frightful intensity.

"Yeah. No damage. We were going too slow. You'd better stop, Ice. You'll hit us."

Ice had already started slowing down, from the first moment Pony contacted us, and came to a gradual, safe stop in the middle of the highway.

"We're stopped." The relief coursing through me made me feel limp and drained.

"Good. Anyone behind you?"

"Like I can see anything?!?"

"Alright, alright, Angel. Take it easy."

My attention was quickly diverted as I watched Ice's hand go to the door lever and proceed to open it. "Ice, wait! You can't... ."

My words were bitten off, literally, as my teeth came together sharply, pinning my tongue between them. The hot, metallic taste of blood flooded my mouth, then was quickly forgotten as my entire body was jerked forward, my head on a direct collision course with the dashboard as we were hit, hard, from behind.

The impact never happened, though, because we were hit again, this time from the side. Unrestrained, Ice's body flew across the interior and landed in my lap, pinning me against the door. Stars sparked in my vision as the back of my head collided with the window, but somehow my lover managed to prevent me from sustaining more damage by wrapping her long arms around me and tucking me against her snugly.

My indrawn breath of pain and relief was cut off midway as we were struck again, this time with twice as much force as the previous two collisions combined. The squealing groan of metal rending mixed in frightful cacophony with the splinter of fractured glass and Nia's high-pitched, terror-filled scream.

We were hit again, and then again as the storm set off a destructive chain reaction with us as the focus-point. I clutched at Ice the way a drowning man clutches his rescuer, knowing my fingernails were scourging her skin, but terrified beyond caring at that moment.

The final crash came and I felt the world around me tumble as the car began to raise up off its wheels. The next thing I knew, we were floating free.

After that, I knew nothing at all.

Something soft and fragrant tickled against my nose, then tickled again as my eyelashes fluttered against opening. When the nuisance wouldn't go away, I finally opened my eyes and scowled at the feathery stalk of grass that waved at me, courtesy of a warm, summer breeze.

My scowl quickly turned to a grin, though, and I rolled over on my back to look up at a pristine blue sky and a slight scattering of tiny clouds which trailed lazily across a friendly summer sun.

I felt...perfect, I realized as the sounds of the breeze travelling through grass and leaves played a lazy, peaceful harmony. The long nap I'd apparently taken had left me feeling uncommonly refreshed. The minor aches and pains which collected as I got older seemed to have vanished, as if they never were.

I was clear-headed and light-hearted and filled with an absolute, incredible joy.

Rolling up to a sitting position, I gazed across the flat expanse of a pristine lake with waters so calm and so blue that the sight brought tears of happiness to my eyes. The lake was surrounded on all sides by a forest of stately, deep emerald evergreens whose laden boughs swayed and danced in the ever-present and deliciously scented breeze which blew warm and gentle upon my skin.

Paradise.

Coming to my feet, I turned in a slow circle, the smile on my face growing so broad that I was sure it would freeze there. Not that I would have minded, of course.

Giggling like a schoolgirl, I watched the whimsical path of a beautiful butterfly as it flitted over a meadow filled with a million flowers in every color of the rainbow.

I was grasped with a sudden need to be in that meadow, to run through it and feel the soft, pollen-dusted petals as they brushed against my bare legs, and to smell the sweet fragrances of the flowers as I passed each one by.

With a joyous shout, I flung my arms wide and took off through the field, laughing until tears ran from my eyes, blurring the scene before me as if I were looking through a prism filled with a magical radiance. Temporarily blinded, I stumbled and fell, but the ground was like a soft, warm blanket, cradling me and cushioning me as I rolled, still laughing and covered with pollen, through the field.

Springing back to my feet, I continued my sprint, filled with an energy I'd never before felt. It was...amazing was the only word I could think to use. I could have been running for hours, or even days, but it was like the energy within me kept growing and growing until my body fairly buzzed with it.

The meadow's end lay only a short distance away, bordered by more of those tall, fragrant evergreens. As the warmth of the sun and the exercise had conspired to lay a faint sheen of sweat on my body, the promised coolness of the shaded emerald forest was perfection itself.

With a last, grateful look at the flowering field, I stepped into the cool, fragrant shadows of the giant trees. Soft fronds brushed my arms like welcoming friends. It was cool, quiet and dim, yet tranquil and comforting the way a warm summer's night is comforting.

Up ahead, a short distance away, a faint rose glow came through the trees, drawing my attention and my footsteps in that direction.

The glow, which became subtly brighter as I made my zigzag way toward its unknown source, gilded the trees at the edge of the small wood a dusky bronze which was quite beautiful in its own way. I felt in some way drawn to it by an almost magnetic attraction, and before I knew it, my meandering pace had quickened to a ground-eating trot.

The trees fell away suddenly, giving way to a huge clearing.

And in the center of that clearing, glowing rose and gold and bronze, was the largest tree I'd ever seen in my life. Not so much tall, no, but broad, and strong, as if sprung up from the very bedrock of the earth itself. Its thick, sturdy limbs grew out from the trunk in wild proliferation.

It seemed wild, and untamed, and, to my awestruck eyes, so very, very beautiful.

I felt a tug from somewhere deep down within me, and I took up my trot once again, feeling the radiant glow gently, tenderly caress my face and form as I moved ever closer.

Drawn on by a need and a longing beyond my understanding, I increased my speed, hands outstretched to their fullest limit and aching for something I couldn't name. A final step and I was there, my outstretched fingers brushing against the warm, smooth, living bark with a sense of profound relief Laying my palms flat against the trunk, I felt an intense surge of energy flow through me, bringing with it a sense of rightness, of completeness that, until now, I hadn't been aware I was lacking.

Startled, though unafraid, I took a brief step back, losing contact with the tree as I did so.

The immediate sense of loss was almost overwhelming, and tears sprung quick to my eyes, blurring my vision once again.

"What's happening to me?" I whispered, overcome with a grief whose source was unknown.

Angel... .