I cradle the tablet and study the screen with its applications that control various aspects of Damian Lucent's island. It used to be Jude's until she went to the trouble of acquiring Baby Ziva and awakening her father from a thousand years of cryogenic hibernation. Of course, he rewarded her with death because she allowed my family to escape. However, she was an android. So, her murder is a moot point unless robots have feelings.

I'm reminded of Jinx. But that's a topic for another day when I have time.

Damian wants to take over the world and claim it for himself. His Watchers plan to save it from the throes of extinction. That's what Cain and Jezebel wanted, but they died by Abraham's hand. He's not here to save us this time, and at the moment, we have no way of contacting him, thanks to me.

Right now, I just want to reunite with Eve and the children and get out of here.

On the tablet, I open up an app that lists hundreds of primates by serial numbers made up of letters and numbers. Some are gorillas. Others are orangutans and some are chimpanzees. Quite a few are grayed out on the screen and when I touch their number, nothing happens. I assume they're dead. I tap one that's not and a list of commands appear, the same as with the giant silverback that I think is still wreaking havoc at the bunker. Hopefully, he's at least providing a blockade until Martinez and her guards break out with the heavy artillery.

This is a waste of time. Controlling a silverback isn't going to help me knock that other drone out of the sky or find the tracer.

A thought strikes me.

What if the drone has already shot them down? Maybe that's why the tracer disappeared? But I didn't see a missile launch or even hear it destroy them. The tracer was there one minute. I glanced back in my rearview mirror and then looked ahead again, and they were gone. No. I have to believe they're still alive and I have to hurry.

I back out of the primate app and enter the one that shows the locations of the GPS units. That brings up a list of SUVs. I see my vehicle's number and it shows it as in use. I tap it and see my exact location. The other SUVs don't show anything, so that means the gorilla is still blocking the bunker garage exit. That's good.

I swallow as my heart rate urges me to get on with my examination of the tablet's capabilities. There's an app for the drones. I see only one is in use, the same one that I saw as an icon on the dashboard map earlier. I glance up at the display and see it's still buzzing around the island, headed east, back toward the bunker.

But then it makes a U-turn and heads west again. Back toward me.

I've learned some valuable information by looking at the apps so far, but I need more. Need to find the tracer.

Within another app, I stumble upon a listing for it. It doesn't show a GPS location because I believe Eve disconnected the unit. But it shows a diagram of the tracer and details of its hardware, software, and... its weapons system. It even includes an image of how Jinx would connect to the aircraft to charge and operate it. But that's a dead end. That segment doesn't allow me to access Jinx in any way.

However, when I tap on the tracer's blasters, which are located under each wing, I see a toggle button. On and off. Currently, it's in the off position, so I cut it on.

On the tablet, the blasters light up with a pulsing glow that tells me they're operational. If Jinx is still in control of the aircraft, he'll recognize what I've done.

The drone is appearing over the horizon, heading straight for me. It too, is having a hard time finding my family.

A yellow triangle of light flashes on the SUV's display.

Then a voice rings out with a feminine electronic accent. I realize it's similar to Jude's voice, which she must have programmed into the vehicle's computer system.

"Warning," the voice says. "Weather alert. A large ash cloud is approaching from the west and will reach your location in five minutes. Areas affected: all Hawaiian Islands. Breathing will become difficult, if not impossible. Respirators are advised. Please find shelter immediately."

"That's not good." I shake my head and look up. Visible through the windshield, the drone speeds toward me.

After strapping on a mask, I grab the rifle and exit the vehicle. I don't have time to look for a respirator. They're probably in the backseat in a compartment, and the drone will reach me before the ash cloud.

Beside the SUV, I prop myself up on the hood and take aim again.

A shiver runs through my body as the temperature drops under the approaching shadow of the ash cloud. I brace myself. Steady my trigger finger.

Before I fire, a vapor of smoke puffs from underneath the drone. It has launched a missile... at me. The speeding rocket, as large as the barrel of my rifle sears its way through the sky, headed straight toward the SUV.

I toss the gun aside and dash into the edge of the rainforest. At the last possible moment, I dive into a thick stand of tall grass between a grove of palm trees, all turned gray by the ash.

The missile strikes the SUV with the sound of thunder.

The impact explodes into a furious ball of flames.

I realize now that I'm trapped in the open without a respirator for the approaching ash cloud, or a weapon to defend myself against the drone, or any primates that may see me as easy prey. I don't even have the tablet anymore. It went up in flames.

As I push to my feet and eyeball the darkening sky to the west, I glimpse the drone hovering nearby. Instantly, I see my mistake. The small machine turns toward me and then launches another missile at me. My only choice is to flee from the wooded cover and leap away from the impact zone. The blast propels my body forward onto the dirt road behind the burning SUV. The concussive force whiplashes my neck as I crash to the ground. My entire body erupts with pain.

In a daze, I struggle to rise but can't overcome the effects of the blast or my body smacking the road.

The drone hovers closer, homing in on its target. The ash cloud closes in as a victory for Damian Lucent lies within the machine's grasp. A missile away. That's when I hear fire thrusting from under each wing of the tracer craft as it rises above the tree line, having taken up a hiding spot in a clearing.

Eve still sits in the passenger seat, so Jinx is still flying the aircraft. But she's doing something, operating the dashboard controls. She must have set the babies down in the floorboard or in the pilot's seat, or she's multitasking, holding the children while performing another task.

Under the wings of the tracer, both blasters take aim and fire an electrified round at the drone. The machine turns, but it's too late to act. The balls of spinning electricity, similar to Jinx's now inoperable weapons system, blow it out of the sky where it falls and hits the ground with a fiery smack.

Just when I think I'm saved, Eve jabs a finger at the approaching ash cloud, seconds away from reaching me. She twists her head in the other direction where more drones are headed our way.

She barks a fury of commands, but I can't hear what she's telling Jinx.

It doesn't matter because the tracer swoops down beside me and the passenger door opens. The children are on the floorboard at Eve's feet as she leaps to the ground and races toward me. In the last few critical seconds before the ash arrives, she helps me rise, puts her shoulder under my arm and helps me limp toward the tracer. Once I'm inside with the door closed, she races around the front of the aircraft; her figure shadowed by the wave of ash speeding toward us...

She makes it just in time, slamming the pilot's door shut a split-second before darkness envelops the tracer.

Jinx doesn't hesitate.

The tracer launches straight up and then away and out of the ash, headed toward the drones coming our way. Now, he controls the blasters as Eve reaches down beside me and scoops up one child at a time, cradling the babies as I lie helpless in the passenger seat. As Daisy, the little goat, bleat-cries at my feet, with a series of electrified rounds, Jinx obliterates the incoming drones. But not before a missile launches, speeding toward us as we veer away, headed over the center of the island, over the mountains and beyond with one last heat seeker to escape.

Jinx dials up the thrusters to full power, pinning us against our seats. Even the twins and Baby Ziva press against Eve's chest as the tracer rockets to over one hundred miles per hour on its way to two hundred and fifty. We never reach that speed. Once he puts enough distance between us and the missile, he draws back on the power, slowing down enough to avoid pin-balling us off the clear fuselage. Then he swivels the tracer around in a one-eighty and takes aim.

"Locking onto the missile," he says. "Time to impact, five, four, three... firing blasters..."

The electrified rounds burst from the end of the fifty-caliber-size barrels, intercepting the rocket seconds before it hits the bullseye. A shockwave of super-heated flames explodes in front of the tracer, rolling over the polycarbonate shell and rocking us in our seats.

"Target eliminated," Jinx says as the children erupt into crying. "Beginning our escape to a new destination. Do you have any preferences?"

"Anywhere with clean air and warm temperatures," Eve says, trying to calm the twins and Baby Ziva. She looks up at me. "A place where we're the highest on the food chain."

"Just get us out of here." I sigh, still reeling from the explosive shockwave. "Before Damian gets brave enough to come after us himself."

"Affirmative." Jinx turns the tracer around and starts heading south. "I think we can find someplace where we can get a reprieve."

With that, the tracer increases speed and we set off to escape the ash clouds that cover most of the northern and some of the southern hemisphere. It's all that stands between us and freedom, and hopefully a new life, another opportunity to start over on this vile planet we call Earth.