Orestes Lorenzo stared out at the darkening waters of the Caribbean. “It can’t be much farther,” he thought, straining to see the coast of Cuba, his homeland. Now he was returning, but only briefly. He planned to land his small plane on a highway near the coast just long enough to rescue his wife and two sons and return with them to the United States and freedom.

There it was: the slopes of Pan de Matanzas! “They’ve spotted me by now,” Lorenzo thought. He had flown the last half hour just a few feet above the ocean, hoping to avoid the Cuban Air Force’s radar. But this close to the coast, the radar would have detected him even at that height. He imagined the air force frantically responding to an alert that an unidentified aircraft was approaching the coast. As a member of the Cuban Air Force for more than 10 years, he felt sure that officers had already ordered an air-defense missile to be fired. Unless he could pick up his family quickly and get far enough away, he knew that his small plane could be obliterated at any moment. His heart pounded. Everything needed to go perfectly.

As Lorenzo’s plane raced toward the coast, he thought back to the last time he had seen his homeland. Almost 21 months before, he had been in another plane—a Cuban Air Force fighter jet. That day he had made the most difficult decision of his life: he left Cuba for the United States. Angry and disillusioned by a government he felt was corrupt, he had decided to risk everything for a new beginning. After discussing it with his wife Vicky, he decided that he should fly his plane to the United States to begin a new life. Lorenzo and his wife felt that the Cuban government would be forced to allow her and the children to join him in the United States. Unfortunately, the Cuban government refused, even after the president of the United States asked. Angry with Lorenzo for leaving with a government plane, Cuban leaders dared Lorenzo to come back and get his family. Realizing that the Cuban government would never allow his family to leave, Lorenzo decided to do just that.

Lorenzo slowed the plane and looked for the highway alongside El Marney Beach. Just the night before he had sent a coded message telling his wife to meet him at a prearranged place. “Are they there?” he wondered nervously. “Have they had problems?” So many things could have gone awry. As he looked for the highway, he worried. It would be impossible to land if the traffic were too heavy. At last he spotted the narrow strip of pavement running next to the coast. Flying low over cars and trucks, he searched ahead for his family. Then he spotted three orange dots. They had made it! Lorenzo prepared to land, but a bus and a small white car were in his way. He flew low over the car, nearly scraping it with his landing gear. Then he saw a new problem, a large rock. Lorenzo started to steer around it, but a traffic sign blocked his way. He couldn’t risk clipping the plane’s wing on that sign. The plane slammed down, somehow missing the rock, and Lorenzo hit the brakes.

Lorenzo looked behind him. He saw his wife and two sons desperately running for the plane. He gripped the steering control and slowly turned the plane around. Traffic on the highway had stopped all around him. The bus driver looked at Lorenzo with wide eyes. To Lorenzo it seemed as if his wife and sons were moving in slow motion. He couldn’t afford to get out and help them. Finally, they were there. “Watch the propellers,” he thought, turning the plane sideways to make it easier for them to get inside. He pulled open the door, and his 11-year-old son Reyniel scrambled aboard. “Dad!” he screamed, hurrying into the back, his face full of fear and joy.

“Daddy!” The voice of his six-year-old filled the cabin next. Lorenzo felt Alejandro’s small arms hugging him. He glanced at his watch as his son climbed into the backseat with his brother. The seconds seemed like minutes.

Finally Lorenzo’s wife climbed into the plane. Her eyes were wet. Lorenzo felt tears filling his eyes too as he thought of the nearly two years she had endured after he had left. Lorenzo reached for the door to close it. It was jammed and wouldn’t close! He tried again, but it was still stuck.

“Calm yourself, calm yourself!” he told himself. He grabbed the door with both hands, and finally it closed. “We’re on our way!” he shouted. Gunning the engine, Lorenzo raced the plane back down the highway. He looked at his watch. It hadn’t quite been a minute since he had landed. Lorenzo steered frantically around oncoming cars. A curve was just ahead in the highway. He had to get the plane into the air before he reached it, but he wasn’t going fast enough. He pulled the controls all the way back, and the plane slowly struggled into the sky, skimming the tops of the palm trees that lined the highway. “We did it!” he shouted. “We did it!” But Lorenzo knew they weren’t safe yet. They needed to get farther away.

When they had reached the 12 1/2-mile point and missiles were no longer a danger, Lorenzo cried again, this time with certainty, “We did it! We’re together forever.”

 “Forever!” his wife repeated.