Страница 21 из 108
Here was a game he intended to win.
4. Airborne
Je
“They’re coming around!” he yelled.
No kidding. She put the plane over on a wingtip and spun the Twin Otter away. As they turned, she saw her home below. The blasted storehouse still smoked and her dogs ran in circles, soundlessly barking. Her heart went out to her friends. They would have to fend for themselves until she could return or send someone to take care of them.
First, though, she and the others had to survive.
As she skimmed the Otter over the snow-tipped tops of trees, it sounded for a moment like the plane had run through a spate of hail. A pinging rattle vibrated through the cabin.
Bane barked from the row of backseats.
“They’re shooting at us!” Craig cried, buckled beside her father.
Je
Beside her, Matt grabbed his chair arms to hold himself in place.
“Buckle in,” she griped at him.
He hurriedly snapped his seat belt in place while he craned his neck around to search the skies for the Cessna. The other plane was pulling out of its dive and chasing after them.
“Hang on!” she warned as they crossed the top of the valley rise. She couldn’t let the other plane get above them again, but she also knew her craft was not as fast at the Cessna behind her. It would take some artful flying.
She dropped her flaps and pushed the wheel in, shoving the nose of the plane down into the neighboring valley. Its sides were steep, more a gorge than valley. The plane dropped sickeningly. She used gravity to increase her speed. The Twin Otter swooped down, slicing toward the wide river that carved through the center of the canyon. She followed it downstream.
The Cessna appeared behind her. It stayed high, arcing over the river valley. It again tried to get above her.
Je
“They’re diving on us again!” Matt said.
“I hear you.”
“That’s good,” he said.
She glanced to him, but he was staring out the window.
The plane sped over the river, arcing around a sharp bend where the river chattered over the series of rapids. Close…She stared ahead. A thick mist wafted over the river ahead, obscuring the way.
“Jen…?” Matt was now staring ahead.
“I know.” She brought the plane lower. The floats now glided three feet above the churn of boulders and frothing water. A rumble echoed into the cabin.
Then a new noise intruded. It sounded like firecrackers going off. A spray of bullets chewed across the rocky bank of the river and splattered into the water, slicing toward them. The Cessna flew overhead, slightly behind them.
“Machine gun,” Matt mumbled.
A slug ricocheted off a boulder in the river and struck the plane’s side window. Cracks spiderwebbed over its surface.
Craig gasped, ducking away.
Je
Bullets again struck the wing, tugging the plane down on that side. Je
Then they were into the thick mists.
A sigh burst from Je
She shoved the wheel forward, nosing the plane in a stomach-dropping dive.
Craig cried out, thinking they were crashing.
He needn’t have worried. Their airspeed rocketed up as they plunged almost straight down, following the waterfall as the river tumbled over a two-hundred-foot drop. The mists parted and the ground came hurtling up toward them.
Je
Matt stared at the monstrous wall. Craig gaped, white-knuckled in his seat. “The Continental Divide,” Matt said, turning to Craig. “If you’re visiting the Brooks Range, it’s something you really don’t want to miss.”
Je
Right now, she prayed it split the course of her plane from her pursuers. She spotted the Cessna as it shot high over the falls, aiming straight out. A grim smile tightened her lips. By the time they spotted her and circled, she would have a significant lead.
But was it enough?
The Cessna was now a speck behind them, but she noted it swinging around.
Je
“Where are we going?” Matt asked, craning back. “We’re heading west. I thought you wanted to head to Prudhoe Bay.”
“I do.”
“Then why aren’t we heading straight north up the Alatna and over the Antigun Pass?” He pointed back to the river. “It’s the safest way through the mountains.”
“We’d never make it that far. They’d catch up with us again. After we clear the Antigun Pass, there is nothing beyond that but the open tundra. We’d be picked off.”
“But—?”
She glared over at him. “Do you want to fly this thing?”
He held up a hand. “No, babe. This is all your game.”
Je
“Why don’t you make yourself useful,” she said, “and try the radio. We need to let someone know what’s going on up here.”
Matt nodded and pulled on a set of earphones with a microphone attached. He switched on SATCOM to bounce their signal off a polar-orbiting communication satellite. It was the only way to communicate in the mountains around here. “I’m just getting static.”
Her frown deepened. “Solar storms kicking in again. Switch to radio. Cha
He did as instructed. His words were terse, giving their location and direction. Once done, he repeated it again. There didn’t seem to be any response.