Samantha bit her lip as the pain increased. Then only a moment later, it ebbed as her arms were released.
When the hood came off, Io stood in front of her. She blinked, and turned. Adreana knelt on the ground, loosening the remaining ropes from her ankles. “Welcome back. Not a moment too soon.”
“It's like a war zone out there,” the diminutive Australian replied. “Come on, we've got to skedaddle before they find their boss missing.”
Dodging puddles, Adreana led them toward a door Samantha assumed Lanier had also used. The sound of the gunfire increased as they neared.
“You sure this is the safest way?”
“It's the only way, mate. Side entrance. Move quickly, or let them kill you.” Adreana pushed the door open, shoving against a blockage on the other side.
Samantha followed, stepping over a body for her trouble. A man with no hair lay unconscious in the hallway. “Lanier? But how?”
Adreana knelt and retrieved a wooden post. “He was going past and I clocked him with this, right on the back of the head.”
“Is he dead?”
“I don't know. You want to hang around to find out? You got those guys out the front who want to kill you. You also have militia outside, heavily armed and firing into the building, who also want to kill you. Let's go. I've got a car.”
* * *
Would a car be enough to get them to safety and to the source of the patterns in the book? Samantha doubted it. She followed as Adreana led them out the side of the warehouse. They emerged midway along the building between a set of dumpsters filled with rubbish and stinking with age. The gunfire was louder outside but shielded from the battle by the bulk of the warehouse.
“Strange that they would only try a frontal assault when there's a door to the side,” Samantha mused aloud.
“You want to go discuss tactics with them? I can get you to safety now, or you can wait around for a stray bullet to hit you.”
“We have to rescue Charlotte. Rockwell has her.” Samantha pulled in the opposite direction.
Adreana refused to let go. “Get a grip, girl. You can't help her from a jail cell, or worse off, dead. She'd want you to do what you came here to do first. Get free of this first, then rescue her second.”
Sirens in the distance indicated the imminent arrival of the authorities. Samantha saw no choice but to get in the waiting car, a beaten-up yellow affair that was patched all over with brown rust. “Io, come on, unless you fancy flying us out of here.”
“Flying wouldn't be my first choice,” he replied. “I don't appear to have wings.” Io climbed in next to her.
Adreana took the driver's seat, and with a grinding noise that made Samantha and Io both wince, set off along the side of the runway.
Samantha looked back through the rear window's clouded glass. Nobody followed them.
Adreana floored the gas, whizzing past a series of hangars and planes alike, swerving around baggage carts without slowing.
The bright morning coupled with disturbed sleep meant Samantha was a little disoriented. “Adreana, did you get the co-ordinates?”
“In a nutshell, yeah. It's another part of the island, a few hundred miles away. If you want to visit it, you're gonna have to find another way there.”
“Do you know exactly where we need to go?”
Adreana nodded. “I've got a mobile GPS. I can put you right on top of the final co-ordinates.”
Samantha spotted a white plane, propeller spinning on the nose, cockpit hatch open. She pointed. “There. Take us to that plane.”
Adreana changed direction. “What're you gonna do? Kidnap the pilot?”
Samantha grinned. “Better. Just pull up next to the plane, grab your stuff and follow my lead.”
The car had barely come to a stop when Samantha jumped out and climbed onto the wing. She peered into the hangar. The pilot was at the back of the building, his back turned, arguing with someone at the counter.
Perfect, Samantha thought. She waved at Adreana and Io to follow her, “Hurry!” she said, settling into one of the two leather pilots' seats.
Io sat down beside her, Adreana behind them.
“Pull the hatches shut,” she instructed. “It's not just angels who can fly.”
“This is foolish,” Io warned her. “Only bad will come of this.”
Samantha turned to find Adreana grinning.
“Will a plane so small get us there?” she asked as she pulled the rear hatch with a yank. It clicked shut.
“How far are we going?”
Adreana opened a map and studied it. “Three hundred miles directly north. Can we make it?”
Samantha studied the instruments in the mahogany panel. This was a rich man's toy. “Fuel gauge is at maximum. Barring any major course corrections and with some good flying conditions we should make it there and back in one piece. You'd better be right about Charlotte. Hang on.”
As she taxied into position, the pilot, a silver haired New Guinean in a far-too-youthful jumpsuit came charging out, waving his arms. Samantha checked the fuel mix and pushed the throttle forward. The plane jumped into life, leaving him in their wake.
“You sure you can do this?” Adreana sounded worried.
“We're about to find out,” Samantha replied and turned the plane on to the lone, clear runway.
A voice blared over the radio, issuing a warning in a language she didn't recognise. “They don't sound pleased.”
“A warning from the tower,” Adreana provided. “You aren't authorised for take-off.”
“Not going to stop us,” Samantha lowered the flaps on the wings, pushed the fuel mixture knob in, and upped the throttle. The plane surged forward, veering toward some warehouses as it did so. An easy correction on the rudder pedals and they were straight.
The plane gained speed with ease, hurtling along the runway.
“What are those?” Io said, pointing ahead.
Three black objects had appeared and were closing on their position. “Looks like cars. Someone doesn't want us leaving. One guess who.”
It was a game of chicken. The plane closed in on the cars at a frightening pace. Samantha's heart was in her mouth as she watched the needle on the air-speed dial creep toward sixty knots. The cars loomed larger and larger. Hands waved out the side of the foremost vehicle.
“They aren't stopping this flight,” Samantha growled, pulling back on the column between her legs.
Io copied her effort and the plane began to tilt skyward, resisting at first, then lifting as the take-off speed was reached. She felt the cars pass underneath, one clipping the landing gear, the plane juddering. Immediately, Samantha began to bank the plane until they were pointing due North. They were free.
In the distance, a column of caustic black smoke rose from the jungle just outside the city. “I wouldn't want to be there,” Samantha hollered above the engine din.
“I was there,” Adreana replied. “It's the university. The bookshop and several other buildings were set alight—it looks like arson. I tried to confirm the GPS coordinates with a colleague but we the roads were barricaded. We could see the flames above the treeline, all the way back on the road.”
“You still can,” Io added.
Samantha levelled the plane off with a tender correction of her stick, adjusting the rudder to compensate with the pedals at her feet. She stole a glance at the campus as it passed by below. Borne aloft by the intense column of heat, the smoke rose far above them until it moved off to the East as it finally hit a strong breeze.
She adjusted the flaps and looked ahead. “I'm gonna have to fly low. If they pick me up on radar, they'll track us all the way to … where are we going?”
“I don't know,” Adreana admitted. “I've never been up past Lae, which is south of the King William coast and the mountain ridge that cuts across it. There's not a lot of civilization in the region. Come to think of it, there's not a lot of anything up there except trees and mountains.”
“Like
this?” Ahead of them a jungle-covered mountain ridge thrust up behind Port Moresby. Shrouded in morning mist, it reflected the sun's rays upward into the thermosphere. Samantha found the effect dazzling. “It's beautiful,” she breathed. “So peaceful.”
“You'd better hope the mist burns off, otherwise, you'll have to land in that,” Adreana warned.
This brought Samantha's mind back from wandering. “So these GPS coordinates, let's have them. The pages we found in the book, too. Give them to Io, please.”
Adreana passed several pages in a plastic cover to Io, who looked at them with a blank expression on his face. “Numbers. What do I do?”
Samantha reached out and pressed a switch, bringing a screen in front of Io to life. After a few seconds a satellite image of the island filled the screen, the yellows and greens of the landmass surrounded by a deep blue ocean.
“What you've got there are decimal latitude and longitude readings, indicating points on a map. You can search and store waypoints on the plane's GPS by touching the search box and just entering the numbers.”
With a little help from Adreana behind him, Io managed to master the GPS system and in a short while they had a series of coordinates in a line on the map.
“What does that look like to you?” Samantha asked Adreana.
“One end of the line is on the coast, the other up in the mountains. It looks like someone was on a mission, a trek that ended there.” She pointed at the nearest waypoint and pulled out a map. “Just like on here. If those lunar navigation points are accurate, they were taken every night. Your explorer sailed to the coast and then walked a week into the wilderness for his crows.”
“And we're flying to the southernmost point. The end of the trek. It's a good place to start. Is that what kept you? If so, you have my thanks.”
Adreana smiled. “When we saw the fire, Chase, my friend who studies navigation, wanted to get out and help. So I left him and came looking for you. When I was pulling up to the hotel I saw you both being led away with bags over your heads. I followed the van, at a distance, until it reached the warehouse. After that I had no plan. I drove around the building in darkness until I happened across the side entrance. When the shooting started, I ran in, my only thought being to find you. That guy got in the way and I just grabbed what was near and hit him on the head. He had the keys on him. The rest you know.”
* * *
Having grown up on a diet of ARC adventures, Samantha was unable to avoid becoming mixed up in her mother's schemes. For them both, it seemed peril led to peril. Fortunately, the plane, a DA40 Diamond Star according to the details on the instrument panel, was easy to handle. It skipped over the surface of the foggy hills like a flat stone thrown across a calm lake.
“One could suspect you're actually enjoying this,” Io said after an hour or so.
“I am,” Samantha admitted, smiling. She took a deep breath. “Whatever else is going on in the world, at this moment I'm in control. It's me and the plane keeping the adventure going.”
“Don't suppose you want to keep the adventure going a little smoother?” Adreana asked.
Samantha glanced over her shoulder. The diminutive Australian looked a little green around the edges. “It depends whose watching. We need to stay below radar so this was never going to be straightforward. Besides, if we're looking for a place to land we need to be close. Fly too high and we might miss.”
Io looked dubious. “Have you seen the landscape below? Virgin jungle, dense and angry, never before touched. You have to consider the possibility we might get to your coordinates and find no place to land.”
“We can fly back, if need be,” Samantha countered. “I'll land in a field if I have to. Where are we?”
“Just passed over Lae,” Adreana provided. “There's sea off to our right. According to this map, there's a mountain ridge we have to clear, and the first coordinate is on the lower slope on the North side. If you want a runway, the closest strip is down there. You might want to give thought to finding a helicopter and a pilot.”
“Aeon Fall could also be down there waiting for us, if they're as prevalent as ARC. Let's have a look first. I'd rather avoid humanity if I can.”
The mountain ridge emerged on the horizon and before long Samantha followed the contours up, crossing the rock strewn crest by only a few metres. More patchy forest met them on the north of the ridge. Samantha pushed the plane into a descent so sudden it was more like a dive. “Hold on.”
“The first coordinate is below us,” said Adreana as she gripped the map in one hand and the seat back in her other.
“I don't see anything,” Io said.
Samantha's heart sank. “I guess it was too much to ask for just a little luck. On to the next point.”
“Wait,” Adreana shouted, pressing her face against the window. “There's an airstrip down there.”
Chapter Eighteen
A runway cut into the middle of the jungle on the side of a mountain? “It can't be. There's no settlement down there. Why would you set a plane down in such a place?”
“Why would you hide lists of numbers in the cover of a book a hundred years old?” Adreana countered. “There's a clear defined airstrip down there, meaning we aren't the first to come looking. If there's a settlement maybe its inhabitants live under the canopy. Papua New Guinea is full of tribes who have barely any contact with the outside world. You won't know unless you land and we have a look.”
“We've come this far,” Samantha agreed. “Strap yourselves in. The landing could be rough. I'll circle around and land up the slope, if I can land at all.”
Samantha tugged on her straps, making sure they were as tight as could be. She heard Io and Adreana doing the same. The lower slopes of the ridge stretched out below her, an ocean of cloud-swathed green ready to swallow her whole. She banked the plane into a slow curve, dropping down almost to the tops of the trees. A bead of sweat ran down the side of her face. She ignored the tickling sensation. She had to be responsible. There was nobody to turn to. The landing strip, not much more than a narrow cut in the trees, approached with alarming speed.
“Flaps down, speed dropping but above stalling,” she spoke aloud. “Don't forget the slope.” She pulled back on the yoke, lifting the nose of the plane so it was parallel to the approaching slope, praying silently that their collision with the car on take-off resulted in no permanent damage. There was no point worrying her passengers.
“Did you want me to do something?” Io asked.
“Just hold your stick. Let me do the work. It helps me sometimes to say everything aloud. Keeps me calm. It used to drive my instructors crazy. When we land I'll need your strength.”
“If we land,” Io replied.
Samantha considered a retort. She concentrated instead on the strip ahead, keeping the plane from shearing sideways with the rudder pedals. The plane began to resist her mastery. Trees rushed past. She was committed to the landing.
The plane hit the ground with a jolt reverberating up her spine.
Io grunted and Adreana yelped.
The stick shook with such violence it threatened to loosen her grip. “Io, now.”
The muscles in Io's forearms tensed, tendons sticking out as he clenched the stick, his efforts synchronised with Samantha's own. The plane bucked and bumped as Samantha applied the brakes.
“End of the airstrip coming real fast,” Adreana warned.
Samantha kept one eye on the instruments, the other on the trees. The slope helped and soon the plane taxied around under the overhanging canopy to point back down the slope. She turned to Io. “Thanks. I actually think we got down without breaking the landing gear.”
Popping the catch on the roof, she powered down the engine. The propeller slowed to a halt, leaving them with a jungle full of distant birds, but nothing close by. The air was warm and damp with the mists on the mountainside. She felt less than comfortable, but it was better than being tied to a chair.
“Think we disturbed the
animals,” Adreana said.
For a moment none of them moved. In the distance, sounds of the jungle wildlife began to grow closer as the planes' disturbance dissipated. The chirping of birds was interrupted the occasional hoot of a nameless animal across the mountainside, answered moments later by another of its kind.
Content to watch for any signs of being followed through the mist above, Samantha settled back into her seat. After a few minutes of normality and absolutely no air traffic, she began to climb out of her seat.
She paused. “We aren't the first ones here.”
Adreana followed her gaze and laughed. “Looks like it could be crowded.”
“What's wrong?” Io asked. “Who's here?”
“Come have a look,” Samantha invited him, and climbed out onto the wing of their plane.
Farther back under the canopy sat another plane. Unlike their pristine white Diamond Star, this was green with extensive patches of algae and detritus from being stored under the jungle canopy. More importantly the plane was lacking a nose cone, windows, and the two engines had nothing resembling propellers.
“I don't think this plane will be leaving any time soon,” Adreana noted, walking up to the relic. She climbed onto the wing, the corroded metal straining under her weight. “It's been stripped, barely a component in here.”
“So a plane with no parts that hasn't been used in years, yet there's an airstrip in good enough condition to land on. This doesn't add up.”
“It does if someone else has been using it to fly in and out,” Io said, kneeling at the edge of the runway, running the back of his hand across a fern, the plant springing back up with the elasticity of youth. “These plants are young. Maybe a year in age, maybe younger. This strip is being maintained if not used.” He turned to Samantha. “They're waiting for someone.”
How did he know? “Who are?”
“The watchers in the jungle.” Io took a couple of steps out into the daylight, his eyes fixed on a point above them, somewhere near the top of the ridge. “They're out there, waiting. They knew we were coming.”
Thornfalcon (The ARC Legacy Book 1) Page 15