Black Sun Reich Read Online Free PDF Page A

looking nervous, threw in a “Yeah, what he said.”
    Rucker muttered to his copilot, “That starboard manifold is still losing pressure. Chuy, lock in the auxiliary. Tower calls it at twenty-three, twenty-two . . .”
    Rucker turned around to the two passengers and just smirked at them from behind his aviator sunglasses. Over Rucker’s shoulder through the cockpit screen, Deitel saw the clouds begin to part.
    â€œGentlemen, on behalf of myself and my copilot, Chuy Lago . . .” Rucker said, pausing dramatically.
    Then Deitel saw it .
    The doctor’s eyes widened. He closed his eyes and rubbed them. He looked again.
    â€œ. . . we’d like to thank you for flying Far Ranger Air and tell you . . .”
    It had to be a mirage, the German thought. Or he’d been drugged. But Deitel could see that Chamberlain saw it, too.
    There it was, floating steadily like God’s own hand had carved out a place in the firmament of the sky.
    A city. Almost two miles up.
    A flying city.
    The Caribbean sun danced off the metallic structure that defied nature’s laws.
    â€œ. . . welcome to Airstrip One . . .” Rucker said as the Raposa touched down atop the floating edifice.
    Deitel saw flying above the control tower the tricolor, canon, and single star banner of the Texas Freehold.
    â€œ. . . the weather outside is breezy and fifty-three degrees . . .”
    Deitel fainted.
    â€œ. . . watch for falling coconuts.”

 
    CHAPTER TWO
    Airstrip One
    Two miles above the Caribbean Sea
    Northeast of the Yucatan peninsula
    D eitel awoke to find he was lying in the jump seat with Rucker absently flapping a wet rag in his general direction. The captain’s attention was focused on the commotion at the passenger door, where Deitel could hear Chuy unceremoniously removing Chamberlain from the plane.
    â€œNow see here, see, where’s my luggage?”
    â€œI’m sorry, sir, you’ll have to speak to our lost luggage department.”
    â€œDammit, I told you to put my bags on the plane!”
    The voices were lost to the noise in the terminal outside, which brought Deitel back to the fact that he was on a plane that was on the “ground,” only the ground was 9,000 feet in the air. He grabbed the rag Rucker was slapping his face with.
    â€œHerr Kapitan, enough.”
    â€œOh, hey, Doc.”
    Rucker got Deitel on his feet.
    â€œWhere—Where are we?”
    â€œAirstrip One.”
    â€œA city in the clouds?”
    â€œNot a city. Just a little airport. With a small hotel. A couple of restaurants. Some shops. Oh, and a small hospital. Come on, I’ll show you.”
    The Raposa was inside a terminal, a level below the landing platform. There were more than a dozen passenger and cargo planes spread through an area the size of several soccer fields. Massive elevator pads raised and lowered planes to the flight deck. To one side lay a passenger terminal complete with little shops, and off to the other side, maintenance and refueling equipment. The bulkheads on all sides were lined with windows.
    â€œThis is Airstrip One. She rides on the backs of thirty-eight superzeppelins, which are driven by some fourteen propellers that are bigger than yachts. I think she can handle up to twenty medium-size planes at a time. Busy days like today, she’s the point of transfer or the waypoint for about forty flights. No tennis courts, though, dammit. I love tennis.”
    Deitel stumbled, his mind not quite accepting all that he was seeing.
    Chuy escorted Chamberlain over to the passenger terminal, where two men in black suits and hats confronted Chamberlain. The men flashed identification and were now escorting him off to one of the small office suites.
    â€œShe has accommodations for a hundred crew and fifty guests. Decent Cuban restaurant on the fiesta deck, but the French bistro on the bow is the best place to grab a