Return to Atlantis: A Novel Read Online Free PDF Page A

proudly.
    “That’s why I rescued you. In fact, that’s the
only
reason I rescued you.” The Kenyan looked somewhat deflated, so Eddie softened slightly. “You get me what I want, Johnny, and as far as I’m concerned we’re all square, and you’re free to go. Sound good?”
    Strutter nodded. “It does. Thank you.” He offered his hand. “I promise you, I will find—”
    A line of ragged holes burst open in the fuselage, shards of aluminum showering the passengers.
    Wind shrieked into the cabin. “Shit!” Eddie gasped as TD threw the lumbering plane into an evasive turn. They were being fired on—but how?
    The Alouette
. Boodu’s helicopter was equipped with apair of .303-caliber Browning machine guns—and after fleeing the prison, it must have withdrawn to a safe distance before its crew spotted the incoming Antonov and deduced that the highest-value escapees would be taken aboard. Eddie didn’t know the Alouette’s top speed, but suspected it would match—or beat—the old biplane.
    Another burst of machine-gun fire punctured the hull, the shots ripping along the length of the plane—
    Into the cockpit.
    TD screamed. Eddie saw blood on the windshield. The plane lurched. “TD, are you okay? TD!”
    Her reply was a barely coherent wail. “Oh God, my arm!”
    Eddie jumped up and was about to enter the cockpit to help her when the nose tilted upward, sending him staggering back down the cabin …
    Boodu lunged for his machete.
    Off balance, Eddie took a shot at him that went wide, adding another hole to the Antonov’s puckered fuselage as Boodu yanked the blade from the seat frame—
    More of the Alouette’s bullets struck the biplane. It pitched up almost vertically, dropping Eddie and Boodu toward the rear bulkhead as the other two men struggled to hold on to their seats.
    The sheet metal buckled under Eddie as he crashed against it. Boodu slammed down beside him, the machete clanging against the bulkhead just inches from the Yorkshireman’s chest.
    Boodu swept the weapon as Eddie rolled away. The machete’s sharp edge caught his arm—only a glancing blow, but still deep enough to draw blood. He tried to bring the gun around, but Boodu lashed out with one leg and kicked his hand, sending the pistol flying across the hold.
    The plane’s nose tipped back down. Even wounded, TD was still fighting to keep control of her aircraft. Eddie thumped to the deck as the Antonov came out of its climb. Over the engine’s roar, he heard the clatter ofthe helicopter’s machine guns. Bullets clunked into the wings.
    “Max!” he shouted. “Get into the cockpit and help her!” Maximov gave him a thumbs-up and squeezed through the cockpit entrance.
    More bullet impacts, this time against the fuselage. One of the portholes blew out—then the cabin hatch burst open and fell away behind the plane. Strutter screamed in terror.
    Eddie clung to a structural spar as the slipstream tried to drag him out after the hatch. The horizon tipped sharply, the Antonov now in a steepening plunge. The engine note rose in pitch.
    Boodu braced his feet against another spar and swung again, Eddie ducking just in time to avoid a machete blow to his face. The blade clanged against the hull above his head. He retaliated with a punch, but only caught the Zimbabwean’s shoulder as he drew back the machete for another attack.
    A churning sensation in Eddie’s stomach told him that he was in free fall. The Antonov was picking up speed in its dive.
    Which gave him a new dimension in which to fight.
    Boodu slashed at him—but Eddie had already kicked away and shot toward the ceiling, grabbing a flapping cargo strap and using it to somersault himself around. The plane’s occupants were now effectively in zero g, the Antonov’s power dive matching the speed at which gravity was dragging them down. From Boodu’s expression of shock—and sudden nausea—it was something he had never experienced before.
    Eddie had, however. He kicked off