Return to Atlantis: A Novel Read Online Free PDF

again and propelled himself at the Zimbabwean like a missile. Before Boodu could react, the Englishman had plowed into him, sending both men tumbling weightlessly across the hold. He drove a punch into Boodu’s face, breaking his nose. Globules of blood whirled in the air. Another powerful blow, then he grabbed the African’s arm and tried to pry the machete from his grip.
    The engine note changed again, the cabin spinning around them as the plane turned. They were running out of sky …
    Eddie finally broke Boodu’s hold on the machete—as Maximov pulled up, hard. No longer in free fall, the two men crashed heavily to the deck. Gravity went from zero to double as the An-2 continued its roller-coaster ride. The machete slammed down with sledgehammer force, embedding its tip an inch into the floor beside the open hatch.
    The ground outside was frighteningly close—
    An explosion of dust whirled into the cabin as the Antonov pulled out of its headlong dive mere feet above the plain and began another steep, rolling climb. Eddie and Boodu, still grappling, slid back down the hold …
    Straight at the hatch.
    Eddie realized the danger and let go of Boodu, clawing at the spars. He snagged one with his fingertips, but lost his grip almost immediately and continued to slither toward the opening. Boodu, just ahead of him, screamed as he fell into nothingness—
    And caught the back edge of the frame, dangling outside the ascending aircraft.
    Eddie flailed his arms helplessly, sliding out into the void …
    His left hand slapped against one of the wrecked hinges. He grabbed it. Torn metal cut into his palm, but he had no choice but to cling on as his free hand hunted for purchase—
    Boodu’s hand clamped around his throat.
    The militia leader pulled himself higher. Choking, Eddie looked down at him, seeing his face twisted into a defiant snarl. Behind the Antonov’s tail, the pursuing Alouette came into view as it climbed after the biplane. “If I die,” Boodu roared into the wind, “so do you, Chase!”
    He squeezed harder, trying to force Eddie away from the hatch. The hinge’s sharp edges dug deeper into the Englishman’s hand. He tried to push Boodu back down,but didn’t have enough leverage. Instead, he groped inside the cabin for a handhold …
    His fingers found sharp, thick metal.
    The machete!
    He tugged at the handle. The blade shifted, but didn’t come loose, still stuck in the floor like a crude Excalibur. Boodu dug his thumb harder against Eddie’s windpipe, hauling himself higher. Another few inches and he would be able to get an elbow over the edge of the hatch to pull himself inside.
    A last desperate yank—and the blade came free.
    Supported by only one hand, Eddie swung farther out of the hatch. Boodu shot him a look of triumph—which abruptly vanished as he saw what his opponent was holding. “No, don’t!” he cried.
    “Hands off!”
Eddie shouted.
    He brought down the machete in a savage slash—and lopped the Zimbabwean’s clutching arm off at the wrist.
    With a horrible shriek, Boodu plummeted away in the Antonov’s wake—
    And fell into the helicopter’s rotor blades.
    The lower half of his body burst into a thick spray that repainted the olive-green military camouflage in a gory red, the upper smashing screaming through the cockpit windows. The Alouette slewed round, rapidly losing height—then hit the ground and exploded in an oily fireball.
    Eddie stabbed the machete into the plane’s side and dragged himself back into the cabin as the Antonov leveled out. He lay gasping for several seconds before realizing that Boodu’s severed hand was still gripping his neck. He pulled off the appendage and was about to toss it through the hatch after its former owner when he took in the ring on its finger, the emerald still gleaming in its gold setting. A moment’s thought, then he wedged it in a seat frame and staggered to the front of the compartment. Strutter was still clutching his