lying.”
“I’m not,” Dr. Florence assures him.
Jack comes up to join me. “What can you see?”
I nod out to where a large rock formation is rising from the floor of the desert. It consists of spurs of rock, surrounding a central, flat topped hill almost big enough to call a mountain. There’s no sign of damage on it from the fire. There is, however, the gleam of metal somewhere below. “I know Locations all look different, but that certainly looks odd enough to me.”
Jack smiles, and some of the tension leaves his eyes. “For a non-Fader, you’ve got a good eye. That’s Location Thirteen. Those rock spurs hide a way into natural caverns. The central one has ancient ice at its heart, providing natural cooling. Come on, let’s head down.”
He takes the controls from me gently and gets ready to bring the chopper down, yet as he does, I look out of the window again. There’s a black speck on the horizon. The same black speck that was there before.
“Jack, wait!”
“What is it?” Jack asks.
I point and he turns our helicopter to get a better look. Jack gasps.
“It’s Hammond’s chopper. He’s followed us.”
“But how?” I ask. I look at the dials and instruments of our helicopter. Sure enough, there’s radar spinning in the center. “Shouldn’t we have picked him up?”
Jack shakes his head. “Helicopters have a pretty small profile anyway, and if his is using stealth technology… why didn’t we spot this, Celes?”
The truth is that we did spot him, back at the lab. It’s just that his helicopter was far enough away not to seem like anything important. It was only seeing it again that made it seem significant. Like so many other things, it’s only now that it’s too late that it makes sense.
“I guess we weren’t expecting him to follow us,” I say. That’s true too. Wilson Hammond was quick to attack us back at his lab. He even sent in his two thugs to finish the job. So it would have made more sense for him to come after us with all guns blazing than to simply shadow us from a distance.
Except that it’s obvious now what his plan was. Panic us. Make us run. Keep < face="Cal>us running until we led him straight to Location Thirteen. Which we have. Or at least, which we’ll have led him to if we let him know that it’s here.
“We have to lose him, Jack,” I say. “We have to keep going and pretend that this place has nothing to do with us, then we have to leave him behind and double back.”
“That will be hard if Hammond has radar too,” Jack says. And he will. An attack helicopter like that has to have it. “Unless…”
“Yes?” I say.
“I think I see a way that might work. Strap yourself in, Celes, and tell the doctor to do the same.”
I go back and give Dr. Florence Jack’s instructions. The scientist looks a little worried, though apparently the thought of Wilson Hammond catching up to him scares him more. He straps himself in. I strap myself in beside Jack, waiting to see what he’ll do.
For a while, he doesn’t do anything, just heading deeper into the desert, out over more rocky outcrops, stands of cacti, even lusher patches with woodland and water running through them. It’s only when we’re well clear of Location Thirteen that he dives. He plunges the helicopter behind an outcrop, using the shadow of it as a natural block on Hammond’s instruments. He takes it in a tight turn around the other side, staying low to the ground.
Still, the black helicopter is there.
“I’m not,” Dr. Florence assures him.
Jack comes up to join me. “What can you see?”
I nod out to where a large rock formation is rising from the floor of the desert. It consists of spurs of rock, surrounding a central, flat topped hill almost big enough to call a mountain. There’s no sign of damage on it from the fire. There is, however, the gleam of metal somewhere below. “I know Locations all look different, but that certainly looks odd enough to me.”
Jack smiles, and some of the tension leaves his eyes. “For a non-Fader, you’ve got a good eye. That’s Location Thirteen. Those rock spurs hide a way into natural caverns. The central one has ancient ice at its heart, providing natural cooling. Come on, let’s head down.”
He takes the controls from me gently and gets ready to bring the chopper down, yet as he does, I look out of the window again. There’s a black speck on the horizon. The same black speck that was there before.
“Jack, wait!”
“What is it?” Jack asks.
I point and he turns our helicopter to get a better look. Jack gasps.
“It’s Hammond’s chopper. He’s followed us.”
“But how?” I ask. I look at the dials and instruments of our helicopter. Sure enough, there’s radar spinning in the center. “Shouldn’t we have picked him up?”
Jack shakes his head. “Helicopters have a pretty small profile anyway, and if his is using stealth technology… why didn’t we spot this, Celes?”
The truth is that we did spot him, back at the lab. It’s just that his helicopter was far enough away not to seem like anything important. It was only seeing it again that made it seem significant. Like so many other things, it’s only now that it’s too late that it makes sense.
“I guess we weren’t expecting him to follow us,” I say. That’s true too. Wilson Hammond was quick to attack us back at his lab. He even sent in his two thugs to finish the job. So it would have made more sense for him to come after us with all guns blazing than to simply shadow us from a distance.
Except that it’s obvious now what his plan was. Panic us. Make us run. Keep < face="Cal>us running until we led him straight to Location Thirteen. Which we have. Or at least, which we’ll have led him to if we let him know that it’s here.
“We have to lose him, Jack,” I say. “We have to keep going and pretend that this place has nothing to do with us, then we have to leave him behind and double back.”
“That will be hard if Hammond has radar too,” Jack says. And he will. An attack helicopter like that has to have it. “Unless…”
“Yes?” I say.
“I think I see a way that might work. Strap yourself in, Celes, and tell the doctor to do the same.”
I go back and give Dr. Florence Jack’s instructions. The scientist looks a little worried, though apparently the thought of Wilson Hammond catching up to him scares him more. He straps himself in. I strap myself in beside Jack, waiting to see what he’ll do.
For a while, he doesn’t do anything, just heading deeper into the desert, out over more rocky outcrops, stands of cacti, even lusher patches with woodland and water running through them. It’s only when we’re well clear of Location Thirteen that he dives. He plunges the helicopter behind an outcrop, using the shadow of it as a natural block on Hammond’s instruments. He takes it in a tight turn around the other side, staying low to the ground.
Still, the black helicopter is there.
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