第99节

detonators now attached to the plastic explosive he had concealed

aboard the aircraft in the formation.

BooOOMM.t Boo-boo-BOOMMM.t BooOOOMMM!

Lords Yama-Shita and Min-Orota froze in their seats with speechless

horror as each of the five flying-horses was engulfed in a ball of

flame. The slender silk-covered wings and bodies, crumpled, were

ripped to pieces then rapidly consumed by orange tongues of fire.

High-ranking guests and assembled troops were thrown into confusion as

the shower of burning debris spiralled down towards the packed stand

preceded by the rag-doll bodies of the pilots and observers.

As the first machine exploded, Kelso rushed out onto the veranda and

tossed the tote-bag and cloth bundle into the arms of Cadillac and

Clearwater. 'Okay!

Go-Go-GO!" Jodi was already in position by the bath-house on the west

side of the yard. She pulled the pin on a gas grenade and hurled it

towards the servants lined up along the wall. A gush of white smoke

mushroomed out as the grenade detonated, filling the air with disabling

nerve gas. Kelso followed it up with another as he raced across the

yard behind Cadillac and Clearwater.

Like everybody else, the servants had been temporarily stunned by the

aerial conflagration, but the dull report of the first gas grenade

coincided with the protective reaction of two of the female servants.

As they gathered up their children and turned to flee from the scene,

they saw the burst of white smoke, saw their ex-master running across

the yard, and watched as the red-haired slave behind him threw what

looked like a stone in their direction.

Running along the path towards the workshops, Jodi and Kelso heard the

women scream shrilly as they gave the alarm. It didn't matter. A lot

of other people were screaming and shouting too. By the time the

nearest soldiers reached the garden wall, none of the servants would be

in a fit state to tell them anything - and the soldiers would soon find

they were short of breath too.

As Steve was about to press the first of the buttons that would destroy

the acrobatic formation, the plane carrying Consul-General Nakane

Toh-Shiba returned from its overflight of Ba-satana and began to circle

above his official residence and the government-owned estate which

surrounded it. The Consul had not changed his views about flying but,

having overcome his initial terror, he had become fascinated by this

new view of the world, and his eyes were fixed on the larger of the two

islands in the lake which now lay almost directly below.

Everything looked so small! But it was down there, in the summerhouse

surrounded by,trees and a rock garden, that he had spent the most

memorable hours of his life in the arms of his secret paramour; the

beautiful alien creature who possessed that rarest of gifts lustrous,

sweet-smelling body hair. The thought of his next visit to her filled

him with pleasurable anticipation; the realisation that it-would

probably be their last moment together made the feeling bitter-sweet.

He had no inkling that it was not her death that was drawing ever

closer, but his own.

His craft, gliding silently in a V-formation with its two escorts, was

banking round in the direction of the Heron Pool when Steve blew the

first five planes out of the air.

The Consul's pilot saw the fireballs blossom and fall.

Signalling frantically with both arms, he managed to attract the

attention of his wingmen. They drifted in until their wingtips were

almost touching. The lead pilot shouted vainly to his colleagues,

pointing repeatedly over the nose. The flaming debris had plunged

earthwards, but the drifting trail of smoke that marked the formation's

fall was still visible. Both wingmen indicated that they understood.

The Consul'