第101节

Seized by a sudden feeling of exhilaration, he forced his skittering

horse to wheel, then galloped off the field as the remaining debris

fluttered to earth around the smouldering corpse.

Incredible, thought Jodi. She glanced at her digital watch - one of

three AMEXICO had thoughtfully provided to help co-ordinate their

getaway. So much death and destruction, but less than eight minutes

had elapsed since Brickman had blown up the first plane and they had

begun their run from the pavilion. She saw Cadillac rubbing his eyes

with the back of his hand. His face was streaked with tears.

Steve waved them forward over the bank. 'Okay, c'mon! Let's go for

it!" The four of them scrambled on to the field and ran towards the

parked aircraft. They joined Kelso under the tail of number twelve.

He was holding the end-plate - a safety device the dinks had begun

fitting over the nozzles of the five rocket tubes to prevent accidental

ignition or damage whilst aircraft were being manhandled - and he was

ashen-faced. 'This one's not tubed up!" Steve stared at him,

thunderstruck. 'Not ' 'The rocket tray's empty! LOOK!" It was

true.

Steve's stomach turned over. 'Shit, shit, SHIT!" He seized Jodi and

Cadillac by the shoulder.

'Check these next two! I'll do Nine!" The boosters were fitted to the

launching trolley, but the tray was empty. They all were. Some idiot

dink had stuck end-plates on all the trays - presumably because he

thought they looked better that way. Jodi and Cadillac joined up with

him as he raced back to Kelso. 'What a jackass!" He punched his thigh

angrily. 'And they were there, right in front of us all the time!

Jeer!" 'At least we've got a cartload of rockets,' said Cadillac.

'Yeah. And you can thank Mo-Town they're already primed! Start

emptying your pockets!" Steve hurriedly divested himself of most of

his grenades and spare magazines. Cadillac did the same, passing them

to Jodi and Kelso.

'We'll load, you two cover us!'

'We'll never make it,' said Kelso.

'We're gonna have a damned good try! But maybe we'll have to go with

three tubes instead of a full -' Steve suddenly realised that

Clearwater wasn't with them.

Clearwater had left the others as soon as she realised they needed more

time to put right whatever it was that had gone wrong. She did not

understand the workings of the flying-horses, but she knew that only

she had the power to hold back the warriors on the far side of the

field. She could sense their mounting wrath and knew they would soon

rally. They must not be allowed to strike at the cloud warrior. If he

and Cadillac were overwhelmed, all would be lost. But she also had

another task: to avenge the Plain folk.

Steve and the others paused for an instant and watched her run towards

the middle of the field.

'What the elf-cfr does she think she's doing?" cried Kelso.

'She's going to buy us some time,' murmured Steve. He moved towards

the rocket cart.

'But she's not even armed!'

'Armed?" Cadillac gave a contemptuous laugh as the sense of belonging

welled up within him. It was like meeting a long-lost friend. 'Watch

and take heed, sand-burrower!

You are about to witness the real power of the Plainfolk!" When the

first five flying-horses had been inexplicably blown out of the sky,

the two domain-lords had assumed the catastrophe was either an accident

or the work of some malevolent deity. But when an explosion in the

compound had been followed by several more which had reduced the

workshops to a blazing heap of rubble, both realised the Heron Pool was

under systematic attack.

But from whom? Before anyone could begin to search for an answer, two

more flying-horses had disintegrated dangerously close to where they

stood and the Consul-General had been hurled from the skies

-half-digging his own grave in the