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“How far away?”

“Hard to say,” she said “Several miles”

He’d been around enough fighter pilots to kno they thought, no matter the nationality Hell, he’d wanted to be one hieon The pilot would wait until he was close before firing

He checked his airspeed

A little under 110 kilometers

He recalled what his instructor had taught him

Nobody ever collided with the sky Altitude is your friend

“He’ll be here in a few seconds,” Cassiopeia said

He hoped the Twin Bee could handle what he was about to do The starboard control surfaces were daed, but the port side and tail rudder see He waited another two seconds, then slammed the throttle wide open and pulled back on the yoke The aroan from her hull Tracer rounds rocketed past as their altitude increased

2,000 feet

2,500

3,000

The fighter shot passed beneath thehters were not low-altitude round where fuel and computers could be tapped to the max

He topped off at 3,300 feet

“My stomach is in my throat,” Cassiopeia said

“I had to do so he wouldn’t expect”

“That certainly qualified”

He knew small planes were not her favorite h helicopter ride in Central Asia, when Viktor had been at the controls

He focused through the windshield The Annihilator loohter could easily shoot them doith air-to-air h his mind

Learn from other people’s mistakes

“We’re going in,” he said

He lowered speed and cranked the elevators The outside air was capricious and inconsistent, which only aggravated the situation He dropped the left wing and slipped into a slow bank After a sharp turn he angled the nose and leveled off at 800 feet above the lake

“You see the jet?” he asked

Cassiopeia’s head spun in every direction “No But that doesn’t hts”

A fact he realized He struggled to keep the wing level as the port side control surfaces ignored his commands

“Apparently this was a trap,” Pau Wen said

“Brilliant observation”

He threw Cassiopeia a glance that she seemed to understand Viktor How else would they have known? China was a big place, yet here they were, waiting, over Lake Dian, exactly where Ivan had sent them

Treetops grew in size as he glided toward the lake Luckily, the nearest junk floated a mile or so away

A rush of wind shoved theht

He held the nose high

He’d never landed on water and could already tell depth perception was going to be different He would have to judge the distance correctly and make sure speed was perfect when the plane’s botto he needed was to porpoise across the lake He was also worried about stalling Luckily, no crosswind blew, or at least none he could see on the treetops He decided to ines just as the last of the trees raced beneath and nothing but water loomed ahead

Like he’d been told, Gravity never loses

“I’lad there’s lots of room,” she said

He was, too Plenty to glide to a stop He eased down the yoke and pitched the nose up so the tail touched first One thought flashed through hisneeded to stay on top of the water, as both could quickly become anchors