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FIFTY-ONE

The cockpit door was tantalizingly close, only a dozen feet from the lowest step of the front staircase, but there was no way Linc was getting down there unless he took a chance The steep incline s and take them out before he made it halfway to the bottom

So he took one of the wide sofa cushions from the nearest suede couch He perched it near the top of the stairs and said to Tiny, “Get ready”

Then he pushed the cushion over the lip of the top step and dove onto it It provided the perfect sled for hiun in hand

The first guard was so surprised by the tactic that he fired behind Linc, who took him doith two shots

The second guard was faster, and a bullet grazed Linc’s thigh He fired back and hit the guard in the shoulder The man retreated into a room behind the stairs

Linc waved Tiny down “Hurry!”

As Tiny passed Linc, he said, “You’re bleeding”

“I’ve had worse,” Linc said “But not getting shot at all is better”

While Linc kept his eye on the roo thermite on the cockpit door

—

It took twelve shots frouard blocking the galley When he went down in a heap, they approached cautiously in staggered formation

They arrived to find the galley empty

“They went down to the cargo bay,” Juan said