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Holding his breath, he hit the ignition switches for the engines one at a tian with a throaty ruh pitch Satisfied that the engines orking, he waved at Austin, who stood next to the wall Austin waved back

As Zavala jumped into the copilot’s seat and adjusted the fuel feed, Austin hit the wall switch A thin line of daylight began to shine under the rising door Kurt dashed beneath the plane and disconnected the uehammer he had set aside for the task, he knocked the wooden wheel chocks away Austin groped his way through the smoke, pulled himself into the plane, and battened the hatch

The hot exhaust fro not nailed doas blown against the wall by the tremendous force or melted by the intense heat The noise was so loud it was al fuar

Austin crashed, gasping for breath, into the copilot’s seat “She’s all yours, pal”

Zavala gave hin “She’s a little cranky but not bad for an old gal”

Zavala’s eyes were glued on the rising door He kept the brakes set and pushed each throttle forward until they were at full power If they had the luxury of a full crew, Zavala would have relied on a flight engineer to tell hi the way they should, but the best he could do was rely on his experienced ear It was iines, but the unbroken roar was a good sign

The door seemed to catch for an instant, then it pulled free He released the brakes, and the plane lurched forward Zavala pushed the throttle levers smoothly forward and let out a rebel yell as the power from thousands of pounds of thrust pushed the plane out into the open, but his jubilation was short-lived

The big green helicopter was directly in the line of takeoff The helicopter had landed after blasting the second hole, and now it sat on the tundra about a half ar preparing for an assault when the wing e Their surprise quickly turned to terror, and they scattered like leaves before the wind

The helicopter pilot was leaning against the chopper s down in his direction He jumped back into the helicopter, where he was faced with an immediate decision He could stay where he was and be ra and hope that his hurried shots would hit the slie Or he could head for the sky

Austin was distracted by the sound of a giant woodpecker rapping on the fuselage Zavala thought it was one of the engines falling apart and was only partially relieved when Austin said, “They’re shooting at us Are you going to fly this rig or drive it all the way to Nome?”

Because of the unusual position of the instru for the helicopter to keep the plane on a straight line, Zavala shouted at Austin to call out the air speed

“Forty!” Austin yelled

Zavala was surprised at how quickly the plane accelerated, despite its huge mass and the partially deflated tires He had to maintain a fir

“Sixty!”

The landing gear hit the water of the shallow lake, but the plane’s speed continued to increase