Andy McDermott - The Hunt For Atlantis

Even from several miles away, he could see the runway lights through the cockpit windows. The Airbus was still over the North Sea, but the coastline was only a few miles distant, the airport three miles inland. He checked the other controls. The plane was losing speed, the engines slowing as the computers brought it down in a shallow descent, trying to make the landing as simple as possible.

Chase looked back through the windows. There was the fjord, a dark indentation in the coastline. A line of black smoke marked the location of the biolab…

His target.

The central pillar of the windscreen acted as his guide to the A380’s course. Right now it was aimed directly at the runway lights. He had to bring the plane around a few degrees to the right…

He checked the altimeter. Eight thousand feet and descending. He needed to be lower. A lot lower.

Leaning painfully over the dead pilot, Chase took hold of the joystick with one hand as he deactivated the autopilot with the other.

A warning buzzer shrilled, but he ignored it. Instead, he gently tipped the stick to the right, banking the plane. Slowly the runway lights drifted to the left of the pillar. He held the stick in position until the column of smoke was dead ahead, then pushed it upright. The A380 swayed queasily before leveling.

So far, so good. Now for the tricky part…

He pushed the stick forward. The nose dipped, the altimeter’s countdown suddenly accelerating. He would have to judge everything entirely by eye: too high and the A380 would fly right over his target; too low and it would plow into the rocky side of the fjord…

The plane dropped below four thousand feet. The coastline loomed ahead. They were running out of time.

He pushed the stick farther forward, steepening the descent. Another alert sounded. “I know, I know,” he snarled at the instrument panel. Three thousand feet. He checked the airspeed indicator. Just under a hundred knots.

Too fast, but there was nothing he could do about that now. If he slowed the plane too much, it might stall.

Two thousand feet. The coastline was coming up fast. The plane was still aimed right at the smoking ruins of the biolab. He reached over to the autopilot panel and hammered repeatedly at the “cancel” button, praying he was wiping all the commands Kari had entered. If the plane tried to follow its previous programming and make an emergency landing at Ravnsfjord, it was all over.

One thousand feet. A honking klaxon filled the cockpit, the synthetic female voice speaking beneath it. “Warning. Ground proximity alert. Warning. Ground proximity-”

“I know!” Six hundred feet, five hundred…

He leveled off. The artificial horizon tipped sluggishly back to the central position. Four hundred, 370…

Three-fifty. Level. The terrain on the southern side of the fjord was roughly three hundred feet above sea level. He looked ahead. If the A380 held its course and altitude, it would pass right over the fjord and fly just above the remains of the biolab to plow into the mountainside behind it.

If he’d guessed the correct altitude. If not…

He activated the autopilot, hand hovering over the control stick in case the computers tried to ascend or turn back towards the runway. They didn’t. All other instructions deleted, the autopilot held the Airbus on a steady course and speed.

He turned and clamped one hand around his leg, ignoring the pain. He could already feel the telltale sensation of blood loss swirling at the fringes of his consciousness, dizzying weakness circling him like a pack of jackals, waiting to strike. There wasn’t much time. Limping, he traversed the stairs from the cockpit into the crew area-

And stopped in horror.

Kari was gone!

A spattered trail of blood led to the door of the hold.

Painfully he snatched up his gun and staggered to the door. “Nina!”

The Suzuki was freed of its restraints, supported by its stand. The keys were in a plastic bag taped to the fuel tank; Nina ripped it open and took them out, the documents with them immediately scattered by the blasting wind.

Her experience with motorbikes was limited, but she managed to get the Suzuki running with little trouble. The fuel gauge was flat against “empty,” however, all but the last dregs having been drained for transport. She looked around to see if Chase had finished in the cockpit-

And saw Kari leaping at her!

She tackled Nina from the bike. Both women landed heavily. Nina tried to push Kari off her-only to have Kari’s elbow smash into the side of her head. Stunned, she looked up.

Kari’s hands clamped around her throat. The Norwegian’s face was twisted with pain and fury, framed by a windblown mane of blond hair. “Bitch!” she shrieked, teeth speckled with blood. “I gave you everything, and you betrayed me!”

Nina couldn’t breathe. She pulled at Kari’s hands, but they were like steel, unmovable. Her fingers tightened, thumbs pressing deep into Nina’s windpipe. Blackness swirled in, a hissing noise rising in Nina’s ears that overpowered even the thunder of the wind.

Farther up the hold, Chase saw Kari on top of Nina, strangling her, but the two women were too close together for him to risk a shot-

Unconsciousness loomed, death close behind it. All Nina could see now was Kari’s enraged face above her. She made a last feeble attempt to pull her hands from her neck…

Her fingers brushed against something cold and hard.

Something sharp.

Her pendant-

With the last of her strength, she gripped the piece of orichalcum and slashed it across the inside of Kari’s right wrist.

Kari shrieked. She jerked back, blood spurting from the cut as she released Nina, and looked down in disbelieving shock-

Nina punched her in the face. Kari fell backwards, rolling off Nina to slump dazed on the deck.

“Nice punch!” Chase shouted as he staggered to Nina.

“Thought I’d try things your way,” she gasped.

“Get on the bike!” Through the cargo door, he saw the coastline receding into the distance behind them. The plane was now less than two miles from the biolab, and the A380 would cover that distance in under a minute.

He straddled the Suzuki, gasping in pain from his wound. Nina clambered on behind him. The insanity of what they were about to do hit home. There was almost no chance of survival…

But even a tiny chance was better than none. She wrapped her arms around him. “Go!”

Kari sat up, saw what they were about to do.

Chase twisted the throttle. The rear wheel whirled, the noise of the high-performance engine becoming a buzzing screech as the bike shot from the pallet and raced down the hold towards the open door.

Kari grabbed at Nina, but it was too late.

By the time the Suzuki reached the cargo door, it was already doing seventy miles per hour, and still accelerating.

Chase turned the handlebars, and the bike flew out into open space.

Riding out from the back of the plane had canceled out some of their forward airspeed-but not enough. And they were over solid ground, falling fast!

He’d mistimed it, and now they were dead.

“Close your eyes!” he yelled, as the clifftop on the northern side of Ravnsfjord shot past just beneath them.

They were falling into the fjord!

Chase looked down. Water rushed towards them at terrifying speed-

“Jump!”