D. MacHale - The Never War

It all came back to me-Saint Dane, being locked in the penthouse, Ludwig Zell, the trip down the rope, the fall. I really wished I were on that beach in Stony Brook.

“One of the cooks found you lying here,” Dewey said. “But you were out cold. He saw the rope hanging down and found Gunny upstairs. Pendragon, there’s a dead body up there! Who is that? How did you two get locked in the penthouse?”

“Long story,” I said. Then another thought hit me. “What time is it?”

Dewey looked at his watch and said, “Almost three o’clock.”

Yeow. If I wasn’t awake before, I was now. I had been out for hours! TheHindenburgwas going to arrive in four hours and we were still in Manhattan!

“I gotta get outta here,” I said as I tried to get up. But the pain shot through my head like a bolt of lightning. It pushed me right back down to the floor.

“Don’t move,” Dewey said. “I’ll get you some water.” He ran off, leaving me alone.

This was bad. Very bad. Where was Gunny? I forced myself to sit up, then pulled myself into a chair. I had to get my act together and down to New Jersey, or everything would be lost. TheHindenburgwas going to land at 7:25. Gunny said it was a four-hour drive down to Lakehurst. Even if we left at that very minute, we still wouldn’t get down there until almost seven o’clock. That wouldn’t leave much time to figure a way to stop Spader and Max Rose.

“We’re in trouble,” came a voice from behind me. It was Gunny. He jogged across the ballroom toward me.

“I’ve been out for hours, Gunny! Why didn’t you wake me up?”

“Because I was trying to find us a ride down to New Jersey,” was his answer.

Good answer. ”I didn’t find one,” he added.

Ooh, bad answer.

“What do you mean? What about Caplesmith’s car?”

“I went to the fella who’s been fixing it. It’s in pieces all over the garage floor. He said it would take him half a day to put it back together.”

“Then we’ll take the bus. Gunny, we gotta get down there.”

“That’s not good,” Gunny answered. “The last bus going down that way today left at noon.”

“What about a train?” I asked.

“Still no good. Earliest we could get down there would be tomorrow morning.”

“This is incredible!” I shouted, jumping up. Bad move. Another bolt of pain shot through my head. It didn’t stop my tirade though. “Three territories are going to crumble because we can’t get a ride?”

“I’m sorry, Pendragon,” Gunny said. “Unless you know some way of flying down there, we’re out of luck.”

I stopped short. My bruised brain raced. Gunny had said the magic word. Flying.

“C’mon,” I said, and ran for the elevator. Gunny was right behind me. We blew right past Dewey, who was headed toward us with a glass of water.

“Where you going?” he asked.

I grabbed him by the arm and pulled him along. After all, he ran the elevator.

Five minutes later we were standing in front of room 1515. I knocked and closed my eyes. I had no idea if she was still staying at the hotel, but this was our last hope. After a few agonizing seconds, the door opened and we stood facing Jinx Olsen. ”Pendragon! Gunny! Here to say good-bye?” she exclaimed. “Come on in.” She walked back into her room, where I saw all of her clothes spread out on the bed. She was packing up her duffel bag.

“You’re leaving?” I asked.

“Just got the word,” she said. “This is it. End of the line. I am officially off active duty.” She said this like it was cheery news, but I knew it was eating her up. “I’m headed home to Maine. And you know what? I’m taking the train. Why not? Something different, right?”

Jinx continued to pack. I looked at Gunny. He gave me a nod of encouragement. I wasn’t exactly sure what to say, but I had to think of something fast.

“Jinx,” I began. “We need a favor.”

“Whatever I can do, boys,” she answered.

“Can you fly us somewhere?”

Jinx stopped packing. She looked at me, as if it were a strange request, then sat down on the edge of the bed.

“I told you, Pendragon, I’m grounded. No more joy rides.”

“This isn’t a joy ride,” I said. I tried to be as convincing as possible. “We need to get down to Lakehurst, New Jersey.”

“Lakehurst?” she said. “That’s where the dirigibles come in. TheHindenburgis due today.”

“Exactly,” I said.

“What’s so important? You want to be there with all the other lookey-loos to see her float in? To be honest, I think those blimps are a lot of hot air. Get it? Hot air.”

I got it. I wasn’t laughing.

“That’s not it,” I said seriously. “I don’t really know how to say this. It’s a long story and there’s no way you’d believe it. But what I’m going to tell you is the absolute truth. If we don’t get down there right away, I mean now, something horrible is going to happen that I can’t even begin to describe.”

“Really?” she said with surprise and a touch of curiosity. “What is it?”

“I can’t tell you. I know that sounds stupid, but it’s the truth. I’ll tell you this much, though, we’re asking you to fly the most important mission taken by any pilot, man or woman, ever. I’m not exaggerating.”

“He’s telling you the truth, ma’am,” Gunny added.

It was now up to Jinx. I want to say that it was my brilliant powers of persuasion that convinced her to take us. I want to say that I was smart enough to know she wanted to do something important with her flying and not just be a sideshow. I even want to say I used my Traveler mind powers to convince her. I want to say all those things, but none of them would be true.

“To be honest, Pendragon,” she said, “you didn’t have to tell me all that other stuff. I was ready to go the second you asked me if I’d fly you somewhere.”

I had to smile. Could Jinx be any cooler? “You aren’t worried about the Coast Guard?” I asked.

“Nah,” she scoffed. “What are they going to do? Ground me? If I’ve gotta go, I’m goin’ out with a bang!”

It was nearly an hour later when we found ourselves strapped into Jinx’s V-157 Schreck/Viking, ready for takeoff. I was in the front cockpit next to Jinx because Gunny was a much bigger guy than Spader. He needed the rear cockpit all to himself. The monster engine pounded away as we bounced over the swells of the Hudson River. The weather was still nasty, so the water was pretty choppy. My aching head throbbed each time we hit a swell. I was miserable, but had to gut it out. My bigger worry was that if the weather got any worse than this, I didn’t think we’d be able to take off. I looked to the sky and saw that there were still thunderstorms dancing around.

“Can you fly in this weather?” I shouted to Jinx over the roar of the engine.

Jinx gave a quick look around, then said, “What weather?”

That was good enough for me. It was now almost 4:30p.m. The flight was going to take about an hour and a half, getting us to Lakehurst around 6:00p.m. TheHindenburgwas going to land at 7:25p.m. Not much time to find Spader and Max Rose and figure out a way to stop them. We were cutting it very close.

I looked back at Gunny and shouted, “You ready?”

Gunny was doubled over in the back, puking. He looked up, smiled, and gave me a thumbs up. It was going to be a long flight. Jinx gunned the throttle, the plane bounced over the swells, and after a gut-rumbling thirty seconds, we were airborne.

Just as I feared, the flight was ugly. The little plane was constantly buffeted by gusts of wind and downdrafts. Jinx tried to fly at different altitudes, searching for smooth air, but nothing helped.

Most of the time, we were flying blind. The gray, angry clouds were thick and low. Every time we entered one, I gritted my teeth and held my breath. If there were another plane coming from the other direction, we’d be history. But this was 1937. There wasn’t as much air traffic back then, so we were fairly safe. At least that’s what I kept telling myself.