"We could, but they would have us in a half hour. In time with the copter, we'll be over the frontier into France and gone."
"Ingenious," Amani declared, gazing up into the black sky. "I hope it works."
Carter chuckled when he saw the sudden layer of sweat break out on the man's face. "It will."
He crawled into his own half of the ribbed harness, and again checked to make sure that all the zippers and snaps were properly secured.
When he was sure they were, he sat down, pulling Amani with him.
"What happens now?" the old Italian asked.
"We wait."
The H-34 sat like a big banana in the lofty old barn. It had been completely repainted, and all of its guns and mounts had been removed.
A fictitious number, as well as the name of a nonexistent flight courier service, had been stenciled onto its brilliant yellow side.
"What do you mink?"
Carlotta shrugged. "I don't know. This is your part of it. I assume it's done right."
"It is, but at least you could say it's pretty."
"It's beautiful. How do we get it out of here?"
"We push it."
"What?"
"It rolls like a baby carriage."
It did. Five minutes later, the big machine was on a camouflaged cement pad in front of the barn and they were inside.
Henry went through a thorough but quick preflight, and the rotor above them started grinding around. When it caught. the roar was deafening but then subsided as he adjusted the fuel mixture.
When he was satisfied, he snapped on a light on the dash and adjusted the beam over Carlotta's lap. From behind the seat, he produced a map board and placed it across her knees.
"We'll hedge-hop at two hundred to two-fifty feet until we reach here. I've marked the routes and the coordinates on the map. Watch these gauges… altimeter… distance… direction… and keep me informed. Got it?"
"Yes," she said, adding a swift nod of her head.
"When we get here… see?"
"Yes."
"We'll have to go up, way up. These are the Graian Alps. We'll cross the border here, at the Mont Cenis Pass. Now be damned sure you keep me above the heights I've noted by watching the altimeter from there on. If you don't, we're in deep shit."
"What does that mean?"
"It means that we crash into the side of an Alp," he screamed over the roar of the rotors as they lifted off the pad, and the nose of the copter swung toward Italy and Castel Montferrato.
Carter was sweating. He checked his watch, sweated some more, and tuned his ears to the sky.
"I don't hear a thing," Amani said.
"Neither do I," Carter replied. "And your boys are about…"
He never finished the sentence. There was an explosion in the opposite side of the courtyard and, immediately following it, the sound of angry, frightened men.
A small ball of orange fire floated into the sky, trailed by gray smoke, and the whole prison was in chaos.
Huge floodlights came on all over the courtyard, and smaller ones danced off the barred windows of the cellblocks.
"They've started!" Amani whispered.
"Yeah. We've got about five minutes and then we've got to go, copier or not."
Carter opened the main valve of the four helium tubes and watched the skin of the balloon start to rise.
None of the lights reached down into the little nook where they were ensconced, but when the balloon was full enough, it would be seen clearly by at least two of the guard towers.
They could hear men, probably guards, running toward the cellblock where all the shouting was coming from.
Three minutes.
"C'mon, get on your feet!"
Amani stood, and Carter clipped the last two straps that would hold their legs together.
"C'mon, dammit!" he hissed, "where are you…"
Two minutes.
There was no sound from the sky, and now the balloon was starting to take shape above them.
One minute, and the sounds of shouting prisoners grew more intense.
"They're out of the blocks into the courtyard!" Amani whispered hoarsely. "Someone is bound to come this way!"
"I know. We've got to go."
Carter opened the master vent to full, and the balloon started to enlarge at a breakneck pace.
Seconds later, their feet left the ground.
"Here we go. If you're a praying man. Amani, pray that the wind carries us over the wall instead of the courtyard!"
"Blessed Marym Mother of…"
The wind hit the balloon like a giant hand, tightening their harnesses and shutting off their air as well as further speech.
Then the balloon was above the wall, and they were swinging wildly beneath it. The praying paid off. The balloon soared over the wall and kept rising… but not fast enough.
"Watch your legs!" Carter cried. "The wall!"
The impact was bone-jarring, but most of it was taken by the bottoms of their feet.
Then they were over and climbing, soaring over acres of trees and skirting the village of Montferrato.
"Kashmir!" Amani suddenly cried. "Do you hear that?"
"Yeah," Carter replied, "from over there."
When he guessed three hundred feet, he killed the valves and yanked the helium tanks free. They spun away into space, and the balloon steadied, riding the wind.
"There it is!"
"Got it!" Carter cried. "Pull the cord!"
Amani yanked on the cord, and nothing happened.
"Christ… again… be more gentle!"
He did, and two beams of red light immediately whirled above them. Instantly the two guide lights came on beneath the copter. They were hooked directly to the catching hook hanging beneath the nose of the chopper.
All the pilot had to do was drop the hook between the spiraling red beams atop the balloon.
Yeah, Carter thought, that's all.
The big machine banked about two hundred yards from them, idled down, and started its run.
"Brace yourself! "Carter yelled. "It's going to be one hell of a jolt!"
Amani nodded, made the sign of the cross, and closed his eyes.
Carter watched the two little red eyes as if they were moths and the bulge above him was the flame.
Fifty… twenty… ten feet…
He grabbed his harness, tucked his head, arched his back, and…
Nothing.
The chopper whirled over them and away, the blast from the rotors driving the balloon down about forty feet and spinning them like a top.
"What happened?" Amani gasped, holding his head against the dizziness.
"What do you think happened? He missed!" Carter cried. "Get ready, he's coming around again!"
Suddenly the balloon, the dangling men, and the banking helicopter were bathed in stark white light.
Carter quickly swiveled his head. Searchlights from the Castel Montferrato had picked them up. He could see men in the courtyard with rifles at their shoulders.
"They're firing!"
"Yeah, but we're out of range," Carter sighed. "Hang on!"
This time the hook caught and held. Carter thought that every bone in his body had mashed together into one. Amani's eyeballs rolled back into his head, and his arms flew outward from his body.
For a moment, Carter thought the old man had bought it, but then color started to return to his face, and his lips started moving.
"What… what happens now?" he managed.
"She attaches the main drop line on these harnesses to a winch, we free the balloon, and we're hoisted up."
The set of red lights went out. Carter unsnapped the drag lines from the balloon to their harness, and instantly the balloon was swept away and down from the blast of the rotor.
Above them, in the open trapdoor, Carter could see Carlotta's face and wildly flying black hair as she finished the tie-off and started the electric winch.