Dodge felt a surge of elation as he raced over to the hostages and began loosening their bonds; his insane suicide attack on the other airplane had worked! Yet he knew better than to count the outcome of this battle as victory in the war; their nemesis had yet to make an appearance and Dodge didn’t believe for a second that the hooded villain would let them simply slip away.
“Hell of a plan!” chortled Hurricane, as he and Hobbs joined the group. “But how did you figure on getting away?”
“We fly,” Dodge answered grimly. “We can carry them between us. It’s not the best idea in the world, but it’s all I’ve got.”
“Then we’d better get moving,” suggested Hobbs. “This bird is about to come apart at the seams.”
As if to underscore his dire prophecy, a strange vibration began to shiver through the aircraft followed by an animal-like shriek as the weakened tail section began to sag under its own weight. The deformity was just enough to alter the flow of wind around the plane’s aerodynamic profile. Dodge managed to snare Molly with one outflung arm and drew her into the protective field, but there was nothing to anchor them in place. The enormous aircraft began to undulate through the sky and the hapless passengers were tossed around like so much chaff. The violent, chaotic heaving further weakened the damaged section, and after only a few seconds the entire tail of the Boeing tore free and fell away into the night.
It was the beginning of the end. Suddenly unbalanced, the enormous plane nosed over and began to spiral downward. The corkscrew turning threw the battered passengers against the sides of the cabin and centrifugal force held them fast. The crazed carnival ride lasted only a few moments however, and then the intensity of the spin began to diminish and along with it, the noise of the three remaining engines.
Hobbs was the first to divine the import of this. He understood that up on the flight deck their arch-foe had switched off the engines to slow their deadly descent. The plane was now gliding in the same uncontrollable spin; not quite dropping like a stone, but still doomed to crash. Worse, there could be only one reason for their enemy to cut power: he was preparing to attack. “We have to go! Now!”
But his warning came too late. Before he could move, a pillar of violet fire transfixed him like an insect on a pin.
The energy bolt tore through his force field like it didn’t exist and the full fury of the blast crashed into his chest. Hobbs’ entire body jerked rigidly, enveloped within a corona of electricity, and he collapsed in a heap. Even after the lightning ceased, sparks of energy continued to coruscate along his extremities like rivulets of water, and wisps of smoke issued from his hair and clothing. From where he crouched, still hugging Molly and too dizzy from the spin to rise, Dodge saw no indication that the Padre still drew breath.
“No!” Molly tore free of Dodge’s grasp and half-crawled across the deck. She cradled her father’s lifeless head in her lap, oblivious to both the fire now creeping through the plane and the impending crash.
Hurricane seemed likewise unaware of these imminent dangers. He gazed at the stricken priest, rage boiling behind his eyes, and then focused on the source of the lethal attack. The hooded figure stood imperiously at the top of the ladder, wielding his metal staff like the god he claimed to be.
If he was intimidated by the display, Hurley didn’t let it show. Instead, he lashed out with a two-fisted lightning attack of his own, even as he started running toward the ladder.
The cloaked villain gave a maniacal laugh then leaped from his perch, easily avoiding the electrical arcs, to land on his feet directly in Hurley’s path. Hurricane tried to react to the unexpected maneuver but he was too slow. The dark god sidestepped and then lashed out with the lightning rod, using it like a cudgel, to hammer Hurley in the kidneys.
His momentum and the fierce pain of the blow, which passed effortlessly through the energy shield, caused Hurricane to stumble out of control into the ladder. He caromed from the sturdy rungs and rebounded back into the villain’s clutches. The staff came down again, and although Hurley managed to throw up his left arm to parry, the blow connected with the intensity of a bomb blast. There was a burst of light from inside the ineffective energy bubble as Hurricane’s forearm snapped, and then the full force of the dark god’s weapon blasted against his torso and propelled him backwards down the length of the cabin, through the gaping hole where the tail section had been, and out into the night.
Dodge alone remained to face the villain, and could only watch in mute horror as the triumphant foe stalked toward him.
CHAPTER 20
FALCON’S VICTORY
“Beg for mercy Chronicler. Perhaps I will let you live, so that you may record my victory today.”
“Victory?” Dodge remained defiant. “Look around. We’ll all be dead in a few seconds.”
The dark god laughed again. “Have you learned nothing Chronicler? I cannot be destroyed.”
“You’re wrong.”
The dark god’s eyes flashed beneath his hood. “America’s greatest champions have fallen before me. I have the power of the heavens at my command. No man can stand against me.”
“You’re wrong,” Dodge repeated. “There is one man who can… who will defeat you, and you know who I mean. That’s why you called him out. You were afraid Captain Falcon could beat you; you couldn’t take the chance that he might show up and ruin your day.”
“Falcon!” The name was spat out, like a curse. “The coward hides.”
“No!” Dodge answered sharply, silencing the commanding voice of his foe. “He’s not hiding. He’s lost. After his war ended, he wandered the world trying to find himself — to find a new purpose. Instead, he only fell deeper into despair, until he barely remembered who he was. He tried becoming an explorer, and eventually joined an expedition to the South Pole. That was where he found you.”
The dark god glowered but did not challenge Dodge’s narrative. For a moment the only sounds were the rush of wind as the stricken Boeing continued to gyrate down to its doom and Molly’s soft sobbing.
“He found you,” Dodge continued. “How long had you been trapped in that pit? Ten thousand years? Millennium after millennium trapped in a dream, unable to wake up, and then someone opened the door.
“Ten thousand years is a long time, though. Your body was gone, turned to dust, and your memories… How much did you forget? Did you even remember your own name? Probably not, but you remembered wanting to rule the world, and here in front of you was the perfect vessel for your disembodied spirit. You took over his body and searched his memories asking one question: ‘Who can oppose me?’“
Dodge had no way of knowing how much of his supposition was accurate, but his foe’s sudden quiet suggested he was pretty close to the mark. But Dodge wasn’t done yet; he wasn’t simply stalling for time — he was trying to reach the one man that might still be able to defeat this monster.
“‘Who can oppose me? What man is strong enough to defeat me?’ Your new vessel didn’t remember who he was, but he remembered a hero named Captain Falcon.”
“No,” whispered the man. “Not true.”
“Hurricane probably noticed it from the very start, when you sent that movie, demanding to fight Falcon. He must have recognized you, even though he never told me. Hobbs too, when the time came. I didn’t make the connection until you saved me in the Congo. You…or was that Falcon that saved me?”
He won’t be happy when he learns I saved you…
He had told Dodge something else as well. You must find Falcon. Only Falcon can stop him.
The last piece clicked into place, and when he spoke again, it was not to the dark god, but to Captain Zane Falcon. “You did remember! You knew you couldn’t beat such a powerful creature on your own; you were too weak, too lost. That’s why you sent him after Falcon; you knew that eventually your old friends would figure out what had happened. It was the only way to send them a message; a cry for help. ‘Wake me up, so I can fight this thing. So I can beat him.’