Fitzduane assessed the situation below. It was getting time to hand over to the Spider and his people. The airship had limited objectives. It was a superb observation platform and had given them the crucial element of surprise, but now it was only a matter of time before someone looked up. That would not have mattered before the helicopters arrived on the scene, but now the situation could get unhealthy.
The airship could do just over seventy miles an hour if wind conditions were favorable. The Huey was rated at around a hundred and thirty. True, the rates of climb under power were around the same, with the airship, ironically, having a slight edge, but when it came to maneuverability, there was no comparison. The Huey won hands down. The issue of which aircraft presented the better target scarcely bore contemplation. It was nearly time to bug out.
"Spider-san" said Fitzduane. His mind was on protocol.
The Deputy Superintendent-General and his attendant staff looked at the loudspeaker in his mobile command vehicle in a state of shock.
"Gaijin" he muttered under his breath. "What do foreign barbarians know about good manners!" His staff looked at each other with smiles of relief. The Spider had just defused a potentially serious case of loss of face. Honor was restored.
The Spider keyed the microphone. "Fitzduane-san," he said in acknowledgment.
"We're going to try and take out the helicopter on the ground," said Fitzduane, "and then we're getting the hell out of here. Engaging the second Huey is too dangerous unless you want central Tokyo shot up. I just hope the other side feels the same way."
"Affirmative," said the Spider. "We'll move in thirty seconds." He gave the orders, and the inner ring of armed riot police spearheaded by armored cars roared toward the Hodama residence.
"Al, go for the engine and fuel tanks of the grounded Huey," said Fitzduane. "Chifune, try for the pilot. I don't want that bird flying."
Lonsdale knew that the .50 could pierce the Huey with ease, but it was another matter of hitting a vital spot. He focused on the turbine engine under the rotor and methodically fired five rounds. He was certain he had hit, but the explosive armor-piercing ammunition seemed to have no effect. With horror, he saw the helicopter begin to lift off, and fired until his magazine was empty.
Beside him, Chifune rapid-fired an entire magazine of .300 Magnum at the pilot.
The Huey rose about fifteen feet, then half-rolled and smashed into the still-burning summer house. Seconds later, there was a series of explosions as the fuel tanks, ignited by the exploding .50 and the surrounding flames, blew up.
The leading police armored car smashed through into the locked double gates and rolled forward, its machine gun chattering.
More armored cars moved in and gave covering fire, while en entry team of kidotai in helmets and body armor moved in on foot.
The terrorists on the ground fought till they died.
Katsuda's surviving yakuza in their frogmen's suits raised their hands.
* * * * *
Reiko Oshima, the leader of Yaibo was in the copilot's seat of the airborne Huey when Lonsdale fired, and she saw the holes of the .50 as they punched through the engine compartment of the landed helicopter.
The significance of the direction of fire was immediately apparent.
"UP AND EVADE!" she creamed into her microphone. "UNLESS YOU WANT US ALL TO GET BARBECUED LIKE THAT OTHER IDIOT. GET THE FUCK UP. WE'RE TAKING FIRE FROM ABOVE."
Startled both by Oshima's screaming and by the explosions in front of him from the other helicopter, the pilot was overheavy on the foot pedals and the Huey's tail wagged from side to side in what was known as the "Huey Shuffle."
He recovered and then banked the machine away from the combat and climbed at maximum revs for his life.
Beside him, Oshima scanned the sky for the source of fire. She was looking for a police or army helicopter, so she initially disregarded the airship. She could see nothing, and that was not believable, because an official helicopter would not leave the scene while all hell was breaking loose below.
She knew how official minds worked when airborne. They liked to buzz around and report things and follow procedure. If there was a police unit up there, any moment some uniformed idiot with a microphone was going to fly alongside and ask her to surrender and she was going to blow his interfering brains out and send his machine in flames down on top of the Ginza. That was the way these people thought and acted. She had been outmaneuvering them for years.
Could it be the airship? She had never remotely considered the airship in the past — it was just part of the sky over Tokyo, like clouds in the rainy season, and it had never entered her thinking one way or another — but now she focused on the huge floating structure as it receded into the distance.
It was inconceivable that the Tokyo cops would actually think of firing down into an area of the city which housed some of the most exclusive residences in Tokyo, but she had temporarily forgotten to factor in the gaijin Fitzduane. He had already demonstrated a flair for the daring and unorthodox. An aerial ambush from the airship would be exactly the kind of tactic he would employ.
A shiver of anticipation ran through her as she thought of the significance of the mayhem in Hodama's gardens.
The gaijin was still alive.
She had caught a brief glimpse of Namaka as they had flown in, but there had been no sign of Fitzduane.
He should have been there. He was the bait. But was it not more likely that, having baited the trap, he would withdraw and watch events play out from a safer location? The gaijin was daring and clearly did not lack courage, but he was no fool.
Suddenly, Fitzduane's plan became clear to her. He had used the strengths of his opponents against each other and he had been not only the bait but the catalyst of their destruction. Fumio Namaka, normally so farseeing and cautious, had been blinded by his obsession with the destruction of his brother's killer. Katsuda had been impelled by his desire for revenge against the Namakas and his ambition to become the new kuromaku. Who knew what other elements were involved? And worst of all, her own organization had committed its full strength out of obligation to the Namakas and had been caught in the trap.
The full realization of how they had all been outmaneuvered by this foreign barbarian filled her with gall. But if her analysis was correct, it also meant that Fitzduane was in the airship. He had achieved complete tactical surprise, like a hunter concealed on high in a tree hide, but his main defense had lain in remaining undetected. And clearly he had not fully considered the possibility of his prey being airborne too.
Oshima felt confidence in her judgment restored. It had been her idea to use the two stolen Japanese Defense Forces helicopters. Several Yaibo members had received helicopter training in Libya, ironically from North Vietnamese instructors using captured Hueys. For some time, she had seen the relevance of air power in terrorist operations and saw nor reason why the authorities should have a monopoly on air mobility and firepower.
The roles were now reversed. The hunter in his hide would now be the hunted. And the airship would be a hard target to miss.
This time Yaibo would have the high ground.
Oshima pointed toward the receding airship. It was already several miles away. They had lost time looking for a police helicopter, but they would soon make it up. The Huey, she knew, was much faster than that huge bag of gas.