His mouth dropped in amazement.
A two-headed man was swooping down on him from out of the sky.
When the distance narrowed to a couple of hundred feet, Austin started blazing away with both handguns. He aimed off to the side to avoid hitting Karla. Her captors ran for their lives.
With Karla out of the way, Austin was free to aim at his fleeing targets, but it was difficult to get a clear shot while he was moving. Zavala yelled at Austin to get ready to land. He tucked one gun into its holster, the other in his belt.
They attempted to land on their feet, but they had come in too fast. They hit the ground and lurched forward onto their hands and knees. Luckily, the vegetation cushioned the impact. They quickly unstrapped the power unit. While Zavala rolled up the lines to the sail, Austin went over to the blond woman who was kneeling beside an older man.
"Miss Janos?" Austin said.
She glanced up at Austin with her striking gray eyes. "Who are you?"
"Kurt Austin. My friend Joe and I have been looking for you. Are you all right?"
"Yes, I'm fine," she said. "My uncle needs help."
Austin dug a first-aid kit out of his pack. The man was still conscious. He lay on his back with his eyes open. He could have been anywhere from sixty-five to seventy-five years old, but it was hard to tell because his long-jawed face was covered with blood that flowed from lacerations on the cheek and brow.
Austin knelt by his side, cleaned the wound and applied antiseptic on the raw flesh. His ministrations must have been painful, but the man didn't flinch. His arctic blue eyes watched every move Austin made.
Austin had barely started his first aid when the man said, "That's enough. Help me up." With Austin's aid, Schroeder struggled to stand. He was a tall man, several inches over Austin's six foot one.
Karla put her arm around her uncle's waist. "Are you all right?"
"I'm a tough old lizard," he said. "It's you I'm worried about."
"I'm okay, thanks to these two men."
Austin noticed the evident bond between the older man and the young woman. He introduced himself and Zavala.
"My name is Schroeder," the man said. "Thank you for your help. How did you find us?"
"We talked to a woman named Maria Arbatov."
"Maria. How is she?" Karla said.
"She's going to be fine, but her husband and two other men were murdered. I assume they were your fellow scientists. There was another man we couldn't identify."
Karla glanced at Schroeder, who said, "He attacked Karla. I had to stop him." He squinted toward the boulder field. "This is a dangerous place. They'll be back. They have automatic weapons, and we're totally exposed out here."
"This is your neighborhood," Austin said. "Where can we find cover?
Schroeder pointed to the base of the slope that came down from the rim of the caldera.
"Down there in the city."
Austin wondered if the man was delirious from his injuries.
"Did you say 'city'?" He saw only the low bluffs at the base of the slope.
"That's right," Karla said. "Oh no, the dwarves are gone. The gunfire must have scared them."
It was Zavala's turn to wonder if he was hearing things. "Dwarves?"
"Yes," Karla said. "Dwarf woolly mammoths."
Austin and Zavala exchanged glances.