“Just fell I think. Get in the damn airplane!”
Lisa was being lifted out of Kerry’s arms and swung up into the fuselage. Linc shoved Mike toward the pair of reaching hands. The terrified little boy, tears making muddy tracks down his dusty face, was hauled inside to safety. All the children were now inside, except Joe, who was doing enough damage to frustrate the guerrillas and keep them under cover. But his ammunition would run out soon.
“Get in the plane!” Linc repeated to Kerry.
“But you and Joe—”
“For God’s sake, don’t argue with me now!”
Apparently the man in the plane was of the same mind as Linc. Still protesting, Kerry was pulled inside. “If anything happens to me, get them the hell out of here,” Linc shouted to the blond-headed man.
“No!” Kerry screamed.
Linc looked directly at her. The briefest but most puissant look passed between them, then Linc turned abruptly and began running back toward the line of trees, firing the machine gun as he ran.
“What’s he doing?” Cage Hendren asked. “Why didn’t he get in?”
“He’s gone back to get one of the boys. He stayed behind to give us cover.”
Cage nodded his understanding as he watched the man run in a zigzag pattern across the clearing. He didn’t know who he was, but he considered him a hero. Or a fool.
“Cage, we’ve got to go,” the pilot of the airplane shouted from the open door of the cockpit.
Kerry grabbed Cage’s sleeve. “No. This plane doesn’t take off without them.”
Cage saw the determination on her face. “Not yet,” he yelled to the pilot.
“One of these lunatics might hit us. And the other bunch is moving jeeps—”
“Thirty seconds more,” Cage bargained, knowing that the veteran pilot was right. “We’ve got two more passengers.”
Kerry screamed when she saw Linc fall to the ground. “He’s all right,” Cage reassured her. “He’s just reducing the size of their target.”
From his battle position, Linc shouted for Joe to run toward the plane while he provided cover by firing at the guerrillas. Joe emerged from the jungle with his machine gun blasting. Rotating as he ran, he fired in all directions. He had almost reached the point where Linc lay when his left leg buckled and he went down.
“No!” Kerry cried. She tried to jump from the door of the airplane, but Cage caught her shoulders from behind and gripped them hard to keep her inside.
Just then several bullets struck the exterior of the plane. They did no serious damage, but increased Cage’s anxiety. The success of the mission depended on getting the children to safety. Could it be sacrificed for two who were apparently willing to give their lives?
He watched Linc belly crawl to where the boy lay sprawled facedown in the dirt. He saw them exchange words. “He’s alive,” Cage told Kerry.
“Oh, God, please don’t let them die.” Tears were streaming down her face.
“Cage, they’re blocking off this makeshift runway with jeeps,” the pilot yelled.
The children were all crying in terror.
“Kerry, we’ve got to go,” Cage said.
“No. We can’t leave them.”
“We might all die if—”
“No, no.” She struggled to get away from his restraining hands. “You can take off but leave me.”
“You know I can’t do that. The children need you.”
She sobbed wretchedly as she saw Linc come up on one knee. He gripped Joe under the arm and slowly heaved him to his feet. Joe couldn’t support himself. His left leg dangled uselessly. Linc struggled to get one of Joe’s arms around his shoulders, then he began backing toward the plane with the boy in tow.