Stuart Woods_Stone Barrington 14

that’s possible.”
    â€œAre you at the St. Marks airport now?”
    â€œWe’re on the way; half an hour out.”
    â€œDon’t let anything keep you from getting out of there.”
    â€œThomas Hardy is with us; he’ll help.”
    â€œI’ll meet you at Manassas,” Lance said.
    â€œI don’t know what time we’ll get there.”
    â€œI’ll know.” Lance hung up.
    Holly turned to look at Stone. “Lance thinks Teddy’s got an airplane stashed on another island.”
    â€œThat makes a lot of sense.”
    â€œWhere could he get to in a light airplane?”
    â€œDo you know what kind?”
    â€œBefore, he had a Cessna 182, the one he blew up.”
    â€œWell, in a similar airplane he might have a range of five to seven hundred miles. He could go north to other islands, but it would make more sense to head for South America. You say you think you hit him?”
    â€œI know I missed on the first shot, but the second one felt right, and I thought I saw him jerk. That was just before he flew into the clouds.”
    Holly turned around and sat silently in her seat.
    â€œWhat are you thinking about?”
    â€œI’m thinking, I wonder if I can get our pilot to stop in Florida and pick up Daisy.”
    â€œJesus,” Stone said.

    A n hour into Teddy’s flight the undercast was still there, and he began to invent an instrument approach for his destination. Nevis was straight ahead, another thirty-five minutes, according to the GPS, but the tear in the right wing was getting worse, and the little aircraft kept trying to turn right. One thing he didn’t have, Teddy reflected, was a life raft, or even a life jacket. He was going to have to make land or die, and he was going to have to descend through the cloud cover without running into a mountain.
    He loosened the tourniquet until the leg began to bleed again and feeling returned to his foot, then he tightened it again and concentrated on keeping the ultralight on course. Nevis grew larger on the GPS, but much more slowly than he would have liked. He created an approach waypoint three miles east of the airport; his second waypoint would be the end of runway 28. He meant to be under the clouds by the first waypoint.

    T homas drove into St. Marks airport with a wave at the guard on the gate and stopped in front of the terminal. Everybody got out of the car. The jet was nowhere to be seen.
    Holly looked up to see Bill and Annie Pepper, in the company of James Tiptree, coming out of the terminal.
    â€œWe heard our Hawker talking to the tower,” Bill said. “The pilot has declared an emergency; I hope nothing is wrong with the airplane.”
    â€œProbably not. Lance told them to declare a fuel emergency if they tried to keep the plane from landing.”
    â€œI don’t like the look of that low overcast, either,” Bill said. “I hope to God they have an instrument approach here.”
    Now two uniformed policemen came out of the terminal and marched up to them. “No airplanes landing,” one of them said, “and no airplanes taking off.”
    â€œOh, shut up, Harvey,” Thomas said. “These people have a private airplane coming, and it’s going to land. Sir Winston authorized it himself.”
    The two policemen looked at each other and said nothing.
    â€œLook,” Stone said, pointing. An airplane had just popped out of the clouds. “It’s a Hawker.”
    They watched as the airplane touched down and taxied to the ramp. The engines were shut down, the door opened, and a pair of uniformed pilots got out.
    Stone waved to them.
    The two pilots walked up. “We’re looking for Stone Barrington and Holly Barker,” one of them said.
    â€œI’m Stone, and this is Holly,” Stone said. “This is Bill and Annie Pepper.”
    â€œHi, I’m Ken Smith,” the pilot said, and this is Bob Harkin, my first officer. Bob will get your luggage loaded while I see about refueling.”

    T eddy descended through the undercast and, to his delight, popped out of the clouds at his first waypoint, but the tear in the wing was now a gaping hole, and he was having great difficulty flying in a straight line; he couldn’t get it to point at the runway. The ultralight was slowing down, too, and he was worried about stalling. He increased power; there was no other choice.
    The drag on the right wing was moving him