The Power of Five Oblivion

said, through gritted teeth. “We’re going to get to the airport and you’re going to get us into the air. And then you’re going to take us to Antarctica because this girl is very special and if she says she has to be there, then that’s what happens.”
    “Special…?”
    “If you don’t believe me, look behind you.”
    Larry Carter hesitated, then turned around in his seat and looked out of the rear window. He stared. Then he faced forward again. Then he looked back. His mouth fell open. He looked more frightened than ever.
    “She did that…?” he whispered.
    “That’s right,” Richard said. “She did that.”
    The way ahead was clear. They were driving through the empty city, the road a pale white, reflecting the moon. The skyscrapers were silhouetted like huge paper cut-outs all around. But behind them, the rain was pounding down. It was falling so heavily that everything was obliterated. The road had become a black river. The cars that had been following them had disappeared. Almost certainly they would have had to stop. Nothing would have been able to drive through the rainstorm.
    The pilot looked ahead again. Dry. But as they drove forward, the rain closed in, separating them, protecting them.
    Impossible.
    “She did that?” he said again.
    Scarlett was still deep in concentration. Richard nodded. “You know, if I were you, I’d think very hard about upsetting her.”
    Ten minutes later, they reached the airport. They parked in the same place and Richard retrieved his backpack, using the Inca knife to cut the pilot free. Together, they ran through departures, through security, back out onto the tarmac and round to the plane. Martins, the co-pilot, was sitting in a deckchair on the tarmac, smoking and drinking whisky, but scrambled to his feet when he saw them.
    “Larry? I can’t believe they found you … got you out.” He saw the look on the other man’s face. “What’s going on?”
    “Just get into the cockpit, Zack. Behind the controls. We’re getting out of here right now.”
    They climbed the steps into the plane. The co-pilot closed and sealed the door. Larry was already on his way to the upper deck. Richard and Scarlett followed him, choosing two seats in business class, where they had a view of the controls. As Martins strapped himself in, they saw Larry go through the start-up procedures, flipping open the battery switch cover, turning on the standby power, the electronic engine control, the navigation lights. Finally, he switched on the IRS – the Inertial Reference System – which would send all the necessary information to the flight computer.
    “This is going to take ten minutes,” he shouted at Richard.
    “Can’t you do it any faster?”
    “No. And we can’t do it in the air.”
    Scarlett peered out of the window. She couldn’t see anything in the darkness and it was always possible that Rasheed’s men were closing in on them from behind. Meanwhile, both Martins and Carter were pressing more switches. The computer screens had burst into life, displaying numbers and diagrams that would have been meaningless to anyone but them. The engines started. Scarlett could feel their energy, vibrating in the air. But they still didn’t move. The seconds ticked away, agonizingly slow. Richard was standing with his hands resting on the pilot’s seat, leaning forward. Everything seemed to be taking for ever. She wanted to scream.
    And then, finally, Carter opened the throttle panel, set the flaps, released the parking brake and at last they jolted forward. Scarlett had never seen so much activity taking place in such a confined space. The two men had flown together long enough for each of them to know exactly what they were meant to do and at what time. The huge plane had begun to move, leaving the stairs slanting up into thin air. Richard knew that they must be using all their skill to guide the Airbus without a tow truck, without airport staff showing them the way. Nobody was speaking. They were all gazing out of the window, their eyes fixed on the navigation lights.
    Slowly, the plane wheeled round.
    They taxied to the runway and although all of them wanted to be in the air and on the way, they had to stop again. Final checks. There were no lights to help them take off. If it hadn’t been for the moon, Richard knew it would have been impossible.
    Carter turned to the co-pilot. “You ready?”
    Martins nodded.
    No need to wait for air traffic control. No need to look