The Power of Five Oblivion

out for other planes. In the darkness of the cabin, the two men reached out and made the last adjustments. “OK. Let’s go.”
    Scarlett heard the pitch of the engines rise. They began to roll forward, picking up speed. She had the seat nearest the window and suddenly she saw them, racing across the tarmac to cut them off. There was a Land Rover, a Jaguar and a Ferrari, a bizarre trio of vehicles. They must have entered the airport from the other side because they were ahead of them, at the far end of the runway.
    “Richard!” Scarlett pointed.
    Richard leant over her. “It’s OK,” he said. “They’re not going to make it.” But he didn’t sound convinced.
    The plane was hurtling forward, moving faster and faster. The lines on the runway had already become a blur. They could see the cars, directly in front of them. The drivers were committing suicide. If there was a collision, the drivers would be killed instantly. But the Airbus would crash too. Was that their aim, to bring them down, no matter what the cost?
    They had reached take-off speed.
    “Let’s do it!” Carter shouted.
    He pulled back on the controls, glancing at the primary flight display to check that the pink lines were centred and their climb rate was secure. Martins was already reaching for the switch to raise the landing gear. The cars were right in front of them. Richard actually saw the drivers crouching there, their faces white. They would be deafened by the noise of the engines. They were going to crash! They weren’t high enough.
    The plane rose. They were clear. There could only have been inches in it, but they were away.
    Richard and Scarlett saw the ground disappear below them. They couldn’t believe they had done it. Scarlett was exhausted. Beside her, Richard let out a huge sigh of relief.
    In the cockpit, Martins said nothing until they had reached six thousand metres. Then he turned to the pilot. “You want me to set a course for Alice Springs?” he asked.
    There was a long silence. Then…
    “We’re not going to Alice Springs.”
    “No?”
    “No.”
    “So where are we going?”
    Another pause.
    “Antarctica.”
    Martins screwed up his face in puzzlement. “Are you serious, Larry? Why?”
    The pilot took a while to answer. At last he spoke. “I don’t know, mate. It just seems like a good idea.”
    The Emirates airline Airbus reached nine thousand metres over the desert. Then it changed course and began the long journey south.

LEGACY 600

THIRTY-ONE
    They found another slave market soon enough. It seemed that every village and every town in Brazil had one, that there was no other way for the people to live. Men sold their wives and women sold their children … the younger and fitter they were, the higher their price. The most desperate people of all simply sold themselves. As Matt and Lohan drove south, they passed several chain gangs, like something out of an old American film, dusty figures shuffling forward with their hands tied and chains connecting them from ankle to ankle.
    It seemed as if months had passed since the two of them had found themselves in the submerged, rotting city of Belém and had come to terms with the fact that the world had changed utterly in the few seconds it had taken them to travel there from Hong Kong. Environmental catastrophe, political breakdown, the dark influence of the Old Ones … they were aware of all these things but they hardly mattered when they were faced with the practical matter of how they were going to make it to the next day. They had no money, no food and no transport. It was only when they had stumbled on the Mercado de Ferro – the old iron market close to the quays – and discovered what it was now being used for that they had seen what they had to do. Matt hadn’t argued. In the end he had been sold three times and although the process was humiliating and sometimes painful, it had brought them the money they needed to survive.
    The third sale had been the worst. It had brought them to Fernandinho. The drug lord was probably looking for them even now, and many of the traders in the country would have been warned about a Chinese man with an American boy and the trick that they were playing. But they had to try again. From the moment Matt had woken up in the stolen jeep, he had taken command. They were no longer heading for Salvador and Matt had no interest in trying to get to the United States. He had been back to the dreamworld and he had a new