Royal Ransom (21 page)

Albert turned around in his seat. “That plane is a problem.”

I nodded in agreement.

“Do you know what we have to do?” he asked.

“No, what?”

“We have to take care of that plane.”

“Take care of it?”

“Yes. We have to go over and disable it, make it impossible for them to follow us by air, the way we've already stopped them from following us by water.”

“But I left the axe back at the camp,” I said. I'd tossed it into the woods, far enough away so that our prisoner couldn't wiggle over and use the blade to cut himself free.

“I thought we might be able to disable it without chopping a hole in the bottom. I imagine you know something about float planes,” he said.

“I know a lot.”

“Then you would certainly know what we could do to make it inoperable,” Albert said.

“I can do that,” I agreed.

“Not only do we not want them to follow us, but we also want to cut off their means of escape. Without that plane they will be stranded up here, and the authorities will surely capture them.”

“I hadn't even thought of that, but that makes sense.”

“Good. Get us over to the plane.”

I changed our course, and Victoria, steering the other canoe, followed behind. We came up to the plane and I brought the canoe right up beside one of the floats. It was a beautiful plane, almost new, bigger than my father's. It looked to be a ten-seater. I climbed out onto the float. Albert held onto the float to keep the canoe from drifting. The other canoe came up right behind us.

“This is some beautiful plane,” Ray said. “Shame your father isn't here. It would save us two days and a whole lot of paddling.”

“I wish he were here,” I said. And I wished that for a whole lot of reasons not related to his ability to fly.

“Jamie, how many times have you flown your father's plane?” Ray asked.

“Dozens of times.”

“So you could fly this one?”

“He certainly cannot!” Victoria exclaimed.

“I probably
could
fly it, but—”

“He is not going to fly it!” she said. “And if he does, I am not flying in it with him!”

There was no point in taking offence, because what she was saying made sense. “Victoria's right,” I agreed. “What I
can
do and what I'm
going
to do are two very different things.”

“Could we please just get on with the task at hand?” Albert said. He had tied off the canoe and climbed up onto the float. Andrew and Ray followed suit.

I put my hand on the handle of the door and it popped open. I climbed up the ladder and plopped down in the
pilot's seat. What would be the best thing I could do, the simplest thing, to make sure they couldn't fly away? One thing seemed obvious: the key was still in the ignition. I imagined that they hadn't thought that anybody would steal the plane—or the key. I could now just take the key when we left, although that certainly wasn't all I was going to do.

“I think we have to cut the wires that lead down to the rudders. Without those wires they won't even be able to take off. We could also puncture the gas tanks. Without fuel they're not going anywhere.”

“That sounds good,” Albert said. “How do we go about taking care of those tasks?”

“The best place to get to the wires is through the cockpit. Climb in here and we'll rip them right out, and then—”

There was a high-pitched buzzing sound, followed almost immediately by a bang—a gunshot!

“What the—”

Another shot rang out and the side window exploded!

“Everybody take cover!” Albert shouted.

He practically threw Victoria and Andrew into the cockpit, and Ray followed right behind. Through the open door I could see Albert. He had perched down behind one of the struts and he had the rifle in his hands, aiming it toward shore. Another shot rang out, and another and another. Victoria screamed as another window shattered and glass fragments showered down on us! I wanted to reach out to her, tell her it was going to be okay, but I was just as afraid as she was.

“Attention!” called out a voice. “There is no escape! You have no place to run and no place to hide! You can
give yourselves up or we will shoot you … we will shoot you all!”

There was silence. I looked down at Albert. “How many of them?”

“All four. Two on the shore to the left about thirty metres away. Two others circling around to the right to get us in a crossfire.”

“Can we get in the canoes and get away?” Ray asked.

“Not a chance,” he said, shaking his head. “As soon as we get in the canoes they'll cut us down. The only reason they are firing with restraint now is because they do not want to destroy the plane and their means of escape.”

“What is your answer!” called out a voice.

Albert shrugged. “We need a minute to decide,” he called out.

“You will decide immediately!”

“We need time!” Albert yelled back. “It's not as though we're going anywhere!”

There was no answer, which I assumed meant they were giving us the time we'd asked for—not that I knew what we were going to do with it.

Albert moved to the open door and climbed inside. “Does anyone see any options?” he asked.

Nobody answered.

“What will happen if we surrender?” Ray asked.

Albert said nothing, which I guess did provide an answer.

“That's what I thought,” Ray said. “Well, if I'm going to die, I'd rather die trying to get away.”

“I agree,” Albert said, “although that still does not answer the question of how we will accomplish it.”

“I guess I can only think of one thing. Get in the plane,” I said quietly.

“You do not mean that you are going to fly this plane!” Victoria gasped.

“Not fly it,” I said. “Taxi it away … drive it like a motorboat.”

“You can do that?” she asked anxiously.

“I can. This thing will go almost forty-five kilometres an hour skimming along the water. All I need are two things. I need some time to check out the controls, make sure it's the same as my father's plane, and then I need somebody to cut the anchor.”

“I will get you some time,” Albert said. “And I'll try to cut the anchor line at the same time.”

“Here, take my knife,” I said, handing it to him.

Albert climbed out of the cockpit and crouched down behind the strut. The line to the anchor was right beside him.

“We wish to discuss terms!” Albert yelled out.

“No terms!” came back the reply.

“Just hear me out! It has nothing to do with the Prince or Princess! They will be surrendered to you!”

There was no response, which meant they must have been talking it over. I started to scan the instruments. These were basically the same controls, although some of them were in slightly different places.

“Let us hear your terms!”

Albert didn't answer right away. I looked over and through the open door I could see that he was using my knife to saw away at the anchor line.

“What are the terms?” the voice called out.

Albert leaned into the plane. “How much time do you need?”

“Just a few more seconds,” I said. I hit the toggles to feed fuel into the engine.

“The Prince and Princess, accompanied by myself,” he yelled, “will come to shore and surrender, but we will do so only after you allow our two guides to paddle away to safety!”

There was no immediate answer. Again they were probably thinking this through.

“Are you ready?” Albert asked as he leaned into the open door.

“Is the anchor gone?”

He showed me the cut line in his hand.

“Then I'm ready.”

I pulled a lever to drop the water rudders. I hit the ignition and the engine spun to life. I used the foot-pedals to steer the rudders and revved the engine to pull us away. Albert jumped into the plane and slammed the door closed behind him.

“Everybody get down!” he screamed.

I slumped down in the seat as best I could as shots started to ring out. Albert jumped across the seat and thrust the gun out the already smashed rear window. There was a deafening explosion as he returned fire. A shot shattered the front windscreen and glass fragments sprayed into my face! I recoiled in pain, but in the same instant opened up the throttle, and the engine roared louder. We began to pick up speed. The plane bounced and bucked as we plowed through the waves.

Wind rushed in through the shattered windscreen. I brought a hand up to my face and it came away covered in blood! I opened the throttle up another notch and then pulled back on the stick and the ride suddenly got smooth as I lifted it off the water. We were flying! We were flying! Now, nobody could catch us!

Chapter Twenty-Two

“I
THINK I
'
VE HAD ENOUGH TO EAT
,” I said to my grandmother.

“Just have another big spoonful. Here, let me help,” she said as she took my spoon and dipped it into the bowl of stew—my
third
bowl of stew.

I was going to argue, but I knew there was no point. I opened my mouth and she shovelled it in. I chewed and swallowed.

“What about Ray?” I asked. “He's eaten less than me.”

She turned to face Ray and he shot me a dirty look. “I've had plenty, honest, I'm heavier now than I was when I left!”

I got up from the table and brought my bowl to the sink. I looked out the window. On the widest section of the beach a Sikorsky army helicopter had set down. It had brought up two dozen specially equipped soldiers. It was sitting just up from where my father's plane was usually anchored. He was out with the RCMP officers trying to chase down the bad guys.

There was a knock on the door.

“I'll get it,” I called out. I went to the front door, opened it, and there stood Albert.

“Hello, Jamie. We were getting ready to leave and Victoria was hoping you would come to see us off.”

“Of course I'll come.” I turned around. “Going out for a while!” I hollered.

I followed Albert and we headed for the beach. They were apparently being flown out aboard the Sikorsky.

“Did they find those men?” I asked.

“All of them. They were captured and are being transported right now to the air force base in Cold Water, Alberta. From there they will be extradited back to England to face trial.”

“That's great. So, my father's safe now … right?”

“Very.”

I took a deep breath. There was something I wanted to say to Albert.

“I wanted to tell you … tell you how sorry I am … about Nigel. I really liked him.”

“Yes, I will miss him too. We were assigned to the Royal Family together for almost five years and we'd become very good friends. I both liked and respected him. He'll be buried with full military honours, as befitting someone who sacrificed his life for the Crown.” Albert stopped walking and faced me. “My biggest regret is that he died before knowing that the Prince and Princess were saved … largely because of you.”

“We all worked together or it wouldn't have happened.”

“Many of us played parts, but you were the one who made all those parts work as a whole. Have you ever thought of a future in the secret service?”

“Me, in the secret service?” I exclaimed. “All I want to do is become a bush pilot, like my father.”

“Ahhh, like father, like son. I followed in my father's footsteps, too.”

“He was in the secret service?” I asked.

Albert nodded. “One of the proudest days of his life was when I received my commission. I'm sure your father will be proud of you when you become a pilot.” He smiled. “Actually, I am sure he is very proud of you right now.”

“Proud and angry. He said if I ever tried to fly a plane again before I got my pilot's licence he'd shoot me
himself
!”

Albert burst into laughter. He had a great, big, round laugh, just like my father's. When I'd first met Albert I'd figured he didn't even know
how
to laugh.

“I don't know. Your takeoff was very smooth,” Albert said.

“Thanks, but I think I have a little work to do on the landings.” I had brought us in too hard and fast and had managed to damage one of the floats, bend the prop—it had dipped into the water—and I'd almost run out of lake before it finally came to a stop, less than ten metres from the shore.

“I once heard it said that any landing that you can walk away from is a good landing. Oh, there's Victoria.”

She was partially hidden behind a cluster of soldiers. Each soldier was dressed in battle fatigues with a helmet, and each held an assault weapon like the one I'd been handling. Victoria saw us and waved. She flashed a wonderful smile. She was dressed in new, clean clothes, her hair was washed and styled, and it even looked as though she'd put on a little makeup. Was she wearing lip gloss?

“I was afraid you wouldn't come to say goodbye,” she said.

“I didn't know you were leaving already.”

“We were scheduled to leave thirty minutes ago, but I said I was not departing until I had seen you,” she said.

I didn't know what to say in response, but her words made me feel all gooey inside.

“Albert, could you please arrange for Jamie and me to have some privacy?” she asked.

He nodded. “Attention, please. I would like the guard detail to take a much wider perimeter position.”

The soldiers instantly responded, fanning out so that they were still surrounding the Princess but were a couple of dozen metres away in all directions.

“Is that more suitable?” Albert asked.

“Almost perfect,” she said. “Though I had wanted to talk to Jamie alone,
completely
alone.”

Albert looked as embarrassed as I felt. He scurried away and joined the soldiers on the perimeter.