Touch the Sky (Young Underground #8) (28 page)

             
“
All right, good.
”
Matthias
’
s voice was soft, almost too soft to hear.
“
I
’
m going to close my eyes for a minute....
”

             
“
No, wait, Matthias!
”
Peter panicked.
“
I can
’
t do this by myself.
”

             
Matthias smiled weakly but kept his eyes closed.
“
You did a terrific job opening that door at the right time.
”

             
“
Okay, now what?
”
Peter gripped the control stick as tightly as he could to keep from shaking.

             
“
Push your stick forward and to the left. We
’
re going to turn and land.
”

             
Peter pushed the stick sideways, and the plane went into a bouncy sideways skid.

             
“
Easy,
”
Matthias cautioned him and coughed.
“
Now, line up with the bay and push your nose down just a little.
”

             
Peter leaned closer to hear.

             
“
Push in the throttle, Peter. Slower. Get down level with the water, pull the nose up, and cut power some more. You can do it....
”

             
Matthias closed his eyes again while Elise held his head up.

             
“
Matthias!
”
Peter pleaded.
“
Don
’
t die. You have to help us land.
”

             
“
He
’
s still alive,
”
announced Elise.
“
But he
’
s not going to be alive much longer unless we get him down. He
’
s losing blood.
”

             
Peter nodded grimly. There wasn
’
t time to cry. He prayed without a word, just reached out to God silently.

             
“
Going down,
”
he finally whispered.

             
Out in the middle of the bay to their right, someone was rowing a small boat, but Peter couldn
’
t make out who. To their left, it looked as if Marianne was on the dock, but she turned and ran.

             
Where is she going?
Peter wondered.

             
“
Down lower,
”
gasped Matthias.
“
Slower. How fast are we... ?
”

             
Peter wrestled with the stick from the side, trying to keep from zigzagging. They slipped sideways, then corrected, then finally straightened out.

             
“
Too fast, Peter!
”
Matthias warned him.

             
“
Where are the brakes?
”
Peter asked.

             
“
Flaps,
”
said Matthias.
“
To my left. Crank out the flaps.
”

             
Elise pointed at a small crank on the left side, under the window.

             
“
That
’
s it!
”
Peter reached across, grabbed the crank, and turned it. The back edges of the wings pointed down toward the water. Almost instantly, the plane slowed and dropped more quickly.

             
Elise looked out the window.
“
We
’
re almost
—”

             
The jolt of the plane hitting the water jerked them nearly out of their seats, and Peter tried desperately to keep the steering stick steady.

             
“
Slower!
”
screamed Elise as they skipped up off the water. They hit hard again, then again. Peter lost track of which way was up. Another jolt, another skip, and somehow they were still upright. Peter opened his eyes to see the dock directly in front of them, coming up fast, just before they felt another jolt and heard a sickening crash.

18

O
ut of the Waters

             
“
Are you all right?
”
Peter looked back at his sister. Or rather, down. The way the plane had come to rest, she was sitting below him, and the airplane was tilted at a crazy angle, almost like a rocket on a launching pad.

             
Peter wiggled his shoulders to make sure everything was working. As far as he could tell, they had skipped up on the shore and somehow wedged to a stop next to the dock. The tail of the plane was buried in the beach, and the nose was pointed into the air. At least the engine had quit, and for a moment, everything was still.

             
“
Help!
”
Peter yelled, shoving open the pilot
-
side door.
“
We need some help! Kurt, are you out there?
”

             
No one answered.

             
Peter and Elise tried to keep Matthias from falling over, and Peter looked out again to see if anyone was coming. A few yards away, Marianne was looking out from behind a bush with wide eyes.

             
“
Marianne!
”
yelled Peter.
“
We need some help getting Matthias out of the plane. He
’
s hurt bad!
”

             
Marianne jumped out of her hiding place and hurried over to the plane, but the astonished expression remained on her face.

             
“
Peter? How did you get in there?
”

             
“
I don
’
t have time to explain. Matthias
—”

             
“
But we saw you fall off the plane,
”
she interrupted.
“
Henrik went out to get you in our rowboat.
”

             
Peter glanced at the boat far out in the middle of the water, and his heart nearly stopped. Broken Nose was out there!

             
“
You can
’
t help Henrik right now, Peter,
”
Elise said.
“
We have to get Matthias to a doctor. We can
’
t let him lie here and bleed to death.
”

             
Matthias groaned, and Peter knew Elise was right. Matthias needed help right away. Maybe Mr. Broken Nose would swim to shore on his own before Henrik reached him. It was a long way to swim, especially for someone who had just been pushed out of an airplane, but there was a chance.

             
“
Okay,
”
he nodded.
“
Let
’
s roll him out of the plane, Elise. Watch out for his glasses. Marianne and I will get him from the outside. Where
’
s Kurt? And Hector? I thought he was hurt, too.
”

             
Marianne shook her head.
“
Hector
’
s okay. The gun just scared him. They ran to get help as soon as you took off in the plane.
”

             
The airplane groaned and shivered as they struggled to pull Matthias out of his seat. Elise paused.

             
“
Are we okay?
”
she asked the other two.

             
Peter looked at the way the plane was balanced against a piling, the way the tail had dragged into the mud.

             
“
Looks pretty tipsy,
”
he told her.
“
If it falls back down, just hold on.
”

             
“
Got his legs,
”
Marianne said.

             
“
It
’
s shifting!
”
warned Elise.
“
We
’
re falling back!
”

             
The plane didn
’
t fall as quickly as Peter had feared but slid back upright, like an elevator reaching the ground floor. The wing support Marianne was holding twisted loose, though, while
Elise hopped out of the plane and helped them set Matthias down on the beach.

             
“
Okay,
”
Elise said.
“
Now we have to get him to a doctor.
”

             
Marianne bent over to listen to his breathing.
“
I wish Kurt had known when he ran off to get help. He could have called Dr. Knudsen.
”

             
“
I think he
’
s in shock or something,
”
said Elise.
“
We can
’
t wait for the doctor to come to us.
”

             
“
Then we have to get him out of here ourselves.
”
Peter looked around at the beach for ideas, when a huge animal shot out of the woods and bounded toward them.

             
“
Hector!
”
shouted Marianne. The dog barked joyfully and nearly bowled them over.

             
“
Down!
”
cried Marianne, but Hector only buried them in sloppy kisses. When he discovered Matthias, he dragged his huge pink tongue right across the man
’
s face.

             
“
Hector, stop!
”
Marianne did her best to pull her dog away while Hector barked one of his chest
-
thumping barks.

             
Matthias seemed to jerk, and he looked up at them in surprise.
“
Either you
’
re angels,
”
he croaked,
“
or Peter Andersen somehow landed my plane safely.
”

             
Matthias grimaced and looked at his shoulder, then touched a hand to the bandage.
“
I think I am not in heaven,
”
he said.

             
Peter nodded.
“
We sort of crash
-
landed into the dock.
”

             
“
Not bad for a beginner,
”
said Matthias with a weak smile.
“
But here, help me up, and maybe I can walk.
”

             
“
You need to stay down, Matthias,
”
warned Elise, but the man only shook his head.

             
“
Where is that fellow with the crooked nose? Last thing I remember, he was falling out the passenger door of my plane.
”

             
Peter pointed out toward the middle of the bay.
“
Marianne said they all thought it was me who fell out of the plane. Henrik went out in a rowboat to get me.
”

             
Matthias gave Peter a puzzled look.
“
You
’
re telling me Henrik is out there alone?
”

             
“
Uh
...”
Peter didn
’
t know what to say.
“
It took us a few minutes to get you out of the plane, and we wanted to make sure you were all right. We thought you were in shock or something. You need a doctor.
”

             
Matthias looked at his shoulder and winced.
“
I am not in shock, and I am not the problem right now. The problem is your friend out there in a rowboat with Abu Ladin.
”

             
“
Abu who?
”
Elise sounded confused. She, too, looked out at the water with a worried expression.

             
“
Abu Ladin,
”
replied Matthias.
“
The fellow who tried to take our plane. He
’
s a Syrian agent.
”

             
Peter whistled, but he knew there wasn
’
t time for explanations.
“
Are you really okay, Matthias?
”

             
“
I didn
’
t exactly say that, young man, but I
’
m not going to die, if that
’
s what you were thinking. The bleeding is slowing down.
”

             
“
Is there another boat I could take to chase him?
”
Peter asked.

             
“
Our neighbor has one a little way down the beach,
”
Marianne pointed.
“
But Dad should be here any minute.
”

             
“
Okay,
”
replied Peter.
“
Elise, tell Uncle Harald they have to drive around to the other side of the bay. That must be where that Abu guy is going. I
’
m going to take the other boat.
”

             
“
I didn
’
t mean for
you
to go out there, Peter,
”
objected Matthias, but Peter was already running.

             
“
Tell Dad where I went, Elise,
”
Peter yelled back. He glanced around to see his sister look uncertainly at their cousin and Matthias, then back at him.

             
“
Wait up, Peter!
”
she yelled.
“
I
’
m not going to let you go out there by yourself.
”

             
Peter wasn
’
t quite sure what to look for, but as he and Elise ran down the beach they checked behind piles of driftwood. It suddenly occurred to Peter what his sister was doing.

             
“
Elise, you
’
re not allowed to run!
”

             
Elise stopped in her tracks.
“
Too late. I just found the boat, I think.
”

             
When Peter reached where she was standing, they saw what looked like an open fishing boat, big enough for three or four people, pulled up on the edge of the beach beyond the high tide line of seaweed. The boat seemed to be covered more with fish scales than with paint, and it smelled like a cod that had been sitting out too long in the sun. Quickly, they dragged it out into the water.

             
“
Outboard motor,
”
Peter noted.

             
“
Looks too old to work.
”

             
“
It
’
ll work.
”
Peter sounded more sure than he felt.
“
Has to.
”

             
Peter waded into the water up to his waist and flopped into the bottom of the boat.

             
“
I
’
ll get us going with the oars,
”
said Elise.

             
“
No!
”
he told her.
“
You
’
ve already done enough.
”

             
“
Look, you just get the motor going. I
’
ll get us away from the shore. Henrik
’
s out there, remember?
”