Peacekeepers by Ben Bova

Author:Ben Bova [Bova, Ben]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781429932370
Publisher: Tor
Published: 2011-04-01T07:00:00+00:00

They left Corsica, after Alexander had a top secret meeting in his private quarters just aft of the flight deck with six men who wore expensive suits and dark glasses. They arrived in six different yachts, and for a few hours the lonely unnamed inlet on the rugged Corsican coast looked like a holiday playground for millionaires.

He serves the rich, Pavel remembered the director’s words. He helps them to oppress the poor.

The yachts departed and the seaplane took off, landed and refueled at Gibraltar, then flew out over the Atlantic and down the curving bulk of the African coast. Pavel slept poorly that night. The plane flew steadily, with hardly a noticeable vibration. The sound of the engines was muffled to a background purr. But still something in that deepest part of his brain that was always alert kept warning him that he was in danger, that he was surrounded by enemies, and that there was nothing between him and a screaming fall to his death except several miles of thin air.

He breakfasted with Kelly and the others, then was summoned on the plane’s intercom to the flight deck. Kelly accompanied him along the passageway that led through the sleeping compartments and her father’s private quarters.

“His bedroom is on this side”—she gestured to an unmarked door in the passageway—“and his office is here on the starboard side.”

A flight of three steps marked the end of the passageway.

“Flight deck’s up there,” Kelly said.

“You are not coming?”

“I haven’t been invited. He wants to see you. Alone.”

She seemed more guarded than ever this morning, as if she regretted having revealed so much about herself. Pavel went up the metal steps and rapped on the door with the back of his knuckles. Nothing happened. He glanced back at Kelly, who motioned for him to open the door and go through. With a shrug, he did.

Strong sunlight poured through the wide windows of the flight deck. Pavel winced and, squinting, saw that the stations for the navigator and electronics operator were unmanned, their chairs empty even though the display screens of their consoles glowed with data. He had expected the noise from the engines to be louder up here, but if it was, it was so marginal that Pavel could discern no real difference from the rest of the plane.

“Come on up here, Red,” came Alexander’s voice. From the pilot’s seat.

Making his way past the unoccupied crew stations, Pavel saw that Alexander was indeed piloting the plane. He was smiling happily in the pilot’s seat, wearing aviator’s polarized sunglasses tinted a light blue.

“Don’t look so surprised, kid,” Alexander said, grinning at him. “Flying this beautiful lady is most of the fun of having her. Sit down, make yourself comfortable.”

Pavel slid into the copilot’s chair.

“Want to try the controls?”

He knew he was wide-eyed with astonishment, despite his efforts to rein in his emotions. All that Pavel could reply was a half-strangled “Yes” and a vigorous bobbing of his head.

“Take ’em!” Alexander removed his hands from the U-shaped control yoke.

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