Spies in the Sky by Beverley McWilliams

Author:Beverley McWilliams
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pantera Press
Published: 2023-03-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 15

The crash

My throat burned and my body ached like I’d been tossed in the jaws of a vicious hawk. I blinked. The world had turned grey. Smoke clouded my eyes and thick dust floated in the air. I shook my head, trying to stop the ringing that buzzed like a bluebottle fly stuck inside my ears.

I struggled to my feet and put my face to the window in my box. A light flickered in the darkness, casting its beam over the surrounding mess of mangled metal. Everything felt strangely out of place. Then I realised why – we were upside down.

Voices muttered. Shapes shifted in the muted light.

Pilot Tom coughed. ‘Is everyone okay?’

Jack dragged himself to his knees, rubbing his head and wiping his bleeding nose on his sleeve. ‘I’m fine,’ he said. ‘Just a bit shaken.’

‘I’m okay too. At least, I think I am,’ Gunner Harry mumbled. ‘What happened?’

‘Four night-fighters attacked us,’ Jack replied. ‘Don’t know how we came out of there in one piece.’

‘Well, not exactly one piece,’ Pilot Tom said, shining his torch around. ‘But we’re all alive. That’s a miracle, considering.’ He twisted the dials on the radio. ‘Mayday, Mayday. Come in, base. It’s Blenheim 201.’ Pilot Tom shook his head. ‘Nothing. It’s totally dead. I’ll switch on the emergency lighting, and you can give me a damage report, Jack.’

Jack clambered around the wreck of our plane and fiddled with the controls.

‘There are holes in the fuselage and the turret,’ Jack said. ‘Wireless set is clearly out of action and looks like the rudder controls are jammed.’

‘So basically, this plane is going nowhere,’ Gunner Harry said, twisting his scarf in his hands. ‘Any idea where we are, at least?’

‘Holland,’ Jack replied.

Gunner Harry snorted. ‘Can you be more specific?’

Jack unfolded a map and stretched it out in front of him. He ran his finger across the page. ‘We crossed the Zuiderzee at about three thirty. Given our speed and flight path and the time now, I’d estimate we are around here.’ He pressed his finger to the map.

‘So, what now?’ Gunner Harry said. ‘Do you think they picked up our location at base?’

‘We can’t be sure,’ Pilot Tom replied. ‘The radio could have dropped out when we were hit.’

‘I’ll check outside and see if there’s any sign of life,’ Gunner Harry said.

He crawled beneath the hatch, lay on his back and kicked the door open. Then he stood and poked his head through the gap. ‘Looks like just fields and farmland out here,’ he said. ‘Should we sit tight or see if we can find help?’

‘We should release the pigeon,’ Jack said. ‘That’s our best chance.’

They all turned to me. I gulped. Everything I had feared was coming true.

Jack opened the hatch and lifted me from my box. ‘All right, little guy?’ he said. ‘That was quite an ordeal, wasn’t it?’ Jack examined me, stretching out my wings. ‘He looks fine. No visible injuries,’ he said. ‘You can do this, can’t you, Royal Blue?’

Could I? I’d never flown such a distance before, and I’d have to cross the ocean.

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