The Third Instinct--A Dan Clifford Novel by Kent Lester

Author:Kent Lester
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Tor Publishing Group

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AS THE SUN began to set, Rachel Sullivan studied the large wooden structure for the last time. After repeatedly measuring the distance between the poles and their heights, she’d gone through the complete banner-raising procedure with her two volunteers until they were sick of her demands. Tomorrow, five minutes before the stunt, they would raise the gossamer banner between the two poles and quickly run for safety. With any luck, her plane would hook the banner on cue and she’d make it into the record books.

Regardless, she held no fantasies of success. The ribbon-cutting stunt by itself was dangerous enough, but she had decided to up the ante by combining it with another one of aviation’s most difficult stunts, the outside loop. To her knowledge, no one had ever combined the two together. Most likely, she’d drive straight into the ground. But hey. She shrugged. That’s why they called it a death-defying stunt, after all.

Rachel swallowed away a lump in her throat. It would be an honorable way to go, quick and painless. At least that’s what she kept telling herself as her thoughts circled back to Dan Clifford and the adventures they had shared together.

Adventures they could have continued to share, if only for a few chains of proteins that had repeated themselves one time too many in her DNA. So much loss, from a father dying of the same affliction, to her half-brother, murdered senselessly. Dan had been her one bright light in a life filled with heartache.

The sound of movement from behind prompted her to wipe away an unfamiliar wetness from her cheek. A strong hand gripped her shoulder and she turned, forcing a smile, wondering if her eyes would betray her. “Hi, John. Coming to the show tomorrow?”

“Wouldn’t miss it for the world,” he said.

John Martin the Third was an old friend from the stunt-flying circuit, who along with his father and grandfather, made up what she considered the ultimate family of superfans. Together, they represented three generations of Air Force brats, their legacy going back all the way to the original Army Air Corps, before it became a separate branch of the military service, the United States Air Force.

John studied Rachel’s ribbon-holding contraption with jaded eyes. “I gotta say, you’ve got bigger cajones than me, to attempt such a stunt. Ribbon cutting from an outside loop? Together? How’d you pull that off in a thirties-era biplane?”

Rachel forced another smile, deciding to keep the truth to herself, that she hadn’t actually attempted the stunt yet. This was gonna be a one-off deal.

She acknowledged the rest of the family, shaking John Martin, Jr.’s hand and bending down to hug “Big John” Senior, the original John Martin, who at ninety-nine had chosen to use a motorized wheelchair to negotiate the massive grounds of the Atlanta Air Show.

She turned back to John the Third. “You’d be surprised by this old biplane. The Bückers are still considered one of the best acrobatic planes ever built. That’s why the Germans were still using them as trainers in World War Two, that is, until my granda stole this one.

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