The Invisibility Affair - Stratton Thomas (читать книги онлайн бесплатно полностью без .txt) 📗

Illya looked about the interior of the gondola. "First, I'm going to look for some instructions. There must be an operator's manual somewhere."

Chapter 14

"Hi-Yo, Dirigible!"

After a few minutes, it became obvious that there were no operating instructions aboard.

"Well," Napoleon said as he looked around the control room, "there don't seem to be too many controls. Why don't we try them one at a time and see what happens."

Illya nodded. "I'm sure Arpad will let us know if we start to do anything dangerous; it's his neck as well as ours."

McNulty glared at them.

"And of course," Napoleon said, "if he doesn't cooperate, there's no real reason to leave him around, is there? Why don't we try waking up Hunter? We'll keep the one who cooperates and pitch the other one out the door."

McNulty grimaced. "Very well. A practical man must be governed by the circumstances, which seem to favor you at the moment."

"Fine," Napoleon said. "Now about these controls?"

"Quite simple, really. The wheel in front controls the rudders. The one on the left, facing the side, controls the elevators. The one on the right controls engine speed, and those switches above the elevator wheel releases the ballast. You seem to have figured out the OTSMID for yourself, and presumably you know something about sonar."

"We seem to need more ballast, not less," Illya said. "But I suppose the elevators can get us down...?"

McNulty nodded. "Just turn the wheel clockwise and set the engines at Slow."

"That's where they're set now," Napoleon said.

McNulty nodded. "We hoped they were. We had to set them by feel when the nullifier quit on us."

"What happened there, anyway?" Napoleon asked.

"I don't know. We were trying to expand the invisibility field, so the paratroops could jump from a good altitude and still be invisible most of the way down. Morthley had shown me how to work the controls. All at once the nullifier quit."

"Some sort of interaction with the expanding invisibility field," Illya said. He turned elevator wheel slowly. There was a slight shift in the deck beneath them as the dirigible's nose lowered, but nothing else.

"What does the sonar say?" Napoleon asked.

"I can't tell from here," Illya said. "Maybe we'd better shut off the OTSMID until we get some practice on this thing. I don't want to plow into any mountains." He walked over to the OTSMID and fiddled with the controls until the absolute blackness outside the gondola windows was again replaced by moonlight. He checked their progress. "We're going down slightly; still pretty high. Incidentally, hadn't we better get this thing turned around? I have no particular urge to provide target practice for El Presidente's boys."

Napoleon nodded, left the engine controls and approached the rudder controls warily. Several full turns were required before Illya reported that the ship was beginning to turn.

"While you were at it, you might have put in power steering," Napoleon told McNulty.

Suddenly the Thrush communicator in Napoleon's pocket buzzed. He pulled it from his pocket while Illya hastened to McNulty's side and gestured suggestively with his knife. McNulty nodded. Napoleon flipped open the communicator and put his hand over the pickup. Someone was already speaking.

"...what happened. We came down in the jungle. I don't even know where we are. I've just managed to collect the group, and we'd like somebody to get us out of here."

Another voice cut in. "Forbes here. You can't contact the dirigible if the OTSMID is functioning. I'll get some help to you from headquarters. Keep talking so we can get a fix on you."

The first voice began to swear, steadily and without inflection. After a minute, Forbes cut in again. "You're not more than fifteen mile from headquarters! You say you don't know what happened?"

"No. The lights went out, and Sanders came back and told us it was just a temporary failure and for us to sit tight. Then they came back on, and a couple minutes later we got the orders to jump. We jumped, and we landed here. Couldn't see the trees until we got out of the field and by then we were in them. Worst foul-up I ever saw!"

It was Forbes' turn to swear, and he did it with more feeling. McNulty has done it again! Well, that young man has either failed or double-crossed me once too often. When I get my hands on him, he'll learn a few things about Thrush discipline." Forbes continued at some length on McNulty's failings and his anticipated punishment for them.

On the dirigible, McNulty's faced paled until it resembled old putty.

Finally Forbes broke off his tirade. "We'll try to get a helicopter out to pick you up. Keep your communicator on so we can locate you. We only have the one copter, so we'll have to bring you in a few at a time."

Napoleon put the communicator back in his pocket. "At least we some of the paratroopers are out of the way for a while. If we work fast, we might be able to get Kerry and Dr. Morthley out before the bulk of them return. It will take the helicopter some time to find the troops and arrange for a pickup."

McNulty looked up, startled. "You aren't going back to Thrush headquarters!"

"Of course," Napoleon replied. "Why not?"

"Look, I don't want to go anywhere near there. Just give me a parachute and let me jump. I know Forbes, and he meant every word he said. Give me a chance to get out of the country."

Napoleon looked thoughtful. "How bad do you want out, Arpad?"

McNulty shuddered. "You don't know Forbes. I do."

"What are you thinking about, Napoleon?" Illya asked.

"Mainly that two men can't operate the dirigible controls, the sonar, and the OTSMID simultaneously. Now, if we let Arpad loose—without a gun, of course—he could handle one of the controls for us. Would you do that Arpad, in return for being allowed to bail out a good long way from Thrush headquarters when the job is done?"

McNulty nodded eagerly.

"Should we trust him?" asked Illya.

"I think we can trust him with reservations. Don't let him get near your gun. Also, I think we should dispose of temptation in the form of his buddies here." Napoleon gestured to the recumbent forms of the Thrushes lying about the control room. "Arpad, are there any extra parachutes about?"

McNulty nodded. "In the second cabin back, on the left. Most of the crew were a little nervous about out airworthiness, so we brought along parachutes for everybody." It was obvious from his tone that McNulty held no sympathy for those who doubted the virtues of his ship.

While Illya brought the parachutes forward, Napoleon opened the gondola door next to the OTSMID and roused the still sleeping Thrushes. After considerable confusion, Hunter, Sanders, Salzwasser and the unidentified crewman were roused and bundled into the parachute packs.

"All right, gentlemen," Napoleon announced as the last buckle slipped into place, "just step through the door over there and remember to pull your ripcords when you've cleared the ship."

"Wait a minute!" Hunter exclaimed, pointing at McNulty, who was cowering near the front of the gondola. "What about him?"

Napoleon smiled. "I shouldn't be giving away secrets, but I'm sure you'll find out eventually. Arpad is one of our best agents."

Hunter nodded. "I should have guessed it. Nobody could foul up that often unless he did it deliberately. All right," he said to McNulty, "you win this time, but if I ever see you again—"