Left Behind Series - The Remnant Part 56

"Not by any virtue of my own, friend."

As they went screaming over the desert to the Petra landing strip, Mac looked for the oversize plane Chang had appropriated from New Babylon. It sat at the end of the runway, big and plain as day. "How do you figure that?" Mac said. "G.o.d must be blinding these guys. You can see it from a mile away, maybe more."

"Look there," Albie said.

Almost directly below them was a serpentine line of several hundred exiting the mile long Siq that led into and out of Petra.

They were headed for the concertlike setup in the middle of the desert. As Mac focused on the airstrip and began his descent, he saw the chopper hopping from inside Petra to the end of the runway from where Abdullah would ferry them in.

"You think Smitty would want to get a closer look at this deal?"

Albie said.

"Why? Would you?"

"Sure ."

"I'm game. We protected that far out?"

"In the air we are. Might be takin' a chance on foot."

"Let's go in the copter." "This is an answer to prayer," Abdullah said a few minutes later.

"I so want to see what is going on out there."

"It's a risk though, Smitty," Mac said. "You've got a pretty good cover, lookin' like you belong out here. Albie and I have had our covers blown, and we got no disguises, no aliases, no fake marks, no nothin'. You'd better decide if we're worth being seen with."

Abdullah could not hide a smile.

"You rascal," Mac said, grinning. "I set myself up for a shot there, didn't I? And you almost took it."

"I was not about to shoot you, Mac."

",Verbally you were. You sure were."

"I guess I have decided I would rather not be seen with you when we get back to Petra."

"Cute. But seriously now . . . "

"I believe G.o.d will protect us. We should stick together, look official, but not make it plain that we do not have marks."

"Your turban covers you, and we've got caps. You think that's enough? Should we be armed?"

"I have no idea how many GC will be there," Albie said, "but I'm guessing once we get there we're going to be vulnerable. Guns won't help is what I guess I'm saying. "

Abdullah rubbed his forehead. "We should stay in the chopper. If we can see and hear from there."

"And if we're approached?"

"You speak Texan at them and they will be puzzled long enough for me to lift off." "Oh, you're hot today, Smitty."

"Who would want to come close to a helicopter when the blades are turning?"

Abdullah studied his friends. It was clear they were as curious as he was.

"Should we check in with someone?" Mac said.

"Who?" Abdullah said. "Your mommy?"

Mac nodded, conceding that Abdullah was developing a sense of humor, but not rewarding him with more than that. "Rayford's in the air somewhere. It's on us. What're we gonna do?"

"I'm in," Albie said.

Abdullah nodded.

Mac climbed in the back of the chopper. Abdullah slid in behind the controls. Albie sat next to him.

When they were in the air, Abdullah shouted over the din, "We could check with Chang. Have him put something in the computer."

Neither responded, so Abdullah abandoned the idea. He wondered if they were being foolish. Down deep he knew they were. But he could not stop himself from going. It was clear to Mac that this show was set up exclusively for the rebels from Petra. He tried to get out of Abdullah why anybody would want to leave the safety of that city, but it was an unanswerable rhetorical question.

Abdullah was clearly taking his time, but the chopper quickly overtook the walking ma.s.ses and set down about a hundred feet from the stage, whipping up a cloud of dust that a light breeze carried directly to the people on the platform. They stared at the chopper.

Mac saw several armed GC looking and talking among themselves.

One approached, a young, thickchested man who would have been stocky even without the bulletproof vest that became apparent as he drew near. Abdullah had shut down and the blade had just stopped.

"Just sit here and look at him," Mac said. "Make him make the first move."

Vest Chest stood with his weapon dangling, totally nonthreatening, but he looked expectantly at Albie, who sat in the second seat by the door. "You going to open

up?" the young man said.

"Not if we don't have to," Albie said. "The AC still has this thing cooled."

"You have to," the Peacekeeper said.

Albie looked back at Mac. Mac nodded. Albie opened the door.

Mac leaned forward and spoke in a gruff voice, "You don't want to be too close to this machine, son! Engine's still hot, and she's been known to spit some oil. And we might want to fire her up again, just for a little air."

"hat's your business here?"

"Same as yours. Security. Monitoring. Now I'm going to have to ask you to back away from the craft."

It was gutsy, but after what Mac had been through the last year, to him it was like a walk in the park. If the guy wanted to get into a contest of wills, Mac would stall him long enough for Smitty to get the engine roaring again, and they would be out of there. Of course, even small weapons fire could bring down a chopper from close range, but maybe planting in his mind about the spitting of hot oil would give the GC pause.

Mac's ruse worked. The man just nodded and backed off.

"Start 'er up, Smitty," Mac said. "Got to give him a reason to concede."

The dust blew again. Abdullah shut down quickly. The GC returned.

Mac took the offensive. He leaned past Albie and opened the door himself. "Don't worry," he said, "that's the last time we do that till we leave. We don't want to get people dusty or keep 'em from hearin' or anything, okay?"

",Just what I was going to say, sir."