But Dell tossed the canvas bag onto the hood of the jeep, threw the gun away, and walked toward Prince. When he drew near, Prince shoved the struggling Jinx aside and grabbed Dell, spinning him around. Dell stood perfectly still, his hands in the air.
“Get away from there, Jinx!” Cat shouted. She ran around the jeep and threw herself down beside Meg.
“Throw your gun down and walk over here with your hands on your head, all of you, or I’ll shoot the boy!” Prince shouted.
“Do it, Daddy!” Jinx cried. “He’ll kill Dell!”
“No he won’t!” Cat shot back.
“Looks like we’ve got a stand-off,” Meg said quietly.
“Dad, listen to me,” Dell said. “Take Jinx and get out of here! Please,” he said, “do it!” Everyone stood still where he was for a moment. No one spoke.
Cat looked around him desperately. The helicopter was still burning, sending up a column of black smoke. That would guide the Colombian troops in, but it would bring guards down from the main house, too. He had to move. He made a decision, the hardest one he had ever been faced with. “Meg,” he said, as firmly as he could, “you and Jinx run over to that airplane and get the camouflage net off it. Get it completely out of the way, then get into the airplane. Do it right now.”
“No!” Jinx said. “Stan will shoot Dell!”
“No, he won’t,” Cat said. Not yet, anyway, he thought to himself. “Now get going, both of you!”
Meg grabbed Jinx and got her running toward the Maule. They had about thirty yards to cover. Cat crouched behind the jeep, and took careful aim at what he could see of Prince’s head.
“Stop them, Catledge, or I’ll shoot him!” Prince shouted.
“You do, and you’re dead,” Cat shouted back. He glanced over his shoulder. Meg and Jinx had reached the airplane and were tugging at the netting.
“Dell, break away from him and give me a shot!” Cat shouted. “He won’t shoot you! Just drop!”
Dell shouted, “Run, Dad!” then threw his feet out and fell backward onto Prince.
Cat stood up, trying to get a shot, but Dell was on top of Prince, who had an arm around his neck and was trying to get the gun to Dell’s head again.
“Get out of here, Dad! Get Jinx out!” Dell shouted again.
Cat stood frozen for a moment, his pistol pointed at the two struggling men, then he made his decision once again. He turned and ran toward the airplane.
When he got there Jinx was in the back seat, and Meg was in the right seat. He flung himself into the airplane, grabbed the key from the clipboard in the map pocket and, trembling, got it into the ignition switch. The same engine as his Cessna, the pilot had said. Cat shoved in the mixture, propeller, and carburetor controls and pulled on the primer. One, two, three, four strokes of the plunger. He flipped on the master switch, then looked back toward the jeep, where he had left Dell and Prince. They were both standing now, fighting over the gun.
Cat turned the ignition key. The propeller turned a few times, then the engine caught and roared to life. Cat throttled back and looked again toward the jeep. Dell had started running toward the airplane, zigzagging, and Prince was on the ground, scrambling toward the gun.
He’s going to make it, Cat thought. “Run, Dell!” he shouted. He opened his door and waved at him. “Come on, Dell, come on!” Jinx was yelling from the back seat, too.
Dell was only twenty yards from the airplane when he went down. Prince had regained his feet and fired. Cat couldn’t tell where Dell had been hit, but he was getting to his feet again. Cat struggled with his seat belt; he had to help Dell. But then, Prince squatted, took careful aim, and fired again. Cat saw a pink cloud explode from the back of Dell’s head.
“Nooooo!” Jinx screamed. Cat froze, looking at his dead son’s crumpled body. Then he jerked, as Prince put another bullet through the side window of the airplane. Prince kept pulling the trigger, but nothing was happening. He was out of ammunition.
Cat shoved in the throttle and started to taxi wildly to the other end of the clearing, the airplane bumping over the rough ground. He had to get as long a ground roll as he could manage.
Dell is dead, Cat said to himself. Dell is dead, but Jinx is alive. I have Jinx.
At the edge of the clearing, he slammed on the left brake, and the airplane spun around. He stopped and looked at the controls. Twenty degrees of flaps, he said to himself, taking hold of the handle and pulling. No time for a run-up. Mixture rich, brakes on, full power. The little airplane shuddered as the revolutions climbed. Cat looked up and saw Prince climbing into the jeep.
The engine roared to full pitch, and Cat released the brakes. The airplane shot forward.
Prince had gotten the jeep started and roiling.
Cat pushed on the yoke, and the tail came off the ground.
Prince whipped the jeep around and pointed it directly at the airplane. They were rushing toward each other now.
Cat tried to watch the airspeed and Prince at the same time. The canvas sack of money was still on the jeep’s hood, on top of the folded windshield.
He’ll pull out of the way, Cat said to himself. He won’t drive the thing into us. Thirty knots was showing on the airspeed indicator. It wasn’t enough to fly; he needed forty.
Suddenly, inexplicably, Prince looked straight up. He was no longer watching the Maule. He would drive straight into the airplane. At almost the same moment, the ground a few yards to the right of the jeep exploded. The jeep and the airplane were only yards apart.
Cat yanked instinctively back on the yoke. The little aircraft came off the ground. There were two quick, dull jerks, something struck the airplane’s windshield — Prince’s head, Cat realized — and the windshield suddenly turned red. Hundred-dollar bills were plastered over nearly the whole area. The whole airplane began to vibrate wildly.
Cat glanced at the airspeed indicator. Only thirty-five knots. He pushed forward on the yoke to level the airplane, looking out the side window to orient himself. He had no idea how far the trees were ahead of him. The airspeed indicator hit forty knots. Cat yanked back the yoke and simultaneously pulled the handle back for full flaps. The airplane turned its nose to the sky, and Cat felt as if he were in some sort of lunar rocket.
But before they could gain much altitude, there was a hard jolt, and the airplane’s nose came down again. Cat looked out the side window and was stunned at what he saw. The landing gear had hit a tree, pulling the nose down, and they were now, literally, skimming the treetops. Cat pulled the nose up, but immediately the airplane was jolted again.
“Cat!” Meg yelled. “We’re being fired on by a helicopter!”
That was crazy, Cat thought. Prince’s helicopter had exploded. Then he saw a shadow on the trees in front of him, and a huge, olive-drab helicopter with two rotors rushed past them and banked hard to the left. They were turning for another pass. Cat banked into a hard right turn, pulling on the yoke to stay out of the trees. He reduced flaps to pick up speed. The throttle was still wide open, and the airplane was vibrating so much that he thought it would come apart. The propeller must have been bent when it decapitated Prince, he thought.
He stayed low and turned sharply to the left, glancing over his shoulder at where the helicopter had been. It was right behind him. He got a glimpse of other helicopters back toward the clearing, sinking below the trees. Cat cut back to the right, nearly standing the little airplane on its wing. The moment he could straighten up, he turned left again and looked for the helicopter. It was flying in the opposite direction, back toward Prince’s camp. He could see columns of smoke rising from the camp.