"William Forstchen - Crystal Warriors 1 - Crystal Warriors" - читать интересную книгу автора (Forstchen William R)

order the men out and he forced to try to land the plane. Damn it!

"Look, Mark, we might be able to bring her in," Kraut said, trying to sound optimistic. "'It's rough
country but there are some long, narrow valleys with open fields. Wonderful terrain for guerrillas. Some
of them are probably old warlords still fighting for themselves against everyone else, but it's our only
chance."

"I'm on two sixty-five," Mark replied, unsuccessfully trying to sound relaxed and self-assured. "Keep me
posted on our fuel."

The Zeros rolled in for one more pass, and with ammunition depleted, finally turned off. Within minutes
the Dragon Fire was alone. Number four held on at reduced power and Mark's right leg was soon
numb and trembling, as he kept the rudder over to counter the imbalance of the engines.

Every ten minutes or so Goldberg and Kraut updated him and it was soon obvious that they were
gradually losing the race. They just might make it out of Jap territory, but the odds were stacking up
against them.

"How far to disputed territory?"

"As near as I can figure, another twenty miles."
"Right. Now listen closely. We're down to fifteen hundred feet. I see a ridge line up ahead, looks to be
five hundred below us, but it's an open valley beyond. We'll fly straight down that valley and once we
cross that twenty-mile mark, I want all of you out."

Suddenly number four engine seized up and cut completely. For a frozen moment of horror Mark looked
back at Goldberg who shook his head like a doctor giving up on an injured patient.

The Dragon Fire started to drop out from underneath them, the ridge line ahead filling the cracked
windscreen. There was no time now, nor enough altitude, for a jump. With the fury of despair Mark
hauled back on the wheel, watching the airspeed indicator drop to the stall line. It was as if he had two
choices of death--hit the ridge head-on or stall the plane and then have it drop straight in.

"Forget the jump. Brace yourselves, we're going in!"

The ridge passed by not a dozen feet below them. The stall indicator alarm kicked on and the plane
started to shudder, and then they were past, dropping into a long, sloping valley.

"Prepare for emergency landing. Wheels up! Ready!"

They drifted down the long open slope and the Dragon Fire settled--the props bit the rock-hard
ground, metal shrieking as the blades bent back into the wings.

The plane touched, skipped lightly, then came down hard. A shudder ran through the craft as her bottom
ripped open.

The impact slammed Mark forward into the instrument panel and his world plunged into darkness.

Captain Ikawa Yoshio of the Imperial Japanese Army was exhausted to the point of numbness. His
aching body cried out for him to give up, to fall upon the ground and surrender. Not yet, he thought