Together they fueled up the better of the two Mi-8s. Working in the half light they unbolted the external fuel pods from the carcass of the third helicopter and mounted them in the Mi-8's cargo area. They tried to stay quiet but there was no way to silence the noise of the aircraft's engine starting up. Its pulsing roar would wake the entire camp.
'Straight up,' Sarah shouted as Osman lifted the vehicle from its pad, barely waiting for the rotor to spin up to speed. 'Get out of rifle range, hurry!'
She had known what would happen when they were discovered, and she had not been wrong. Women came running out of tents half-dressed, rifles in their arms. They would have slept with their weapons, waiting for some sign of the Tsarevich's army. When they saw that it was one of their own vehicles taking off most of them lowered their weapons but one or two lined up shots and started firing.
'This is Fathia!' the helicopter's radio squealed. 'I do not understand what madness has taken you, but if you do not put down this minute''
Sarah switched off the radio. The content of the threat didn't matter'they already knew they were in trouble.
Once they were past rifle range the next threat came from the other helicopter. Though the weapons that came with the aircraft were long ago used up another pilot could follow them to their destination and then just shoot them there. Sarah rushed back into the cargo area and stared down at the airfield they'd just abandoned. She positively willed the other helicopter to stay on the ground. This was the one great weakness of her plan, this first desperate flight. It could all be over then and there.
Then she saw what she most feared. 'They're powering up the other copter,' she shouted into her headset. 'Osman, we have a major problem.'
'With a minor solution. The next time I do something stupid, Sarah, please keep this in mind.'
Sarah didn't understand'until she saw puffs of fire blast from the dual turbines on top of the grounded helicopter. 'You sabotaged it!'
'I disconnected a fuel line. It will take them but a moment to repair the damage, but it may take most of the day to find it.'
Sarah wanted to rush forward and hug him. You didn't embrace the pilot of a military helicopter in mid-flight, though. 'We're safe,' she trumpeted, and he snorted one of his sarcastic laughs.
'Safe to fly into certain death, yes,' he chortled. 'Alright, commander. Where to first?'
'Nekropolis,' she told him.
'Never heard of it.'
She hadn't either. 'There's a good reason for that. Head northeast, toward the sea. We're looking for a salt pan just this side of the canal. It's surrounded on most sides by slickrock.'
They found it with relative ease. From the air the salt pan looked like a sheet of ice in the middle of the desert. Osman set down on the solid rock just off the edge of the pan'such features were notorious for their poor stability'and together they jumped out, their nerves still buzzing with adrenaline. 'This is where we pick up our reinforcements?' Osman asked.