The Mystery of the Fire Dragon - Carolyn Keene [41]
“I sure would!” Ned said.
In a matter of seconds he was on board. The pilot of the helicopter introduced himself as Lieutenant Commander Rawling, commanding officer of one of the Fury Flights.
“Glad to have you aboard,” he told Ned. “My boys will be off after that plane shortly. It should still be well within radar range.”
Ned sat in the front seat beside the pilot. In a few minutes they had crossed Victoria Island and the great carrier came into view. Three Sea Fury planes took off from its deck, one after the other.
“We’ll follow them as quickly as we can,” Rawling said, “but this copter is much slower. I’ll get the flight leader on the radio.” He called and established contact. Ned could hear everything said by both men.
Nancy wrote a large SOS backwards on the pane
In a few minutes the flight leader reported, “We have the aircraft in sight.”
“Close in on him and make him turn back!” Rawling commanded.
“Wilco! Closing on him rapidly now.”
Ned heard the flight leader calling the aircraft on the radio, but there was no response.
“They probably hear but won’t answer,” Ned guessed. “Remember Nancy is on board,” he said. “I hope your men won’t shoot!”
“No,” said Rawling. “They may try to make the pilot think they will, though.”
The lieutenant commander gave orders to the Furies, telling them in code the maneuvers to follow. The flight leader called back, “There’s an SOS on one of the cabin windows!”
“Nancy must have put that there!” Ned thought excitedly.
In the kidnapers’ plane, Nancy was both thrilled and frightened. She watched fascinated as one plane dived in front to slow them down, another swooped below, and the third above. One second she felt she was going to be rescued, the next that she might lose her life; her captors seemed to be desperate enough to perish in the battle.
The Chinese pilot, Skinny Kord, and Chi Che were talking excitedly both in Cantonese and in English. They had heard every word the commander of the pursuing three-craft squadron had said.
“Why should we take orders from them?” Kord cried out. “We can get away. They’d never risk shooting with Nancy Drew in our plane.”
“But we don’t dare land in Taipei now or we would be arrested,” Chi Che said. “And we may run out of gas and crash if we keep going.”
The Chinese pilot said, “If we do not go back, I am not at all sure they will not fire on us. I am not risking it. We are returning.”
Since his companions could not fly a plane, they were forced to accede to his decision. In a short time, to Nancy’s relief, she felt the craft bank and turn. The pilot had lowered his landing gear as a token of surrender, she later learned.
Nancy pushed her curtains open. Apparently the fighter planes had changed position. Now one flew on each side of the kidnapers’ craft, so close that Nancy could see each pilot’s face clearly, at least that part of it which was not masked by his helmet and microphone.
Ned was thrilled to hear a new voice calling Kai Tak and asking for landing instructions. “We’ve won!” he shouted.
He strained his eyes on the distant horizon. Suddenly he pointed. “There they are!”
Four dots rapidly grew in size. Soon the kidnapers ’plane came into view with a fighter on either side and one just below.
“We’ll follow them in,” Rawling said. He radioed the airport for police to be on hand. As soon as the mystery plane had set down, the fighter leader landed, but instructed the others to return to the carrier. The helicopter was on the ground in seconds.
The police were just handcuffing the arrested trio when Ned dashed into the aircraft. “Nancy!” He unfastened her bonds.
“Oh, Ned, how can I ever thank you for rescuing me!” she cried. “I admit I’ve never been more scared in my life.”
“How do you feel now?” he asked solicitously.
“I feel fine—really I do.”
“Thank goodness!” Ned said.
None of the prisoners would