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“The plan is for us to home in on a signal from Estancia Condor,” von Wachtstein explained. “We told them to start transmitting at six-thirty.”
“How did you do that?”
“There’s a Collins in Clete’s airplane.”
“But now you can’t hear them?”
“No. It’s a different kind of a signal, a directional signal, different frequency, intended to work with the RDF—Radio Direction Finder system.”
“And you’re too far from Estancia Condor for this other kind of transmission to be heard?”
“Either that, or the signal is being interfered with by some hills—mountains, really—that my map shows are between us and there. What I’m going to do is take off, climb to two thousand meters and see if I can get it there.”
“And if you can’t?” Cronley said.
“Then I will land and we’ll discuss what we can do. If I get a signal, I’ll make a pass over the field, and then you take off.”
Cronley nodded, and von Wachtstein turned to go back to the red Lodestar.
“Willi,” Cronley said, “if you’re a religious man this would be a good time to start praying.”
—
“Now,” Cronley said as the red Lodestar broke ground.
“Excuse me?” von Dattenberg asked.
“Now is the time to start praying.”
“Would you laugh if I told you that’s just what I’ve been doing?”
“Really?”
“‘God, please let me live through this so that Elsa and I can start our new life.’”
“No. I won’t laugh.”
“You’re not praying that God will allow you to return to Cletus’s sister?”
Cronley didn’t reply.
“I saw the two of you saying good-bye.”
Cronley didn’t reply immediately. Then, after a long moment, he said, “I don’t like asking God for favors. What I will do, if everything works, is say, ‘Thank you very much, God.’”
“Interesting.”
—
Ten minutes later, the red Lodestar appeared approaching the runway.
When Cronley saw that both its landing gear and the flaps were retracted, he reached for the starboard engine priming lever.
“Starting Number One,” he announced, and a minute later announced, “Starting Number Two.”
The red Lodestar flashed overhead, then began a climbing turn to the right.
Cronley moved the Lodestar onto the runway and lined up with the center. He put his right hand on the throttle quadrant and advanced the throttles to TAKEOFF POWER.
