Jane went ahead to the pilots’ cockpit and leaned close to Charlie Fischer.
“The airplane bandits are still at large,” she told him.
“I know it,” he said. “We got a special warning at Omaha. A strange ship was sighted over the Des Moines field half an hour ago and it answered the description of the bandit craft. Two army planes that were making an overnight stop at Fort Des Moines have gone up to see if they can trace it.”
“Keep a close watch. I’ve got nearly a billion-dollar piece of humanity in the cabin.”
“Orders are to land if we run into trouble.”
“But that would mean the capture and holding of Mrs. Van Verity Vanness for ransom,” protested Jane.
“That’s better than having us all shot down,” snapped Charlie. “You just mind things in the cabin and I’ll run this end of the ship.”
“Well,” said Jane with finality. “If I were a pilot and a bandit plane attacked me, I’d give them a real race before I landed.”
Charlie started to reply but the co-pilot grabbed his arm and pointed over to the right. The lights of a plane, coming rapidly toward them, were plainly visible.
Charlie looked at them for a second and then snapped off the wing lights of his own plane. “Get back into the cabin and turn off the lights there,” he roared at Jane. “Here comes trouble.”