Free Deadfall: Agent 21 by Chris Ryan

all the rest of his fuel on top of this kindling.
Patience
, he told himself.
You’ll only smother it.
He gradually fed the smallest twigs into the burning leaves. When they started to take, he laid slightly larger ones in a wigwam formation over the tiny blaze. Only when the flames were licking thirty centimetres into the air did he add the final, larger branches. Then he sprinted to the opposite edge of the landing strip and did the same thing all over again.
    He looked back. Gabs’s fires were already burning. They were small, but the bright orange light was intense in the thick darkness. Their four fires were burning.
    And not a moment too soon.
    Zak saw the Cessna banking in the air, then turning so that it was facing directly towards him, along the length of the landing strip. It was difficult to tell,because its lights were very bright, but it looked as if the plane was skimming only metres above the tops of the canopy, and its wings were wobbling turbulently.
    The engine coughed and spluttered and the Cessna lost a couple of metres of height. Zak felt his skin prickle with anxiety. The engine started turning over again, but Zak could tell just by the sound of it that the fuel tank was almost empty. He backed away from the landing strip, up against the edge of the rainforest. The Cessna was over the landing strip now, perhaps 250 metres from his position. It was below the level of the trees.
    But something was very wrong.
    The nose of the Cessna was pointing downwards. If the aircraft didn’t straighten up, the nose was going to hit the ground before the landing wheels.
    ‘Straighten up!’ Zak barked in terror, even though he knew nobody could hear him. ‘
Straighten up!
’
    The engine coughed again – and the Cessna plummeted. There was a horrific grinding noise as the propeller hit the ground.
    The aircraft lights died. Suddenly, Zak was watching everything silhouetted only by the light of their tiny fires. The grinding noise doubled in intensity and Zak’s ears went numb as he saw the dark outline of the Cessna flip over in the air. Itmoved incredibly quickly, as though time had suddenly doubled in speed, then came crashing upside down onto the ground.
    It still had momentum, and scraped along the landing strip with horrific speed. Sparks flew up from where the top of the aircraft touched the ground. Zak heard himself shouting – ‘
NO!
’
    Half of him wanted to run towards the Cessna. The other half wanted to cringe backwards into the safety of the rainforest. In the end he did nothing. There was nothing he
could
do, except stand and stare as the crash-landed plane ground to a sudden halt.
    Almost silence.
    The engine was dead. There was just the crackle of the signalling fires.
    And the sudden patter of Gabs’s feet as she sprinted towards the crash site from the other end of the landing strip.
    ‘Get them out!’ she yelled. ‘
Quickly!
’
    As if suddenly brought to life, Zak thundered towards the plane. He could smell burning. By the time he reached the plane, Gabs was already on the other side, pulling open the door next to Raf’s pilot seat. Zak yanked open a door on his side and peered into the interior of the aircraft.
    Malcolm was still strapped into his seat – upsidedown, of course. In the darkness, Zak couldn’t even see if he was conscious. He grabbed Malcolm’s shoulder and shook it. ‘Are you OK?’
    Malcolm groaned.
    Relief flooded over Zak. He fumbled in the dark to unbuckle Malcolm. His companion tumbled from the seat, but Zak was ready to catch him, even though the sudden weight made the muscles in his arms burn. ‘
Get him away from the aircraft!
’ Gabs shouted. ‘
There’s still oil in the engine, petrol in the fuel lines. It could blow at any second.
’
    ‘Can you walk?’ Zak hissed.
    ‘I think so,’ said Malcolm.
    Zak put him down onto his feet, then wrapped Malcolm’s right arm over his shoulder. Together, they hurried away from the Cessna.
    They were only ten