Free False Horizon by Alex Archer Page A

evaporating before his eyes. This will teach me to get myself into these situations, he thought.
    That was when he happened to look out the right side of the plane just as the second missile struck and exploded. Tuk jerked back reflexively as the explosion sheared the right wing off just short of the engine. Smoke and fire erupted and he heard the barrage of alarms sound inside the plane.
    Annja and Mike shouted at each other. The plane started to spin and, from the sinking sensation, Tuk knew they were going down.
    He grabbed at the cell phone in his pocket. Secrecy be damned, he had to let the man on the phone know what was happening. With his fingers a quivering mess, he managed to press the two and hold it long enough for the speed dial to kick in.
    After what seemed an eternity, during which time Tuk had to close his eyes to keep from passing out, someone answered the phone.
    “What’s going on?”
    “We’ve been shot down over the mountains! A missile!” Tuk whispered.
    “Where are you?” The man’s voice betrayed no real sense of emotion and Tuk realized that, as a professional, he knew exactly what he was supposed to do in this situation.
    Tuk steeled himself. “We are north of Jomsom. The closest mountain is Dhaulagiri. I think we are going to crash there.”
    “Is anyone hurt at this moment?”
    “Not that I can tell.”
    “All right, listen to me very carefully. You will most likely go unconscious when you crash. As soon as you regain consciousness, try the cell phone and see if you can reach me.”
    “I will.”
    “Stay with the plane if it’s possible. I will find you. I promise.”
    Tuk gulped. “I am scared.”
    “You should be.” The man paused. “I am coming for you right now. Stay alive and I will find you.”
    The line disconnected.
    Tuk reached down to put the phone back in his pocket but then the plane impacted the side of the mountain. The cell phone skittered away from Tuk’s grasp, sliding out and away from him across the aisle toward the cockpit.
    “No!”
    The airplane filled with the roar of the crash. Tuk heard the screech of twisting and tearing metal as the snow and ice crashed in through the cockpit window.
    They were sliding across the snowfield. Tuk hoped they weren’t going to careen all the way to the edge and topple over into some giant chasm. If they did, no one would ever find them again.
    Certainly not the man on the phone.
    But even as Tuk screamed, he had hope in his heart that what the man on the phone said was true. That he was coming for them now.
    Tuk clutched at the bags around him. They would be the only things that cushioned him in case some giant bit of rock chose to bite into the plane as it skidded over it. Tuk had no wish to be ripped open and he tried to maneuver his body onto the top of the bags as the plane continued to skid across the snowfield.
    In the front of the plane, both Annja and Mike had already been knocked out. Snow flooded the passenger compartment and Tuk saw in horror that a growing wave of snow was headed right for him at the back of the plane.
    He realized too late that his position on top of the bags was vulnerable and even as he tried to scamper back down to shield himself, the wave of snow picked him up and crashed his small head up against the roof of the passenger compartment.
    Tuk saw stars and then darkness.
     
     
    S OMETHING DRIPPED DOWN from his forehead.
    Cold.
    Tuk awoke and felt for his head. Blood? His hand came away clean. The snow had melted and woken him up.
    He exhaled in a rush, realizing that he was still alive.
    He could have cried at the moment, but then he saw that Annja no longer sat in her seat at the front of the plane.
    Where was she?
    Had someone taken her? Or had she been thrown free of the aircraft when they had crashed? If that was the case, she was likely dead.
    But Tuk didn’t think so. The snow and ice had wedged her in pretty well. The likelihood was that she had regained consciousness first, not