Chapter 29
He ranto the plane and opened the hopper door. Flying out of here was still their best option. The hit man could be anywhere and the cars were probably not usable being so close to the fire.
He ran back to Matt, lifted his shoulders and told Piper to lift his feet. They carried the unconscious man to the plane and propped him against it. Piper held him upright against the side of the plane as Ian jumped up on to the nose of the plane where he proceeded to pull Matt up and into the hopper.
Matt groaned and opened his eyes. "What's going on? Are we safe." He asked.
"Not quite yet, sir. But we will be soon." Ian assured him.
Piper picked up Ham, pressed him against the side of the plane and pushed him up the metal far enough for Ian to grab on and pull the dog into the hopper with the man.
Piper dragged a box over, stepped up on it and gave her hand to Ian. He pulled her up to the nose of the plane with him.
"Can you really do this, Ian?" She asked with tears in her eyes.
"I can fly the hell out of anything with wings, Piper. I'm going to get us out of here and to the hospital. We can make it to the Trauma Center in Memphis."
He jumped down from the plane, pushed open the double doors of the barn and said a prayer that the plane would crank and they'd get safely off the ground.
Piper crouched in the hopper and gave him a thumbs up as he leapt into the pilot seat and turned the key. The engine roared to life. He taxied the plane out of the barn along the makeshift landing strip he'd cut into the grass.
Dawn was just breaking to the east, providing enough light for him to see. He gained speed, hoping he'd cut the strip long enough. He pushed aside doubt. He'd flown on and off aircraft carriers. A field in north Mississippi was nothing to him.
The plane lifted at the edge of the road leading back to town. As he looked down, he saw flashing lights heading toward the MacKenzie home. Someone must have spotted the flames and called it in.
They'd made it.
Ian turned the plane north, toward Memphis, and flew into the morning with his true love peeping at him over the edge of the crop duster hopper.
