Chapter Eleven: Fly Away Home
Gambit let out a low whistle of admiration. "Right on the nose," he marveled.
"But it won't do us any good," Purdey pointed out. "That map must be out of date; all the buildings look abandoned."
"Yeah, but so do that plane and helicopter," MacGyver pointed out with a grin.
"Probably because they don't work," Purdey protested, scowling.
MacGyver winked. "Only one way to find out."
"The helicopter would be a tight squeeze for all of us," Gambit remarked, "but I crashed the last time I tried to fly something as big as that plane."
"Well, you and Steed didn't exactly take over under the best of circumstances that time!" Purdey reminded him.
"I'll fly it if you play copilot," MacGyver offered. "I'm more comfortable in that size than the small, light ones anyway. Besides, all this may be moot if only one of them works."
Gambit nodded, drawing his gun and automatically checking the load. "I know it looks deserted, but we can't be too careful. I'll cover you two; once you get into the plane, Purdey can cover me."
MacGyver nodded without protest, keeping a hand out to catch Purdey if she stumbled as she ran awkwardly across the crumbling tarmac to the deserted plane.
The latch on the door proved to be just out of reach, and MacGyver crouched in front of it. "Climb on," he told Purdey, bracing his hands on his knees.
Understanding instantly, Purdey scrambled up to stand on his back. MacGyver grunted softly, grateful that her shoes no longer had their sharp heels.
"It's locked," Purdey announced.
"Of course," MacGyver groaned. "If I can dig out my knife, think ya can pick the lock with the spike?"
"I could try," Purdey said doubtfully, "but Steed's better at picking locks than I am."
"Jump down, then…oof."
"Sorry."
"S'okay. Wave Gambit on down."
As MacGyver stretched out his back, Purdey did as he asked, and moments later Gambit had joined them.
"Can ya give me a lift to that lock?" MacGyver asked him.
"Sure," Gambit agreed. "Just try not to take too long, huh?"
"Do my best," MacGyver promised, stepping onto Gambit's back. In moments, the lock had submitted to the persuasion of his knife, and he was climbing into the plane. "So far so good," he remarked, extending a hand to help Purdey as she stepped into the plane. Then Gambit pulled himself up to join them, taking one last look around outside before pushing the door shut.
"Let's check out the cockpit," MacGyver suggested.
"It won't fly," Purdey predicted, following the two men to the front of the plane. "Why else would they have abandoned it?"
MacGyver flashed her a quick grin over his shoulder. "Have a little faith, why doncha?" He lightly tapped one of the gauges. "Looks like enough fuel to take us across the channel, anyway."
"But no key," Gambit pointed out.
"How are you at hotwiring planes?" Purdey asked with a trace of sarcasm.
But MacGyver was already searching out the wires, and when a moment later the magneto sparked to life, he turned to wink at her. "Good enough, I guess."
Purdey sighed, shaking her head with a faint smile of disbelief, and Gambit scowled.
"All right, let's have a look at that map again," MacGyver decided. He spread it out against the control panel as Gambit came to take the copilot's seat and Purdey leaned her elbows on the seat backs.
"England would be here," he mused, indicating a spot past the edge of the map, "which would make our course roughly southwest."
"But that takes us over a fairly large city," Purdey objected, reaching over his shoulder to point out the place on the map.
"Yeah, I know. We're probably safer if we circle around here, over these rural areas."
"Do we have enough fuel for that?" Gambit questioned.
MacGyver glanced at the gauge. "Looks like it." He folded the map any which way and handed it to Gambit. "Hang onto this, will ya? Purdey, better go back and buckle up, at least for takeoff.
"Anyway," he remarked, "it can't be any worse than some of the flights I've been on with my friend Jack Dalton!"
Next chapter coming next week!
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