Chapter 19

The next morning, Hector arrived in a van with two other men.

As they exited the van Hector declared, "I've brought you some assistants. These men are volunteers at the Museo Aereo and know how to work on aircraft!."

After a round of introductions and handshakes.

Hector opened a box he'd brought and in it, were breakfasts for all of them and soon they were all eating breakfast and sipping at fresh, hot coffee.

Roger announced, "We checked the engines last night and they do turn over, which is a great relief."

Pedro Tovar grinned and remarked, "They should be perfect, we had them rebuilt before we hid them away."

He smiled and said wistfully,"I was her last pilot before she was retired, I flew her here and landed her."

He gestured to the other man, Eduardo Castillo, "Eduardo here was her chief mechanic. Believe us when we say we know this plane!"

Roger grinned and replied cheerfully, "And I promise to take very good care of your special lady!" as he toasted them with a sip of his coffee.

By lunch time they had inflated the tires and lifted the twenty ton aircraft off of its wooden cradles in preparation to roll it inside the large hangar for the rest of the work.

Stopping to eat only when they were all famished, they sat and ate while looking at the large airplane.

Eduardo remarked, "We had planned on upgrading the engines to the bigger Wright Cyclone R 18- 3350's for more power in take offs, but the airforce decided to retire this plane instead.

"We had worked it all out on how were going to do it, but some generale with nothing to do, cancelled our plans and I retired when she retired."

Roger asked, "You say the current engines are a little lacking in power? If you have any notes on your engine swap idea, I'd like them if you don't mind."

Eduardo grinned and said drily, "You are welcome to them, but you'll need a translator!" Roger laughed and replied, "That my friend, will be the easy part, finding the engines will be a little tougher, I'm afraid."

Henri just smiled and said, "Ze engines will not be a problem, we can substitute ze Curtiss-Wright 3350 engines zhat were made in ze 1960's for ze DC-7 zhat can make 3,000 horsepower on takeoff."

He sipped at his fourth cup of coffee and quipped "Power, will not be a problem!"

Eduardo grinned at the rumpled looking Frenchman and replied, "I like you, we think alike!"

Once the bulky Martin Mariner was inside the large hangar, they closed the doors and went to work.

While Henri and Eduardo teamed up with the engines, Roger and Pedro teamed up on the avionics.

They spent many hours carefully checking and rechecking the incredible amount of wiring that ran all through the airplane, each connector was pulled apart and checked for corrosion, cleaned if necessary and reassembled

Any places that looked as if the harness had been rubbing, got inspected and lavishly retaped.

When it came time to mount the engines, all four of them teamed up and with the aid of the traveling hoist and the forklift, they eased the one ton engines into place and replaced all the myriad fasteners and connections.

Day after day, the men worked at near feverish levels while Hector Contreras brought them food and drinks.

Personal hygiene was limited to brushing of teeth and a washing of the face, armpits and groin performed in the restroom sinks.

It was a primitive life they were leading.

During the seventh day of their isolation, a Brazilian airforce truck arrived and delivered a new set of the huge 24 volt batteries and to Henri's delight, a set of brand new tires.

The driver of the truck merely smiled at Eduardo and drove off without saying a word. Eduardo merely smiled and said quietly, "My boys at the aereo puerto still remember me." After that, Eduardo and Henri wrestled the new tires into place while Roger and Pedro installed the heavy batteries and turned on the electrical system to check all the lights and related systems.

The starter motors were given a brief run to make sure they worked, and it was very gratifying to see the huge, four bladed propellers rotating.

Grinning like a bunch of happy campers, they all agreed to fill the plane with fuel and oil the next morning.

The intention was to fire the engines up and give them a chance to run in a bit before the flight.

A persistent beeping roused Roger from a sound sleep, he blinked a couple of times, then realized it was the alarm he and Henri had rigged up for 'just in case'.

Slipping out of his bed and pulling on his boots, he roused Henri and the others from their slumber.

Wordlessly, they pulled on their shoes and grabbed up the lengths of steel pipe they had fashioned into crude weapons.

The door to the hangar opened noiselessly and Roger quietly thanked his foresight in oiling up the hinges that had squeaked so much on their arrival.

Dark shapes were moving about in the huge room and were clearly up to no good.

Roger nodded at his companions and they nodded back, there would be no holding back on their unwelcome guests.

Creeping into the hangar, they took up their positions near the visitors and when Pedro flipped on the lights, they attacked.

Roger's adversary fell in a heap after one good hit and he turned to help Henri who was dealing with a knife wielding opponent.

Roger swung his pipe and shattered the man's knife arm just before Henri introduced him to an old form of French martial arts called Savate and kicked him senseless.

Henri grinned at Roger and remarked, "Zhair was no need, I had heem right whair I wanted heem!"

A shot rang out behind them just as a meaty 'thunk' sounded, whirling about they saw Eduardo standing over the crumpled body of the shooter with his pipe in his meaty hands. Pedro was sitting down looking pretty dazed with blood staining his shirt just below his collar bone, the shot had struck him and he was feeling pretty lousy.

Roger quickly checked him out and declared, "The bullet is still inside you, I think you'll be okay, but we need a doctor ASAP!"

Eduardo turned away and took out his phone, moments later, he was speaking very rapidly and tensely.

When he ended the call, he glanced at them and said grimly, "I notified Hector as to what happened tonight and he's on his way with a doctor friend. I suggest we fuel and oil the plane up tonight and be prepared to take off as soon as possible tomorrow, they'll be back for more."

They made Pedro as comfortable as they could and quickly carried away the bodies of their assailants.

The fuel truck was brought around and they commenced to pumping Avgas 100 fuel into the tanks.

Oil was carried up to the engines in 5 gallon cans and poured into the funnel until the oil tanks were filled.

Additional oil cans were carried into the plane and stowed for later.

Hector soon pulled up in his van and he hurried into the hangar with another man who was a doctor, the doctor examined Pedro carefully and after giving him a local anesthetic, extracted the bullet and closed the wound.

Hector was very apologetic and begged forgiveness saying, "I had no idea they would resort to this act over an old plane! This is so insane! You must hurry!"

With the fuel truck now emptied, they put away the tools and after a hurried preflight inspection.

Roger started the left engine first, it whirled and coughed and coughed and caught and soon it was running cleanly at a busy 1,200 RPM's.

Not waiting for it to finish warming up, Roger started the right engine and soon, it too was running cleanly.

Satisfied that the engines were running properly, they opened the huge hangar doors and hooked the forklift to the tow hitch on the Martin Mariner.

Pulling the bulky airplane outside the hangar, they paused to load up any tools and spares they thought they might need, there wasn't any point in leaving them for the scavengers to pick over.

Eduardo and Pedro glanced at each other and nodded before Eduardo said to Hector, "We are going with them, send our passports on ahead of us and we'll get them later on."

Hector looked grim but nodded in agreement, the three of them embraced briefly and wished each other well, then Pedro and Eduardo boarded the big Martin Mariner.

Roger and Henri took their positions and taxiied the heavy seaplane to the end of the long runway before turning the plane around.

Roger said cheerfully, "Well, so much for the whole series of tests before certification of airworthyness BS!"

Holding the plane still with its brakes, Roger throttled the engines up to their maximum and held it briefly before releasing the brakes and the heavy seaplane surged forward, gathering speed as it tore down the runway.

Roger stared grimly at the end of the runway fast approaching and stealing a quick glance at his speed indicator, he eased back on the wheel and the plane roared into the predawn sky clawing for altitude as the seaside town of Estuario de Santos, Brazil sank beneath their wings.

Once they leveled off at 5,000 ft altitude, Roger followed the coastline north while Henri and Pedro pulled out the maps and began plotting a semblance of a course.

Eduardo sat in the co-pilot's seat and helped Roger watch the sky around them.

At such a low altitude, they had to keep their eyes peeled to watch for other aircraft and stave off a possible collision.

To make sure the landing gear worked, Roger extended and retracted it several times to Henri's amusement and he commented drily, "Have you no ozher toys to play with?"

Roger grinned at his friend and replied, " Hey! I was a deprived child, I never had any toys!"

Pedro looked up from the map and declared, "We'll land at Aeroporto de Salvador and fill up our tanks for the next stop at Aeroporto de Sao Luis and fill up again for the hop to Trinidad and the Piarco International airport there."

Roger and Henri nodded their approval of the route and Roger asked, "How do you feel?" Pedro grinned through his pain and commented, "Like shit, but I'll live, this isn't my first combat wound."

When they were about an hour from the Aeroporto de Salvador, Pedro radioed the tower and informed them of their impending approach.

Roger listened with half an ear to the exchange as he adjusted their course to line up for entry into the flight pattern.

Pedro wiped the sweat from his brow and took some more of the pain relievers the doctor had given him, after swallowing them he grinned and said, "What I wouldn't give for some good rum right now!"

The others nodded sympathetically.

Entering the holding pattern, Roger followed a local airlines turboprop job into the final approach and engaged the landing gear.

As it clunked into place, Eduardo and Henri took their seats and buckled in securely.

There were indicator lights saying the gear was engaged but, they didn't trust them just yet. The runway came up fast and Roger used the flaps to scrub off some more speed and with gritted teeth, set the heavy Martin Mariner down to a smoother landing than they expected. As the plane slowed rapidly, Henri let his breath out with a 'whoosh' and said drily, "So you were, paying attention when I was teaching you 'ow to fly!"

Roger grinned at his friend and retorted, "How else did you think we were going to get your Antonov out of Ukraine!"

Exiting the runway they taxied over to where the plane could get fueled up and the oil checked.

Roger shut off the engines and waited until they had stopped before looking over at Pedro and asking, "Has anyone thought about how we're gonna pay for this?"

Pedro grinned and replied,"With plastic?"

Eduardo had exited the huge seaplane and was talking to the fuel truck driver then he turned around and hollered, "They'll take plastic!"

Roger groaned and fished out his wallet.

Extracting a colorful plastic card, he kissed it before dropping it out the window and muttering, "There goes my credit limit!"

Henri laughed and said cheerfully, "Zhink of ze story you can tell your grandchildren!"

Roger grumbled and replied, "I don't have any children to make me a grandfather some day!"

While the fuel truck was emptying itself into the tanks of the Martin Mariner, they checked and topped off the engine oil levels while Eduardo headed off to get some food for the next hop to Aeroporto de Sao Luis, further north in Brazil.

By the time he returned with several bags and boxes, the refueling was finished and Roger's credit card was still warm from the scorching it had just received.

Thirty minutes later and Aeroporto de salvador lay far behind them.

This time, Pedro Tovar was at the controls and he flew on a heading that took them over the dense jungle rather than following the coastline as Roger had done.

Roger watched as the dense jungle rolled beneath their wings, he muttered, "Man, I'd hate to go down in this stuff, we'd never be found."

Pedro guffawed and cried gleefully, "The head hunters, they would like you with your hair color!"

Roger grinned and shot back, "I heard the same bullshit when I went through jungle survival school. Only they told me I was too damn skinny!"

Pedro laughed again then winced and muttered, "Oh yeah, I was shot, I was told to rest up and heal. So why am I flying this old crate again?"

"Because you can't stay away and somebody back there objected to us fixing this 'old crate' as you put it, up." replied Roger.

Trading places with Henri, Roger took out his satellite phone and called Rachel. "Roger! Thank God you're alright! Hector called me and told me what happened and how you guys just took off the next morning...You'd better call Freya, she's worried sick about you!" "We're mostly okay, Pedro Tovar is a bit sore where he was shot, but he's taking his meds and hanging in there okay. He's at the controls right now with Henri sitting co-pilots chair, Eduardo and I are getting some rest." Replied Roger.

"How are you fixed for money? Fuel's gotta be expensive for that plane." asked Rachel. Roger chuckled and commented, "My card just covered the first fill up and I may have enough reserve for a second fill up, after that we're screwed."

Rachel sighed and said, "I can arrange for a transfer of funds to your card, how much do you think you'll need?"

Roger thought for a few moments and replied, "The plane takes almost two thousand gallons of fuel, we're talkin' about six grand per fill up. Better send me twenty grand to play it safe and whatever I don't use can be transferred back."

"Fair enough. Consider it done." replied Rachel.

"Thanks Rache, now let me call little bit and let her know I'm okay!"

Rachel chuckled and commented, "Only you would call her 'little bit' at her care of yourself and say hi to Henri for me." "Will do, later!"

Roger called Freya next and moments later he got an earful. "Whaur ur ye an' wa huvnae ye called me? Ah've bin waitin' tae hear frae ye an' ye huvnae called in days! Ye cannae be daein' thes tae me, Ah've bin huir uv a woriat ever since Ah heard frae Rachel abit th' shootin'! Wa huvnae ye called? An' whit is aw 'at stooshie Ah'm hearin'?"

Roger sighed and paused a moment, Freya had yet to sound so agitated before now and she had every right to be upset.

"Freya, you have every right to be upset with me and I am sorry. We have been working day and night to get this plane ready to fly and unfortunately, you got lost in the shuffle. What you're hearing is the engines, we are flying right this very minute and heading north.

"We figure on landing near the Brazilian coastline and taking off for Trinidad in the morning. Hopefully, we'll be in the U.S. In a few more days and I'll come get you!"

There was a pause and Freya asked, "Ye didnae run all th' tests ye tauld me aboot when ye get an auld airplane flyin' again?"

Roger chuckled and replied, "Ordinarily we would have, the shooting incident kinda forced us to rush things a bit. We figured they'd come back with more of their friends and we just fueled up the plane an took off, once we made sure the engines wouldn't just quit on us."

Roger paused and said, "I suppose once we get to the states we'll have to have it certified as airworthy by the FAA. This is kind of like an extended shakedown cruise."

There was another pause and Freya said softly "Ah didnae mean tae get sae upset wi' ye, Ah was kinda worried."

"And I'm sorry for not calling you and making you worry dear. I'll call you soon."Replied Roger as he ended the call.

As before, Pedro radioed the tower at Aeroporto de Sao Luis and informed them of their approach.

He also requested a fuel truck and a place to park the bulky airplane for the night.

Roger contented himself with looking out the small window while the dense jungle gradually thinned and they crossed over the mighty Amazon river delta to enter the flight path and eventually land.

When the 14 cylinder engines ceased their constant background rumble, the four of them looked at each other, so far so good was the consensus.

Their next hop was to Trinidad and a possible inspection of the aircraft and the likely discovery of eight, perfectly good, .50 caliber machine guns all packed in preservatives.

While the paperwork they'd brought with them accounted for the guns, a local government official might decide to make a name for himself and arrest the 'arms smugglers'.

Roger made a phone call, he called the Commemorative Flight Museum in Addison, Texas. After threading through several layers of office clerks who didn't quite 'get' what he was talking about, he found himself talking to the boss of the whole museum and after he briefly explained their situation, the man took a few moments to reply, "Let me see if I got this straight...You're saying you and some friends are bringing a Martin Mariner PBM-5 up from southern Brazil and it has all of its original armament in place?"

"Something like that." replied Roger, "The guns are stored in preservative and might not get noticed when we land in Trinidad tomorrow."

"And how would I be of service?"

"I want to trade them to you for things I will need and If I have a voucher from you saying you're interested in them as collectors pieces, I might be able to BS my way past a cursory inspection."

Roger heard a hearty chuckle and the man replied, "You do have your nerve, I'll give you that. How many of these things do you have?"

"Eight"

"Buddy, you're sittin' on about 400 grand's worth of hardware there. What're you wanting in exchange?"

"An engine upgrade from Wright-Cyclone R 2600's to Curtiss-Wright R 3350's, you keep the old engines."

There was a pause and Roger added, "I'll even throw in the old turrets and radome as I won't be needing them."

After a long pause the man replied, "Tell ya what, you get that plane up here so's I can see it for myself, and we'll talk then!"

Roger grinned and replied, "Fair enough, I'll see you in a few days!"

"You do that!" he said and the call ended.

With the plane all fueled up and oil topped off, they divided up in teams to get showers and food to eat.

They had agreed to sleep on the plane itself for security reasons.

The evening was spent relaxing and inspecting the plane for any unforeseen problems, finding nothing amiss Roger called Freya..."Hey squirt! I just wanted to say hi and let you know we're heading to Trinidad tomorrow morning."

"That's guid tae know, nae problems wi' th' airplane?" she asked.

"So far so good, but we've got a long hop after we leave Trinidad and should make it to Belize before dark. I'll keep you posted, I promise and I've got a really big hug saved up for you!" replied Roger.

"An' Ah expect it!" said Freya with a girlish laugh as she signed off.

He smiled at his phone, looked up and saw Henri grinning at him, Roger asked, "What's so funny?"

Henri grinned and said, "I would 'ardly call Freya a squirt, she's way too big for zhat!"

Eduardo raised one eyebrow and asked, "How big is this 'Freya' you're talking about?" Roger replied, "She's six foot six as we speak and she's eleven years old."

Pedro who had heard the exchange commented, "That's a big girl! How tall do you think she'll get?"

Henri grinned roguishly and remarked, "Go ahead, tell zhem 'ow big she'll get!"

Roger smiled and pulled up a photo of him standing with Freya and her parents outside their house.

He showed them the photo and for several moments nothing was said.

Then Eduardo erupted in a brief string of Spanish epithets before switching to English and saying, "Is this for real? Where is this and who are these people?"

Pedro grinned and said, "What he said!"

"Those are her parents and yes, they are real people. They live in Canada and call themselves 'Jotuns' or Frost giants."

Pedro raised an eyebrow and said skeptically, "Frost giants, like in 'Viking frost giants'?" "Yep!" replied Roger, "Henri's seen them too, he met them when he and Rachel came up to get me after they had rescued me when I was lost in the forest they call home."

Eduardo chuckled and remarked, "So that was why you wanted this plane, Canada has thousands of lakes and this can land on water! Very clever."

Roger grinned and remarked, "That, and the fact that a Jotun can stand up inside it with a few modifications to the interior."

"What else are you planning to do to it?"

"We're going to use it to get to locations where legendary creatures are said to exist and look for them, primarily. That and traveling without dealing with airport hassles. Once Freya gets over seven feet tall, she'll attract a lot of attention and she just won't fit in normal sized aircraft."

Henri yawned hugely, glanced at his watch and said, "I'm turning in, wake me when it's my watch!"

Roger commented, "I'll take first watch, you're next Pedro, then it's Eduardo's watch." They all nodded in agreement and turned in to sleep until it was their turn.