Ice Station

puncture marks burst out all over it.

A thin line of black smoke began to rise up from the rear of Rebound's hovercraft. The hovercraft visibly began to slow.

'Scarecrow!' Rebound yelled. 'We've got a serious problem here!'

'I'm coming!' Schofield said.

'I'm hit bad and slowing down! I need to off-load some weight so I can maintain my speed!'

 Schofield was thinking fast. He was still traveling backward across the ice plain. Rebound's hovercraft was off to his right, the British hovercraft off to his left.

At last, Schofield said, 'Mr. Renshaw ...'

'What?'

'Take the wheel.'

'What?' Renshaw said.

'It's just like driving a car, only with a little less responsiveness,' Schofield said.

Renshaw stepped into the driver's seat, took hold of the steering yoke.

'Now, shut your eyes,' Schofield said.

'Huh?'

'Just do it,' Schofield said as he calmly raised his MP-5 ...

... and blasted the forward windshield of his own hovercraft!

Renshaw covered his eyes as shards of glass exploded out all around him. When he opened his eyes again he had a completely clear view of the two hovercrafts speeding along the ice plain 'behind' him.

'OK,' Schofield said, 'pull us over in front of the black one.'

Renshaw gently applied pressure to the steering yoke. The hovercraft slid smoothly over to the left, so that it was in front of the black British hovercraft that was blasting away at Rebound's hovercraft.

'All right,' Schofield said. 'Hold it here.'

Schofield wrapped the shoulder strap of his MP-5 around his neck and pulled the slide on his Desert Eagle automatic pistol, cocking it.

'All right, Mr. Renshaw. Hit the brakes.'

Renshaw looked up at Schofield in surprise. 'What?'

And then he realized what Schofield was doing.

'Oh, no. You can't be serious?'

'Just do it,' Schofield said.

'All right....'

Renshaw shook his head, and then, after taking a deep breath, he jammed both of his feet down as hard as he could on the brake pedal of the hovercraft.

Schofield's hovercraft lost all of its forward momentum in an instant and the British hovercraft behind it slammed into it at full speed and the two hovercrafts collided nose-to-nose.

Renshaw braced himself for the impact, and when it came it jolted him back into his seat. When he looked up, however, he couldn't believe his eyes. He saw Schofield climbing out through the shattered forward windshield of their hovercraft and up onto its hood.

The two hovercrafts made for an incredible sight They were now joined at their noses, both traveling forward. The only thing was, one was pointed forward while the other was pointing backward.

In three fluid steps the small figure of Schofield danced across the forward hood of the leading orange hovercraft and leaped across onto the hood of the pursuing black hovercraft.

Schofield's feet pounded against the forward hood of the British hovercraft. Horizontal snow pelted against his back as he blasted away at the forward windshield of the British hovercraft with his MP-5. The windshield shattered and Schofield saw the driver go down in a fountain of blood.

But there were still two more men inside the cabin who any second now would be turning their guns on him.

Schofield ran forward and leaped onto the roof of the speeding hovercraft just as a volley of bullets shot out from inside the cabin.

He slid feet-first across the roof of the British hovercraft. The left-hand door of the hovercraft was still open, and Schofield rolled onto his stomach and reached over the edge of the roof with his MP-5 and jammed it in through the open side door. He pulled the trigger and fired blindly at his unseen enemy.

His MP-5 went dry, and Schofield listened and waited. If either of the two SAS commandos had survived his barrage of gunfire, then they would be up any second now.

No one came out of the hovercraft.

The deafening machine-gun fire from the tripod-mounted machine gun had ceased. The only sound that Schofield heard was the whistling of the wind as it sped past his ears.

Schofield swung himself down and in through the open side door of the British hovercraft.

None of the SAS commandos had survived his assault. The three men all lay on the floor of the cabin, covered in blood.

Schofield stepped over to the driver's chair.

'Mr. Renshaw, can you hear me?' he said.

Inside the orange French hovercraft, James Renshaw was gripping the steering yoke so hard his fingers were turning white. His hovercraft was still traveling backward at incredible speed.

'Yeah, I hear you,' Renshaw said into his oversized helmet's microphone.

'You're gonna have to swing her around,' Schofield's voice said. 'I need you to help Rebound. He needs to offload some of his people so he can maintain a decent speed. I need you to take a couple of people off his hovercraft.'

'I can't do that!' Renshaw said. 'You do it.'

'Mr. Renshaw...'

'All right. All right.'

Schofield's voice said, 'Now, do you want me to take you through it?'

'No,' Renshaw said. 'I can do this.'

'Then do it. I gotta go,' Schofield's voice said quickly.

And with that, Renshaw saw Schofield's newly acquired black British hovercraft peel off to the left and head toward Rebound's wounded hovercraft.

'All right,' Renshaw said to himself as he gripped the steering yoke even more firmly in his hands. 'I can do this. I saw him do it before; it can't be that hard. Slingshot....'

Renshaw slipped the hovercraft into neutral, and he felt the big vehicle lose a little bit of speed.

'OK,' he said. 'Here we go....'

He yanked his steering yoke hard to the right.

The hovercraft immediately spun laterally on its axis and Renshaw yelled, 'Aaaahhhhh!!' as the whole vehicle snapped around in a sharp one-eighty and then all of a sudden it was facing forward again and he swung the steering yoke back in the other direction and suddenly the vehicle was steady again and?good God?traveling forward.

Renshaw was stunned. He jammed the hovercraft back into high gear.

'Holy shit,' he said. 'I did it! I did it!'

'Mr. Renshaw,' Schofield's voice said in his ear. 'I've seen kids on snowbikes do better slingshots than that. Now, if you don't mind, would you kindly shut up and get your ass over here. Rebound needs our help.'

Schofield's hovercraft came alongside Rebound's.