The cockroach emerged on the other side of the chopper, skidding to a sideways halt, so that now the bullet battered towing vehicle was facing the great square hole that was the elevator shaft.
Schofield saw the yawning shaft before him — with its wide hydraulic platform inside it, still making its ponderous descent; saw the AWACS plane's flying-saucer-like roto dome about ten feet below the floorline.
He revved the engine.
Love Machine saw what he was thinking.
'You are out of your mind, Captain.'
'Whatever works,' Schofield said. 'Hang on.'
He gunned it.
The cockroach shot forward, rear tires squealing, rushed toward the edge of the shaft.
Speed is everything, Schofield thought as he drove. He needed enough forward velocity so that the cockroach would reach the…
The cockroach rushed toward the rim.
Bullet sparks exploded all around it.
Schofield drove hard.
Then the cockroach hit the edge of the elevator shaft and launched itself out into the air…
The cockroach soared — wheels spinning, nose high.
Then, as it fell, its forward bumper began to droop and it resumed the appearance of three tons of steel that was never intended to fly.
By this time, the elevator platform had descended about thirty feet below floorline, but the body of the destroyed AWACS plane — and its intact rotodome — made the fall for the soaring cockroach only about ten feet.
The cockroach landed — smash! — right on top of the AWACS plane's downward-slanted rotodome.
The rotodome, titanium-based and very rigid, resisted the downward energy of the falling vehicle valiantly.
Its support struts, however, did not.
They buckled instantly, snapping like twigs, as did the body of the airplane underneath the rotodome.
The AWACS's cylindrical fuselage just crumpled like an aluminum can under the weight of the falling towing vehicle, effectively cushioning the roach's fall.
The rotodome was driven down into the fuselage, creating a ramplike effect which allowed Schofield's cockroach to skip off the other side of the plane and bounce down onto its destroyed left-hand wing.
Schofield and Love Machine were thrown about like rag dolls as the cockroach bounced and jounced and thundered forward.
Somehow, Schofield managed to hit the brakes and the cockroach skidded and spun, before slamming to an abrupt halt against the far wall of the shaft, right next to the square-shaped hole that normally housed the detachable mini-elevator.
Schofield was already moving when the cockroach stopped, helping Love Machine out of the driver's cabin just as the first 7th Squadron men emerged from the twisted steel forest around them and opened fire.
But their bullets were too slow.
Indeed, they could only watch in stunned amazement as Schofield handed Love Machine the Football, draped the wounded man's arms over his shoulders, and without even a blink, jumped with Love Machine down into the hole in the platform, disappearing into the blackness beneath it.
Like a pair of tandem skydivers, Schofield and Love Machine dropped down the side of the massive elevator shaft, dwarfed by its immense size.
As instructed, Love Machine gripped Schofield's shoulders as hard as he could — holding on to the Football as he did so. That didn't stop him screaming 'Arrrrrgghh!!!' all the way down.
The gray concrete wall rushed past them as they free fell down the side of the shaft.
As he dropped, Schofield looked down and saw a square of white light stretching out from the hangar on Level 1, illuminating the tiny mini-elevator platform stopped there — two hundred feet below.
He unholstered his newly acquired Maghook, snapped open its grappling hook. He couldn't fire it up at the underside of the main platform. Maghooks only had one hundred and fifty feet of rope. It wouldn't be long enough.
No, he had to wait until they dropped about fifty feet, and then…
As he dropped past it, Schofield lodged the Maghook's grappling hook into a metal bracket sticking out from the greasy concrete wall. The bracket kept a series of thick cables running down the side of the shaft bundled together.
As the Maghook gripped the bracket, Schofield and Love Machine continued to fall, the hook's rope playing out above them, unspooling rapidly, wobbling through the air.
The mini-elevator's deck rushed up toward them at shocking speed.
Faster, faster, faster…
Jolt.
And they stopped, three feet above the mini-elevator's deck, in front of the massive doorway that led into the Level 1 hangar bay.
Schofield released his grip on a black button on the Maghook's forward grip — it was a trigger that initiated a clamping mechanism that bit into the Maghook's unspooling rope. He'd hit it just in time. He and Love Machine were lowered the final three feet.
Their boots touched the ground and they turned to find that they had company.
Standing in front of them just inside the hangar bay doors were Book II, Juliet and the President. With them were Mother, Brainiac and the scientist, Herbie Franklin.
'If anybody makes a joke about 'dropping in,'' Mother said, 'I will personally rip that person's throat out.'
'We have to keep moving,' Schofield said when he'd reeled in his Maghook. The giant aircraft elevator was still lumbering down the shaft above them — with its cargo of 7th Squadron commandos.
Schofield's group headed for the vehicle ramp at the far end of the enormous underground hangar bay, Book II and Mother carrying the wounded Love Machine between them.
Juliet Janson came alongside Schofield. 'So, now what?'
'We've got the President,' he said. 'And we've got the Football. Since the Football was the only thing keeping the President here, I say we ditch this party. That means finding a networked terminal. We use the computer to open up an exit during the next hourly window period and then we get out of Dodge.
'Dr. Franklin,' he turned as they all started down the circular vehicle access ramp. 'Where's the nearest security computer? Something that will open up an exit during the next window period.'
Herbie said, 'There are two on this level — one in the hangar's office, the other in the junction box.'
'Not here,' Schofield said. 'The bad guys'll be here any minute.'
'Then the nearest one is on 4, in the decompression area down there.'
'Then that's where we're going.'
A woman's voice came through Schofield's earpiece as he moved: 'Scarecrow, this is Fox. We are at the bottom of the ventilation shaft. What do you want us to do?'
'Can you cut across the bottom of the aircraft elevator shaft?'
'Yeah, I think so.'
'Meet us in the Level 4 lab,' Schofield said into his wrist mike.
'Got it. Oh, and Scarecrow, we — uh — picked up a couple of new passengers.'
'Wonderful,' Schofield said. 'See you soon.'
They raced down the vehicle ramp to Level 2, where they came to an opening in the floor that accessed the emergency stairwell. The eight of them hurried down the stairs until they arrived at the heavy firedoor that led to the decompression area on Level 4.
Brainiac tested the door.
It opened easily.
Schofield was immediately worried. This was one of the doors they had locked and then disabled earlier. Now it was unlocked. He made a hand signal: 'Proceed with caution.'
Brainiac nodded.
