Flying Wings behind them, shattering streetlamps and pocking building walls as the Warhawk soared down the narrow street.
Sky Captain called back to Polly, 'You okay?'
'Great,' she said, barely able to talk.
'There's a bottle of milk of magnesia under the seat if you need it. Sometimes amateurs get a bit airsick.'
'I'm fine.'
Sky Captain turned around, giving her a skeptical look through his goggles. 'You don't look so good.'
'Neither do you,' Polly said, then her face froze. 'Pull up!'
Sky Captain whipped his attention forward just in time to see a looming concrete-and-steel skyscraper directly in their path. Reacting instantly, he yanked on the flight stick so hard he feared he might rip it from the yoke.
Dex had made modifications to the P-40's engines, its flaps, its air rudder, and now the plane responded like a dream. In a tight curve, the nose tilted immediately upward, and Sky Captain shot in a straight vertical so close to the skyscraper's wall that if he'd had his landing gear down, he could have left skid marks on the windows. The plane leaped over the building top, and before Sky Captain could catch his breath, he spotted the primary Wing again and set off after it.
The fleeing enemy aircraft headed straight for a billboard in a suicidal plunge. As it approached, staccato machine gun fire blasted the billboard's left support post. The wide rectangular sign tipped and slumped, lopsided, in a slow-motion fall. The enemy flyer ducked under the sign, wings pumping, and Sky Captain plunged after it. The billboard fell forward into their path.
'Joe!' Polly shouted.
'I see it. Too big not to notice.' He yanked the stick, and the plane took a sharp turn, narrowly avoiding the crashing billboard. In the back of the cockpit, Polly hung on for her life as the plane rolled sideways and streaked down a cross street.
'Sorry to bother you, Cap,' Dex said over the radio, 'but I lost the signal.'
'I'll find him, Dex. Sit tight.'
Pressing her face to the cockpit window, Polly recognized where they were. 'Oh! Turn left!'
'Sit back, Polly. Let me do the flying.'
'There's a shortcut down Montgomery Street. You can catch him on the Third Street thoroughfare.'
Sky Captain pointedly ignored her, continuing along his own chosen path. Polly leaned forward, shouting in his ear. 'Listen to me, Joe. I know these streets like the back of my hand.'
He glanced at her, reluctantly considering. She met his eye, insistent. 'Left.'
Sky Captain gritted his teeth and banked the Warhawk hard left, swooping low to avoid cables strung from rooftops. He realized too late that he had turned down a one-way street. The plane hurtled directly toward an oncoming gravel truck. The driver blared his horn, and Sky Captain pulled up, gaining a few feet of altitude to avoid hitting the truck. A stream of cars headed their way, swerving frantically, honking in alarm, smashing bumpers.
While wrestling to maintain control, he shot Polly an annoyed glance, but she didn't seem to be bothered. 'Okay, keep on straight… Wait! Go right.'
'When?'
Her outstretched finger traced a line on the canopy glass, following the street they were already passing. 'Back there.'
He tensed his arms and shoulders, but pulled back on the flight stick, throwing the plane in a tight arc. He narrowly missed the side of a building. A thin clothesline snapped, and white garments fluttered to the ground. 'I could use a little warning next time.'
'Left!'
He yanked the flight stick again, and the Warhawk groaned in protest. Accelerating to make the course adjustment, Sky Captain nearly crashed into an oncoming building, squeaking past an extended flagpole.
'Damn it, Polly!' He looked behind them as the pursuing Flying Wings dove through the gap between tall buildings, closing in. Sky Captain opened the throttle, and the needle on the speedometer gauge climbed to two hundred miles per hour.
'Now left again.' Polly's voice remained unflustered, as if she were simply giving directions to a garden party.
Grumbling, Sky Captain followed her instructions, cruising low to the busy street. Straight ahead, two oncoming cars split in a Y around his diving plane, just missing it. He wiped sweat from his forehead above his goggles.
Peering through the canopy, Polly said, 'Left.'
'No, we already crossed Third. We're going in circles.'
'For once in your life, will you trust me? Left!'
Sky Captain swerved and suddenly found himself flying directly toward an elevated train. He dove at the last moment, avoiding the rattling train, but then he was heading straight into the path of two Flying Wings. Their quad-clustered machine guns opened fire.
He made a hard turn as the Warhawk arced all the way from the right lane across traffic to a perpendicular street. Strafing fire narrowly missed him, but now the enemy Wings settled close on their tail.
'Right!' said Polly.
He twisted the flight stick, veering them into another street.
'Left.'
The plane scraped the edge of a building. 'You're cutting it pretty close, Polly. Do you really know where we're going?'
They shuttled through a tight alley then emerged like a cannonball. Polly gasped, making a snap decision. 'Right! It's here. Turn right!'
Another swift turn, and Sky Captain's eyes became huge as he realized they were not headed down an open avenue, but straight into the steel skeleton of a high-rise under construction. 'It's a dead end. Some shortcut!'
More Flying Wings descended from above, blocking their path and forcing them toward the steel structure. The city was always growing, always expanding, always under construction. 'That's… not supposed to be there,' she said.
'I should strangle you, Polly, but I don't have the time right now.'
Now that the Flying Wings converged closer, bullets hit the plane, some penetrating the special fuselage armor Dex had designed. A stray projectile found the fuel line, and high-octane aircraft fuel — began to spray out.
'Oh, lovely.' Fighting to keep control of the P-40, Sky Captain steered toward a small opening in the patchwork of girders in front of them.
Hard-hatted steel workers standing on the girders looked up in disbelief as the Warhawk flew straight toward them. They leaped out of the way, jumping for scaffolds, dangling from platforms as Sky Captain's plane entered the building at full speed. His wing glanced the edge of a girder, producing a trail of sparks as he soared forward. 'Plenty of room.'
As the pursuers reached the face of the building framework, they scattered in all directions, unable to follow.
Inside the skeletal building, not daring to slow his speed in the hollow labyrinth, Sky Captain fought to keep the plane steady as his wings nicked support beams that threatened to throw him into a spin.
He yelped as a swinging girder was slowly lifted into place in front of him, blocking their path. With no time or room to dodge, Sky Captain unleashed a burst from his wing cannons, aiming at the chain support. Sparks flew as the steel links split. The girder fell, clearing a path at the last possible moment, and the plane shot out of the cavernous building and into the open air again.
But only for an instant. Sky Captain saw the facing building just across the street. He knew he was flying much too fast to make the turn. He had one desperate chance. He grabbed for a newly installed lever in the control panel. He knew full well about the note taped to the lever:
