Race looked frantically about himself—saw that the only part of the Huey still above the water were its two rotor blades.
He glanced quickly over at the jetty and saw the ATV skid to a stop at its base—saw the sliding door on the big eight-wheeler's side whip open to reveal Van Lewen and Scott inside it—saw Lauren drag Gaby over toward it.
Lauren yelled over her shoulder. 'Will! Come on! Jump!'
The Huey lurched again and Race's sneakers went fully under the surface.
He looked at the sinking chopper around him, looked at
its rotor blades hovering above the surface.
The rotor blades.., he thought.
Maybe he could…
No.
He'd be too heavy, they'd sag underneath his weight.
He spun back round to look at the jetty. Three large caimans now hovered, half-submerged, in the water between him and the old wooden wharf.
Maybe…
Race quickly reached out and grabbed hold of one of the rotor blades. Then he heaved on it as hard as he could, turn ing the thirty-foot blade around on its pivot
The sunken Huey was still drifting slowly downstream with the current.
The rotor blade came round, its forward tip almost touching the jetty, so that it now looked like a narrow bridge stretched out low over the river, connecting the Huey to the wharf.
The Huey rocked again, sank another two inches, just as an enormous black shape exploded out of the water next to Race and on a reflex he spread his legs as far apart as he could and the caiman shot right through them— brushing against the
insides of his calves—and off the other side of the Huey.
That was too close! his mind screamed. Move!
Race took a final look up at his passage to freedom—the rotor blade, a plank of steel ten inches wide, hanging a foot above the surface of the river.
Do it!
And so he did.
Race jumped up onto the rotor blade and ran out across its length.
Three steps forward and he saw the jetty twenty feet in front of him. The jetty, safety, salvation—
—halfway across and he felt the rotor blade sag beneath him, and lower itself toward the waterline and—
—come to rest on the backs of the three caimans in the water between the helicopter and the jetty!
Race danced across the narrow bridge, now supported by the bodies of the three caimans!
He reached the end of the rotor blade at a full stride and • launched himself off it, diving through the air, slamming chest-first into the edge of the jetty.
Get your feet out of the water! his mind screamed as he felt his feet splash down into the inky black liquid beneath him.
He quickly yanked his feet up out of the water and rolled up onto the safety of the jetty.
He swallowed, breathless. He couldn't believe it.
He was—
“Professor! Come on!' Van Lewen's tinny voice yelled suddenly in his ear.
Race looked up immediately and saw the ATV parked at the end of the jetty, its sliding side door open.
Just then, however, some movement above the ATV caught his eye and he glanced up just in time to see one of
the massive black cats leap clear over the all-terrain vehicle with its claws extended and its jaws bared wide.
The giant animal landed on the jetty barely five feet in front of him. It just stood there before him, crouching low, its ears pinned back, its lips curling, its muscles tensing for the final pounce…
And then suddenly the rickety jetty fell away beneath it.
There was no creak. No warning sound.
The old wooden jetty just gave way beneath the cat and with a bewildered screech the big black creature dropped into the water beneath it.
'It's about time I had some luck,' Race said.
The caimans moved in quickly.
Two big bulls charged in toward the fallen cat and soon the water around the big animal became a seething,
