Read Chapter 16: FOUR AGAINST TEN

The returning lieutenant created exactly twelve seconds of paralysis.

Then the aerodrome remembered there was a war.

Valette ran toward the second surviving SPAD. Adrien Cazeneuve took the third. The fourth belonged to a replacement pilot named Béraud who had arrived only the previous evening and had not yet learned where the latrine was.

"You are not cleared for combat," Perrin told Adrien.

"Neither is my family," Adrien replied, and climbed in.

Luc moved from aircraft to aircraft checking what could still be checked. Fuel. Oil. ammunition feeds. control movement. magnetos. He felt absurdly responsible for all four machines, though two had mechanics of their own.

The German formation appeared as black marks north of the field.

Six two-seaters, probably DFWs, with four Albatros fighters above them.

The French fighters climbed hard.

Luc had watched many patrols depart. This was different. There was no mystery about the enemy's purpose. The German bombers were flying toward the railway junction at Montmirail, where ammunition trains stood packed beside troop transports.

The sky became a geometry of converging lines.

Vautrin attacked first, not the bombers but the escort. He climbed beneath the sun and came down behind an Albatros. Luc could not see the firing, only the moment the German fighter rolled away trailing white vapour.

Valette crossed beneath him.

Adrien went too high, too quickly.

"Don't chase," Luc muttered, though the pilot was a kilometre away and could not hear him.

Béraud did exactly what a frightened new pilot often did: remained on the outside of the fight, turning without committing.

The bombers continued south.

Anti-aircraft guns opened from near the railway. Black bursts flowered among the formation.

One German two-seater released its bombs early and turned east.

Then Adrien's SPAD suddenly pitched nose-down.

Luc's stomach dropped.

No enemy was close to him.

The dive steepened.

"Controls," Perrin said beside him.

Luc saw the tail surfaces flutter.

Adrien fought the machine. For several seconds the SPAD descended almost vertically. Then, barely five hundred metres above the ground, it pulled out so violently that Luc expected the wings to fold.

It levelled and limped toward the aerodrome.

Luc and Perrin ran before it landed.

Adrien touched down fast, ground-looped and collapsed one wheel. He climbed from the cockpit shaking.

"Elevator jammed forward," he said. "Then released."

Luc opened the tail inspection panel.

A small steel washer fell into his palm.

It had been wedged beside the elevator bell crank.

A loose washer could migrate there by chance.

This one had a smear of black wax on one face.

Someone had fixed it in place lightly enough that vibration would eventually free it, but not before takeoff.

"Who inspected the tail?" Bellon demanded.

Perrin checked the sheet.

The signature read L. MOREAU.

Luc did not need to protest.

Bellon tore the page from the board.

"Keep that."

Above them the fight moved south.

Vautrin and Valette had forced two bombers away. Béraud finally attacked another. One Albatros fell burning beyond the road.

Then Vautrin's SPAD began trailing smoke.

Luc stopped breathing.

The fighter remained in combat. Vautrin made one more firing pass before turning for home.

He landed with oil covering the fuselage and a bullet hole through the radiator.

Luc ran alongside as the aircraft rolled.

"Engine off!"

Vautrin cut ignition. Steam hissed.

"Did we stop them?"

"Most turned east," Valette said after landing. "Railway untouched."

Vautrin climbed down.

Luc held up the forged maintenance sheet from Adrien's aircraft.

"They tried again."

Vautrin's face changed.

"While we were dealing with them, somebody here was still killing us."

They looked across the field.

Delorme was gone. Roche was gone. Fournier was under guard.

Yet the sabotage continued.

That meant at least one conspirator remained inside the ground crew.