I doubted that cab could do more than eighty at its best.

Madison might have a chance.

And on that chance depended my own future life. If he was caught, I was done for completely. Under the Countess Krak's helmet he would babble like a running brook!

A new thought hit me like a lightning bolt. Madison would reinforce the involvement of Bury and the Countess might take it into her head to run up the whole chain. If she did that and found me, she would also add it up and find Lombar. And Lombar would find me for permitting it!

I was caught in a nutcracker!

I seemed to be in the center of a whirling, screaming circle of Demons. That was what I got for praying to Jesus Christ!

Madison caused two trucks to sideswipe. One, a semitrailer, shot sideways to block the whole road. But Madi­son was through! Going like the roaring wind!

THE HIGHWAY WAS BLOCKED!

Heller was stamping on his brakes. He slowed. He sized up the scene.

Then suddenly, he rocked the cab by hitting a divider, went straight at the rail, skidded against the bars and shot back onto the highway. He was around the obstruc­tion. Feeding throttle, he raced after the Excalibur!

But Madison had a distance advantage now and he was making the most of it. Due to a turn in the road, I could see by Heller's viewer, Madison was out of sight.

From our high vantage point, we could see Madison increasing that lead. He was past Bellevue Hospital now. Travelling at that speed, it did not take him any time at all to pass East 14th Street.

There was hope!

He slued on every one of the slight changes of direction of Roosevelt Drive. But in less than three minutes, he was going to run out of highway! He would dead-end at the bottom of Manhattan at the Ferry Terminal!

Way back, relentlessly, came the speeding cab.

"Raht," I said, "get that pickup ladder down. We're going to snake Madison out of that car."

"You must be crazy!" Raht said. "You'll break your neck!"

"No, you will," I said, "for you are the one that's going down."

"NO!"

"That's an order," I said, unholstering a gun. "There's lots of hospitals around if you fall."

"I already know that," he said grimly, but he gestured at the copilot and the ladder began to descend.

"This is nuts," the pilot said.

"That's what you were paid to be," I said.

"Not from a racing car!"

"Five hundred more," I said. The emergency was my life.

"Here we go," the pilot replied.

But Madison got other ideas before he spotted ours.

He had passed the Williamsburg Bridge across the

East River. He had passed the Manhattan Bridge. He was on the Elevated Highway and heading toward the Brooklyn Bridge.

He looked back. Apparently he could not see the orange cab, as it was too far behind him.

He braked!

He turned right!

He went screaming down a ramp off the Elevated Highway.

With a yank of the wheel, he made the Excalibur turn violently, almost half about. He dived down the street below the Elevated Highway.

I suddenly knew what he was going to do. He was going to hide on a dock as he had done before!

There were a lot of long piers jutting out into the river.

I jabbed the pilot anxiously and pointed.

Sure enough, the Excalibur's nose was pointed at the long pier and it was coming out!

The pilot spun our craft. I gestured at Raht with the gun and he went down the ladder.

We were right in front of the Excalibur now, travelling at its speed. Raht on the ladder just ahead of the car tried to signal Madison to stop.

Madison was in such a panic, he was giving Raht no attention.

I leaned out of the door, wind whipping me from the blades, to yell at Madison to stop.

He was glaze-eyed. He just kept going!

I fired my gun to attract his attention.

That did it!

Madison saw us!

He only had about a thousand feet to go with the dock ahead of him.

The pilot was pretty good.

He put Raht right beside Madison.

Raht grabbed the man by the arm.

Madison, the crazy fool, grabbed at his suitcase in the back!

Up went the pilot!

Madison and suitcase came out of the car!

The vehicle was shooting forward.

IT WENT OFF THE END OF THE PIER!

There was a huge splash.

The copilot was rolling the ladder up.

Raht, then Madison, came to the floor of the chopper.

It circled away downriver.

Cars had stopped on the Elevated Highway above, drivers unloading to go to the rail and stare.

I saw the orange cab brake at the end of the traffic jam. And then I looked at my viewer.

"It went over!" said Bang-Bang. "I saw the tail end of it as it hit the water."

"The same car?" said Heller.

"The same car," said Bang-Bang.

"Was he in it?" said Heller.

"I couldn't tell," said Bang-Bang. "The warehouse obscured it. I think that chopper was trying to arrest him for speeding and drove him into the drink. I couldn't see what it did."

"I better go down," said Heller. "Take the wheel." He jumped out of the cab and ran off.

"They'll probably find the body," said the Countess Krak.

"Hell-beggin' your pardon, ma'am," said Bang-Bang, "that East River is so full of gangsters that got theirselves taken for a ride, you'd never be able to separate him out."

"Good riddance," said the Countess Krak. "Serves him right for talking about my Jettero that way!"

"Yes, ma'am," said Bang-Bang, "I've noticed it don't seem healthy. There's Jet signalling from below. That means in Army language he's spotted something and is going further."

I freaked. Maybe some bystander had observed the helicopter snatch.

"Head for the West 30th Street Heliport," I shrieked at the pilot, "clear over on the other side of Manhattan."

With luck, we would make it yet.

Maybe their Jesus Christ would hear me after all!

Then I heard the Countess Krak's voice on her viewer. "Maybe if we went over and got the yacht we could search the East River and make sure that Madison is dead."

I freaked.

That yacht was my target now. I had to get there first!

If I didn't, all my plans would come to an abrupt and horrible end!

As we flew, J. Walter Madison raised himself off the floorboards.

Above the beat of the chopper blades, he said, "What were you shooting at?" His eyes were pretty wild.

"Didn't you see the sniper on the roof?" I said nervously. "He almost got a bead on you, but I nailed him."

"I saw him fall," said Teenie. "Nose dive."

I blinked. Did she just make things up or did she think she saw things that didn't happen? Maybe she was not only a pathological liar but also a pathological walking delusion! Oh, it was a good thing I was kidnapping her!

"Maybe they thought I drowned," said Madison hopefully.

"I'm afraid not," I said. "Three Corleone gangsters were pointing at the chopper as we flew away. They were shaking their fists."

"I saw them with my own eyes," said Teenie, her own oversized ones very round.

"Who's this?" said Madison, staring at Teenie.

"Miss Teenie Whopper, J. Walter Madison," I said. And then a cunning plan popped into my head. If I could get them interested in each other, Teenie would leave me alone. After all, he was a very handsome young man.

"I just graduated from college," said Teenie. "He tells people I am his niece. But there's no point in getting chummy if the Corleone mob is after you, Mr. Madi­son. You won't be around long enough to bother with."

"What am I going to do?" said Madison, looking pretty white.

"You're not safe yet," I said. "We've got to get you gone, Mad."

He appeared very agitated. "Yes," he said. "The Corleones are tough. I've read all about them in the papers. They thirst for blood even more than money!"