Daughter of Destiny (21 page)

The jolt nearly unseated her, but she managed to swing her body forward in rhythm with Rocket's strides. She clung to Jake's shoulder until she had regained her balance. Looking ahead, Kai saw they had about half a mile of flat land before the next ridge rose to challenge them once more. Booster had nearly caught up to them, bawling continuously, his mouth open, white foam flying out of either side of it.

The popping sounds were closer this time. Fountains of red spray blew up in front of them, and Rocket bawled, too. Jake shouted encouragingly in Arabic to the animal, which surged forward. Booster shied away as more bullets were fired.

Kai's rage turned cold and lethal. This was not so different from sitting in the cockpit of an F-14 to fire a rocket at an enemy below. She twisted around and brought the butt of the rifle up to her shoulder. She'd never fired an elephant gun before, but knew there was a sizable kick once the bullet went screaming toward its objective. As she raised the barrel and tried to sight, a nearly impossible feat, she saw how close the helicopter really was to them.

There were two men in the cockpit. One had the window open on the left side, firing off round after round with a pistol. The other was the pilot. She tried to see their faces, but with their baseball caps and dark glasses, it was impossible. The only good thing about the situation was that the helicopter was encountering strong and powerful updrafts from the desert thermals at this time of day. That meant the pilot had his hands full trying to keep the copter level and smooth, so that the gunman could draw a bead on them. As it was, the helo was bouncing all over the place.

Smiling savagely, Kai decided the odds were even. Lifting the rifle, she laid her perspiring cheek against the smooth, deep red mahogany stock and took aim. She held off firing until the split second that Rocket lifted off with his front legs, when Kai was level and could sight true. Timing was everything right now. She waited. Breath sus
pended, Kai caressed the trigger with her slippery index finger. The helicopter was no more than six or seven hundred feet away from them—an easy range for this size rifle. Squeezing the trigger, she fired the Remington. The butt of the rifle jammed savagely into her shoulder, nearly ripping her out of the saddle, and with a shout of surprise, she slammed into Jake's back.

Rocket jerked sideways at this latest terrifying disturbance. Jake had his hands full guiding him forward once more. He pounded his left heel into the camel's side and pulled the nose rein to the right to straighten the camel out. Rocket bawled again, long strands of foam flying from his mouth as he ran.

Gingerly, Kai twisted her head to see if her bullet had hit it mark.
Missed!
Sucking in a breath through parched lips she again hefted the rifle. This time, as she pressed her cheek against the stock, eyes narrowed, she vowed to time the shot even more closely. Bracing herself tensely, she heard Rocket grunt each time he hit the ground. Jake was urging him on in Arabic. Each time he did, Rocket surged forward and tried to run faster. The wind stung her eyes. The sounds of the whapping chopper blades punctured her ears and made them ache. Sand was being sucked up around them in a huge circle because of the force of the blades as the Huey approached dangerously close to them. The camel zigzagged from side to side, scared to death of the huge, hulking aircraft thumping and thundering just above them.

Kai saw the shooter pull his pistol inside the window, eject a magazine and slam another one into it. Eyes slit
ted, she growled, “Not this time, dude…” And she squeezed the trigger. The Remington's bark was earsplitting. The rifle bucked powerfully. Kai absorbed the brutal jerk, which bruised her shoulder.

Rocket veered to the left, bawling in fear and protest over the gun roaring off another round.

Kai saw the bullet pierce the cockpit windshield. Plexiglas exploded in all directions.
Good!

“Hold on!” Jake shouted. He wrestled with Rocket once again, trying to get him back into a rhythmic gallop. Booster was coming alongside, and Jake was worried that the other camel might weave in front of them, causing an unexpected collision. He could see that Booster was scared witless by the frightening noise of the helo. His herd instinct made him want to run alongside Rocket, but the thumping noise of the copter coupled with the bull roar of the elephant gun had completely spooked him. Weaving in panic, not knowing where to go, Booster was a real danger to them at this point. “We've got another ridge coming up!”

Great!
Kai turned and grabbed Jake's shoulder. She didn't have time to check what damage, if any, her shot had done to their enemy. One second Rocket was galloping across the smooth desert floor, the next she felt him shift all his energy to his hind legs. And then they were climbing upward. The moment his front legs struck the slope, he lunged his twenty-five hundred pound bulk forward. With a cry, Kai felt herself slamming into Jake. If not for his solid body in front of her, she knew she'd be flying off the camel. Rocket hit the slope at an awkward angle as Booster unexpectedly leaped in front of him. Rocket tried
to dodge the coming crash with his twin brother, and in the process stumbled.

The jolt unseated Kai, though Jake remained solidly in the saddle. Hurriedly, Kai reseated herself, amazed that she'd stayed on the camel. As Booster flashed in front of them in a blur, Rocket righted himself, lifting his long front legs and fiercely attacking the slope with all the speed he could muster. Booster kept galloping at an angle to the top of the ridge, well out of their trajectory.

Kai finally jerked a look over her shoulder as the chopper. The rifle bullet had shattered the middle of the cockpit's Plexiglas. The Huey was pulling back and gaining altitude!

“They're backing off!” Kai cried. “I hit 'em! I got a shot into the cockpit!”

“Good!” Jake yelled, still flailing the riding crop against Rocket's side. The camel sensed they weren't running just for the pleasure of it. Did he realize those geysers of sand flying up around him were bullets meant to kill them? He must, Jake thought. He saw the spittle flying from the camel's open mouth, his nose flaps flared wide to drag huge draughts of air into his lungs. Booster flew over the top of the ridge, heading for his home, Mulga Station, in the distance.

As Kai regained her seat once more, she gripped Jake's shoulder and turned. Her eye widened when she saw black smoke pouring from the helicopter's engine.

“Smoke! Jake, I hit something! The chopper's going down! He's landing behind that last ridge we just crossed!”

Jake glanced back briefly. He saw the Huey flounder
ing, the pilot barely able to keep it under control. Black smoke was pouring from the engine assembly above the cockpit. He could hear the whine from the motor. The blades were floundering awkwardly. Grinning, he said, “Good shot! They gotta land! They can't keep chasing us!”

Relief surged through Kai as she twisted around in the saddle. Rocket topped the ridge, and this time she was prepared for his leap. And when he started down the opposite slope, she leaned far back, her shoulders almost brushing the camel's rump as he raced downward. Once again sand exploded around them, and closing her eyes, Kai felt the sting of particles against her sweaty face. She shifted forward again as the camel lunged down the ridge at dizzying speeds. The landscape looked like light and dark green blurs all around Kai.

Once they hit the desert floor, there were no more ridges to cross. Off to the left, Booster was galloping ahead of them. He kept looking back, and started to slow down. With the helicopter nowhere around, he finally waited for his twin brother to catch up to him. Kai was amazed that Booster even remained in the vicinity. She guessed his herd instinct had kicked in yet again, and he wanted company in this frightening adventure. That was good, she thought, as Booster rapidly closed the distance, to run at Rocket's side once more. Still, his panicked behavior had almost caused them to crash on the ridge—too close for comfort for Kai. She couldn't even begin to envision such heavy animals, running at mach three, with their hair on fire, slamming into one another. For sure, she and Jake would have died in such a brutal collision.

Jake kept up the hard gallop until they reached the outskirts of the station. Finally, he allowed Rocket to slow down. The camel was panting, his sides drenched in sweat, his flanks heaving. Pulling him to a halt, Jake turned back to scan the desert.

“You can't see them,” Kai said, her voice hoarse. She leaned over and slipped the rifle into its sheath. “They've either crashed or had to land.”

Grimly, Jake searched the horizon for a long moment, bringing the restive Rocket to a standstill. There was no sign of smoke on the horizon. “They musta got down safely. If they hadn't, we'd see a big black cloud of smoke where they crashed.”

Kai nodded. She released Jake's shoulder, which she was sure was black and blue from her grip. “I agree.”

“We need a change of plans, Kai.”

“Oh?”

“We don't know if there are more of Marston's men waiting for us at the airport.” They were to take a commercial flight directly from Yulara to Sydney upon returning from the desert. “If we try to board a jet at Yulara, they could have men there to take us down. We can't risk that.”

Frowning, Kai wiped her sweaty face with the back of her arm. “You're right…. You got any bright ideas?”

“If they know who we are, they can check a commercial flight and find our names on the roster. They could have agents on board, or worse, agents waiting to grab us at the other end when we land in Sydney….”

Kai frowned. “I've got to start thinking ahead of the curve
on this. Could we rent a car, drive to Alice Springs and catch a jet from there? I know there are flights bound for Sydney.”

Jake smiled a little. “Even better, that Bell Longranger helicopter was for rent. How about I fly us to Alice Springs? It's two hundred miles away, and in a chopper we can cover that distance in a helluva hurry. The sooner we get out of Dodge here, the less likely it is our friends can catch us. If we rent a car, they can trace us, and they'll have time to catch a flight to the coast to set up and nail us. Or we might end up with a nasty little welcoming committee when we drive into Alice Springs. With a helo, we'd have a major advantage of time and speed. We might catch a flight to Sydney and slip out of here, undetected by Marston's men.”

Nodding, Kai said, “Good plan, Carter. You up for a little flight?”

His smile became wolfish as he turned Rocket back toward the station. “Oh, yeah…that's my bread and butter. Gimme a helo anytime.”

Some of the fear that had been pounding through Kai's veins began to recede. She gave a shaky laugh. “Okay, let's go for it….”

“Y
ou ready?” Jake turned and looked at Kai, who sat in the copilot's seat of the Bell 206 Longranger. She had just strapped in and had put on a pair of headphones so they could communicate with one another. She looked grim and he could feel her tension.

“Yeah, let's get outta this place. I'm jumpy. I look at everyone around the airport and think they're bad guys.” So far, they hadn't seen the Huey fly in, nor the two men who were in it. That didn't mean there weren't other Marston operatives present.

Jake went through the motions of starting the engines. Outside, off to their right side, a man was ready to take the chocks out from beneath the helo wheels once the blades were engaged. “You're used to knowing the bad guys by seeing them as a blip on the radar screen of your F-14. Not dressed in civilian clothes looking like the rest of us.”

Adjusting her vest, which held the crystal mask, Kai swept a wary eye around the airport. “Yeah, you're right about that. I guess I have to get used to the two-legged va
riety.” Yulara Airport was small, relatively speaking—a few aluminum Quonset hut hangars, the main control tower and the passenger lounge for tourists. There were two commercial airliners on the tarmac and crews running busily around them, servicing them for upcoming flights. Compressing her lips, Kai remembered that she and Jake were scheduled to be on one of those flights, if not for their change of plans. Were the bad guys still out there on the desert, walking back because she'd shot out the rotor cuff assembly? Were they standing next to their shot-up Huey with a cell phone, calling for help? She hoped so.

Putting on her aviator glasses, she looked over at Jake. He inspired confidence in her as he pushed buttons and flicked switches here and there on the control panel in front of him, as well as overhead. In his earphones and black aviator sunglasses, he looked utterly military to her. That was comforting under the circumstances. She felt naked without an F-14 strapped to her butt. Now she had to rely on Jake, who knew copters and seemed very much at ease, which helped bleed some of the tension away from her.

“So much is happening,” Kai muttered, frowning. The sunlight lancing through the Plexiglas cockpit was making her sweat. She was relieved when Jake turned on the air-conditioning, for the blast of cool air felt heavenly against her hot, sweaty skin.

“It is,” Jake murmured. “Just keep looking around. This is a commercial helo, which has no HUD—heads up display—to show air traffic that's friendly or not.”

“You expect trouble?”

Shrugging, he settled his right hand on the collective and
wrapped his left hand around the cyclic between his legs. “I don't think we should get sloppy, Kai. We know who we're dealing with. That's
why
we're taking this route—to hopefully avoid the bad guys and get out of the country without another confrontation with them.”

“Right,” Kai agreed fervently. The shoot-out in the desert had left her shaky and nervous. It was one thing to ride a fighter jet in the skies and flip a couple of switches to release an arsenal of bombs, rockets or missiles. It was quite another to fight a ground-to-air battle as they just had—and survive it. And on a camel, of all things! Reaching down between the seats, Kai dragged up a bottle of water and drank deeply. She'd lost a lot of fluid on that run-and-gun across the desert on camel back. She noticed that despite their dangerous ride, Jake looked incredibly calm and unruffled by the experience. Kai admitted she was more shaken by this attack than he appeared to be.

“I'll give you something to do,” Jake said. Pulling out a map of the area, he handed it to her. “I talked to the pilot at the desk where we rented this girl, and he said to just follow the highway out of Yulara eastward, then northward, and it will automatically lead us to the Alice Springs Airport. Want to confirm the route for me?”

Kai opened the air map, settled it across her thighs and smoothed it out. She was no stranger to air charts.

“That's right. Follow the highway. It's more or less a straight shot.”

“Sounds good to me.” Jake punched into the computer the radio tower codes he'd use to speak with ground and air control.

Adjusting the map again, Kai bent down and found their position. “Alice Springs is larger than this podunk place.”

“I would imagine. Once we're airborne, give me the numbers for Alice Springs radio frequency?”

“Roger that.”

Jake gave a half smile. “Engaging rotors…” They were working like the close team they were beginning to become. That made him feel good.

Kai lifted her head when she heard the low whine of the engines as it engaged the rotor assembly on the top of the helicopter behind them. Sluggishly, the blades began to turn. In minutes, the Bell Longranger was trembling around them. Kai knew that if they didn't have earphones on, the noise level from the engines would be too high for them to talk to one another. She saw the man on the tarmac bend down and remove the chocks from beneath the three wheels. Once he was clear, he gave them the takeoff signal with his hand.

Jake flipped a salute out of habit, then settled his hands around the collective and cyclic.

“Okay, ready to take this bird into the air?” He glanced over at Kai. She had the map laid out across her long, curved thighs, her hands resting over it. Some of the tension was leaving her face, but her eyes were still narrowed and watchful behind her aviator style sunglasses. Just the idea that Kai might have been killed out there made his heart contract with terror. Jake didn't know what to do with the chaotic feelings that avalanched down upon him at the thought.

“Let's get out of here….” she murmured.

“Roger.” Jake engaged the helicopter and it slowly lifted off the tarmac. At a certain altitude, he eased it forward, following the strip of runway. Once beyond it, he climbed to three thousand feet.

It was early evening, the sun glaring balefully on the western horizon. Fortunately, the worst heat of the day was over, so the severe up-and downdrafts weren't as bad, but they were still present. The Longranger was a good helo, in Jake's opinion, and he liked piloting the bird. Below them, he saw the two-lane asphalt highway stretching away from Yulara as they headed east.

“Desert looks the same,” he mused to Kai. It was dark red, and from this altitude the clumps of spinifex looked like green dots thrown across it.

“It's beautiful,” Kai murmured, gazing around. The air space was empty. She didn't think there would be too many planes out here, since Uluru was literally in the middle of nowhere. In the distance, she saw a cattle station coming up on her right. The main house was surrounded by silver-barked eucalyptus. No wonder. With this kind of heat, that shade would be considered a godsend to any desert dweller. She'd have planted thousands of acres if she could. But then, rain wasn't plentiful out here, either.

“How are you doing?” Jake glanced over at Kai.

“I'm okay.”

He smiled slightly. The helo bobbled as it hit another air pocket. Jake expertly smoothed it out with a slight touch of the controls. It felt good to fly. Being on a camel was one thing, but in the air, he felt confident and safe.

“You know, you used to tell me the same thing—‘I'm
okay'—when I'd meet you at the old beech. But you weren't….”

Mouth pulling inward, Kai muttered, “Yeah. My nose bleeding, my eyes black and swollen…. I was okay because I'd survived, Jake. That's all I cared about.”

“But you weren't really okay.”
Far from it.
How many times had Jake held her when they were children, all the while inwardly shaking with helpless rage over what her father had done to her? Because they lived on the res, he knew that family abuse often went unreported. The tribal police came when they were called, but usually the woman never called no matter how badly beaten up she was. Even if she was in the res hospital, she wouldn't make out an official complaint against her husband and abuser. Jake shook his head. He didn't know why. If anyone had beaten him, he'd have gone running for help. As it was, Kai's grandmother had called the police many times, begging them to intercede, but when her daughter refused to press charges, nothing was done.

“No…I guess I wasn't. But there were no options at the time.” Kai shifted restlessly in the seat, running her hands nervously across the map. Glancing around like the fighter pilot she'd been trained to be, searching the horizon for enemy aircraft, she tried to avoid the emotions Jake's softly spoken words had triggered. Usually, she could. But at the moment she couldn't.

Generally, Kai could tuck her feelings away so that she could think clearly. Right now, she knew she was having an adrenaline letdown after that attack out on the desert. They could have died. After looking at Jake from beneath
her lashes for a second, Kai turned her head toward the window. Again, she felt a sharp pang of fear. And pain. What if Jake had been wounded? Killed?

Rubbing the center of the vest between her breasts, she muttered, “This crystal is driving me crazy.”

“Oh?”

“Ever since I tucked it into the inside pocket of the vest this morning, my feelings have been doing crazy things. I thought it would stop, but it hasn't.”

“Such as?” Jake looked around, automatically scanning the sky. The sun was just setting and he saw the inky cover of darkness stalking them on the eastern horizon. Below him, the elegant desert oaks and clumps of spinifex cast long, thin shadows across the red sand ridges and desert floor. The view reminded him of a Salvador Dali painting, where everything was elongated and distorted.

“I feel emotionally overwrought….” Kai began, her voice low and tentative. She felt her fingertips tingle as they rested on the crystal hidden in her vest. “I was a lot more scared than I should be out there on the camel when we were attacked. I had a helluva time keeping my feelings under control. Things that usually wouldn't touch me emotionally were hitting me like boulders.” Kai gave him a wry look. “When you're in the hot seat of an F-14, with enemy fire coming in, you aren't touchy-feely. But you know that.”

Chuckling, Jake said, “Yeah. We turn off our feelings to do what we do.”

“Mine were turned on and up this afternoon.”

“The crystal is lying near your heart,” he observed. “Maybe proximity is causing this reaction in you?”

Shrugging, Kai allowed her hand to drop from her vest. “I don't know. I don't dare put it into my duffel bag. I want to carry it on my person until we get it home to Grams.”

“You do have to keep it close to you,” Jake agreed. “Did your mom or Gram ever talk to you about crystals having that kind of ability?”

Shaking her head, Kai muttered, “No. My mother had a small quartz crystal she used in healings, but nothing like this one. I remember her using it on some of the people who came to her for help, but I haven't a clue what she did.”

“And Grams?”

“She knows a lot about crystal healing. But I never showed an interest in it. Go figure…” The helicopter bucked as it hit an updraft. Kai liked the motion of the bird; it made her feel safe. Being in the air always had, and maybe that's why she loved to fly so much—it helped her escape from the painful memories of the past that haunted her like a curse. Kai removed her dark glasses and pinched the ridge of her nose. Where the oxygen mask had sat when she flew the F-14, there were two small, permanent indents into her skin. It was a painful reminder of her past, of what had been stripped unfairly away from her. All pilots who flew combat jets had these indents on the bridge of their nose.

Smiling, Jake met her wide blue eyes for just a moment. He loved to look at Kai and absorb her into his heart. Into his soul. Her mouth was soft and full now, and he realized there was a remarkable difference in her. Maybe the crystal was helping her to relax. “Maybe your Gram didn't know about these other qualities of the mask. It wasn't her
job to take care of it. Usually the family who guards the totem knows most about it.”

“That's what Grams said. She told me what she could. I'm glad we got it. I needed some way to clear my family's name. I know what people of the res are thinking—that I'm no good, that our whole family is poisonous and—”

“The res is a place where gossip burns like living fire,” Jake agreed sadly. “Anyone who knows you, though, knows you're a fine person, Kai. You have honor.”

“Fat lot of good that does me now, with a court-martial and a BCD.” Frowning, she scanned the sky again, out of habit. Kai never relied on her instruments alone to find an enemy plane. She saw the dark, curving mantle of night approaching, staining the sky on the eastern horizon. The day was dying, the light fading. Riveted by the deep indigo hue below, she was amazed once again by the many colors of the desert. Every moment, there were different nuances, new tones and subtle color changes. Nothing was ever the same for long here, she realized.

“I have to retrieve my honor, Jake. I want to take the stain off my family's name because of what happened to me.” Kai said the words grimly, her voice laced with steel. “I know I'm not to find all the stolen totems for the clans. My dream showed there are two women who will find the others.” Touching her vest, she said, “But retrieving the Paint Clan mask will make our people respect my family's name again, and that's good enough for me. I just want a clean bill of health with folks on the res, that's all.”