Precipice: V Plague Book 9 (19 page)

The small
airport Martinez had found was on the western slope of the Cascades, hidden
deep in an evergreen forest.  There was one runway, just long enough to
accommodate small planes, and no hangar or control tower.  But there was
fuel and even though they didn’t have an immediate destination she set to work topping
off the Hind’s tanks as soon as they landed.

Helicopter full
and ready to go, she settled down in the cockpit with Irina to monitor Russian
radio traffic.  Colonel Crawford, Scott and Igor took up perimeter
positions to stand guard.  Johnnie Ray’s mouth was taped over again and he
was restrained inside the aircraft with Rachel, Martinez and Irina keeping an
eye on him.  Katie and Dog paced in the dark.

Dog was
improving and had only a slight limp as he stuck to her heels.  He still
had a lot of healing to go, but was well on his way.  Katie was exhausted
but couldn’t slow her racing mind.  Anger and sadness battled inside her
to be the dominant emotion.

On
reflection she wasn’t a bit surprised that John had surrendered so she could
escape, but that didn’t ease her pain.  He’d always been very protective
of her, even though he would be the first to say she was more than capable of
taking care of herself.  They’d had some issues over this when they first
married.  Katie had felt like he didn’t think she could handle problems as
well as he could, but as time passed she realized that wasn’t the case.

John was
just one of those people who took care of the ones he loved.  She’d
watched him treat team mates the same way, and finally accepted that she had
married a great big protective mother hen.  A mother hen that could and
would break bones and shred flesh, or sacrifice himself, to make sure she was
safe.

A friend of
hers, who was a psychologist for the Agency, had tried to explain John’s
behavior, but she didn’t care.  All she knew was that she always felt safe
with him and he really did listen to her and trust her.  He just had a
funny way of showing it, and that had taken some getting used to.

“You OK?”

Katie nearly
screamed she was so surprised when Rachel suddenly spoke from the
darkness.  Dog wagged his tail and bumped Rachel’s hand with his nose,
looking for some affection.

“Sorry,”
Rachel laughed.  “Didn’t mean to startle you.”

“That’s
alright,” Katie said, letting out a big breath and resuming her walk. 
Rachel fell in with her, Dog taking up station between them.  “I was just
thinking about John.”

“If anyone
can get out of this, it’s him,” Rachel said, trying to sound confident.

“I know
that,” Katie said, wiping a tear of frustration off her cheek.  “I know
what he can do if he has a chance.  I’m hoping that’s why they haven’t
brought him here yet.  It’s just that the odds are really stacked against
him.”

They had
reached the far end of the runway and nodding at Igor, turned and began
retracing their steps.

“How are you
doing with all this?”  Katie asked a few minutes later.

“I’m worried
about him, but I’ve seen him pull off some pretty amazing things.”

“That’s not
what I meant,” Katie said, turning to look at the dark silhouette next to
her.  “I’m talking about how you feel about him.  I’ve had some
bitchy moments, I know that, and they haven’t exactly been fair to you.  I
do know what you’ve done for him, for us, and what you mean to him.  And you’re
in love with him.  I can see that.  So how are you doing with
everything.”

They walked
the length of the runway and nodded at Scott, turning and heading the other
direction before Rachel spoke.

“It is what
it is,” she said with a note of sadness in her voice.  “Yes, I love him. 
I’m not going to lie to you about that.  But from the day I met him all
he’s wanted was to get back to you.  You have his heart, and you always
will.  This isn’t high school.  I’ll survive.”

They kept
walking, each of them quiet as they contemplated what Rachel had just
said.  Katie reached out in the dark and took her hand, squeezing it
gently.  She held Rachel’s hand for a few moments as they walked then gave
it another squeeze before letting go. 

They were on
the third circuit of the small airfield, Dog faithfully sticking close, when Rachel
paused and tilted her face up towards the night sky.  She was sure she’d
heard something that sounded like an engine, but the sound was gone.

“What?” 
Katie whispered, bringing her rifle up and clicking off the safety.

“Don’t
know,” Rachel whispered back.

She stood
there for a few moments, listening hard.  Katie watched her intently,
moving with her when she turned to face south when the noise appeared again.

This time it
didn’t fade away, growing steadily stronger.  An approaching
aircraft!  This time Katie heard it as well.  Turning, they began
running towards the helicopter, nearly bumping into Colonel Crawford in the
dark.

“There’s a
plane coming,” Rachel said as they adjusted their course to run at his side.

“Heard it,”
Crawford said as they pounded up to the Hind.

Martinez had
been in the cockpit, talking softly with Irina while they kept an eye on
Johnnie Ray, and hadn’t heard the approaching danger.

“Aircraft
inbound!” Crawford shouted when they were close enough for her to hear.

From two
other directions, Scott and Igor pounded their way across the tarmac. 
Before any of them reached the Hind, Martinez hit the starters for the
engines.  They whined, then the massive power plants roared to life and
the rotor began to slowly turn.  The Hind was formidable in the air, but a
sitting duck on the tarmac.

No one had
reached the helicopter when small arms fire began coming from several
directions.  It was all directed at the Hind, bullets pinging off the
armored hull.

“Down!” 
Crawford shouted, dropping to his belly with an arm around each of the women’s
shoulders to pull them to the ground with him.  Rachel scooped Dog against
her as Katie looked through the night vision scope on her rifle for a target.

The Colonel
was already firing at the tree line along the north edge of the runway and she
turned to scan the southern edge.  Seeing movement, she began firing
without bothering to identify who or what she was shooting at.

Scott and
Igor had been at either end of the airport and had started running to the
helicopter when they’d heard the inbound aircraft.  Now, they too were on
their bellies, firing into the trees.

Martinez saw
what was happening and knew she could be of much more value in the air,
bringing the helicopter’s cannons and rockets into the battle.  The
engines roared as she pulled back on the collective and lifted off the runway,
reacting instantly to a missile that suddenly appeared from the darkness.

She tilted
the big helicopter on its axis, feeding in power and the missile streaked down
the side of the aircraft, missing it by mere inches.  Continuing the turn,
she battled the turbulence caused by the shockwave when the missile struck the
runway and detonated with a thunderous explosion. 

Even though
the Hind was still unstable in the air and she was fighting for control, three
missiles rippled out of their pod and streaked away towards where the attack
had come from.  As the helicopter struggled, clawing for altitude, the
firing from the tree lines intensified.

Martinez
turned the machine and the auto canon spoke, firing continuously as she pivoted
to rake the northern tree line.  She was firing HE rounds and the dark
forest lit up and thick tree trunks were shattered all along the edge of the
runway.

“Move!” 
Crawford shouted, leaping to his feet and running directly towards the
destruction.

Katie and
Rachel jumped up to follow, both of them hesitating when Dog turned and raced
down the runway.  Looking to where he was headed they could just make out
Scott, writhing in pain.  Without a second’s thought, both of them turned
and followed Dog.

The Hind had
stabilized and gained altitude.  Martinez was spinning it around to open
fire on the southern tree line when a pair of missiles streaked in.  She
avoided the first one by dropping the nose and lifting the rear until the helo
was oriented almost vertically, but the second one impacted the tail rotor,
shearing it and most of the back section of the aircraft off.

The main
body of the Hind went into an uncontrollable spin, pivoting around the main
rotor.  It quickly began to spin faster and faster as the nose tipped over
and the crippled machine crashed onto the runway.  Katie and Rachel came
to a stop, staring in horror at the crash.

They had
lost sight of Dog.  Didn’t know if he’d been caught in the debris from the
missile strike and subsequent crash.  Katie looked around, not seeing
Crawford or Igor.

“We have to
go!”  She grabbed Rachel’s arm and began pulling her towards the northern
tree line.

They had
only taken a couple of steps when a Mi-28 Havoc attack helicopter screamed
overhead, shredding the tarmac between them and the forest with canon
shells.  A second helicopter was right behind and came to a hover, facing
them a few feet off the ground, blocking their escape route.

Russian
soldiers began emerging from the forest behind them, racing forward with their
rifles trained on the two women.  Several of them headed for the downed
Hind which surprisingly hadn’t burst into flames.  Fear clutching her
heart, Katie raised her hands as she and Rachel were quickly surrounded.

Colonel
Crawford and Igor sheltered behind the massive trunk of a Hemlock tree that had
been shattered by Martinez’ rocket fire.  They watched as over fifty
Russian ground troops poured onto the runway and captured Katie and
Rachel.  A group of them was at the helicopter, trying to find a way
inside the damaged hull, half a dozen more surrounding Scott who appeared to
have taken at least one round to his left leg.

He shifted
his gaze when Igor bumped his shoulder and pointed.  It was hard to see in
the darkness, so Crawford looked through his rifle’s night vision scope. 
Dog stood on the edge of the runway, turning his head as he watched his people
being stripped of their weapons and herded into a group.  He lowered his
head and began stalking forward, but paused when Igor whistled in a good
imitation of a night bird.

Dog turned
his head and looked in their direction, but remained poised to go battle the
Russians.  Igor whistled a second time, then very softly called Dog’s
name.  There was a lot of noise from the two Havoc’s that were supporting
the ground troops, but Dog must have heard him and recognized the voice. 
Moments later he pushed through the debris from shredded trees and stuck his
nose against Igor’s arm.

One of the
soldiers working on the crash succeeded in forcing the side door open.  He
shouted his success to the surrounding men, then his head snapped back when a
shot from within the hulk rang out.  His body toppled backwards and the
two men who had been behind him stepped to either side of the door and raised
their rifles.

One of them
fired a long burst into the troop compartment, then began shouting.  He
seemed to be yelling at someone inside the wreck.  A dozen more men ran
over and lights came on as they tried to see in through the wind screen. 
The man continued to scream orders and eventually a head emerged from the open
door.

Irina’s
blonde hair immediately identified her and she was quickly grabbed and jerked
out and onto the tarmac where she was forced to lie on her stomach as she was
roughly searched.  More screaming and a minute later Martinez poked her
head up.  She too was pulled out, but as she was going down onto the
tarmac she twisted and brought both hands up.

In the blink
of an eye three Russians were down and dying from her blades, then she was
clubbed into unconsciousness from behind.  The soldiers were pissed now
and one of them started to kick her inert form before being stopped by a
Sergeant.  Nodding, he settled for ripping Martinez’ clothes off as he
searched for more weapons.  Quickly she was wearing nothing other than a
pair of pants.  Even her boots had been taken, a knife in each justifying
the invasive search.

Her pants
were opened and pulled to her knees as they continued to search, but no further
weapons were found.  They left her sprawled on the runway, unconscious and
with absolutely no concern for her modesty. 

Scott was
marched up to where the two women were being watched and though Crawford
couldn’t hear it he saw the grunt of pain when a bandage was pulled tight
around his bleeding thigh.  While the soldier’s attention was on Scott,
Irina slowly worked Martinez’ pants back into place and draped her shirt over
her bare chest.

Katie and
Rachel were walked over and subjected to the same rough search.  There
wasn’t a single area of either woman’s body that wasn’t thoroughly checked for
weapons.

“Have you
seen Johnnie Ray?”  Crawford mumbled to Igor in Russian.

“Nyet.”

“Probably
that long burst into the troop compartment was for him,” Crawford mused, Igor
nodding in agreement as he rubbed Dog’s ears.

With all the
prisoners in one location and under heavy guard, the Sergeant who had stopped
the soldier from kicking Martinez raised a radio to his mouth and spoke a few
brief words.  The pitch of the sound of the Havocs changed as they moved
into a wider orbit and a minute later a Mi-24 hove into view and touched down a
safe distance from the wreckage.

The troop
compartment door opened and a tall, thin man wearing the uniform of a Spetsnaz
Major stepped to the ground.  He strode across the tarmac, coming to a
stop in front of the small group, looking them over carefully.  Katie and
Rachel had been forced to sit on the tarmac and had to crank their heads way
back to see the man’s face.

“I am Major
Pavel
Buzinsky. 
Which of you is the wife of Major
John Chase?”  He asked, eyes flicking across each woman that was on the
ground in front of him.  “You can tell me now and I’ll spare the
rest.  If you make me wait until his file arrives, I will kill each of
you.”

His voice
was deep and he spoke English with just a trace of what sounded like an upper
class British accent.  He stood perfectly immobile, hands clasped behind
his back and nothing other than his eyes moving as he looked at each of his
prisoners.

Katie
hesitated.  She would identify herself if it would save the others, but
she didn’t believe the man.  He only wanted her.  Once he had what he
was after the others would be forfeit.  Did she take a chance that there
wasn’t a photo of her in the file the Russians had kept on John?  It was certainly
possible that a shot of her was in there, but then why didn’t the Russian Major
already have it?

If he knew
he was coming to get her, didn’t it make sense that he would have brought
whatever way he had to identify her?  Maybe the fact that he was trying to
get her to identify herself was revealing more than he was willing to
tell.  Either way, they were all going to die.  It was just a matter
of who died first.  Steeling herself, she kept her mouth shut and
defiantly met the man’s eyes when he looked in her direction.

“Very well,”
he sighed.  “Perhaps a demonstration of my seriousness.”

He drew his
pistol, made a production of pulling the slide to chamber a round, then stepped
forward and pressed the muzzle against the side of Scott’s head.

Scott looked
directly at Katie and she saw the resignation to his fate reflected in his
eyes.

“Fuck you,
Ivan!”  Scott snapped his head away from the muzzle and tried to reach the
Major’s legs, but two soldier’s grabbed him and after delivering several sharp
blows, held him up so Buzinsky could again rest the barrel of the Makarov
against his skull. 

“Suck my
fat, hairy dick, asshole!”  Scott spat at the man.

“Last
opportunity.  Which of you is Mrs. John Chase?”  The Russian ignored
Scott.

Katie
started to open her mouth, unwilling to watch Scott die for her, but Irina
caught her eye with an almost imperceptible shake of her head.  Katie
stayed quiet, knowing the Russian woman was right.  Scott was going to die
no matter what she did.

Major
Buzinsky smiled as he pulled the trigger.  The report was loud and the
bullet punched completely through Scott’s skull, spraying blood and brains
across the tarmac.  His body collapsed, seemingly boneless.

Igor and
Crawford had a minor wrestling match when the Russian Major murdered
Scott.  The Colonel had whipped his rifle up, ready to put a bullet into
the killer, but Igor had grabbed the weapon and forced it off target.  They
struggled against each other for a moment, winding up face to face.

“He won’t
kill the women,” Igor hissed in Russian.  “He wants Katie to flush out
Major Chase.  Shoot and they will die.”

Crawford
stared into the big Spetsnaz trooper’s eyes, breathing heavy from the emotion
of seeing one of his men killed and the exertion of struggling with Igor. 
Finally, he backed off on the pressure he was applying to bring the weapon to
bear and nodded his agreement.

They sat and
watched as the Russian Major shook his head in mock disappointment before
moving away and producing a satellite phone from his uniform pants.  He
placed a call and had a short conversation, but neither Igor nor Crawford could
hear what he was saying.  Ending the call, he turned and shouted to the
Sergeant in charge of the ground troops.

The man
began barking orders, the soldiers grabbing the women and yanking them to their
feet.  All but Martinez, who was still unconscious.  Two of them
stepped forward and one grabbed her arms as the other took hold of her
ankles.  They carried her behind the others and soon all four were loaded
into the Major’s helicopter.  He pointed at two men who climbed in with
them before he boarded, pulling the door closed behind him.

Lifting off,
the helicopter turned and headed west towards Seattle.  The Havocs
remained in an orbit and the Sergeant got the surviving troopers rallied and
ready.  It wasn’t long before the sound of very heavy rotors shook the
forest.  It was just starting to get light, the sky a shade somewhere
between black and blue.

There was
enough light for Crawford to see the aircraft he’d already recognized by their
sound.  Two massive CH-47 Chinook helicopters, with a giant rotor at each
end, approached the airfield.  The first one landed, half the men on the
ground running up the lowered ramp, carrying their dead and wounded with them.

Colonel
Crawford watched with gritted teeth as the first American helicopter lifted off
and the second touched down to extract the remaining Russians.  At that
moment he would have given just about anything for a weapon capable of bringing
the two captured aircraft and their occupants down in a fiery crash.