The Betrayed Series: Ultimate Omnibus Collection With EXCLUSIVE Post-Shiva Short Story (130 page)

* * *

Frellan leaned in as the helicopter veered left, as if blown by a fierce wind. Instead, they were undone by child’s play. Pebbles in the gear box had brought them low. Not just low. It had nearly crashed them.

He looked to the empty seat across from him. Mikhal’s seat. The sniper had refused to board. He had refused to chase after the heat signatures. He had gone up a tree and refused to come down.

What report would he write to the Master? How Frellan not only lost the Messiah, but killed his entire team in the attempt? Mikhal prized stillness. Who knew sitting out the fight could actually make you the victor. Well, Frellan had combed the world for near on a decade for the Messiah.

And now, after seeing her? Frellan wasn’t about to yield his duty or his honor.

“We must jump,” he ordered Ugudo as the helicopter bucked again, nearly falling into the trees.

The man shook his head sharply, his words rattled by the unstable rotors. “Can’t chance landing in the river.”

Frellan looked out past the tree line to the Congo River. It snaked past, slow and sluggish. “The water will break our fall.”

All the men around Frellan snorted. “We will take our chances here,” one said.

“
Mamba
,” Ugudo said. “Bad
mamba
here.”

Frellan studied the smooth waters as best he could as the helicopter jumped and bounced in the air. He knew of the crocodile danger. Anyone who dared travel in Africa knew of the
mamba
. It was one thing to snatch a kayaker from his boat. Quite another to take on an entire armed team.

He went to argue with Ugudo, but the man leaned his head against the hull. “You jump? You jump
alone
.” Even with that barbed bar in his cheek, the man still defied Frellan. He did not take that lightly.

Frellan nodded his concession. Seldom did he allow subordinates to dictate terms, but if Ugudo was willing to risk another session with Frellan, he must have his convictions.

“Then we land,” Frellan instructed.

“The pilot is trying to get us back to the—”

“
Now
,” Frellan ordered. “If he must crash us, he crashes us.”

The African’s eyes dilated. It was one of the mercenaries who spoke. “That is quite the risk.”

Frellen raised a pierced eyebrow to Ugudo. “You wished to take your chances, did you not?”

* * *

“That’s right, sucker!” Lopez yelled through the windshield. That was until a shot bounced off a rotor. The corporal backed them away several hundred yards. “How about now, huh?”

“Lopez,” Brandt admonished, “let’s stop antagonizing the guy with the sniper rifle…” Then Brandt remembered the elephants and the giraffes. “On second thought, let’s not antagonize anyone or
thing
.”

“I gotta tell ya,” Lopez said, “I don’t have a whole lot of fuel left…”

For so many reasons, they were running out of options. But they couldn’t leave Davidson in the jungle, either. However, to go in close enough to the forest’s edge to retrieve the private would be nearly suicide for both Davidson and everyone on the chopper.

“What are we going to do?” Rebecca asked, slipping her hand in his.

Jesus, he wished he had an answer for her.

“Get us close enough, and I can try to take a shot,” Talli suggested.

Brandt shook his head. “Your gun doesn’t have enough range. Nothing we have does.”
Plus, it is you on the trigger
, he thought but did not say aloud.

“I say we take the fight to the sniper,” Levont announced from the back of the helicopter.

“Great plan, only how do you plan to avoid a massacre?” Brandt said as he turned to his point man.

Levont didn’t have to answer as he hefted an RPG launcher from a metal bin.

“I couldn’t agree more,” Brandt said as he squeezed Rebecca’s hand. “Let’s get everyone strapped in.”

God, he had never loved Rebecca more than when she simply nodded and went to get Vakasa secured. No argument. No questioning the logic. No fussing.

If they survived the next few minutes, she was definitely a keeper.

CHAPTER 10

══════════════════

Skies Above the Congo

11:29 p.m. (CAT)

Rebecca urged Vakasa to cover her ears, but the little girl just stared wide-eyed at Levont as he prepped the rocket launcher.

“Lopez, move us in,” Brandt said, then turned to everyone else. “Remember, we are going to have to take some fire until we are in position.”

Of course, they would have to take some fire. When didn’t they? At least this was for a good cause. Getting Davidson back. She’d take some fire for that. Apparently Vakasa would as well, as she gave a thumbs-up. Such a remarkable little girl. It seemed she spoke over half a dozen languages and knew her way around American idioms.

“Ready?” Lopez asked, then didn’t bother to wait for an answer.

Instead, he tilted the chopper forward, running straight at the sniper’s position. Bullets cracked the windshield, but still, they streaked forward.

“Now!” Brandt shouted, and on a dime, Lopez turned the helicopter ninety degrees so the door was facing the sniper.

Rebecca covered her ears, wincing as the rocket ignited, flying from the launcher toward the western jungle. Just as quickly, Lopez spun the helicopter away and hauled ass across the clearing. She looked over her shoulder to watch the rocket hit the trees and burst into flame. They had no chance of actually killing the sniper. They just needed him running for his life from the explosion.

And sure enough, not a single shot sounded in the night as they raced to Davidson’s position. Somehow, even though injured, he had climbed back to the top of the canopy, deeper in the forest so they couldn’t pick him up at the tree line, but Levont had the ropes and harness ready.

They were prepared.

Except, of course, for the helicopter to start sputtering.

* * *

Davidson watched the helicopter’s speed cut in half. Fuel streaming out of a bullet hole explained a lot.

Crap.

There would be no second chances this time. Ignoring the stabbing pain from his neck and just about every other body part, Davidson knew he had to make up the distance. No time to make sure the branches could carry his weight.

He just had to have faith. With a prayer on his lips, Davidson ran across the canopy. Never landing long enough to sink into the jungle. His momentum would not last long, though.

The helicopter veered toward him, then dropped a good twenty feet down the riverside cliff. Davidson was almost there. Minor details, but now that the helicopter was lower than him, the spinning rotors were in the way.

It was clear, however, that as the helicopter staggered and sputtered, it was never going to make up the altitude.

Davidson could only pray that Lopez knew what he was about to do.

Gritting his teeth, Davidson launched himself out of the jungle and toward those spinning rotors.

Just in time, the helicopter tilted left, angling the rotors away.

Davidson hit the fuselage hard. His finger scrambled to find a hold on the fuel-slickened metal. His feet flailed, trying to find purchase on…well, anything.

Then there was a hand on his collar.

“I’ve got you,” Brandt said. Standing on the struts, braced against the door, the sergeant was a sight for sore eyes. “Let’s get you inside.”

Davidson certainly didn’t argue there. He let himself slip the rest of the way down the body of the helicopter as he was guided to the safety of the struts. As the helicopter righted itself, Davidson was pulled into the cabin.

“Thanks.”

Brandt frowned, though. “I wouldn’t thank me yet.”

The sergeant nodded toward the Congo River. The surface of which was fast approaching as Brandt secured the door.

“What are you talking about?” Lopez scoffed. “We are totally going to make it.”

The far shore seemed, well, pretty far off, given how quickly the helicopter was losing thrust.

“Okay. I lied,” Lopez admitted. “We aren’t going to make it.”

No kidding.

* * *

Rebecca watched as, for one glorious moment, it looked like Lopez would prove himself wrong. The bank wasn’t forty feet away. You could see the individual trees on the other side. You could make out the ripples in the mud.

Then the helicopter’s engine gave one last sputter. The rotors ground to a halt, and the chopper just fell out of the air. Straight down into the Congo River. They hit the water hard, but not all that hard because, well, they just weren’t that high in the sky.

“Evac,” Brandt barked, flinging off his restraints.

Water lapped at the front windshield as they sank into the river. Rebecca unbuckled herself, then Vakasa. The girl climbed into her arms, clutching her neck. Rebecca didn’t blame the girl. If she could have sought shelter in Brandt’s arms, she would have done it. Unfortunately, Brandt was busy gathering as much gear as they could salvage. He trusted her to buck up. To be brave. Or at least fake it.

Talli went to grab the chopper’s door, but Brandt shook his head. “Grab anything you can.”

“But the higher the water gets, the harder it will be to—”

Lopez nodded to the bullet hole–ridden windshield. “Dude, we are not going to create a vacuum in here.”

Rebecca nearly lost her balance as the helicopter slid down the muddy riverbed, deeper into the Congo. The water level was over halfway up the windows.

“Got mine,” Davidson announced as he threw a fifth bag over his shoulders.

Surprisingly, Brandt didn’t have anything on his. Instead, he handed out the equipment to the other men. “All right. Levont you are going out first. Then I will escort Rebecca and Vakasa. Talli—”

“What the hell is—”

Out of nowhere, a mass of flesh with a glistening row of teeth surged in the water, hitting the windshield head-on. The glass cracked, sending a spiderweb of flaws through the windshield.

In the glow of headlights, the giant crocodile shook its head and several front teeth fell out. Clearly, the ancient predator was not used to the concept of glass. However, those dark eyes did not seem deterred in the least. A meal was to be had.

“Watch out!” Lopez yelled as another crocodile, a good four feet longer than the first, slammed into the window next to her. The sliding door rattled violently. Then another slammed into the other side of the helicopter.

Talk about shooting fish in a barrel. Only, they were the fish, and the crocodiles planned to latch onto them and drag them to the bottom and drown them.

Vakasa shook in Rebecca’s arms. The girl hadn’t flinched at the sight of guns, but crocs? Crocs she was clearly terrified of.

The sliding door buckled as a crocodile rammed it again.

“This bird’s taken too much damage,” Lopez said.

“And the water we’re taking on,” Talli added as the river filled the chopper. It was up to their knees now.

Brandt looked to her, grief detailing his features. They would have to make a run for it. And clearly not all would make it. And the chick in the wedding dress and young girl? Vegas bookies would not be betting on them.

Then the door came off a hinge as the persistent reptile crashed into it again. Rebecca clutched Vakasa to her, throwing them both back as the croc used its wide snout to push open the door and its powerful tail to thrust itself halfway into the chopper.

Mouth wide open, it charged. The only thing that stopped it from grabbing them both was Davidson slamming the door closed on its neck. The croc thrashed against the restraint, hissing its fury.

For a moment, a vision of Rebecca’s guide in the Amazon filled her vision. One second, he had been there. The next, a set of teeth had grabbed hold of his shoulder and her guide was gone. She remembered watching helplessly as the alligator shook Yerato as he pulled him into the murky water.

This croc meant to do the same.

Brandt pulled his gun, but Levont pushed it down. “We can’t have blood.”

“What the fuck—”

“We only have three to deal with,” Levont pleaded. “You get blood in the water, we’ll have a hundred.”

As if the crocodile were listening, it stopped its thrashing and simply floated at the water level, doing its best to convince them it was only a log. A nice big log that wanted to eat them.

“Stealthy mothers, aren’t they?” Lopez observed.

Then the broken-toothed croc slammed into the windshield again. Creating cracks so deep that Rebecca doubted the glass would hold up to another ramming. As the croc repositioned itself for another strike, they were about to find out.

* * *

“Any fucking suggestions, then?” Brandt asked Levont.

“We just have to tie its mouth closed.”

“Oh,
just
that.”

Levont, though, grabbed some rope and quickly made a lasso out of it. “Talli, you are going to have to poke it.”

“What?”

Brandt shoved Talli over, snatching a rifle. “Don’t worry,” Brandt assured Levont. “I’m not going to shoot it.”

“Vincent…” Rebecca called out. It must have been bad if she was using his first name.

The other crocodile—you know, the one that was trying to break in through the windshield—slowly paddled just at the edge of the headlights. Keeping himself steady and ready to attack.

Since he couldn’t do much about that one, he turned to the croc actually inside the damned helicopter.

“Ready?”

Levont just nodded.

Brandt held the rifle at its butt and shoved it hard right under the croc’s eye. He was ready for a lot, but not the explosive power of the predator. The thing had his rifle, crunching it between its jaws, faster than Brandt could blink. The croc spit the mangled gun back at him.

Brandt stumbled back a step, his hands shaking from the assault.

Levont, though, was at the ready, flinging the noose around the croc’s snout. The thing shook its head side to side violently, but the point man had a grip of steel. Too bad the rope wasn’t as strong as he was.

They all saw the fraying. It must have got snagged by a tooth on the way in.

Hell no.

Brandt reached for his belt, unbuckling it and whipping it loose. As he rethreaded it, the irony that it was croc leather did not escape him. This time prepared for the ferocity, Brandt grabbed the rifle, poking the giant reptile. The croc swiveled impossibly quickly, knocking the gun away. But Brandt was there, slipping his belt around the nose.