Chasing Gold

CHAPTER TWENTY

Alicia ran hard toward their airborne helicopter. The cops were busy attending their wounded man, but Alicia couldn’t let the mercs escape with Crouch again.

Or the banner, she decided, telling herself it wasn’t an afterthought.

Caitlyn had her cell clutched to her ear, shouting into the speaker and urging whoever was on the other side to let them take charge of the chopper. It wasn’t an easy task, but Alicia assumed one of the police officers had been contacted and had explained their situation. As they approached the landing helicopter, the pilot gave them a distinctive thumbs-up.

“He’s agreeable,” Caitlyn gasped.

“Fucking brilliant.” Alicia jumped onto a skid even before it properly landed, grabbing hold of the mainframe. “Follow that chopper!” she cried out.

Russo pushed her as she climbed inside. “I’m guessing that’s not the first time you’ve said that,” he commented drily.

Alicia grabbed his right arm and heaved him inside. “You’re right. It’s my go-to saying once I’ve started on my second bottle of red.”

“Second? What a bloody lightweight.”

“Sorry, but I do like to save myself for the main event at the end of the night.”

Russo frowned as Austin and Caitlyn climbed inside. “Main event?”

Alicia slapped the pilot’s seat to get him going. “Shit, Russo, you’re so pure. Want me to spell it out for you. S-H-A…”

“No, no, I got it thanks.”

Alicia peered through the cockpit window. The mercs’ chopper was already winging its way east, over the tops of tall trees and away from the golf course. Austin gave the wounded cop a commiserating salute and then they were swooping in pursuit.

“First by foot, then car and now helicopter,” Alicia growled. “We will chase these bastards down.”

The pilot then shouted across a comms system. “Hey guys, what the hell are we chasing here?”

Alicia found a way around the truth. “FBI agents, abducted by possible terrorists.”

“Crap! Why isn’t the entire country up here with us?”

“Sensitive personnel.” Alicia grimaced as she said it. “That’s all I can say.”

“Ah, no worries. I got my orders from the captain who got his from Washington’s top FBI honcho. I’m cool.”

Alicia stopped worrying about him and surveyed the chopper ahead. It was big so the extra personnel didn’t appear to bother it. She could see legs poking out of both rear doors, which suggested men with large-caliber guns were waiting to open fire. Their own pilot seemed to have spotted the danger, for he stayed directly behind it, catching up slowly. The helicopter bounced and jarred itself all around her, buffeted by winds and pockets of air.

Austin looked decidedly green around the cheeks. “Crap, first time in a helo and definitely the last.”

“Feeling out of control?” Russo asked.

“Yeah, give me a car any day.”

They skimmed the treetops, passing beyond the golf course now and seeing the high rises of St Louis in the distance. The air ripped at their metal body, flinging the chopper between currents. Alicia felt a little like a kite, but shrugged the feeling away. She couldn’t see anyone on the lead aircraft but knew what was at stake.

Their quarry flew straight for a while, passing over the tops of houses, winding streets and a few open parks. Neither chopper was able to alter the distance between them, although Alicia’s pilot clearly didn’t want to. As the minutes ticked by it became clear to both parties, however, that something had to give.

Those ahead swung around quickly, the side of their aircraft suddenly facing the other. Curses went up and Alicia’s pilot veered sharply downward. Bullets strafed the sky as the other chopper opened fire, a couple of metallic thuds coming from the roof. Their pilot aimed his machine almost vertical for a few seconds. Austin squealed and Caitlyn groaned. Alicia cheered. Russo’s lips were a tight line you could have used for a ruler.

The attacking chopper adjusted its position for them, leaning over and allowing the shooters a better target. Alicia’s pilot swerved theirs sharply to the right, avoiding even more shots.

For several minutes it was cat and mouse; both pilots correcting and overcorrecting, but Alicia knew the odds were in their favor — not the battle, but the timewasting. The thieves couldn’t keep it up for long.

Already, they were attracting attention from below.

Alicia held on tight as the lead helicopter swooped once more, heading for the ground and then coming up at a sharp angle. The maneuver fooled their pilot for a few seconds. Bullets strafed the metalwork, puncturing it in several places. One broke glass near Alicia’s head, making her duck down and swear. Russo tried to poke his gun through the small hole but didn’t have chance as their own pilot swung them straight up into the sky.

Chased by their enemy.

They ducked and dived, swooped and came around. Once they came so close, both aircraft were buffeted off course by the other’s turbulence. Alicia and her team could do nothing but hang on tight, grateful their pilot possessed skills. Several times she got a glimpse through the windows of their opponent’s, but saw only a mass of bodies, all crammed together.

Then, the attacking chopper flew straight down, dropping like a stone in the sky. Their pilot changed course to follow, gaining some space and then tracking the other. It plunged hard toward some tree tops and then veered into an open space — some kind of park with an abundance of grassy fields. Alicia was shocked to see it land.

“Get ready.”

They removed guns as the chopper steadied, then prepared to jump out of the doors and attack, but as they neared the ground men jumped out of the other helicopter and opened fire. The pilot sucked in a deep breath as he yanked on the collective stick and wrenched them away. The chopper tilted hard, its rotors now the closest things to the ground.

Alicia gasped, face now striking the window near the ground and finding it decidedly close. She could see the rotor blades spinning, blurring. Not sideways, but dangerously tilted, the chopper’s engines groaned and complained; the framework was peppered with bullets, and the occupants either screamed or clung on in desperation.

It didn’t stop. Alicia couldn’t take her eyes off the churning rotors, the hard earth; her ears full of shrieking engine noises. The pilot wrestled hard. They came around in a full circle and she got a quick glimpse of their opponents.

Climbing back into their aircraft and lifting off once more.

It had been a ruse, a way to throw them off. “Get it together!” she cried into the pilot’s ear. “This was a trick.”

He was already there; the chopper slowly righting itself under his careful guidance. After a moment a sigh escaped his lips. “I got it.”

Austin clapped a hand over his mouth. “Can I get out?”

Alicia pointed at the already escaping chopper. “Not a bloody chance! Get after those bastards.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

The helicopter rose and began to pick up speed.

Alicia eyed the pilot. “Unless you have wings of your own, friend, don’t ever call me ma’am.”