Station Breaker

46 Airdrop

As we ascend into the air one of Vaughn's men puts a black hood over my head. My hands and legs are still free and I get the sense that this isn't done to keep our destination a secret as much as a surprise.

His masked-goons grasp me by the shoulders with my back towards the open door. The wind is really, really cold as it blows through my open gown.

We fly for about twenty minutes then Vaughn calls to the pilot to hover.

"David! Where is the square?" he shouts over the sound of the rotors.

My head is clear and I don't need to visualize anything to help me lie. "I don't know!" Right now my motivation is pure self-preservation. "Let me talk to your boss!"

"You're in no position to be asking for anything. Last chance. Where is the square?"

"Do they know you're working for the Ru…" I'm caught off guard by a kick to my chest.

I fall backwards and out the door.

Holy sh–

OOOOOOMPH! My shoulders hit the ground and all the wind is knocked out of me.

That had to be about five feet.

I feel the downwash of the rotors and pull the hood off. It blows away in the wind.

I start to pick myself up to make a feeble run for it, but the helicopter lowers and the guards jump out and pull me back in.

"Where's the hood?" asks Vaughn.

"He threw it away. Want me to go get it?" replies one of the masked men.

"Nah. I want him to see this. David, that was barely off the ground. Let's try ten feet? How does that sound?"

"Fuck you."

"I can take this all the way up to 15,000 feet if you like."

"19,000," I reply.

"What?"

"The service ceiling is officially 19,000 but you can probably go another two thousand." I sound cocky, but I'm scared as hell.

"Good to know. Maybe we try that with you?"

I see the ground drop a few feet through the window on the other side.

"Well?" he asks.

"I don't know."

"Fine." He stands up and braces himself between the seats and lets out another kick to my chest.

BAM!

I hit the ground and see stars. Man, this is hard Texas dirt and doesn't give very much.

The helicopter begins to descend. I try to get up but I can barely feel my feet. As I try to pull myself away my right hand touches a sharp rock.

Thank god I didn't land on that…

I pull my fist into my body as the men retrieve me.

"Okay." Vaughn puts his face right in mine. "We're going to fifteen feet. There's a fifty-fifty chance you'll break something. My money is that you won't. At twenty, it's a guarantee. Thirty and you'll never walk again and you'll tell me anything I want to know as you beg me for another spoonful of apple sauce. What do you say I just save you the trouble?"

"I don't know! Maybe they left it on the station?"

Vaughn shakes his head. "You're a shitty liar."

He begins to lean back to kick again. I try to swing the rock in my hand at his face but the guard on my right grabs my wrist.

Vaughn pries it from my fingers and waves it under my nose. "What the hell is this, David? Did you think you were going to hit me and spill my brains?" He smashes it against my mouth. "Open!"

I don't move.

"I said open your goddamn mouth!"

He nods to his men.

They let go of my arms, grab my head and shove their gloved fingers into my lips to pry open my jaws.

Vaughn puts a foot into my balls, leaving his shoe in my crotch. He smacks my teeth with the rock. "Open your mouth or I'm going to break every goddamn tooth in your head!"

BANG!!!

I can see his eyes go wide behind his sunglasses as he tries to make sense of what happened.

The two armored guards start looking around for the source of the noise.

BANG!!! BANG!!!

Before they can figure out what just happened, I shoot them both in the stomach with Vaughn's ankle pistol.

The pilot is starting to set us on the ground.

I climb over a screaming Vaughn and put my gun to the back of the pilot's head. "Get them and get the fuck out."

"I can't leave this aircraft." He raises his hands off the controls in protest.

I put the pistol near his helmet and fire, shooting a hole through the window inches away.

"Get the fuck out and take those assholes with you!"

He slides out of the cockpit and runs around to the side door. I keep my gun aimed at him in case he tries to pull a sidearm.

He drags Vaughn and the other two men to the ground then raises his hands above his head.

I realize I'm still wearing the hospital gown. "Give me your clothes and your helmet! Kick their weapons away then give me whatever cash they have!"

Out of misplaced pity, I throw bullet wound bandages to him — basically tampons — from the first aid kit as he drags the men to the front of the chopper.

I make him keep his hands in the air as I familiarize myself with the controls.

I've flown helicopters and simulations of the Black Hawk UH-60, but never the actual thing.

This is going to be one hell of a ride.

I finally grab the stick and gradually take to the air. The pilot sees my wobbly ascent and quickly ducks down out of the way to avoid decapitation.

Once I'm airborne, I get a compass reading and try to figure out what the hell I'm supposed to do next.