The Last Bazaar

CHAPTER FORTY TWO

Drake sat beside Beauregard as he piloted the chopper in pursuit of Ramses. Behind them, Hayden had been concentrating solely on starting some kind of mobilization among the US government rather than their quarry. Perfectly understandable since the nuke remained an unknown and they had Ramses in their sights. An endless canopy of green terrain passed beneath, trees as far as the eye could see. Beau informed them that they were flying in a straight line toward the Peruvian coast, but beyond that they had no clear idea where they were headed. The team took the time to relax and reload, though their stores of ammunition were starting to dwindle.

An hour passed, and then Hayden came back on the line, explaining that she’d done all she could to protect New York. They simply had to bag Ramses and then hightail it immediately to America’s east coast to aid in the hunt. She also told them she’d contact the nearest friendly airbase and arrange whatever backup she could to help them deal with Ramses.

Hayden began to sign off, but then stopped. “Oh, and Drake? One day you’ll have to explain Kenzie’s story to me and why she chose to run with me rather than you.”

“She’s still with you?” Drake was shocked.

“Umm, yeah. Is there a reason she shouldn’t be?”

“Just be careful,” Drake said. “Watch her.”

The jagged shadows of mountains appeared ahead and Ramses’ chopper started to descend.

“We’re in business,” Drake told Hayden. “He’s headed down.”

“And he knows we’re here. Be careful, no heroics.”

Dahl tapped Drake on the shoulder. “Was that directed at you? Or me?”

“Both. Why?”

“Well, it’s my normal state. Does she really want me to change this?” He stared at his own figure in the window’s reflection.

Alicia was gazing at Mai. “That’s a helluva scar you have there, Sprite. What did you do — lose a battle with your shaver?”

“Is that a way of intimating that I have facial hair?”

Alicia shrugged. “It’s not a criticism.”

“Well that would be a first, coming from you.”

The team quieted as Ramses’ chopper suddenly swooped toward the oncoming peaks. Winds buffeted them, attacking from both sides and shrieking like Valkyries. Beauregard weaved between peaks, following Ramses’ line to perfection. Drake experienced a little nausea as the close proximity of the mountains revealed just how high they were much more theatrically than flying across a roof of green leaves.

The lead chopper dived hard and then leveled out, still falling down the side of a vertical cliff face. Peering hard, Drake finally saw their terminus, a sprawling gray structure that sat upon a lower peak, overlooking the valley below.

“A castle,” Drake said. “The man’s full of surprises.”

Beauregard sent their own chopper hot on the heels of the first. As the castle walls grew clearer and the highest tower approached Drake saw men positioned along the battlements.

“Evade!” he shouted. “Now!”

Legionnaires fired up from below, automatic weapons chattering as Ramses landed in the small courtyard. Beau pulled hard on the cyclic stick, wrenching the chopper aside, but the combined force of gravity and heavy shells sent the helicopter into free fall. Drake gripped the sides of his seat and braced his entire body. Dahl breathed heavily. Another flurry of fire and holes appeared in the metalwork. Beau worked hard to haul up the controls, trying to bring the nose up. The engine suddenly cut out and a terrible silence filled the cockpit, accompanied by the whine of free fall.

Beau’s last movement was a shuddering heave on the cyclic stick.

Drake grimaced as the rock came up fast and the chopper crashed against the walls of the castle.