Lilburn used the opportunity to let himself fall to the ground. Instead of a graceful dismount, the cold and physical exertion had drained his strength and seized his muscles. He fell like a sack of potatoes, barely able to roll clear and lie between the skids. The fuselage with its red rotating beacon light stopped its descent a foot or so from his face. He breathed a sigh of relief and placed a hand above his head to shield his eyes from the glare of the strobe light.
Moments later, the helicopter wound down. A set of legs emerged followed closely by the unmistakable barrel of a rifle. Someone yelled out. Lilburn reached for his side arm, not taking his sight off the person with the rifle. A movement from the opposite side managed to attract his attention. Another pair of legs, then something large landed heavily. A woman’s voice yelled out in anger and pain.
“You fucking asshole! Aargh. Christ, I could have gotten out without your help. Prick!”
Lilburn brought his weapon around, two hands on the grip. The light showed the back of a woman with long blonde hair inches away. Her arm flailed out as she sought to sit upright and smacked into him. Realizing someone was lying beside her, the woman barely hesitated before yelling out that she had to get up and turn the damn lights off. She kept up a string of abuse while pushing herself off the ground. Lilburn knew this was one gutsy lady, and she was playing the game like a pro.
“Yeah, good on you, buddy. You don’t need to point that shotgun at me. I can see you have a gun. Creep.”
Kate switched the navigation lights off. Thanks to her commentary, Lilburn knew there was one man to his left, with a shotgun, so the other one, with the rifle, must be on his right. Moving back towards the rear of the fuselage, where the tail boom joined, Lilburn positioned himself awkwardly into a crouch. He could still hear the woman shouting, giving him a running commentary.
“Hey you, the other side of the chopper. Who’re you going off to shoot now, tough guy? Leave your little mate over here with me — you think he’s up to handling a real woman?”
Bashir grabbed Kate by the hair and pulled her towards him. “Shut up, bitch!”
Kate tried to grab his hand and relieve some of the pressure of her hair being pulled but Bashir threw her to the ground, where she sprawled on her chest and thighs. Raising her upper body up with her arms she turned to look at her attacker aiming the shotgun right at her. “Come on then, you piece of shit, go on, kill me. Yeah, I’m giving you permission. You ever killed a girl before?” Kate snatched the quickest of looks towards Lilburn. She could make him out crouching down and it looked as if he had a weapon in his hands. Kate needed to keep Bashir’s attention. “Yeah, go on, take a good look. You must be real proud, taking on a woman.”
Bomani moved around the front of the helicopter.
“Oh, even better,” Kate remarked. “Now I have the two of you around here. What now, a gangbang?”
Bomani spat on the ground. “Bashir, do you have the virus?”
“It’s still on the seat in the bag.”
“Go and bring it here.”
Kate watched as the older man approached her.
“Turn around and I will make your death quick and painless.” Bomani’s voice was cold and precise. Kate froze, not even moving a muscle as the killer placed his rifle on the ground and then produced something in his hand. The starlight was just enough to make out the shape of a knife.
Bashir turned away to retrieve the remaining two cans of virus… and saw Matt. His heart thumped in his chest as he brought the shotgun around. It was a gunfight he could not hope to win. He knew it in the seconds he had to live. Those few seconds dragged out in slow motion. It was as if he could see the bullets leave the other man’s gun and travel towards him. Life had been short, too short. Where did I go wrong? What should I…
Bashir Zuabi fell face forward, his knees hardly even bending. The shotgun plowed barrel first into the ground, before toppling over and coming to a rest beside his quivering body. Kate sat motionless, staring at her first dead man.
The shots came as a surprise to Bomani. A surprise it may have been, a shock it wasn’t. He let the knife fall from his hand as he wheeled back around and dove towards the ground where his rifle lay. The movement was instinctive… once the weapon was in his hands he would already know what his next actions were going to be.
Bomani hit the ground hard and fast with the front of his body. Stretching himself out, his hands scrambled for then wrestled with the rifle. Rolling over and over, head up, arms stretched above his head, he pointed the barrel in the direction from where he assessed the attack would come. He had heard two shots in quick succession, a semi-auto weapon — able to fire as fast as you could pull the trigger. He only had a bolt-action rifle, it took longer to reload. By the time he finished rolling, Bomani had already decided not to stand his ground, but to fire one round then retreat to cover.
Lilburn didn’t have enough time to pull the barrel of his pistol down fast enough to take aim at the man flying through the air. Instead he fired intuitively. Pulling the trigger twice, he also rolled away from his firing position. Both men missed.
Bomani kept up a fluid motion, coming out of his roll onto a knee, then sprinted past the front of the helicopter and into the starlit night.
Lilburn rose to a crouch, looking for the opportunity of a shot but his target skillfully used the helicopter to block his view. He ran to the front of the machine but the man had disappeared. He approached the pilot, who was still on the ground. “You OK?”
“I’ve been better. What the hell is this all about?”
“Later.” Lilburn had something more pressing to do. The doors of the helicopter remained open, he jumped up into the front, searching the seats and on the floor. Nothing. Looking through to the rear there looked as if there was an object on one of the seats. He extended an arm. The object felt like a nylon bag with something solid inside.
Outside on the grass, Lilburn unzipped the bag. Inside were two spray cans. He gave a sigh of relief. The virus was now in his hands, one of his questions answered. Instantly he was on the defensive — there was an armed and dangerous terrorist somewhere out there in the dark, who knew exactly where he, the pilot and the virus were. Not good… definitely not good.
“Follow me.” Lilburn pulled the pilot to her feet, none too gently. “We have to get away from here.”
“Where are we going?”
Lilburn, with the bag slung over one shoulder, the Sig Sauer in his hand, ignored her, watching the darkness.
“Whoa, hold your horses. Hey, mister…” Kate slipped; it was only Lilburn’s hold on her arm that stopped her from falling. “Jesus. You know, I can fly us out of here.”
Lilburn carried on. Kate had no choice but to follow, her upper arm gripped by an iron fist.
Finally he spoke. “That man hasn’t gone far and he’s coming after us. We hop in the chopper and he’ll shoot us clean out of the sky.”
“And what makes you think he’s not hightailing it out of here?”
“I’ve got something he wants real bad.”
“And let me think… It’s not me.”
“You’re so right, sweetheart. It’s not you. Now stop talking — I want to listen.”
The countryside was still. In the distance an owl hooted. Kate, free of Lilburn’s grip, placed a hand over her heart. “My heart is just about jumping out of my chest!”
“Sshh.”
The roar of a rifle being discharged close by confirmed Lilburn’s thoughts: he was now the hunted. A second loud discharge followed and a bullet winged its way past. There was no need to coax Kate to move; she started running after the first shot. Lilburn caught up then matched her speed. The ground was flat and running was easy, even at night. Hiding was a bit more difficult. Lilburn told Kate to slow down. “Looks like a fence line up ahead.”