Kempt looked over at Patterson and Hook for their agreement. Both heads nodded as one.
Cardinal wiped the blood from his eyes. A lucky shot had hit the outer skin of the helicopter near his head, sending a sharp piece of metal flying across his forehead. With Yuri bobbing and weaving like a prizefighter, Cardinal had been forced to take pot shots at the attack helicopter whenever he could. He knew that it would take a miracle for him to hit the other helicopter, but that didn’t stop him from trying.
“Where is he?” asked Sam as she poked her head out the door.
“Jesus, Sam, you’re going to get your head shot off if you keep that up,” admonished Cardinal.
“Yuri’s all but blind up there,” said Sam. “I need to see for him back here.”
A couple of moments later, she spotted their opponent flying just above the ground. Then, with a sudden burst of power, it leaped up into the air and placed itself directly behind the tail rotor of their helicopter. There was nothing they could do to stop it now. Sam reached over and grasped Cardinal’s shoulder. Even with Yuri’s crazy flying, it would be only a matter of seconds before they were shot from the sky.
Mitchell gritted his teeth as he crawled up onto the roof of the vehicle. His left arm hurt like hell, but he did his best to block the pain. The only thing going for him was that McMasters wasn’t doing any better. The space on top of the truck was smaller than a boxing ring. Both men stood there, looking over at the other as if waiting for the other to make the first move.
“You’re a bloody fool, Mitchell,” said McMasters. “You know Houston’s right, but you won’t admit it.”
Mitchell shook his head. “You’re wrong, and so is he. Only one person can play God, and I think the job is already taken.”
“Have it your way.” In a flash, McMasters drew a knife from behind his back and jumped up, trying to cut the hydraulic hoses keeping the arms locked tightly around the truck.
Mitchell ran at McMasters, hitting him hard in the chest with his right shoulder, sending him tumbling down. He saw McMasters’ knife an arm’s reach away and made a move to grab it.
McMasters may have been down, but he was far from finished. He kicked out his right foot, sweeping Mitchell’s feet out from underneath him.
Pain shot down Mitchell’s wounded arm and into his back when he hit the hard metal roof. Before he could do anything, McMasters dove at him, thrust his left forearm under Mitchell’s chin and pressed down hard on his throat. Mitchell began to gasp and choke for air. It was like being slowly strangled to death by a boa constrictor. He tried to force McMasters off him, but it was no use; he was pinned beneath his opponent. Balling up his right fist, he sent it flying into the side of McMasters’ head. It was a powerful blow, but it wasn’t enough. McMasters grinned at Mitchell as he pushed down harder. Mitchell’s lungs burned for oxygen. His vision began to narrow.
He was dying.
Sam saw a black object suddenly appear from out of the clouds. It dove straight towards the attack helicopter. Her gut told her to hide. She jumped back and away from the door, pulling Cardinal with her. A second later, the thermobaric bomb exploded fifty meters above the Bo-105, in a brilliant flash of flame. The shock wave from the explosion shot downward, crumpling the attack helicopter as if it were made of paper. The searing heat from the powerful blast ignited the helicopter’s fuel tank. With a loud explosion, the Bo-105 flew apart, raining fiery debris all over the valley floor.
Inside the logging helicopter, they all felt their helicopter rise up in the air as the blast wave invisibly surged past it. Sam and Cardinal grabbed whatever they could to keep from rolling about on the floor while Yuri fought to keep his ailing helicopter in the sky. He knew it was a losing battle. He leaned forward in his seat and chose a farmer’s field in the distance as the spot he would try to put the chopper down in, if it didn’t fall apart before then.
As the blast wave shook Yuri’s helicopter, it also hit the truck hanging beneath, sending it careening wildly off to one side. Both men began to slide towards the side of the truck.
Although close to blacking out, Mitchell stuck his leg out, hoping that it would catch on one of the metal arms before they both went over the side.
Mitchell felt his leg hit something hard. He quickly wrapped his leg around it as he and McMasters flew out into the open air. His leg anchored them to the truck and kept them from falling to the ground below.
McMasters realized at the last second what was about to happen and scrambled to hold on to Mitchell’s body. He pulled his left arm from Mitchell’s throat and grabbed on to the first thing he could, Mitchell’s right arm.
Both men slammed hard into the side of the truck and hung down precariously as it flew through the air.
Mitchell let out a pained cough as he took in a deep breath. He turned his head and saw McMasters clinging onto his arm. Below them was a rock quarry dug deep into the ground.
“For God’s sake, please don’t let me fall,” pleaded McMasters as he fought to hold on to Mitchell’s arm.
McMasters was prepared to kill billions, yet when faced with his own mortality, Mitchell saw that his opponent was nothing more than a coward.
With a grimace, Mitchell brought his bloodied left arm over and sent it flying into McMasters’ face. Rage and anger surged through Mitchell. He wanted the man to pay for Maria’s death. He smashed his fist into McMasters’ face a couple more times, splitting open his lip, but the man wouldn’t let go of Mitchell’s arm. Weary and nearing the end of his strength, Mitchell reached over and grasped McMasters’ left hand. He slowly began to pry McMasters’ fingers away, one by one.
“No, please show some mercy!” screamed McMasters.
“I’ll give you the same mercy you gave Maria,” snarled Mitchell as he pulled the remaining fingers free from his jacket.
With a loud scream, McMasters fell to his death.
Mitchell took no satisfaction in killing McMasters. He was exhausted and numb inside. With a deep breath, he tried to climb back up onto the top of the truck only to find that he didn’t have the strength. He was just too tired.
The quarry quickly disappeared from sight, and a long, flat field came into view. Mitchell could feel Yuri begin to slow the helicopter as he approached for a landing. The second the truck’s tires touched the ground, Mitchell let go with his leg and tumbled down onto the wet ground, hurt but thankful to be alive.
53
The ending didn’t play out as President Kempt had planned.
After taking out the rogue attack helicopter, he ordered the two Hummers in front of Houston’s SUV to be destroyed and Houston captured. A minute later, as the vehicles sped towards a bridge over a deep gorge, the UAV dropped a laser-guided bomb onto the lead vehicle, taking it and part of the bridge out with it. The second Hummer, speeding too closely behind, went sailing into the gorge and fell two hundred meters to certain destruction. Houston’s SUV, however, was farther back and came to a sliding halt at the damaged section of the bridge.
Kempt turned to General Patterson and was about to tell him to vector the Special Forces team onto Houston’s location when a Land Rover came charging down the road like an enraged beast and slammed hard into the back of Houston’s SUV. The front two tires of the SUV were forced out into the jagged opening on the bridge. Before anyone could react, the Rover backed up and then sped straight into the back of the SUV, tipping it over the edge of the hole.
Kempt stood there with his mouth open as a woman stood up in the Rover and waved up at the UAV’s cameras. She took a bow and then jumped back behind the wheel of her vehicle. He watched in disbelief as the Rover drove straight back off the bridge, turned around and headed onto a trail in the woods.