The helijet would enter from his left, winding through the valley in a laughable attempt to conceal its presence. But information was rarely secure anymore. Soon after a lock was built, there was a pick to open it. It was the way of the world.
“I hear sound.” Reid edged away from the precipice, as the sky lightened from black to gray. When he rose, he’d be targeted. Only the sky suit could protect him, then. Lightweight, durable, temperature-
controlled and, best of all, bulletproof. As long as they didn’t throw a mag bomb his way, he’d be fine.
“Got your back, LT.”
“Yep.” They’d worked together too long for Reid to doubt it. The helijet hit his sight just as the sky lightened to a dark purple. Here at the top of the mountains, dawn was arriving quick.
“Just think, all those questions you have, you can ask in person in five . . .”
Reid rose, glancing at his watch and calculating as the jet flew closer, the bottom propellers not quite silent in the still morning air. “Four . . .”
Slightly faster than the jet, the sun peeked over the mountains, sending sparks of color to bloom across the landscape. “Three . . .”
The helijet hit the chosen point of reference, and Reid ran for the edge of the precipice. “Two . . .”
With each approaching step, he saw farther down the opposite mountain, the dark trees turning emerald, the wildflowers making an appearance as light splashed across them. His foot hit the last step. “One.”
Reid launched into the air, his hands out, his feet together, his long body arching with the pressure of the wind. Straight down, the winding river gleamed a polished silver before his vision went black. Reid reached forward and made contact with the black jet. His gloves latched onto the smooth surface and he used his arms to guide himself over the side. Once he set his feet and had one hand wrapped around the outside handle, he pulled a retractable tool from his belt, zapped the door-lock, and released the tool to wind itself back to his belt. Moments later, he slid through the open door and faced the occupants. The pilot was safe, his emergency eject options in place. Dr Josiah Cross, his target. But when Reid’s gaze clashed with wide, shocked, green eyes, the mission went to hell.
“Airborne 81, Dr Cross. This jet will explode in forty-five seconds.”
Without hesitation, Dr Cross pushed his daughter into Reid’s arms. “Take her.”
“Father, no—”
Reid held her struggling form just so she wouldn’t push him out of the jet. “Sir, my orders—”
“Don’t matter,” Cross snapped. The old man bent forward and grabbed a small case, unlocked his door and glanced at his daughter. “Nothing matters if I lose you, too, Jessica.”
Jessica hesitated, meeting her father’s gaze, and Reid was finally able to loosen his hold.
“Take this.” Reid handed him a foam pellet, pressing it into the old man’s hands. “Don’t let go. You will be guided down. Mike, status ‘Go’.”
Cross nodded and Reid strapped Jessica’s back to his front. She grabbed a large purse from the seat and he tried not to roll his eyes at the feminine habit. “Just make sure they’re zipped and tucked very close to your body.”
“Of course.”
They assumed position at the doors. “Nice meeting you, Dr Cross. See you at the bottom.”
“I love you, Daddy.”
The old man nodded at them both, a strange glint in his eye, and then they jumped. Reid held Jessica’s ankles together with his, falling with his back toward the ground. Above them, the jet disappeared in just seconds. The pilot wouldn’t have long to eject, but he needed to get the jet away from them before he did.
Reid curved his body around Jessica and guided them into position, their gazes now pointed at the swiftly approaching ground. She gripped his forearms against her chest, her fingernails hitting right at the split between his suit and his gloves. At least she wasn’t screaming.
Reid released his wings: long, thin blades sewn into the back of his suit and magnetically controlled by his gloves. “Mike?”
“Got him in two . . .”
Slowed now, with his wings deployed, Reid looked to his right and slightly down to see Dr Cross become enveloped in a sphere of foam. Those tiny pellets had saved his own life more than once, though the foam they produced disintegrated quickly when deployed in the air. The doc would have only a few minutes before he had to land.
“One.” Mike latched onto the top of the sphere, deploying his own wings almost immediately.
Reid’s arms moved with the inhale of air his passenger finally took. The good doc wasn’t completely safe yet, though. “Got him?”
“All good,” Mike replied.
“Split in three.”
“Two,” Mike’s voice came back.
“One,” they said together, arching to opposite sides of the river. If the attackers needed proof of Dr Cross’s death, they would have to split their own forces to figure out which of them had the old man.
Hopefully. Every mission was planned with contingencies for anything that might go wrong, but no one could plan for absolutely everything.
Like the forceful wave of heat that washed over them as the helijet exploded.
Two
The ground rushed toward Jessica’s face, stinging her eyes and playing havoc with her intestinal fortitude.
Any second, they would land, and the only semblance of safety was the strength in the arms of the stranger holding her. The calm assurance in his voice as he spoke to his partner. The unflinching determination she’d glimpsed in his eyes just before her father had thrown her toward him. It wasn’t enough.
She’d never done anything like this before. She didn’t even go on the kiddie jumps at amusement parks.
She worked in a high-rise building, looking down from the balcony outside her office calmly and comfortably, knowing all the safety features that went into it. But there was no safety here. Screams built in her head, in her throat, and the only thing that kept them from coming out was the force of the air choking her whenever she opened her mouth.
Jessica gripped the stranger’s wrist tighter and tighter the closer the ground came. Then it was there, and his longer legs were hopping along to slow them down while she raised her knees as far as she could to her chest. If anything was going to break, let it be him first, please, God. She squeezed her eyes shut, still screaming inside her head with each jarring bounce.
“Mike?” His voice sounded in her ear, irritatingly calm.
Barely loud enough for her to catch came the response, “We’re good, LT.”
“Good. Silence until rendezvous.”
“Yes, sir.”
Silence and dizziness overwhelmed her.
Jessica blinked her eyes open. When had they sat on the ground? Was her father okay? When would the earth quit moving? Oh, God, she wanted to vomit. His calm voice as he spoke to whoever didn’t help in the least. The fact that he held her upright, her back still to his chest, his legs bracing either side of hers and his arms locked tight around her – that did help. Kind of. At least something was still.
She swallowed a few times before she could let any sound out. “Dad?”
“He’s fine, sweetheart. They’ve landed safely and shall be heading north to our rendezvous point. You can see him for yourself once we get there.”
“Doctor.” She wasn’t a “sweetheart”, no matter how gently it was said. She was a fully accredited doctor, with a PhD and everything, damn it. She wasn’t some adrenaline junkie who needed to defy death just to feel alive. And she would damn well set him straight on that as soon as she quit quaking from head to toe and wanting to vomit with every breath.