Chapter 33
|
The deafening roar of the helicopter’s chain gun tore through the night, ripping massive chunks of granite from the boulder protecting Elena. The sheer concussive force of the high-caliber rounds shook the ground beneath her boots. Dust and pulverized stone filled the air, suffocating and blinding.
"They have her pinned down!" a mercenary shouted from the muddy road below. "Move in and secure the perimeter!"
Elena remained curled tightly against the diminishing rock cover, her mind racing. She couldn't fight an armored gunship with a submachine gun. She needed to break the spotlight's lock, or the advancing ground troops would flank her within seconds.
She grabbed the flashbang grenade, pulled the pin, and threw it blindly over the top of the boulder directly into the path of the helicopter’s blinding searchlight.
The grenade detonated mid-air with a brilliant, blinding crack. The intense burst of light temporarily overloaded the helicopter’s thermal and visual optics. The pilot cursed over the loudspeakers, the massive gunship swaying erratically as the pilot lost his visual anchor.
It was the only window Elena was going to get.
She broke cover, sprinting desperately through the muddy, rain-slicked forest, dodging wildly between the thick trunks of ancient pine trees as the ground troops opened fire. Bullets snapped the branches around her head, but her erratic, tactical movement kept her one step ahead of the lethal crossfire.
She raced toward the steep embankment leading down to the roaring river. She could hear the heavy boots of the mercenaries pursuing her through the underbrush. She reached the edge of the cliff, the muddy river raging thirty feet below in the freezing darkness.
"There she is! Take the shot!" a mercenary yelled from the tree line just a few yards behind her.
Elena didn't hesitate. She threw her arms over her head and dove blindly off the cliff, plummeting through the icy rain.
She hit the freezing, turbulent water with a bone-jarring impact. The extreme cold instantly stole the breath from her lungs, the violent current dragging her under. She fought against the powerful undertow, her heavy tactical armor weighing her down like an anchor.
May you like
Bullets pierced the surface of the water around her, leaving trails of white bubbles in the dark river, but the chaotic current rapidly pulled her away from the kill zone.
Elena kicked her boots hard against a submerged rock, breaching the surface just long enough to gasp a lungful of freezing air before the rapids pulled her down again, carrying her violently into the heart of the unforgiving mountain wilderness.
