Episode 15
The anti-aircraft flares exploded outside the windows, painting the cabin in blinding strobes of magnesium white and sulfur yellow. The helicopter lurked and shuddered, dropping like a stone as the pilot pulled a desperate evasion maneuver.
Inside, the gravity momentarily reversed. Julian and Leo floated off their seats for one agonizing second before slamming hard against the metal ceiling, then crashing back down to the floor as the aircraft leveled out.
The masked soldier, caught off balance, stumbled backward. His assault rifle slipped from his grip, clattering across the vibrating floorplates.
"Now, Juju!" Leo shrieked.
Julian didn't hesitate. With his wrists still bound tightly by the heavy plastic zip-ties, he threw his entire body weight forward. He slid across the metal floor, using his crossed, bound arms like a battering ram, slamming them directly into the soldier's shins. The mercenary yelled out as his legs swept out from under him, his heavy tactical gear crashing into the bulkheads.
Julian scrambled up, desperate, his eyes scanning the dark floor for the fallen rifle. But before his bound hands could reach it, the cabin speakers erupted with a deafening, metallic screech.
“Warning! Missile lock! Break left! Break—”
BOOM.
The shockwave of a near-miss detonated just yards from the tail rotor. The blast ripped through the rear of the helicopter, tearing away a chunk of the fuselage. The closed bay door was sheared off entirely, exposing the cabin to the roaring, freezing night air at ten thousand feet.
The sudden decompression created a violent vacuum. Dust, loose gear, and the rugged tablet were instantly sucked out into the empty sky.
The soldier, struggling to stand, was dragged toward the yawning, open void. He managed to claw his fingers into a structural web strap, hanging on for dear life as his legs dangled out over the twinkling abyss of the ocean below.
Julian grabbed Leo by the waist, locking his legs around a bolted-down passenger bench, anchoring them both as the freezing wind whipped through the cabin at a hundred miles per hour. The noise was absolute—a roaring, deafening hurricane of engine whine, rushing air, and the wail of the cockpit alarms.
Through the open doorway, the dark silhouette of one of the unmarked fighter jets roared past, less than fifty feet away, its massive engines leaving a trail of blue fire in the clouds.
Suddenly, the cockpit door burst open. The co-pilot ran into the cabin, a smoking pistol in his hand, his face pale with absolute panic. He didn't look at the dangling soldier or at Julian. He looked directly at Leo.
"The Board ordered a purge!" the co-pilot screamed over the roar of the wind, raising the pistol, aiming straight for the nine-year-old boy. "If we can't deliver the asset, no one gets it!"
BANG!
A shot echoed through the cabin, but it didn't come from the co-pilot's gun.
A heavy, jagged piece of metal debris—torn from the disintegrating tail assembly—flew straight through the open bay door, striking the co-pilot squarely in the chest. The force lifted him off his feet, throwing his lifeless body out into the empty sky. His pistol fell, sliding across the blood-slicked metal floor, stopping exactly between Julian's knees.
Julian looked down at the gun. His hands were still bound in front of him. He looked at Leo, whose eyes were wide, staring at the open door, the flashing lights of the trailing fighter jets closing in like wolves.
The helicopter was spiraling out of control, the pilot dead or incapacitated, dropping fast toward the dark, freezing waters of the international sea below. The soldier was still clinging to the strap, slowly pulling himself back into the cabin, his gloved hand reaching for a backup sidearm.
Julian jammed his bound hands together, picking up the fallen pistol, his fingers shaking against the cold steel. He pointed it at the advancing soldier, then looked back at the open door, where the clouds were rushing upward at terminal velocity.
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They were falling. The jets were closing in to finish them off. The soldier was recovering. And the black ocean below was rising to swallow them whole.
Julian sipped a desperate breath of freezing air, his finger tightening on the trigger as the helicopter plunged into a thick, blinding bank of fog, completely cutting off the light of the world.
