T.N - Chapter 56

I watched Charlie attempt that crazy stunt with Heathcliff, and I urged myself not to shut my eyes or to scream at them. The propellers would’ve drowned out my voice, and I could already feel the soreness in my throat from my screaming earlier. I could only watch as their hands got closer and closer, and I gripped the edge of my seat. Suddenly, the helicopter lurched towards the jeep, and Charlie nearly slipped off onto the road below. Miraculously, he stayed on, and managed to grab onto Heathcliff and haul him up. The helicopter swayed back as they climbed up the ladder. I turned to Dennis, who looked like he was having way too much fun piloting the helicopter.

“What the hell were you trying to do, you dunce?!” I yelled at him. “If it wasn’t for luck, Charlie would’ve been road kill!”

“No need to freak out at me,” said Dennis, grinning. “I managed to help them up.”

“If you do anything like that anytime soon, I will personally kill you. Get out of that pilot’s seat as soon as Charlie gets up here,” I said. “You’ve never flown a helicopter before, have you?”

“Nope,” he replied. “I learn best through experience.”

Before I could let out the string of expletives that came to my mind at the moment, my arms were suddenly pinned down and my face buried in alcoholic smelling fabric.

“Theodora darling, you’re safe!” exclaimed Heathcliff, his arms tight and rather uncomfortable around me.

“Heathcliff, what the hell have you been drinking?” I tried asking, but my question was muffled under his bear hug. From the smell of him and the singsong tone of his voice, I could tell he was very intoxicated.

“What did you say?” he asked, pulling away just enough so I could speak properly.

“I asked you what the hell you’ve been drinking. Seriously, you’re in no shape to be walking, let alone driving and climbing up a ladder into a moving helicopter!”

My scolding was cut short by gunshots, and I heard the sharp crack of a bullet meeting the helicopter’s side. Without saying a word, Kent pulled Heathcliff off of me and into the backseat beside Dennis. Without me really noticing, Charlie was back at the pilot seat.

“What’s the plan?” Charlie asked rather calmly.

“Just keep heading to the location. I think we can take care of them,” said Kent. He calmly pulled out a gun. Then another one. And another. He tossed one to me and one to Dennis, who prepped it like it was a well-rehearsed action. He saw me staring at him quizzically, and smiled.

“I’ve been in plenty of dangerous places. I need to know how to defend myself,” he said. He clambered over Heathcliff, made his way over to the door on my side of the helicopter, and with calculated precision, shot at the jeeps. I heard the burst of a tire, and a couple of shouts as men clutched their arms and vehicles spun into ditches.

I raised an eyebrow at him. “It appears you’ve had more than enough opportunities to practice,” I remarked.

“I’ll tell you all about it on the way across the Pacific Ocean,” he replied, and fired a few more shots. So far, there were no casualties caused by Dennis’s shots. “Now, your turn to try,” he said.

I looked down at my gun. A thought of Wolfgang taking that shot for me a few days ago popped up into my mind. Blood, and that dread I felt listening to his shallow and unsure breaths seeped into that image. I shook my head, and handed the revolver back to Kent. “I can’t, sorry.”

Kent looked at me at first puzzled, and then he smiled a little. “Didn’t think you would,” he said.

I heard a loud squealing of tires, and both Dennis and Kent snapped their heads to attention. I peered out of the door just in time to see a heavy armour car shoot out from behind some trees and right in front of the jeeps chasing us.