Avenged (Altered #2)(58)

She needed to stop that. She’d had enough of that defeatist thinking in her life. Don’t fight back. Don’t cause conflict.

Well, not anymore.

She had to think. She could do this.

Glancing back, she caught sight of Fields watching them leave. From fifty feet away, she could feel his relief. Good luck managing her, Ahmed.

With a jolt, she understood. He was happy to see her go.

He was afraid of her.

Empowered, she smiled at him, and his face sobered. She almost laughed.

Around him, five of his changed soldiers stood guard. If she moved, they’d fight back. She couldn’t control all of them. If she added Ahmed’s goons to Fields’s goons, well, that was more than she could manage. That meant she would need to wait until she was in the helicopter to take on Ahmed and his entourage. There were only four of them.

She bided her time.

She dragged her feet going toward the chopper, using the extra moments to scan the helicopter pad. There had to be something here. Something she could use.

Panic made her heart race in her chest, so fast her breathing quickened. The predator who had taken her was larger than the one she’d left. She needed to push that aside for now. She’d never be able to do this if she worried about what would happen if she failed.

As she delayed, the guards around the helicopter pad turned. Some even braced themselves, their hands going to the guns at their waists and backs. She paused, this time not as a stall tactic, but out of curiosity.

From the east, two helicopters banked over the trees. She hadn’t heard them over the chaos in her head.

The guards at her side tensed, looking up. In front of her, Ahmed and his assistant dove into the helicopter, and Ahmed started yelling instructions to the pilot.

This was her chance.

She reached out to her guards. She told one he couldn’t move. The other, the man with the key to the briefcase cuffs, she told him to give her the key. They struggled against her wishes, but she concentrated on them, forcing them to do what she wanted.

A moment later, the key was in her hand and the guards were on the ground on their stomachs.

She spun, running toward the helicopter, her hands still bound together. Around her, others began to run, some scurrying for cover, others moving toward higher ground. None of it swayed her. She only had eyes for that helicopter.

As she closed the distance, Ahmed barked orders at the pilot, who worked frantically, flipping switches and adjusting dials. Kitty reached out to him, telling him to stop. The helicopter runners bounced back onto the tarmac as she dove into the chopper.

Ahmed leaped forward, though, pushing the pilot aside and forcing the lever that controlled the chopper up. The aircraft swept into the sky.

She lost control of the pilot as she hung out of the helicopter. Her legs dangled, half in and half out, her hands bound together. Her stomach dropped as the wind whipped at her. She couldn’t get a grip, couldn’t pull herself in. She struggled, swinging her legs, even as she slid farther off the side.

There was only air below her.

She couldn’t hold on. She’d fall to her death here, now, after everything that had happened to her.

Unwittingly, her thoughts went to Nick. Loss threatened to paralyze her.

Her eyes met Ahmed’s assistant as he debated whether to help her or not. Perhaps she is meant to fall. This is dangerous enough without her.

Immediately, he shook his head. Ahmed wants the girl. She must come. Reaching forward, he grasped her wrist, and she used his leverage to hoist herself into the cabin of the chopper.

As she lay on the floor, heaving, the assistant bent over her and shouted, “Are you well?” His concern appeared authentic. She didn’t believe it. She’d heard his thoughts before. He was no good guy.

One hand was on her back, the other hung lose in front of her with the suitcase attached.

She nodded. You can’t move.

He knelt in front of her, frozen. Only his eyes moved, rolling around in his head.

She glanced past him to where Ahmed argued with the pilot. Working quickly, she twisted the key in the handcuffs. The lock clicked open, and the shackle fell off the assistant’s wrist. She gripped the suitcase handle in her hands. She had it. All the information.

Now what?

The entire exchange had taken only a minute, but it was long enough. They were at least ten floors up and climbing.

Maybe she could force the pilot to land again.

The wind whipped her hair as she glanced out the open side of the craft. The height made her dizzy, made her belly drop a bit. But that wasn’t what made her feel like she couldn’t breathe.

Below her, Nick stood on the helicopter pad, staring up at her. He was here.

She didn’t want to consider the anguish on his face, what it must look like to watch her fly away. Instead, she shifted and leaped backward out of the helicopter.

She told the pilot, Fly the helicopter into the ground. Into the ground.

Even as she fell, she watched the nose of the aircraft tilt forward, toward the trees. She continued her litany, Go down. Go down.

The wind was worse in free fall. Her stomach…it felt like riding a roller coaster but much, much faster. She wanted to scream, but she tamped down on her terror, spinning in the air to face Nick.

Ahmed’s helicopter crashed into the neighboring trees, and the force blew her to the side, knocking the wind out of her.

It didn’t matter. Nick was below her.