by Dale Mayer
“No, they went out silently in the night, as they always do,” Levi said.
Ice went through her preflight operating checklist, listening for the natural rhythm of the rotors as they started up, and, when she was ready, she looked at Levi and said, “It’s time.”
“Let’s go.”
On that note, she lifted the helicopter into the air and headed through the night sky toward her destination.
“I don’t like anything about this,” she announced a few moments later.
“Neither do I. I’m also concerned about sabotage once we get there. It would be typical of a new government to try and take out somebody who had helped the old government.”
She was glad Bullard was there ahead of them, but they hadn’t heard anything since Bullard left, and that wasn’t cool. As they flew toward the destination, Ice looked at him and said, “Have you had confirmation from Bullard yet?”
He shook his head. “Not yet,” he said. “Let me check in with Stone.”
Stone’s voice filled the comm. “No communication. He’s on blackout, but I’ve got him on satellite.”
“And all is well?” Ice asked.
“All is well,” he said. “They’re ten minutes out from their destination.”
She nodded and said, “He should have been there already, shouldn’t he?”
“He wanted to be in the air in fifteen, but it was actually twenty-five. Don’t worry. He gave his men some pretty good razzing about being slow.”
“I highly doubt they were slow,” she said. “He runs a tight ship.”
“He does, at that,” Stone said. “Anyway, I can’t see anybody on the ground.”
“What about coming up from the south?” Levi asked.
“Nothing yet.”
“Are they flying in?”
“We’re meeting at an airstrip, so that makes more sense.”
Ice thought about it and said, “We’re just inside the Mexican border though. That’s a pretty old airstrip. It’s not even used anymore.”
“But it’s still viable,” Stone said. “And don’t forget. We didn’t set up the location—they did.”
“Right.” She gave a worried glance to Levi, who just nodded.
“We’ll handle whatever they throw at us.”
A few minutes later, Stone came online and said, “Bullard is down safe and sound. His men are spread out and in position.”
She let out her breath with Levi watching her and said, “It’s good to know we have backup.”
He nodded and said, “Bullard is a good man.”
“He is,” she said neutrally. It was not a bone between them but a name. Sure, if something happened to Levi, then maybe she would go to Bullard … eventually. It would take her a long time to get over the loss of Levi. But it also helped to know she had a friend willing to help her deal with her loss. But it wasn’t something she ever wanted to experience.
She flew quietly, her senses coming alive the closer they got. “My gut doesn’t like this.”
“Neither does mine,” Levi said. “What do you want to do?”
She frowned, thought about it and then leaned over and clicked on a few buttons, arming her weapons. She heard him suck in his breath.
“That bad?”
She nodded. “It feels that bad. I don’t know what’s going on, but something is.”
Just then they got a communication from Bullard. “Bogey in the sky coming in from the south. Watch your back.”
She nodded, dropped the helicopter to the treetops and turned to face whatever was coming. Already lined up, she locked on and fired at a rocket racing toward them. Seeing a clearing, she dropped farther down. As soon as they hit the ground, she told Levi, “Go.”
The prisoners were out with Brandon and Levi holding weapons on them. Levi turned, looked back at her and said, “You stay here and wait.”
“We’ll see,” she said. “But you know one thing for sure—I’ve got your back.”
*
Levi hated to leave her behind, but he had done so on missions many, many times. And seeing the missile shortly thereafter didn’t help. Moving stealthily through the trees, the four prisoners at their side were not given a choice but to march forward. Gagged under their hoods, handcuffed and tied together, it was all they could do to avoid tripping in the darkness.
With them held back, Levi inched forward on his own, trying to see what exactly they were facing. This would probably turn into an absolute shitstorm very quickly, and he only had Brandon with him. He tapped his comm to make sure Bullard was standing by. When a responding tap came back, he knew Bullard was there.
“ETA?” Bullard asked.
He checked his watch. “Four minutes.” He crept forward a little closer to see just what was going on at the airstrip. He saw a plane with two men standing and waiting. There was no sign of Ice, and the rest of the airfield appeared to be deserted.
As he watched, her helicopter rose in the air and came around, heading toward the airstrip. She was alone, and he had the prisoners. How the hell would that work?
She came down and landed behind the plane. He smirked at that. In case another missile was out there with the helicopter’s name on it, she would make sure the plane went too. As soon as she landed, Levi and Brandon moved the prisoners forward to the edge of the airstrip. The two men from the plane headed to the helicopter. Ice hopped out with both a handgun and a rifle. The men stopped, and sharp words were exchanged. She motioned toward the plane.
Levi stepped onto the tarmac alone and called out. The men pivoted and moved toward him. He lifted the end of his rifle to hold it on them.
Their steps slowed, but they glared at him, and one man said, “Where are our men?”
Levi motioned behind him. “We’ve got them here.”
“No double-cross,” the other man snapped.
“Nope,” Levi said, “no double-cross. Yet you tried to blow up our helicopter a few minutes ago. And, if it wasn’t for our pilot, you would have taken us all out,” he said, his voice cool, “including your own men.”
Just then more men came from the far side of the plane and from inside the plane. Suddenly twenty men faced Levi, all armed. He held the rifle on the two original men in front of him, but he and Brandon were no match for the firepower they now faced.
“I thought you said no double-cross,” Levi said, studying the numbers. With Bullard, they were still well ahead of the game, but it wouldn’t be pretty or easy.
“We want our prisoners,” one of the men snapped, as the others glared at Levi and nodded in agreement.
Levi lowered his gun and motioned for the prisoners to move forward. The prisoners walked into the group and were surrounded by their men. All four men took blows that dropped them to their knees. Levi stared, his heart sinking and his gut twisting. “Are you going to kill them?”
“They failed,” the man said. “We don’t accept failure here.”
Levi nodded. “Got it. Where’s your boss?” As he looked, one of the generals stepped from the airplane. He raised a hand in greeting and inclined his head.
“Is this the way you do business?” Levi asked.
The general smiled. “You were doing business with our government,” he said, “and it’s no longer the government’s wish to continue said business.”
“Have you successfully completed the coup?” Levi asked, half curious, half willing Bullard to be taking notes.
“We have,” he said cheerfully. “Guatemala is now under military rule.”
Levi backed up several steps. “Good,” he said, “good luck with that.”
He kept his voice neutral as he kept backing up. At his side, Brandon backed up too. Just then, all the men raised their rifles and aimed at them. Levi stopped, smiled and said, “So are you planning on killing us too?”
The general nodded. “Sorry, but we aren’t leaving anybody alive who had knowledge of any of this.”
“I see,” Levi said, his tone neutral.
> A single shot surprised them all.
But not Levi.
The men spun, looking to see where it had come from, weapons up as they scattered.
Levi watched as a red spot formed in the center of the general’s forehead, and he collapsed down the airplane’s steps. Soldiers raced to their fallen leader.
Helicopter rotors swirled, and Levi already knew the weapons on Ice’s helicopter would be armed. He turned to Brandon and said, “Be ready.”
Brandon studied his face, then looked at the helicopter, his gaze going to the weaponry, and he nodded. “Sure hope she’s good with that thing.”
“She’s divine with that thing.”
With the soldiers again surrounding them, holding up plenty of weaponry to keep them in place, Levi held up three fingers on both hands.
Three.
Two.
One.
They both dropped to the ground as machine-gun fire ripped through the air, taking out every one of the men standing close to them.
Chapter 12
Ice and Levi had perfected that play a long time ago, and Ice was damn glad it still worked. She couldn’t be sure she had gotten them all, but she figured Levi could finish off the final few she hadn’t. Besides, she wasn’t done. She turned the machine guns on the plane and took aim at an engine and a fuel tank. If there was one thing she wanted to make sure of, it was that nobody in this group went home. This would stop here and now.
Just then, more gunfire erupted in the trees around her. She watched as Levi and Brandon hopped to their feet and ran to the trees. She swore because she really wanted them to come to her so she could pick them up, but she knew Bullard was out there with his men.
She had no idea how many others had joined in the fight. Just as she debated whether it was worth pulling back and hitting the skies again, she saw Levi and Brandon walking toward her. They were walking with six other men. They were all armed but walking relaxed. She studied the men but didn’t recognize them. She reloaded her weapons, looking for a signal from Levi that he was a prisoner. Instead he reached up and gave her an okay sign plus a thumbs-up. She didn’t believe him. She grabbed her rifle, stepped to the open door and pointed at the group.
Their footsteps slowed. “Ice,” Levi said, “these are the good guys.”
“They’re not any good guys I recognize,” she said, her voice hard.
“Correct. However, the Guatemalan government still stands, and apparently we have their eternal gratitude for having taken out one problematic general.”
Her mind quickly worked around what had just happened, and then she nodded. “In other words, that coup wasn’t successful?”
“Exactly,” he said. “And Bullard met up with them here, after Stone got hold of the government. So they’ll take possession of the plane and the rest of the bodies and make sure everything here is cleaned up.”
“The plane may not fly anymore,” she said apologetically.
The men nodded as they studied the bullet-strewn front. “Maybe you’ve missed the fuel line,” one of the men said hopefully.
She shrugged. “Maybe. I didn’t want to use up all my ammunition.”
The men nodded respectfully.
Just then she watched as another group came toward them. “Anybody hurt?” she asked Levi, keeping her gaze on the approaching group.
“Doesn’t look like it.” Levi glanced at the newcomers. “It’s Bullard’s crew coming now.”
And, with a strong walk, his shoulders back, facing forward, Bullard strode rapidly toward her, his men with him. She counted everybody, looked at Bullard and said, “Everybody okay?”
He nodded. “Another half dozen in the bush aren’t okay, but that’s because they’re all with the wrong group.”
“Good,” she said. “Glad to have that done with. Now let’s get our asses home.”
The local men stopped, looked at Levi and said, “We need to see if this plane flies.”
“Have you got a pilot with you?” Ice asked.
They shook their heads. “No, looks like our pilot’s injured.”
“Can you fly another pilot in?”
They shook their heads.
She groaned, looked over at Levi and said, “What do you want to do?”
“We can take it back,” Bullard said. “I have two pilots with me.”
She glanced at him and said, “You’ll be another six to eight hours then.”
“I know,” he said. He turned to look at his men. “Volunteers?” Four men stepped forward. He said, “Go start up the plane and see if it’ll fly.” They went in and got to work. Nothing remained of interest inside the plane, and then suddenly the front props turned. The plane shifted forward slightly, but it appeared to be fine. One of Bullard’s men came out and said, “She’ll fly just fine.”
The rest of the men grinned and loaded up. Bullard looked at Ice and said, “I’ll wait for my men. They’ll drop them across the border. I’ll follow, pick up my guys and come back.”
“Fuel?”
He nodded. “I’ll fuel up too.”
“So you’ll be back home in eight hours?”
He nodded. “Promise. Don’t get married without me.”
*
Levi almost laughed at the look on her face because Bullard’s last shot had brought back all the memories again. He hopped into the helicopter with Brandon and said, “Come on. Let’s go home.”
Ice gave him a look, but he just grinned at her. With the plane heading down the runway, and tired, weary, but grateful this was over with and that none of theirs died tonight, she turned her helicopter home. It shouldn’t be too long a flight as long as the winds kept in their favor. Luckily it was a straight flight home.
By the time she finally arrived, she was exhausted. She pulled up, lowered the machine onto the landing pad and powered off the engines. She sat here for a long moment, and then Levi reached out, gripped her hand and said, “Come on. Let’s go to bed.”
Brandon took that moment to leave them alone.
She looked at Levi, nodded and said, “I need to prep the helicopter for next time.”
“No,” he said, “tonight you’ll sleep.”
She gave him a wan smile. “As long as we’ve got a team to do it in the morning. If anything happens …”
“I’ll make sure of it,” he said. She smiled and scrambled to the ground. As she stood, he wrapped an arm around her for a long moment, then urged her forward.
She was so tired and dirty that, when she stepped into the shower, she didn’t even hear that he was there with her. His arms went around her and just held her close. She wrapped her arms around him, laid her head against his chest, and that’s how the two of them stood under the hot spray.
“Come on to bed,” he said. “You’re exhausted.”
“I am, and I don’t even know why.” Wrapping a towel around herself, she stumbled to bed, curled up under the covers and fell asleep.
Levi wondered himself. She hadn’t been herself lately—tired, a little bit cranky and upset. And the wedding hadn’t seemed to be the right thing to make her happy. At least not the way it had happened. It was a public issue when she had probably wanted to just go somewhere quiet and get married on their own. He hadn’t even thought about that, but it was something he should have considered. With that in mind, he was getting into bed himself when Stone called.
“Problems?” he asked, walking to the intercom at the doorway.
“No,” Stone said, “just checking in that all’s okay. Ice looked pretty rough.”
“She’s tired,” Levi said, studying the woman he loved as she slept deeply. “She’s worn out. It’s been a stressful couple days.”
“I’m changing places now with Flynn,” Stone said, his own voice rough. “I’m crashing myself.”
“Thanks for watching our backs out there,” Levi said.
“As always,” Stone said, “and, just to let you know, Rhodes is doing fine too.”
Levi said, “I
assumed so when we didn’t hear anything different. Over and out until morning.”
Back in bed, he wrapped his arms around Ice and pulled her close. He whispered against her hair and said, “You need sleep. Tomorrow’s your wedding day.”
She murmured and mumbled something unintelligible and snuggled up against him.
He smiled and whispered to himself, “It’s also your wedding day, Levi. Get some sleep.”
He closed his eyes and crashed.
Chapter 13
Ice woke the next morning, tired and sore. She got up, headed to the bathroom and checked her clock to realize she’d slept late. It was eight-thirty already, and Levi was still crashed beside her. Her hair was still damp from last night’s shower, so she quickly braided it.
As she went to leave the washroom, she stopped, grabbed the box, pulled out the little stick and followed the instructions. She set it on the counter as she brushed her teeth and went through her morning ablutions. Keeping her eyes averted, she dressed before finally she picked it up, and her heart froze.
Positive.
She’d known inside already, but somehow she had let herself ignore the signs. But now … Of course now she knew her father had already understood. She stuffed the stick back into the box and shoved the box right to the end of the drawer, almost numb, and definitely incapable of dealing with the news.
She walked downstairs. When she walked through the kitchen, she saw not quite a full convent of their crew but almost. She looked around, surprised to see Levi there too. “When did you get up?” she asked.
He shrugged. “You were taking too long in the bathroom, so I came straight down.”
In her heart, she wondered if that was providence, giving her a lucky break, because she’d been worried about what to say to him. As it was, she wouldn’t say anything. There was no privacy or time. She reached for the coffee, hesitated, and then decided a couple cups shouldn’t hurt. Yet not knowing confused her. She sat down at the table and yawned.
“Late night, huh?” Stone said.