“This is too dangerous,” Francois insisted. “This is a suicide mission, I am not coming back. I just want people to see me get killed by this thing so they know it wasn’t on our side.”
“Well, that’s insane!” I yelled. “We need to find a way to stop him. Who has the fire power to stop Dagur?”
“Maybe no one,” Francois shrugged. “Bullets bounce off of him, and if he wasn’t hurt by the barrage he just faced, then there isn’t much more that could be done. Maybe a missile, or a rocket launcher could help.”
“Do you have a rocket launcher?” I asked.
“Officially it’s still in Gatineau,” Francois smiled. He ran to grab the rocket launcher.
I was going with him. I was going to do whatever I could to draw attention to the shifter cause and to stop Dagur, and hopefully the camps too. I felt bad for how I had reacted to seeing the injured bear shift. I could see the people of this community working together. They were just trying to live their lives, and the camps were going to put an end to all of that. There was no reason to treat them any differently than other people.
“I am going after him alone,” Francois tried one last time to get me to move. I just turned away from him.
“I have a name and people will listen to me,” I said to the window, “I have more twitter followers than you have people in your little city.”
Francois told the pilot to head up, as I continued to list off my social media numbers. When I told him about my Google search ratings, Francois rolled his eyes and begged me to stop. I just wished that I had my phone with me. I could’ve started helping the bears right away.
I felt like I needed to make up for hiding earlier. Dagur had come looking for me. People were injured, and maybe even died trying to keep me safe. Now, it was up to me to do everything I could to keep them safe.
Ch. 6
Five helicopters took off from their separate clearings launch pads. They flew in an arrowhead formation through the skies as they tried to catch up to Dagur. There was a chance that he was hurt, but he still had a long head start. Francois didn’t like our chances for saving the concentration camps, at least not completely.
“Why does he want to get rid of us?” I asked Francois. I was hoping that as a shifter he would understand Dagur, and his motivations.
“I have no idea,” Francois shrugged. “I only found out about dragon shifters last year. He impregnated one of the citizens of Bear City, but it didn’t work. We didn’t find him in time, we got there as he was throwing Sabien into the crack. When I heard that he had taken another victim, I wasn’t about to let him try again.”
“Who was Sabien?” I asked. I could see the pain behind his eyes. I could tell that he was close to her, and when I asked the question, I didn’t need to know anymore. “Were you thinking about her last night?”
“I was,” Francois nodded. “I think about her every time I head to that cave. I think about her every time I see snow, or feel cold. I think about her all the time. When we made love last night…that…that was one of the first times in a long time that I wasn’t thinking about her.”
I felt horrible for asking the question. I wasn’t sure why I had even said it. It didn’t matter what he was thinking about. We barely knew each other. I put a hand on his shoulder. Francois nodded to me and then moved up to the front of the cabin to speak with the pilot. We had the headsets in the back, but he didn’t have anything to say to me at the moment. I wasn’t mad, because I knew that it was my fault.
***
The rest of the ride was silent. I was trying to think of what to say, but I had no idea how to come back from that dark place. I knew that Francois was hurting. I wanted to make it better, but I had to give him time, and we needed to take care of Dagur first.
“He’s right there,” the pilot said into the headset.
I looked out of the side door at the horror and destruction that Dagur had unleashed on the base. I could see motion on the ground, and I knew that it was people burning. He was still circling the area. I was sure that he was going to send out another blast. We still weren’t close enough to stop him.
A stream of fire left his mouth. The flames were hot enough that they changed the air currents around our helicopter. “I’m going to be sick!” I retched as the pilot fought to keep the chopper in the air.
“Do not throw up!” The pilot called into the back. “If we go down that will get really messy.”
“What a comforting thought,” Francois laughed into the headset. He was busy getting the rocket launcher set up. I could tell just by looking at the sides of the helicopter that it used to have missiles. There were places for missiles to be loaded onto it anyway. I guess that was the problem with being a self-funded guerilla army.
“Can you shoot yet?” I asked as another blast from Dagur was melting the concrete of the compound’s main building.
“We have to get just a little closer,” Francois explained. “Of course if we get too close this guy is going to melt us.”
“We have boggies inbound,” the pilot called from the front. “They’ve seen us on the radar, we have thirteen minutes to get this guy and get out before they shoot us all out of the sky.”
“Why would they shoot us?” I asked as I looked down at the base and the dragon that was destroying it. “We’re trying to help these people.”
Francois threw the sliding door open and started getting into position. I watched as he clipped a cord to a hook on the door frame. I hated that he was about to lean out of the chopper, but I couldn’t help being a little turned on watching him get ready to fight a dragon. I knew it wasn’t just for me, but it kind of felt like it was, at least a little.
“And they are looking for any reason to take us down,” Francois’ eyes were filled with passionate rage. I could tell that he was hurt by all of this. He had lost his chance at a normal life to all of this fear and prejudice.
“Whooaaaaa!”
“I got you,” Francois shouted as he grabbed my hand. I could see the stream of volcanic flame passing the helicopter as I dangled out of the open sliding door. I was really hoping that the little cord that Francois had clipped to the door was strong enough to hold both of us.
“Here, we go,” the pilot grunted as he righted the helicopter. He had veered to the side just in time to dodge Dagur’s blast. I could still feel the heat on my skin even though we had flown away from it.
“Seat belt!” Commanded Francois as he pulled me back into the chopper. “Get in the seat and stay there.”
“Why don’t you just shoot him?” I asked. Francois didn’t even have the rocket launcher up in position yet.
“We have to let him get closer,” Francois said. “I have one shot at this and I am going to make it count.”
“Not to rush you,” the pilot interjected. “The planes are getting closer.”
“Alright,” Francois nodded, “Three, this is one, do you read?”
“This is three.”
“Strafe the dragon with the machine gun,” Francois as he coordinated the attack. He was having the other four helicopters take turns distracting the dragon while he lined up the shot. We got to a safe distance and started hovering. It was a weird feeling to be standing still in midair.
I watched as the helicopters swooped in and shot Dagur. They all stayed higher than the beast and shot from four different angles. “Now just hold him there.” Francois said as he got out onto the rail and leaned out from the side of the chopper.
The other four choppers were hovering around Dagur and holding him in position with a steady stream of bullets. I almost felt bad as I watched the dragon shake and convulse. He was still deflecting the bullets, and I could see ricochet’s bouncing off of the helicopters creating sparks.
“Away,” Francois said the words so calmly that it was hard to tie it to the rocket that went screaming through the sky. The helicopters backed off to get out of range.
“Three’s hit!” The pilot yelled as I watched a stream o
f fire engulf the helicopter, and the two people inside. There was no crash as all of the materials burned up before it hit the ground. The next sound I heard was the rocket hitting Dagur.
“Rawrrraaggh!” He groaned as a hole opened up in his chest. Flames raged out of control. The other choppers moved in and filled the open hole with bullets. Francois didn’t want to take any chances. He needed to know that Dagur was done. I did too.
Watching the dragon fall out of the sky felt too good for words. I hated knowing that he was the last of his kind, but he didn’t make me want to meet any more of his kind either. I had spent only a few hours talking with Dagur, but he had left me with a distinct hatred of dragons.
“They’re too close,” the pilot warned as he looked at the radar. “We can’t out run them at this point.”
I could see the stress on Francois’ face. He didn’t want to lose any of his people. I knew that the loss of one helicopter was going to bother him, but now he was about to lose his whole fleet and likely his life. I started looking around for a way to help.
Ch. 7
“Get to the ground,” Francois shouted as a missile whizzed past us. “They aren’t going to miss on purpose like that more than once.”
The pilot nodded and took us down as Francois told the others what to do. We all started to drop toward the ground. We had stayed to ensure that Dagur was dead, but the dragon seemed to be burning up. There wasn’t even much of him left at this point.
“We need to get pictures of him,” I said as I watched the evidence of dragon shifters and Dagur’s crimes vanishing before my eyes. “They will think you guys did this.”
“They were going to say that we did it anyway,” Francois sighed. “Dagur was right. It was only going to take this one incident to kick off full scale war. I just wish I was going to be around to help save my people.”
I kept looking around, there had to be something that we could do. Jeeps, and trucks, were pulling up to arrest the bears. They all had guns drawn and way more fire power than was necessary for a group of people who had just saved their lives.
“There’s a camera crew!” I shouted as I took off my seatbelt. Francois tried to grab me, but I was already running past him as we touched down. I crouched down low under the blade and then sprinted for the fence that ran around the charred remains of the camp. The heat was making my eyes water.
The trucks circled in on the choppers, and I could hear shots going off, but I kept running toward the news team on the other side of the fence. I heard people shouting at me, but I wasn’t stopping for anyone. I got to the fence and I started climbing.
The news crew had already recognized me and they were running over to get the interview. They were so excited to get the exclusive. I had seen this type of ravenous news lust before. I was trying to get myself mentally prepared for the barrage that I was about to face. There was only one reporter, but he was going to be so excited that she was going to ask questions like she was six reporters.
I got to the ground and I ran to her. She was a cute little blonde, and it seemed like she had to be fresh out of journalism school. She stopped running at the edge of the highway, right where the ditch started and she started to adjust her little pants suit.
I was still just wearing my little see-through dress and bikini. I really hated that I was about to give the most important interview of my life in this stupid costume. I wished I had another outfit as I headed through the swampy mud of the ditch. The smell wasn’t really bad, but I sunk too my waste, and then fell right in. I had to make this all stop, so I just kept moving forward.
On the other side of the ditch I realized that I had the wardrobe change I had been looking for. I was now in a brown and grey dress that covered everything from my toes to my chest. “Do we have a towel?” The reporter was freaking out as I walked up to her.
“I just need to talk, is this live?” I asked as I picked mud out of my eyes and mouth with my fingers. The camera man tossed me his shirt. It was soaked with sweat, but I needed something. I wiped my face and tossed the shirt back to him.
“I am Sandy Campbell,” the reporter was saying into the camera before starting to talk to the newsroom. I was getting really frustrated with the waiting. She was talking about me as if I wasn’t standing right beside her. “Anya has just at this very minute run away from her captors and escaped to safety right here by my s…”
“No!” I screamed Sandy. “These guys are the people who saved me. They came and found me from that thing, the dragon that burned this base.” I pointed over at the burning pile of rubble.
“Were they not helping the dragon to hold you captive,” Sandy asked as if she wanted me to tell a more exciting story. I punched Sandy’s smug face, and took the microphone, it felt good. I wondered for a second if that’s how Chuck had felt when he punched me in the face.
“These men saved me, and they even tried to save this concentration camp. This camp that was being set up to exterminate them. I have spent time amongst them, and they are normal, caring, people. They just want to be left alone to lead a normal life.”
I kept talking into the camera as I turned to watch the fire fight going on behind me. Francois and three other bears had found some cover and they were holding off the soldiers who were surrounding them. Another group of soldiers had lined up three bears and they were about to fire on them.
“Get that on camera,” I grabbed the camera and moved it and the shirtless man holding it. “They are about to execute the men who saved me just because of what they are. This is disgusting.”
I didn’t know it at that moment, but the world was watching. I was on every news channel, and most of the networks. They were all covering the incident. It was the only topic being covered on social media. The world was watching, and they were getting angry.
I didn’t want to look away. I mean, I didn’t want to watch anyone get shot, but I knew that I owed it to these men to watch. To capture this moment and make their deaths count. As the soldiers got ready to fire, I took a breath and prepared myself for what I was about to see.
“We gotta do something,” the cameraman said as he tried to set the camera down.
“Get the shot,” I yelled. “Let the world see what is really going on!” I was enraged, I could feel the anger coursing through me. The cameraman stayed behind the camera.
“Wait!” I could see men running up to the commanding officer. All of the soldiers stopped firing, and Francois looked over at me. We were all confused, but the soldiers had stopped firing so he and the bears moved to a more secure location behind a wall of somewhat melted concrete.
The soldiers started putting up their guns. The officer was shouting out orders and the soldiers started loading themselves into trucks. The officer stayed behind with a handful of men. They helped the prisoners up, and told them to put their hands down. I was so relieved, it was hard to deal even understand what had just happened.
“Miss Anya,” a jeep had pulled up and a soldier who looked young enough to be a boy scout was talking to me. He helped me into his jeep and drove me around to see Francois and the others.
Ch. 8
“You were so out of it,” Francois teased.
“I had been through a lot,” I laughed as I opened another bottle of merlot. The cool breeze that came off the ocean was just enough to make my sundress ripple. I took another deep breath of that sweet salty air.
“I could get used to this,” Francois said as he looked out over the ocean from my terrace. It was truly a beautiful scene. I had him bring me home as soon as the media frenzy died down. I had tried to keep the new relationship out of the public eye. That shirtless cameraman had filmed Francois and I as I ran into his arms across the burning wasteland of the concentration camp, and thus FrAnya was born.
“I only stay here when I’m not touring,” I admitted, “But if you were here, I would spend more time here.” I said as I filled his glass to the top.
We had been looking forward to some alone ti
me, but I knew that it was all going to change when I had to hit the road again. My manager and agent felt like I was already wasting too much time. “The Anya vibes are so good right now that every second you aren’t touring we lose a thousand dollars.” That was the message on my answering machine.
“So what are we drinking to,” Francois asked.
“The Humanization Act,” I suggested. Francois grimaced at the name. “It was just a suggestion.”
“Well, suggest a new name for it then,” Francois laughed. “Am I not a human? Why do I need to be humanized? I am a shifter, which means that I am a bear and a man, but I am human. If you cut me do I not bleed?”
“At least you don’t need to hide away in the forest,” I reminded Francois. He had gotten amnesty from the Canadian government for stealing all those supplies, and the residents of Bear City were being offered assistance with the transition. There was no need to hide, and they were all excited to return to the lives that they had led.
“I’m going to miss it,” Francois sighed as he remembered the life that he had left behind. I knew that he was being serious. They had built a real community up there in the woods. “Of course there’s a lot to be said for indoor plumbing.”
We laughed as we toasted toilets. I set my glass down and turned to Francois. He was gazing longingly into my eyes. I could feel butterflies in my stomach. I had been hoping this whole time that the feelings we first felt wouldn’t fade. I was worried that it was all just because of the situation, but he was still making me tingle. Every look, every time we touched, I was feeling fireworks all over my body.
Francois led me back into the house. As soon as we crossed through the huge French doors I tugged on his hand. Francois turned back and kissed me, his hand went right to the back of my neck. He lifted me right off my feet, and started carrying me up to the bedroom as we kissed passionately.
To Love A Hitman Page 40