| Subject: The Dragonslayer, Chapters 13 &14 |
Author:
Jaron
|
[
Next Thread |
Previous Thread |
Next Message |
Previous Message
]
Date Posted: 19:35:40 12/17/01 Mon
In reply to:
Jaron
's message, "The Dragonslayer" on 16:44:37 12/16/01 Sun
The Dragonslayer, Chapter 13
“Noooooo!!” Rene wailed, “I’m not going anywhere until I see my Daddy!!” He fought
Walter’s repeated attempts to pick him up. Just when Walter thought he had a good
grip on Rene, Rene fooled him and pulled another trick out of his tried and true bag
of tricks that always worked for seven-year-olds. Rene suddenly adopted the posture
of a boneless and very slippery eel and managed to wriggle out of Walter’s grasp.
Rene ran into my waiting arms.
“Please, Mom, don’t let him take us away from Daddy! I don’t want to go!!”
“Now calm down, Rene. Walter’s just trying to do his job. Aren’t you, Walter?” I said
soothingly as I lifted Rene and put him down in the seat next to me.
Walter had driven us back to the airbase in Fort Worth where the team’s transport
aircraft was sitting on a sparsely traveled stretch of concrete. His plan had been to
keep us safe inside the aircraft until the plane that Madeline had rerouted to Fort
Worth could arrive. His mistake had been in telling us about the plan before the
plane had arrived. The result had been Rene’s ear-splitting tantrum.
When Walter told us what he expected us to do, I sat serenely by and let Rene vent
his feelings. Rene and I knew that we were not going any place without seeing
Michael and knowing that he was all right. Rene had tried to control his anxiety
throughout the whole of our kidnapping ordeal. He had maintained his control long
past the point that I thought he could. He had been strong for his father. But Michael
was not here now and suddenly, all of Rene’s pent-up frustrations exploded and poor
Walter received the full fury of an enraged Rene.
Rene was quiet now, and exhausted from his acting out. He sat quietly with a frown
on his handsome little face, while I linked my arm in Walter’s and drew him away from
Rene. “Walter, you can understand the Rene wants to make sure his father is okay.
Can’t you? Please let us stay until the team gets back, please?”
I put my arms around him and gave him a hug. I ran my hands up and down his back
and I felt him sigh and relax in my embrace. On one of the trips down his back, my
hands found what I was looking for. I stepped back and out of the circle of Walter’s
arms and pointed Walter’s own gun at him. He looked surprised as he blinked
quickly. “Gracie, what are you doing?”
“Walter, you know that I know how to use this.” I told him. “What we are going to do
is stay right here and wait for Michael and his team to get back.” Rene let out a
whoop and started jumping up and down in the seat.
“Mom! You are the greatest! How did you do that?? That was really sneaky. Uncle
Walter never saw that coming!!” Rene slowed his jumping and finally stopped and
looked at Walter and then at me. “Now, when does Daddy get here?”
I looked at Walter and he just shrugged. “I don’t know. We just have to wait for a
report from the team.” He eyed the gun in my hand. “Gracie, be careful with that
thing. It has a modified trigger.”
“I’ll be careful. I’ve handled one like this before. It’s very much like the one I used at
the bank. You know, the one you designed for Michael. It has a nice weight.” I
smiled at Walter. “Why don’t you sit down over there and make yourself comfortable.
We might have a long wait.” I sat down next to Rene and he snuggled up beside me,
closed his tired eyes and was fast asleep in a few seconds.
Walter watched him and tried to reconcile himself to the sleeping child beside me and
the enraged child of a few minutes ago. He smiled.
“Michael does that, you know, he can to go sleep anytime, anywhere. I’ve seen him
do that when no one else can sleep. He just takes a few deep breaths, closes his
eyes, and, boom, he’s asleep.” Walter caught my gaze and said reassuringly, “he will
be okay, Grace. His team will bring him back. Now, come on, you don’t need that
gun. Why don’t you give it to me?” He extended his out-stretched hand towards me.
“Not on your life, Walter. I’ll give this gun to Michael and no one else!” I put my arm
around Rene and stretched him out on the aircraft seat, with his head resting in my
lap. “We wait.”
I wondered again how Michael was doing and how close Nikita and Michael’s team
was to him at this moment.....
-The Dragonslayer, Chapter 14
The black helicopter that Grace had seen overhead landed in a clearing beside a
small lake that was a few hundred feet behind the trees surrounding the farmhouse.
Three men emerged from the aircraft, crouching down and running until they were
safe from the slowing rotor blades of the helicopter.
The tallest of the three men, obviously the leader, stood still as Tillman approached
him. “Budrevich, I have what you want.”
Tillman turned his head and indicated an unconscious Michael, who had been carried
to the clearing by two of Tillman’s men. They unceremoniously dropped him at
Budrevich’s feet. “Do you have what I want?” Tillman looked at the briefcase the
Budrevich held in his left hand. “Is that mine?”
“What’s wrong with my merchandise?” Budrevich asking, using his foot to nudge an
unmoving Michael. “Why is he damaged?”
Tillman stammered an excuse and explained the Michael had attempted to escape
and was subdued by his guards. He nervously shifted from one foot to the other.
“I should kill you for mishandling my purchase here.” He again kicked at Michael’s
body, eliciting a moan of pain from his new acquisition. Budrevich tossed the
briefcase to Tillman and told the two men with him to put Michael in the helicopter.
Just as they bent to pick him up, one of Tillman’s men came running from the
farmhouse, yelling at the top of his lungs. “A Section team is on the way. Look!!” He
pointed toward the road and they could all see the black Suburban coming down the
road. They watched as the vehicle left the road and drove straight at them across the
clearing.
Tillman and his men started running back toward the farmhouse, firing their weapons
as they ran. Automatic weapons fire from the Suburban raked over them and they all
fell to the accuracy of Nikita, Carson and the others of Michael’s team.
The firefight with Tillman and his men bought some time for Budrevich and his
two-man team. They had reached the helicopter and had dumped the handcuffed
and unconscious Michael on the floor of the aircraft. Budrevich and his pilot climbed
into the front seats of the helicopter, while the third man laid down a heavy line of
fire from the Uzi he had picked up after he put Michael into the helicopter.
Michael’s team was pinned down, sheltering themselves behind the reinforced metal
in the doors of the Suburban. They watched bitter disappointment as the helicopter
started to rise into the sky.
Budrevich shouted above the noise of the engine to the man in the back of the
helicopter. “Use the rocket launcher! Take out that Section team!!” The pilot held his
upward movement at 50 feet to give the man in the back a steady platform from
which to fire the rocket launcher.
On the ground, Nikita could see the man in the back of the helicopter bending and
reaching for something in a box on the floor of the helicopter. She also saw Michael’s
still form laying on the floor behind the man who she could now tell had a rocket
launcher on his shoulder.
She yelled at the team members, “Get out of the truck. Take cover!!” Even as she
yelled, Carson was grabbing her around the waist and pulling her away from her
position behind the open door of the Suburban. She glanced again at the helicopter
and saw Michael move on the floor. He rolled over on to his back and raised both
feet together and kicked out at the man with the rocket launcher. Just before the
man pulled the trigger, Michael’s feet hit the man in the back of his thighs. His blow
sent the man to his knees, causing him to discharge the rocket prematurely as
Michael kicked out once more and knocked the man out of the door of the helicopter.
The rocket landed harmlessly in the grove of trees well clear of Michael’s team.
In the helicopter, Budrevich cursed Michael and drew his gun, but Michael was on his
feet and kicked out at Budrevich as he swung the gun to target Michael. The gun
fired, but instead of the bullet hitting Michael, it hit the pilot in the side of the head.
The force of Michael’s kick had forced Budrevich’s hand away from himself and
toward the pilot.
The pilot fell forward and his body pushed the controls forward. The helicopter nosed
down in a sickening dive. Budrevich immediately dropped his gun, pushed the pilot
back and took hold of the controls and pulled them back. In the nose-dive, Michael
had fallen forward and unable to stop his fall because of the handcuffs restraining his
hands, struck his head on the bulkhead in the helicopter. He bounced back, still on
his feet but unable to see because of the blood from the cut flowing into his eyes.
As Budrevich pulled back on the controls, the nose of the helicopter raised up at
another extreme angle. Michael attempted to stay on his feet and took a few steps
back, trying to keep his balance, as his world tilted crazily.
On the ground, Nikita and the others watched in horror as Michael stepped back in
the helicopter. They saw the blood on his face and in his eyes, hands bound behind
his back. He took one more step back........into thin air.
[
Next Thread |
Previous Thread |
Next Message |
Previous Message
]
| |
Feedback: 