13, page 3
‘How are you so calm right now?’ Sam asked, straining to see if the missile was still closing in. Oh boy—it’s there, coming in too fast to outrun.
‘Don’t worry, Sam,’ Eva said, her voice almost serene. ‘We don’t die.’
‘How can you be so sure?’ Sam asked, struggling to speak as the helicopter banked and turned haphazardly.
‘Because,’ Eva grimaced, ‘I’ve seen what happens next.’
06
The sound of the explosion rang in Sam’s ears. The blast sucked the air from the cabin and the helicopter’s tail sheared completely off, leaving a gaping hole at the rear of the aircraft. That can’t be good. The helicopter fell fast in a flat spin towards the ground. An incessant alarm wailed. Sam was being pressed against the cabin wall, the g-forces gluing him against it like a local show ride he’d once been on, where it had spun around so fast there was nothing he could do to get himself off the wall.
‘Hang onto something!’ Eva screamed.
The helicopter’s nose dipped forwards and that motion changed the forces inside the cabin. Alex’s shoulder straps snapped free from the wall and he fell towards Sam and Eva. Sam grabbed hold of him and held tight to them both as best he could with his bound hands. He stuck his leg through some webbing straps at the back of Eva’s bench seat to stop himself from being flung around.
Up front, the suited guy and a door gunner were slumped in their seats, unconscious—maybe from the blast or flying shrapnel. The frantic pilots seemed useless against the bleeping and screeching as the aircraft spun its way to earth.
Alex was screaming in Sam’s ear and there was a ripping noise as the other side of the helicopter began to tear away. As the wall tore through, Alex was pulled from Sam’s grasp. The only thing keeping him in the aircraft were his ankles, still strapped to the bench seat.
‘Argh!’ Alex screamed as his ankle straps snapped free.
Sam let go of Eva and flung his arms out to grab Alex’s wrists, but straightaway he could feel his grip loosening as the centrifugal force threatened to throw them both out of the hole.
‘Hold on!’ Sam shouted over the roar of the rushing air.
‘I’m trying!’ Alex looked pleadingly at him, his eyes begging Sam not to let go.
‘I’ve got you, Sam,’ Eva yelled, as she strained forward and began to draw them both in, bit by bit, Sam’s grasp keeping Alex from sliding out into the void. The wind buffeted them around and Sam started to feel faint from the effort and motion.
Finally Alex reached the webbing and he got a purchase, his legs still dangling out where the wall used to be. Eva clung tightly to them both. Sam could see that up close, her black-lined eyes shone bright blue, her expression as determined as anyone’s he’d seen.
‘Yeah!’ Alex yelled through gritted teeth. ‘Nothing to worry about at all!’
His face was all exhaustion and confusion.
‘I said,’ Eva replied, ‘that we don’t die!’
Sam looked out the window on their side—they all did. The helicopter continued to fall, belly first, spinning around and around. The horizon was packed with houses and trees in a vision that was spinning around them in a blur. Sam was sure that in seconds they would become some quiet suburban street’s new traffic hazard.
‘How?’ Alex asked. ‘What can we do?’
They looked at each other in silence and Sam knew there was nothing they could do. There was no way they could jump for it, if that was supposed to be their way out. Sam looked into Eva’s shining, frightened eyes. I wonder if those eyes will be the last things I’ll ever see.
He took a deep breath and held on tight to them both. The world went silent.
Three … two … one.
They hit hard.
07
Sam saw bright, blinding light. He squinted against it and then a shadow moved across his vision, eclipsing the harsh assault on his senses, and the world came into focus. Alex, propped up next to Sam, looked down at him, grinning.
Sam could see Alex’s mouth move but it took a while for sound to register.
‘You OK?’
‘I think so …’ Sam replied. He yawned out his popped ears and his hearing returned nearer to normal levels. Then he noticed he was soaking wet. So was Alex. ‘How are we not toast right now?’
Alex pointed.
He looked up from where he lay and saw that Eva was standing there, watching him, as stunned as he by the result. She was drenched too, and breathing heavily.
‘She pulled me out of the wreck and then we fished you out,’ Alex said.
‘Thanks,’ Sam said, shell shocked from the ordeal.
Behind them, the helicopter was steaming and hissing in a large backyard pool. A mother with a kid on her hip watched on from the safety of her lounge room, wide-eyed and mouth agape as she stared out the glass doors. Two soldiers, still able-bodied, were pulling their unconscious comrades out of the water and onto the grass.
With the help of his newfound allies, Sam struggled up and got to his feet, where he wobbled unsteadily for a moment.
‘That was … wow,’ was all Sam could manage.
‘We should so be dead,’ Alex mused, pouring water out of his shoes. ‘Human jam for some emergency crew to come scrape off the road.’
‘That’s disgusting,’ Eva said.
‘We’ve got to get out of here …’ Sam said, his voice hushed. It wouldn’t be long until the soldiers noticed them. They had to escape while they could.
That’s when they heard the screeching of tyres—it sounded like a convoy of vehicles coming to an abrupt stop in the street in front of the house.
‘Someone’s here,’ Sam said, moving towards the sound to take a look, expecting to see emergency crews, the police or some fire-engines. He tried to find a good angle from behind the tall fence to see the commotion out on the street, but it was difficult with his hands still bound together. Alex found a piece of jagged steel from the wreck to cut through the plastic binds on Sam’s wrists. The three of them climbed up on a rail of the fence and looked over.
Several figures were running fast towards them. They were in plain clothes—certainly not the emergency crew uniforms Sam hoped to see. Sam fell back from the fence, dragging Eva and Alex with him. The three of them dropped to the ground and rolled towards the cover of the jungle-like garden.
Moments later, a couple of huge guys smashed through the side gate and drew weapons.
Before anyone in the backyard could react, shots rang out.
08
Sam glanced up and saw that the pilots and soldiers from the helicopter were each being shot, one by one. Shot with darts, he realised. They were little feathered things that made a thudding noise as they stuck into bare skin, rendering their targets unconscious.
A tap at Sam’s shoulder caused him to jump with fright.
Stunned, he turned and stared at the woman disbelievingly. Alex and Eva hunched in close behind him.
‘My name is Lora,’ she said.
Sam couldn’t move. Lora … she was the Lora, from his dream. She was dressed in tight black clothes, with knee-high boots and black gloves. She held a dart gun in one hand, while the other reached down towards him, as if offering to pull him to his feet.
‘We’re here to help you,’ Lora continued.
A group of serious-looking guys, with dart pistols drawn, formed a defensive perimeter. They all wore sunglasses and in-ear radios and resembled undercover secret agents dressed in casual street clothes.
‘Who are you guys?’ Sam had found his voice again.
‘Please, we’ve no time to waste,’ Lora pleaded with them. Her flame-red hair blew in the breeze. She took her sunglasses off. She looked exactly as she had in Sam’s dream. But, if Lora is real, does that also mean my dream could come true like Eva’s? And after that hell-ride in the helicopter, he knew he didn’t need to pinch himself to be sure he was awake: this was real. ‘Come with us and we’ll explain everything on the way.’
‘On the way to where?’ Sam persisted.
‘Somewhere safe,’ Lora replied. ‘Please, follow me.’
‘Ah, yeah, thanks anyway, but I think we’ll be waiting for the cops,’ Alex said.
Eva looked warily around, not knowing who they should trust.
‘Believe me, the police won’t be able to protect you—not from them,’ Lora gestured to the now unconscious soldiers.
Sirens screamed in the distance as Lora gestured for them to move. Cautiously, they followed her to the street, where she held open the rear door of an SUV. The darkened windows and bulk of the car made it look like a tank.
‘I guess anyone who is an enemy of those kidnappers is a friend of ours, right?’ Eva said as they moved to the car.
‘What, you didn’t dream this part?’ Alex asked her.
Eva shook her head.
‘Well, we’ll see,’ Alex said.
‘Hurry,’ Lora replied, and then turned to her armed companions and said, ‘Let’s move to Site B. Stop for no-one.’
The driver stared at Sam in the rear-view mirror. His eyes were like black beetles and his big, shaved head sat atop the thick neck and massive shoulders of a wrestler. There was some insignia on his jacket, a symbol containing a horse on a shield.
‘He looks just like his picture,’ the driver said to Lora. Sam frowned. My picture? How long has all this been planned?
‘Keep your eyes on the road,’ Lora said to the driver, as she sat in the passenger seat and scanned the residential streets. ‘And don’t lose our detail.’
An identical SUV shadowed their moves as they merged onto the highway and headed into the city, going faster than any of the other cars. Who are these guys?
Sam’s head was spinning and he felt as though he was in some kind of dream—he’d seen Lora in his nightmare last night, and now here she was. No doubt about it. He kept it to himself for the moment, although the desire to share it with Eva was overwhelming. This is too weird.
‘Where are we going?’ Sam asked, the first of a million questions swirling around his brain.
‘Someplace safe,’ Lora answered.
‘And you are?’ Alex asked her.
‘I’m the person who’s going to make sure you stay safe,’ she said, and turned around in her seat to face the three of them. ‘There are plenty more like those Agents back there who will stop at nothing to get to the three of you.’
The teenagers shared a look, and Alex leaned forward and said, ‘I’m Alex, and—’
‘Yes, I know,’ Lora said. ‘We can save small talk for later.’
‘I wasn’t introducing myself to be polite,’ he said. ‘I want to know exactly who you are and where we’re going.’
Lora was silent. She kept looking out the windows as though that was far more important than Alex’s questions.
‘How?’ Sam asked her. ‘How do you know who we are? And what did your driver here mean when he said I look just like my picture? Why would you have my picture?’
Lora smiled. ‘Sam, that’s a long story—’
‘Well, try me!’ Sam interjected. ‘Please, give us something.’
‘OK, we know what you look like because we’ve been keeping an eye on you. On all of you. Through a friendly source. And that’s all I can say for now,’ Lora said with finality. ‘We have to get off the streets first; we have to go someplace secure. Then, we can talk all you want.’
‘We don’t have to get anywhere,’ Alex said. ‘I want to know what’s going on—now!’
‘OK …’ Lora said, letting out a loud exhale, though her eyes were still scanning out the car’s windows for threats.
Sam waited expectantly.
‘Put simply?’ Lora said, her voice quiet and matter-of-fact. ‘The three of you are being hunted.’
‘Hunted? What, like animals?’ Eva asked.
Lora nodded.
‘By who,’ Alex asked, ‘those guys back there?’
‘Them, and pretty soon everyone else.’
‘Why us?’ Sam asked.
‘Because right now, the three of you are some of the most valuable people in the world.’
Valuable? Sam thought. What are we? Things to be bought and sold?
‘Some will stop at nothing to get their hands on you,’ Lora continued.
‘Were those soldiers back there from the government?’ Alex asked.
The driver laughed.
‘I mean, with helicopters like that, they’ve gotta be, right?’ Alex said.
‘And at my school they said something about national security,’ Sam added.
‘Mine too!’ Eva said.
‘All these hows and whys will be answered in detail, I promise,’ Lora said. ‘And as for those guys back there, they’re not from any government.’
‘How about you?’ Sam asked.
Lora shook her head. ‘We’re not from the government either—but know this: we are the good guys.’
Alex laughed disbelievingly.
‘They picked us up out of school,’ Eva said. ‘Why would they—I mean, who could do that?’
Lora looked forward again as the car took a sharp turn to overtake a truck, then turned back to reply. ‘They’re from an outfit known as the Enterprise.’
‘The what?’ Sam asked.
‘Slow down,’ Lora said to the driver, as a police car cruised by.
Alex made as though he was going to signal them.
‘Look, my dad’s a cop, so you better—’ he faltered as the driver laughed again. Lora shot the guy a look and Alex said, ‘Something funny, big guy?’
The driver looked like he wanted to fire something back but he was busy navigating the downtown exit from the freeway.
‘Why are we in such a hurry?’ Eva asked.
‘Because they’ll be coming after us,’ Lora replied, looking out the windows as she spoke. ‘They’re never far behind.’
‘The Enterprise, you mean?’ Sam asked.
Lora nodded. Alex sniggered incredulously, and Sam and Eva looked at him, unnerved. Sam again considered sharing his dream, about how he’d seen this Lora woman before, especially given that Eva’s dream about the helicopter had become real just moments ago. But it all seemed too much, too unbelievable. What if this woman isn’t the ally she appeared to be in my dream? He swallowed hard against the rising bile in his throat.
‘What about that missile that shot us down?’ Sam asked. ‘Did you do that?’
‘No,’ Lora replied, with a flash of anxiety on her face. ‘That’s the most worrying thing about all this, Sam—I have no idea who would have done that to the Enterprise, or to you …’
09
Sam watched as their convoy pulled into the basement car park of a massive high-rise. The place looked ordinary enough and he was relieved to see plenty of people coming and going. Drivers occasionally tooted as their urgent, speeding SUVs kept heading downward, the tyres squealing on the smooth concrete floor as they twisted along the ramps, until they came to the almost empty lowest basement level. Their driver touched his earpiece and turned to Lora.
‘Details of the helicopter incident have gone public,’ he said as the cars braked to a hard stop near an exit door and elevator. ‘The police won’t be far behind the Enterprise Agents.’
‘Then we’re going to have to move faster than we thought,’ Lora said. They got out, the other vehicles spewing six guys, each as big and serious as the next. ‘Torch the cars; we’re never coming back here.’
Sam looked around the basement for a way out—there was an elevator and a couple of stairwells, all of them too far to make a run for it. He noticed the men were now armed with little snub-nosed machine guns. Two guys were busy attaching explosives to the underside of the cars. This is insane!
Lora led the way to the elevator, where she pressed the call button. She turned and faced Sam, Eva and Alex, who remained steadfast by the cars. She walked back over and stopped up close.
‘Look,’ Lora said. ‘I am the best option the three of you have right now.’
Sam saw the others both looked as nervous and scared as he was.
‘Sam, Eva, Alex,’ Lora said, her tone friendly, ‘I know this is hard, to trust me so soon, but think about it: if we meant you harm, we’d have left you back there at the crash site.’
‘She’s got a point,’ Eva said.
‘Are you kidding?’ Alex exclaimed. ‘What, are you with them or something?’
Eva flinched. ‘None of this makes any more sense to me than you.’
Alex turned to Lora. ‘I want you to take us to a police station,’ he said.
‘You wouldn’t be safe there.’
‘Not safe in a police station?’ Alex said, incredulous.
‘I think she means, not safe from them,’ Sam said.
‘Who are they, these Enterprise people? I mean, you’re telling us they’re above the law?’ Eva said, glaring at Alex and Lora in turn. ‘I don’t understand what’s going on—and I really want to.’
They all jumped as squealing tyres from a few levels above echoed through the car park.
‘That’ll be Enterprise Agents,’ Lora said, ‘but the unknown people who shot down your helicopter are the ones I’m really worried about right now, because we don’t know who they are or what they want, beyond your demise. If they find us down here, we’re sitting ducks. Listen, my guys and I will fight to the death to protect the three of you—and maybe then you’ll believe what I’ve said about us being here to help you.’
Their driver walked over and whispered into her ear. Lora nodded as he and the other guys ran towards the up ramp.
The elevator pinged, the doors opened.
Lora got in and turned towards the three uncertain teens. ‘This is your last chance. If you stay here, they will have you. You come with me, you live another day.’
‘We’ll—we’ll take our chances—’
‘No chances,’ Lora said to Alex, holding the doors open. ‘No doubt: whoever shot your helicopter down with a missile wanted you dead and for all we know, it could be them above us in this car park right now.’
