The Beast And His Belle

Chapter 34

Marcel had sat back down, casually sipping on his scotch and puffing his cigar as he ordered Belle with the fear of the gun to log in using the new password and directing her to funnel money into the multiple accounts he had created years before.
Marcel seemed calm in his mentally disturbed mind knowing he was in the middle of holding Belle hostage; that was until he heard the blaring police sirens pull up and he looked out the window in disgust.
"Perhaps he doesn't value your life after all! He has some guts to call the authorities on me!"
"You're not going to get away with this, no matter what, Marcel." Belle tried to keep her voice calm and told herself he couldn't hear her fast-pumping heart even if she heard each racing thump ringing in her ears.
"Is that so?" He grunted before grabbing her arm and dragging her to the door. He stopped in the middle of the office, throwing papers into a metal trash barrel at someone's desk before throwing his still blazing cigar in the bin and dousing it with his scotch. The barrel went up in thick angry red flames and he kicked it over so it would spread before grabbing her arm again and pulling her towards the back staircase. Instead of going down the flights of stairs, Marcel dragged her up, continuing the circling flights until they reached the door to the roof.
The rain was fierce and hit them sideways with the wind blowing at the highest skyscraper in the city. The time had only struck half-past five but the dark rain clouds made the sky as dark as midnight. They had to squint their eyes and hold their hand over their face to be able to see slightly the companies helicopter parked on the hover pad.

Belle knew Marcel was attempting to escape by flying off and she knew he was only dragging her along so they wouldn't shoot the aircraft down. He tossed her in the passenger side before climbing in himself. The one and only time she was in a helicopter was that memorable night with Jackson in Paris and she still remembered it like yesterday.
She watched as Marcel fumbled with the switches of the helicopter; as if he knew at one time how to operate the machine but had since forgotten. He finally found the switch to turn it on and she felt the propeller blades circling overhead. He placed his foot on the gears and set his gun down to place his hands on the levers; the aircraft grunted and groaned as he figured out what they do. Belle watched silently recounting what Jack had taught her about flying.
The cyclic stick, located between the pilot's legs controls the rotor blades and directs where the helicopter goes. To the left of the pilot's seat is the collective lever. It changes the blade's angle to make the helicopter fly up and down as you raise and lower the collective lever. And twisting the grip of the lever adjusts the throttle and speed of the helicopter.

Belle grabbed hold of her seat when the whole helicopter shook and they aggressively lifted off the ground into the air.
Moving his feet on the pedals and his hands busy on the controls, Belle knew she had to do something. As they continued to climb higher and turn direction to maneuver their way through the city skyscrapers, Belle realized he didn't have his gun. Just as he picked up speed she grabbed hold of his hand over the lever and forcefully tried to lower it.
"What are you doing! Stop it!"
As they fought for control his grip twisted and the helicopter picked up speed as its nose was tilted downwards towards the cement rooftop.
"Stop it! We're going to crash!" He shouted but that's what Belle wanted to happen.
"I know!" She forced his hand down all the way down on the collective lever and braced herself for impact. They plummeted closer to the wet cement rooftop and their bodies rocked and tossed around as the helicopter loudly crashed on impact; barely making it on the roof the aircraft skidding along the edge of the building. Marcel's head hit the controller dashboard as Belle's head hit the side of the window. Both were knocked out.

Jackson heavily panted never breaking from his quick pace as he ran up the staircase; one floor after another of stairs until he reached the top twenty-eighth floor. Busting through the door to find the entire floor covered with thick smoke, flying embers, and fire.
"BELLE!" he shouted coughing through the smoke. It was a good thing his clothes were already soaked from the downpour of rain and it made it slightly easier to fight past the flames as he made his way down the hall to Marcel's office. Then rushing to his office not finding a trace of them.
"BELLE!" he called out again, desperately trying not to lose hope.
Just then he heard a loud crash and the ceiling shook. Nothing was above this floor but the roof and he dashed through the smoke back to the stairway and running two steps at a time until he was outside, coughing through his smoke-filled lungs, crying out her name again, "Belle!"