GHOST - No Man's Land

/CHAPTER 06

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[Ghost]

Rebecca looked ghastly as I strapped her in the helicopter seat. Prying the rifle from her cold, stiff hands proved difficult even for me, and when she tugged it back in her grip relentlessly I let it be. 

Bloody fuckin' hell. 

I'd known trying to get out of this shithole would have been difficult enough, and part of me figured the resistance we'd been met with was less than I'd expected. I tore my eyes away from the brunette as bullets ricocheted against the helicopter's armored shell. 

Price had rushed towards the controls, and the helicopter was already hovering over the crowd when the VPL's backup came rushing through the open doors. 

I lined up my scope and fired, and most of them dropped before we reached height. I strained to pull the helicopter door closed, feeling fatigue settle in my muscles. I couldn't remember the last time I slept properly since we left for this mess. 

I rolled out my shoulder. 

The ache originating from the schrapnel stuck in my back was spreading. It had to be looked at, and soon, but getting to the base located away from Tavador and further into the forest had to take priority. 

I'd patch it up there. 

Looking over at Rebecca, she was still staring blankly ahead. Eyes focused on the lining of the helicopter on the floor in front of her. If I'd been a better man, I'd comfort her. Taking a life wasn't nothing, and it had clearly taken its toll on her. 

But I'd never been a comforting man. 

She caught my stare. I held it for a second. The intensity behind it hadn't wavered, even if she sported a faraway look to her. Turbulence hit the helicopter, swaying our tensed eye contact. 

''What?'' 

I scoffed at the nerve she had. Any slivers of sympathy I might have felt for her burned to ash. Fucking cunt. 

''You look fuckin' terrible.''

She broke my gaze and looked out at the city stretching below us. Something stirred inside me. Somehow her lack of reply was worse than whatever obnoxious retort she would have surely thrown at me before. 

She'd taken a life. 

For the first time. 

And I could tell it was eating away at her. It always did. She'd looked particularly terrified while I'd been hauling her through the Embassy, so it was no surprise that seeing a man choke on his own blood by her own doing would shake her up. 

I hated to admit that, even through the panic, she hit him good. Beginner's luck. 

''Ghost,'' Price called from the front. 

I cast one last look at her deserted gaze pointed out the window, then moved up to the co-pilot seat. Price had his attention focused on the sky ahead, and in the cockpit I could clearly see the stretches of rainforest we still had to traverse. 

We sat in silence for a moment, while Price gently steered the helicopter and flicked on a couple switches. Then he handed me a piece of folded paper. 

''Navigate for me, will ya?''

I unfolded the map from him and used the coordinates displayed on the helicopter's internal navigation system to determine our location. A large, red circle contrasted harshly on the map's surface, drawn there while Price had filled me in on the military base we'd lay low in.