Dragon's Keeper (Book 1 in the Dragon Hunters Trilogy)

Chapter 6: Escape

Escape

Because my shield was active when Calmstrike launched her flames at the gathered soldiers, her fire passed right over me like water over a boulder.  Protected within the glowing field, I raced past guards as they dove for cover or got blasted by Calmstrike’s fury.  I was nearly halfway down the hall before my shield ran out, and in all the confusion I was pretty sure the entire group of soldiers thought I had been burned to a crisp along with the eggs.  I didn’t stop or slow down in case I was wrong, and I skidded around corner after corner as I made my way towards the hangar.  I was just about to enter the main platform when I nearly bowled over Agent SS7.  She and I locked gazes for a moment, and in that instant I knew my cover had been blown.  I turned and raced towards the nearest chopper, a black Apache geared for full combat conditions.  I had just dropped the eggs into the cargo hold when I was grabbed from behind and flung away from the chopper.

I rolled to my feet and fell into a fighting stance as Agent SS7 sized me up from the side of the aircraft, “What do you think you’re doing?!”  She yelled as she pulled out her combat knife, “The entire containment unit is on fire and half of the security detail has been turned into ashes!  What angle are you playing at?  Did you get a payoff for the eggs from some black market broker, or did you just want to sell them off to the highest bidder?”

I chuckled as we began to circle, “It’s much more simple than that.  B-0-2-0 asked me to take them.”

Her eyes narrowed with disbelief, “Why would she trust you when you work for us?”

“Because I don’t work for you.” I said as I came around to the chopper’s side, my eyes locked with hers, “I never was planning on staying with D-SQUAD.  Things were too dull after I came to good terms with the dragons.  My need for excitement was driving me insane, so, when she asked me to take her eggs and raise them in the wild, I took that as my ticket out of this place.”

Agent SS7’s eyes were wide with disbelief and confusion, “You’re insane!  No man in their right mind would agree to raise a dragon in the wild!”

I smiled as we circled around again and I stopped next to the chopper’s cockpit ladder, “It’s a good thing I’m not in my right mind, or else this would be really stupid.”

Before she could ask what I meant I turned around and climbed into the cockpit, sealing the clear glass over my head as I flipped the ignition.  I had never flown a helicopter before, though I had done simulations for both fighter planes and combat choppers on my computer.  The rotors started up and I lifted the vehicle into the air as I heard bullets bouncing off of the hull.  I glanced out the side and saw Agent SS7 firing at the engines in hopes of bringing me down.  I spun the craft and she was forced to duck as the tail blades flew past over her head, and by the time she stood back up I had pointed the nose toward the exit and gunned the throttle.

As we made our way towards the exit, the blast doors began to close at a rapid pace, and my blood began to boil as I saw the chopper being crushed in my mind’s eye.  I pushed the chopper as fast as it would go and waited with stiff arms as the opening grew closer, closing bit by bit until I was sure we were going to be crushed.  At the last moment I turned the chopper on its side and heard the landing gear being ripped off as we squeezed through the gap.  I whooped in pure ecstasy as we shot into the open air, and I reached down under the instruments to rip out the tracking chip.  I put the chopper into a hover and opened the canopy, feeling the wind from the rotors whip my hair as I tossed the chip into open air.  I closed the canopy and fired the jet thrusters, shooting into the open sky over what seemed to be the south-west deserts.  I turned the chopper towards the north and shot away into the morning light, feeling more alive than I had ever felt before, even during my trip into the base all those weeks ago.