Project Perses: Redemption

Chapter Thirty Five

Chapter Thirty Five

I’m covered in mud and lying on the cold, hard ground.  My side hurts like bloody hell where I took the hit from the tank’s cannon fire.  Involuntarily, I groan as someone touches my shoulder.  I could’ve broken my fall kinetically, but had chosen to shield Vanessa instead.  At the last second I had encapsulated her in the invisible bubble, which prevented her from being seriously injured or even killed from the impact.

Unfortunately, that had left me wide open to slamming into the ground from the fall.  I don’t even know how high we were when I had leaped out of the accelerating helicopter after Vanessa. Hands on me, probing for injuries and a groan escapes me again.  There isn’t much sound, the gunfight is over.  All I hear is mumbling around me and the wind. 

It had all happened so fast after I turned from the fight to follow Mitchell.  I had taken a running leap at the helicopter and then pushed kinetically off from the ground to propel myself upward to grab a hold of the treads.  Feet swinging wide, I lost precious seconds trying to anchor myself in my precarious position while someone from up above kept attempting to shoot me with every swing.  Subsequently, the idiot had left the confines of the cargo bay to try to get a bead on me, coming out just enough that all the armed man did was yelp when I grabbed him the moment his foot touched the tread and pulled, sending him plummeting to the ground below.

Swinging wide, I then flung myself upward and spun in midair, landing in the doorway of the cargo area like I’d dismounted from a pummel horse.  Before me stood the other armed man, his shaky gun trained on me while he held on for dear life to a strap suspended from the ceiling. Mitchell and Vanessa were sitting on the bench to my left, mouths open and gaping.  It was unnerving to have everyone’s undivided attention.  The only one not stunned was Alia, who was in a bassinet strapped down to the bench beside them, giggling to herself.

The armed man, Mitchell’s last guard, shook off his shock long enough to get off one shot but with the bumping around of the helicopter, it went wild.  Not waiting for a second one, I grabbed him by the jacket and threw him head first out of the cargo bay door.  He screamed all the way down.

While my attention had been preoccupied with the gunman, I missed Mitchell wrestling Vanessa into a standing position, dragging her forward only to stop right before the opposite open cargo door.  He glared at me before blurting out, “She’s always been my insurance policy, Aiden.”

My eyes flickered from him to her to the door, knowing instantly what he planned to do.  “Why do this?”  I yelled, trying to stall as Vanessa bucked against him.  “Why even let me live back in the bunker if this was your plan all along?”  It oddly made sense why he had taken her, since beyond a diversion for me; she would hold little value to him.  “You could have killed me at any time if that is what you wanted.”

Mitchell looked at me like I had started speaking Farsi. “Kill you?  I never 'wanted' to kill you.  You've left me little choice really." A cold, dark smile crossed his face, and for the first time, I see the evil lurking underneath.  “For her,” He shakes Vanessa roughly as if to make a point, causing her to scream. "You've given up everything. Hope it was worth dying for." 

“No!” I blurted out just as he spun her around and pushed her out the door, her scream reverberating in the confines of the cargo hold.  I didn’t stop to think about what I was doing or that I was leaving Alia behind; instead I bolted across the cargo bay, flinging myself out in her wake. 

We were several thousand feet in the air, but the distance wasn’t great enough to prepare for impact.  All I could do was propel myself towards her, the cold air ripping at my face as I struggled to wrap around her to put myself between her and the ground while attempting to encapsulate her in the kinetic bubble before we impacted.