Chapter 46 - The Shadow Syndicate
Sparks exploded in a violent shower of white and orange light. The high-pitched whine of the cooling fans died instantly, replaced by the piercing shriek of the cabin master alarm. The internal lights flipped from sterile white to emergency red, bathing Beatrice’s stunned face in crimson shadows.
"Kill her!" Beatrice screamed, stumbling backward as smoke billowed from the fried circuit breakers.
The guard beside her raised his weapon, but the helicopter suddenly bucked violently. A concussive blast rattled the entire airframe from outside. Through the cockpit glass, streaks of tracer rounds cut through the night sky.
*Thump-thump-thump!*
Heavy-caliber rounds punched through the aluminum skin of the fuselage, ripping through the server blades in a hail of shattered silicon and hydraulic fluid. The tactical guard on my right took a round to the shoulder and was thrown against the bulkhead with a sickening wet crunch.
"We have incoming!" the pilot’s voice screamed over the intercom. "Unidentified attack craft off our port wing! Radar warning receiver is lighting up—missile lock! Missile lock!"
"Beatrice, you arrogant parasite!" a voice boomed over the emergency tactical frequency, broadcasting from the attacking aircraft. The voice was distorted, but instantly recognizable. It was Henrik.
He was alive.
Julianna kicked the cockpit door open from the inside, her face bloodied but her eyes burning with feral fury. She held a heavy brass fire extinguisher she had ripped from the co-pilot's bulkhead. Before Beatrice could draw her concealed sidearm, Julianna swung the heavy cylinder with both hands, striking Beatrice squarely across the collarbone.
The matriarch crashed to the deck, her gun sliding across the slick metal floor toward my boots.
"Clara, jump!" Julianna screamed, pointing at the emergency escape hatch in the cabin floor.
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"There are no parachutes on that hatch, you idiot!" Beatrice hissed from the floor, spitting blood as she tried to crawl toward her weapon.
The helicopter took another direct hit. The tail rotor shuddered, and the aircraft began to spin into an uncontrollable, gut-wrenching spiral, descending violently toward the jagged, snow-capped peaks of the Bavarian Alps below.
