Page 99 of Savage Warrior

“Yes. We’ll let them get on with it. They’ll do a better job than we would, and we want to know what happened as much as they do.” He gets back on his radio to issue instructions to the men following on the ground. “I want a presence at the crash site as soon as you arrive here, and report any findings or developments back to me. Otherwise, don’t interfere.”

“Right, boss.”

CHAPTER 23

Rome

Three hours earlier…

Natalija munches on the tuna salad sandwich I managed to get for her from a vending machine in Brussels during our brief stopover. It was that or egg mayo. I hate egg, so I took a wild guess. She seems happy with it, and with the can of Coca-Cola to wash it down.

Ethan is busy on his phone, Tony is dozing, and Aaron is listening to something through his earbuds. Heavy rock, would be my guess by the way his foot keeps tapping and the occasional tuneless grunt.

Maybe I should take a nap myself…

The chopper lurches violently. Natalija’s sandwich flies cross the cabin, and Ethan’s phone clatters past my feet.

What the fuck…?

“Hold on, we hit something.” Magda wrestles with the controls.

“What did we hit? Bird strike?” Ethan demands, leaning forward to peer over her shoulder.

“Not sure, but we’re too high for birds. I’m taking us lower…”

The helicopter goes into a sharp descent. We all grab at something, anything solid in the cabin to steady ourselves.

Natalija screams and clutches my sleeve. “What is happening?”

Before I have time to come up with a response, the aircraft swerves to the right. We’d all have been flung out of our seats if we were not firmly belted in.

“Magda?” I yell.

“It was… a missile of some sort. I managed to evade it, but—”

A deafening roar damn near explodes my eardrums. The helicopter is spinning crazily, whirling around and around as it plummets to the ground. I barely have time to wrap myself around Natalija before we hit the trees below and tumble down to land on our side in the English countryside.

Everything goes black.

“Wake up. Wake up, mate.” Someone is shaking me and yelling in my face.

Fuck off. Leave me alone…

“He’s alive. What about the others?”

My tormentor moves on, and I sink back into oblivion, but the relief is short-lived. Someone is grabbing me by the shoulders and dragging me across the ground.

I open my eyes to see a bright-blue sky above me and nothing else. What happened? Where the fuck am I…?

Someone is sobbing. Close by. I need to focus, to remember…

Holy fuck! The chopper. We crashed.

I’m alert in an instant, struggling to sit up, but someone is holding me down. Get off me.

“Easy, mate. Just take it easy.” Capable hands help me to sit. “Does it hurt anywhere?”

Everywhere. Every-fucking-thing hurts. I try to get to my feet.

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