Page 46 of Shackled

The wind roars, and the helicopter rocks with the turbulence, the wind dragging her small frame half out of the helicopter, but she steadies herself and pulls herself back in. I position myself next to her.

The first asshole I see, I pull the trigger. Fire bursts from my gun, the bullets hitting him in the chest. He releases his grip and plummets. The second one’s eyes go wide and he hesitates, giving me all the time I need to take him out. The third one, leans out, resting his feet on a landing skid and grasping a handle inside the doorframe, but Isabella leans around me and shoots him in the hand, causing him to lose his grip and fall.

Their helicopter hovers dangerously close. A fourth gunman aims straight at her. I fire and hit him straight between the eyes. His face explodes into a pink mist of chopped meat. He falls. Another chopper pulls up on our starboard side.

“There’s another helicopter,” I scream to her so I can be heard over the roaring wind. “We need to take them out!”

“Fucking bring it!” she screams. “We’re gonna do something risky. Trust me.” She signals to the pilot to bring our helicopter close to the ground.

“Do what she tells you!” I yell into my headset. Even with the headsets, the noise is deafening.

As we approach the ground, Isabella screams, “Get ready to jump!”

“Are you fucking insane?”

“Trust me!” She looks straight into my eyes. “Husband.”

Fuck.

“We’re getting out,” she says. “Keep us steady and don’t fucking kill us.”

As the helicopter grazes the ground, she grabs my hand. We leap together, landing hard on the grass of what appears to be a park of some kind. I pull her up and yank her behind me.

This caught them off guard. We use the element of surprise to our advantage. They stare, shocked, for a second as their chopper whizzes by, but that was probably her whole point.

We dart for the trees nearest us. The enemy chopper swings back around, lands and deposits four more sicarios on the ground directly in front of us before we can reach safety.

A thin, lithe woman lunges straight for Isabella, but she doesn’t even bat an eye at the threat. Elbow to the neck crushing her larynx, knee to the belly, she knocks her attacker down and puts two bullets in her skull, her life ended in an instant. Another shoots at me and misses. I pull the trigger, thankful my brother doesn’t cheap out with weapons.His chest explodes.

Two down.

I look up and see Isabella riding on the back of a third attacker, plunging a blade into his neck, his blood spraying everywhere. Definitely potential psychopath.

Three down.

The fourth takes aim at my wife; I take immense pleasure in pulling that trigger. Within seconds, we’ve eliminated every damn man and woman who has dared to attack us. They never stood a chance. We secure the enemy helicopter.

I quickly make my way to the cockpit. “Stand down!” I scream at the pilot, my gun jammed into his temple. He scowls and doesn’t respond. Isabella comes up behind me, her blood-soaked face a mask of beautiful fury, like an avenging angel.

"¡Retírate, imbécil!" she screams. “Sabes quién soy y sabes de lo que soy capaz!”

I have no idea what she just said, but he absolutely does. With a whimper, he turns to face us. For a moment, I think he’s given himself over, but at the last second, he lunges toward her. I pull the trigger.

She looks at me with wild eyes. “My hero.”, she says with a wicked smile, her eyes flash with a fire and hunger I could drown myself in.

“Where did you get the knife from?” I ask.

“I took it from that bitch.” She laughs, her triumphant smile even wider now.

“Hand it over, now.” I command.

Isabella reluctantly places the blade in my outstretched hand.

Breathing heavily, I grab the headset. “We’re secure, get back here and pick us up.”

A moment passes. Another. My phone is out of control with calls and texts from my brothers. I can’t deal with them right now. I need a minute to collect myself.

When we finally climb back into our chopper, the pilot stares, wide-eyed at the sight before him, Isabella’s blood-soaked face a mask of pure unadulterated joy is not something he ever thought he’d see in this life. His gaze immediately turns and focuses ahead of us as we lift off into a blue sky dotted with clouds. “I’ll make sure you get a bonus for this,” I tell him. I turn back to Isabella, who’s trying to catch her breath, but her eyes still burning bright. She fucking loves adrenaline.

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