Page 24 of Bullets and Dandelions

“Copy.” I looked for a landing site. There. About a mile ahead was a nice flat spot.

Stone tapped the control console. “The engine just failed, didn’t it?”

“Yep.” I clutched the collective pitch lever and changed the slant of the chopper blades.

“Are you going to be able to land this bird?” Stone demanded.

Since the fuselage was shot full of holes and this was my first emergency landing, who knew. “Gonna try, sir.” Gritting my teeth against the pain in my left arm, I did a maneuver called autorotation. It generated enough lift to keep us in the air. The Huey came down vertically, hit the ground hard and skidded along the sand for a good ten feet. I sagged against the seat in relief.

“The engine is on fire,” Johnson warned.

I unbuckled my harness and grabbed the fire extinguisher.

Stone stepped in front of me. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

“I’m going to put out the fire.”

Sergeant Stone took the fire extinguisher from me. “I’ll do it. Get your gear and move away from the chopper.”

“Yes, sir.” Picking up the duffel bag, I swung Bertha over my left shoulder and ran a safe distance from the burning Huey. The small fire extinguisher wasn’t going to put out that big of a fire.

Reaper moaned pathetically as Tex and Johnson dragged him across the sand.

Huh? Reaper had at least three bullet wounds and from the large blood trail, I didn’t think he had long to live. Maybe I was more like my father than I wanted to admit. I couldn’t summon an ounce of sympathy for the bastard. He liked raping young girls.

Tex glanced at me. “Your arm is bleeding again.”

And it hurt like a mother too. “I think I popped a couple of stitches in the dog fight.”

“I’ll take a look at it after I stop Reaper from bleeding to death.”

“Good luck with that.” I noticed Rodriquez taking pictures of the chopper and walked over to him. “What are the pictures for?”

“Evidence.”

“Evidence of what?”

“How many times a CIA agent has tried to kill you,” Rodriquez replied.

“Oh.”

The F-16s buzzed us.

They were so low I could see the pilots saluting us. I saluted back as they came around again.

“Don’t encourage them,” Sergeant Stone grumbled.

“Yes, sir.”

Kaboom!The Huey blew.

As pieces of debris fell from the sky, Stone knocked me to the ground and shielded me with his body. The jackass’s actions were totally unexpected, and he weighed a ton. “You’re squashing me,” I gasped.

Stone rolled off me and looked around. “Anyone hurt?”

His men shook their heads.

I watched the Huey burn for a moment and smiled. “Roberts is gonna be so pissed.”

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