Page 86 of Vistaria Has Fallen
Nick let go of the controls, picked Minnieup and threw her onto the back seat. Then he grabbed Duardo, a hand under each arm, and hauled him into the seat. He lunged over the top of him, snagged the open door and shut it.
Duardo moved slowly, sitting himself up in the seat.
“Stay down!” Nick roared—to whom, Calli wasn’t sure. She stayed hunched and pulled Minnie down with her.
The helicopter lifted. As soon as it gained height, Nickpushed the stick forward, dropping the nose and shooting them up and forward at a great speed. The engine screamed.
She heard a quietcrack!A small, neat hole appeared in the screen just in front of Nick.Bullet hole,her dazed mind identified. Nick didn’t flinch. From her sideways angle, Calli didn’t see him blink, either. The steep ascent continued.
“Calli!” Nick said, not looking around.
“What?”
“Pull off your tee-shirt. Get it behind him, put pressure on it. Hurry!”
She struggled back onto the bench seat. She didn’t understand why he had given her such a strange order, yet hurried to obey.
“No!Duardo!” Minnie screamed and tried to push past Callie into the front.
Calli froze for a second as the truth slammed into her. “Ohmigod,” she whispered. She ripped off her jacket withtrembling, thick-fingered hands. Then she stripped off her tee-shirt and wadded it into a ball.
Minnie was in her way. Calli pulled her petite cousin back with a force that rammed her into the back wall. “I have to get to him,” she said, as an apology.
Calli pushed through the seats, leaning on the console in the middle, her legs still dangling in the back and reached for Duardo.
He lay slumpedin the seat, his chin on his chest, his eyes closed. Her heart tightened and a watery, weak rush of adrenaline surged through her. “Duardo!” she called and tugged at his arm.
No response.
She grabbed a fistful of his tee-shirt and hauled on it. She had to get him leaned forward, so she could reach his back.
His hand snagged her wrist, pulling her fingers from his shirt. He lifted his chin andlooked at her and shook his head. A little drop of blood escaped the corner of his mouth.
The surge of adrenaline swirled into a sickly panic.
“No!” she shouted at him.“No!”
“Minnie,” he said, then swallowed, his throat working.
Nick’s hand dropped onto Calli’s shoulder. “Let Minnie through.”
Calli gritted her teeth, shook her head. “No. I get the pad on, we get him somewhere.”
“Calli,”Duardo said.
She looked at him, ready to battle it out with him, too. Theywouldget him somewhere. Thingswouldbe okay. This was real life. Not the eleven o’clock news. He would bejust fine, goddammit.
Duardo smiled. “La dama fuerte. Thank you for not letting go.”
She couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t speak. Pressure building in her chest and stomach jammed up everything.
Nick’s hand on her arm.Pulling her up. Pushing her to the back seat.
She fell onto the cushion, still clutching her balled up tee-shirt, her limbs as useless as a stringless marionette’s. Her hand hurt with the force of her clenching yet she didn’t let go of the tee-shirt.
Minnie squirmed through the opening in the seats. Calli watched through the seats as her cousin lay across Duardo’s lap, smoothed his brow andkissed him. She patted his shoulder while her throat worked, as if she couldn’t speak the words building there. Her eyes were wide, their focus on him fierce.
Duardo ruffled her hair. “I regret...” He took a slow, struggling breath. “English...agh,” he whispered. Then, “Nick?”
