Declan had known they were going to crash even before the rocket-propelled grenade had slammed into the belly of the copter. The damage they’d taken right after lifting off had done something to the controls. Worse, the pilot had been hit and was barely able to keep the aircraft flying straight and level. By the time the hybrid had jumped on board to tear anyone he could reach to shreds, Declan was wondering what the hell they’d done to deserve this. It was like some force was acting against them, doing everything in its power to make sure they never got out of this jungle.
He’d read all the reports that Landon and Ivy had written about hybrids, but it was one thing reading about them and a completely different thing fighting them. He couldn’t believe the amount of damage it took to put down one of those things. It was as if they were too stupid to know when they’d been mortally wounded. Or maybe they simply didn’t care.
If he hadn’t been so worried about the helicopter spinning madly out of control and that they were probably going to be dead in a few seconds, he would have told Kendra how well she’d handled herself. She’d stayed calm throughout the long march to the landing zone, taking out soldiers and hybrids like she’d been born to do it. And her actions in the helicopter when she’d put down that hybrid to save his life? That had been impressive.
Of course, none of that mattered. Because in a fight with gravity, gravity won every time.
Nevertheless, that pragmatic outlook didn’t keep him from throwing his body over Kendra’s when the helicopter lurched and took a header toward the ground. He shifted just before they hit, tensing every muscle in his body in an attempt to create a protective barrier around her.
He told himself he was doing it because it’d been Tate’s last orders, but a voice in the back of his head told him that was bullshit.
The impact was horrendous, the sound of crushing metal, snapping rotor blades, and breaking trees overwhelming everything else—even the screams of pain and fear.
He was actually surprised after it was all over that he was still alive. Movement beneath him told him that Kendra was, too. Damn, she was one tough woman. Thank God.
Acrid smoke began to fill what was left of the helicopter, and his thoughts immediately turned to fear of a fire. It would be just their luck to survive the crash only to die in the flames.
There was another reason to get out of the helicopter—the smoke would draw the soldiers and hybrids to come finish the job they’d started. They’d been in the air for a few minutes after getting hit, but he had no idea how far they’d traveled from the landing zone. He knew they didn’t have long.
He pulled back to look down at Kendra. Some of her long hair had come free of her ponytail to hang down in her face, and he had to fight the urge to push it back. “You okay?”
She coughed. “Yeah. You?”
“I’m good. But we need to get out of here.”
He looked around, trying to orient himself in the hazy smoke-filled mess that had been the main section of the helicopter. It took a second for him to figure out which way was up—the Seahawk had landed on its side, blocking the door he’d recently tossed the hybrid out. But it didn’t matter because the whole front of the helicopter was gone. It must have been ripped off as they’d crashed through the trees. He didn’t want to think about what had happened to the pilot and copilot.
Declan turned to see what remained of the other occupants only to find Kendra already checking on the two wounded marines. Declan crawled over the debris to kneel beside her. What he saw turned his stomach. The hybrid’s claws had gotten to one marine, while the impact had gotten to the other. Declan knew their deaths had been anything but painless.
Noise came from the back of the helicopter and Declan lifted his head to see the two local cops slowly coming their way. Declan got them moving in the right direction, then came back to help Kendra pull the DEA agent out of his seat. The guy was unconscious and had a dark purple bruise across his face and temple. He didn’t look good, but Declan carried him outside and gently set him down on the ground anyway. The man’s heart beat with an unsteady rhythm. Declan swore. He hadn’t had a chance to learn the guy’s name, and now it looked like he never would.
He heard a crashing sound behind him and looked over his shoulder to see Kendra dragging out one of the dead marines. When he moved to help her, she waved him off.
“I’ve got him,” she said. “Go get the other guy.”
Declan nodded and ducked inside. The helicopter might not have caught fire, but it still didn’t seem right to leave them in there.
He’d just gotten the second marine positioned respectfully away from the downed bird when he heard more noise coming from the wreck. Kendra was tossing stuff out of the helicopter—weapons, ammo, a rucksack, extra canteens, what looked like ration bars, and a first-aid kit. Okay, it was official. She was a whole lot calmer in a stressful situation than he’d ever imagined she would be. If he wasn’t already hopelessly in love with her, he would be now.
A few moments later, she came stumbling out, coughing and hacking. Declan grabbed one of the canteens and held it out to her.
“You okay?” he asked.
She nodded, taking a big gulp of water, then put the cap back on the canteen. “How far away did we get?”
“Not far enough,” he said. “We flew farther than I thought before the crash, maybe two miles. But I can already hear them coming. They’ll probably be able to hone right in on the smoke coming off the crash.”
“Then we need to get moving.”
As Kendra started gathering up the gear she’d tossed out of the smoldering wreck, Declan checked on the other survivors. The two locals were whispering to each other as he approached the injured DEA agent. He could hear them clearly, but they were speaking in Spanish, so it really didn’t matter that he could overhear everything they said. But while he didn’t understand the words, he got the gist of their tone—they were scared to death and wondering if staying with Declan and Kendra was their best bet.
He knelt down beside the DEA agent, preparing to carry him—at least until they had enough time to rig up some kind of travois or litter—but the man was already dead. Between all the blood he’d lost, shock, and head trauma, there was no way of telling what had done him in.
Declan pulled the DEA agent’s rain jacket off to cover his face. Hopefully the soldiers and hybrids wouldn’t disturb the man’s body or those of the dead marines. But it was anyone’s guess what hybrids considered an acceptable way to honor the dead.
“Where the hell are they going?” Kendra asked.
Declan spun around just in time to see the two police officers slip into a dense section of jungle and disappear.
