Page 77 of Mountain Trial

“Shit! The police!” Dogfish shouted. He opened the door, as if he could still escape that way.

“You fool! Close that―”

A red dot appeared on Dogfish’s forehead.

“Hands high in the air, you have five seconds to get out of the helicopter.” Kat recognized Damien’s calm, measured pitch.

“Bull?” Dogfish asked in a trembling voice, so different from his early cocky tone. “What do I do?”

The red dot followed him, staying in the middle of his forehead. Kat knew, without a doubt, that Beau Fontaine, commandant of the Annecy PGHM team, was the one behind the trigger.

“Now, asshole. Before my buddy’s finger gets tired,” Drake said, coming to stand up beside Damien. Both men had a weapon trained on the helicopter.

Kat stood up as quietly as possible. From her position inside the cockpit, Kat saw Bull step forward towards Dogfish and the open doorway … and push Dogfish down onto the ground, where he landed with a thump.

“No! Bull!” Dogfish shouted, scrambling to get to his knees. Drake was on him in a flash, pushing him down onto his stomach and wrestling him into a pair of handcuffs.

Bull closed the helicopter door and retreated into the perceived safety of the aircraft. He probably figured that, while he was inside with Kat and Luc, nobody would fire at him.

He’s probably right.

They won’t shoot unless they’re sure they won’t hit us.

Damien and a police officer Kat recognized from their meetings with the anti-terrorist unit, advanced on the helicopter. “It’s Bull, right?” Damien said loudly. “You’re not going anywhere, Bull. Let the two hostages go now, and you still have a good chance of making it out of here alive.”

“Let Luc go,” Kat added gently. “As a sign of good faith. I can still get you wherever you want to go.”

Luc

Rage welled up inside him―deep, and cold, and brutal. Luc shook his head violently. He wasn’t about to let Kat play Russian roulette with her life again.

“You’re not going anywhere, Bull. You know this,” he said.

A loud metallic clank sounded outside the helicopter. Kat knew exactly what the noise meant―one of the team must have crawled under the helicopter and looped a winch rope through the skids. She hoped Bull wouldn’t recognize the sound for what it was.

“No! No!” Bull despaired, running a hand roughly through his dark hair.

He knows.

“Contact him on the radio,” he ordered Kat, lifting his gun in her direction.

“Who?”

“Don’t play coy with me. Your boss. The one outside.”

Kat shrugged and started playing with the dial, looking for the emergency frequency the team often used.

“Kat? Are you both okay? Copy.”

“We’re okay, Damien. Bull wants to speak with you. Copy.”

Bull took the handheld piece from her. “Are you the one in charge?”

“I am. My name is Damien Gray. Talk to me, Bull. We can find a peaceful solution to this.”

“Don’t bother,” Bull said coolly. “I think we must have taken the same negotiator’s course. Take that thing off the skids so we can get out of here.”

“I can’t do that, Bull. I wish I could. You’re in there with one of my team. I want to get her out safely. But it’s not up to―”