Page 405 of Scars of Fate

Snow.

Sky again.

The pilot fought the controls.

“Tail rotor damaged!”

“Can you keep us up?” Adam shouted.

“Long enough to put us down!”

Smoke poured past the rear window.

The facility disappeared beneath us as the helicopter dropped behind the mountain.

“Clearing ahead!” Roth yelled.

A narrow section of frozen ground appeared between the trees.

Too small.

Too uneven.

Our only chance.

“Brace!”

I pulled Wynn against my chest.

The helicopter struck the ground hard.

The skids collapsed.

We slid across the ice, tore through a line of small trees, and spun toward a rock wall.

The pilot fought the controls until the damaged aircraft stopped several feet from the stone.

For one second, I heard nothing.

Then Wynn breathed against me.

“I’m okay.”

She lifted her head.

“But I have to tell you, I’m getting pretty darn tired of falling out of the sky.”

I loosened my hold enough to see her face.

Blood ran from a new cut near her eyebrow.

“You’re bleeding.”

“So are you.”

That didn’t matter.

“Can you move?”