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“I’ll send him to dreamland. Just stay on your side of the convoy.”
Viper One could hear shells thumping into the rotor blades and fuselage, which was protected by twenty-six hundred pounds of shielding.
Viper Two dipped under Viper One and unleashed a torrent of fire that smashed the man in the truck bed and his heavy machine gun to a pile of morbid junk.
“Obliged to you, Viper Two.”
“You still in one piece?”
“Roger. Engaging truck five on my goal line.”
“Let’s finish the game.”
The flames from one truck, and the explosion and concussion from another, were still tearing the air when the last truck tried to escape across the field. It was quickly smashed to a halt. The survivors spilled to the ground, followed by a hail of shells pouring from the Apache like water from a fireman’s hose.
Both Apaches obliterated the rest of the convoy and circled the area, picking off any survivors who did not throw down their weapons or hold their hands up in surrender.
As Russell and Ruiz watched from the cover of the ditch along the side of the road, the heat from their flaming armored car was like torture to them. They lay there, staring in fascinated horror at the total destruction of the convoy by the phantom black helicopters.
“It makes no sense,” Russell muttered. “Who are they and where did they come from?”
“They are not Guatemalan military,” said Ruiz.
“Let’s not wait to find out,” Russell grunted, crawling away from the burning vehicle toward the nearest forest undergrowth.
“We have to find a place to lay low ’til it’s dark.”
“Sound thinking, my friend,” Russell said. “Follow me and keep low.”
“Where to?”
“Estancia Guerrero,” answered Russell. “We’ve got to get to Miss Allersby with a story to save our hides before another survivor makes it back.”
Remi’s heart sank when she heard the explosions and saw the black billowing clouds expanding in the sky above the village. She was helping the mothers with young children, distracting them from the turbulence below.
The silence that followed was even worse. The fear and anxiety finally got the best of her and she ran desperately out of the fortress and down the trail until she reached the village square. She stood there, dazed, after seeing the smoldering wreckage of a helicopter.
Remi saw no sign of Sam and closed her eyes to keep from crying in grief. She could not but think the worst.
She sensed a presence behind her. Then Sam’s voice. “How could our love affair not have a happy ending?”
Remi turned, her eyes flashing in excitement as they locked with Sam’s, and he kissed her lovingly on the lips. With his arms wrapped about her, Remi’s fear melted.
“Oh, Sam,” she murmured in his ear as she looked over his shoulder at what was left of the Mi-8.
At that moment, Viper One, followed by Viper Two, hovered over the square and gently touched down. The engines hummed, and the four-bladed main rotors slowed and crept to a stop. Sam grinned as four men in flight suits climbed out of the cockpits and approached.
The first reached out his hand and shook Sam’s. “I’ve missed you, old partner.”
> “I’m amazed an old geezer like you is still flying the globe and getting into trouble.”
The pilot from Viper Two laughed. “We wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for your talent for wheeling and dealing.”
Remi stood by as the five men hugged one another and started telling war stories and catching up on old times. Remi thought it odd that none of them called one another by name. Finally, she looked at Sam and interrupted, “Aren’t you going to introduce me?”
They all looked at one another, surprised, and then broke into laughter.
Sam took a confused Remi in his arms, and said, “This is a very, very unusual group. It’s on call around the world for operations such as the Estancia Guerrero. It’s also the finest and least-known secret operations force in the U.S.”
