Conn'n'Caleb

She kept her eyes closed, listening to the voices of the men in the cockpit of the military helicopter. She didn’t want them to know that she was awake. Or that she was no longer bound by the restraints they’d placed on her and therefore free to move around.

For the last two days every time she’d roused, she’d been given another injection. This was the first time she’d managed to gain full consciousness. Her mind was still not clear. There was a heavy shroud of drug-induced fog clouding her thoughts. She needed to be able to think clear. Her survival depended on it.

From the conversation going on in the cockpit they were apparently flying over a place called Arizona. Keeping below radar level. That didn’t surprise her either. No one wanted to take credit or blame for what was happening. The men in the cockpit were like all the others before them. They just wanted to pass her off to those higher in the chain of command and be done with her.

Knowing that time was running short, she focused her mind on a plan. The minutes ticked by. The pilot’s voice alerted her to a change in their status. They were suddenly losing fuel. He wasn’t sure they had enough to make it to their destination. He had to radio for instructions.

“This is Bravo Tango Charlie 227.”

There was an answering blast of static. He tried again. Still nothing. Focused on the problem at hand, he and his copilot turned all their attention to checking the instrumentation, their comments made in hopeful tones. Maybe the instruments were wrong. Maybe it was a glitch.

This was her chance. She slowly sat, peeling off the blanket they’d placed over her. Keeping her eyes on the cockpit, she inched toward the door. Neither of the men sensed movement until she placed one hand on each of their shoulders.

“This aircraft is going to crash,” she said softly. “You must escape before it goes down. You are lucky men. The only survivors.”

“What the—” The pilot never finished the sentence. The chopper suddenly lost altitude and all his attention was on battling the controls.

Standing between the two men, for a moment she was weightless. Had she not reached up to absorb the impact with hands and arms, her head would have banged into the ceiling of the cabin.

The copilot issued a mayday call, giving their location. Hope swelled inside her. They were passing over a lake. As the chopper dropped lower, she reached for the door. The copilot grabbed her, trying to stop her. She fought him with everything she had. This time he wasn’t going to overpower her. She’d played nice. She’d played fair. And it’d gotten her nowhere. Except getting her kidnapped, drugged, bound and gagged, and flying who-knew-where with this surly barbarian and an equally dour pilot.

It was time to get the heck out of Dodge as she’d heard on the black and white western show she’d watched at the last holding facility she’d been kept in. And this was her best chance.

The pilot was trying to find a place to land. She’d spotted the lake and knew this was the time to act. All she had to do was get free of the co-pilot who had a death grip on her wrist.

He yanked on her, and she put everything she had into a punch right into his groin. His mouth opened wide but only a strangled gurgle came out. She vaulted over to the door as he collapsed.

The aircraft did a sudden nose down, throwing her forward onto her knees. As the pilot fought to level out the plane, she scrambled to her feet and headed for the hatch.