over the Mediterranean. The horizon was marked by a rapidly fading orange light and the earth below enshrouded in a blanket of darkness, while ahead a thousand tiny lights sparkled across the Gaza Strip and the town of Sderot.
Quite suddenly, the helicopter before them veered upward sharply in a rapid ascent and braking maneuver that the de Havilland could not hope to match. The sound of the powerful thumping rotors thundered past in the night sky above.
“They’re cutting in behind us,” Safiya said, straining in her seat to watch the helicopter settle in close behind them.
“They won’t shoot us down,” Ethan said. “They can’t take the risk of us having spoken to the controller before they blocked our radios.”
“Yeah, great, Ethan, except that we don’t know what they’re saying now,” Aaron pointed out. “They could be reporting us as having terrorists aboard, bombs, anything.”
Ethan felt a new wave of panic flooding his stomach. Faced with the threat of a potential aerial suicide attack, there was no telling what the IDF might do. Without radio contact, they would most likely have a play-it-safe policy of blowing any suspicious aircraft out of the sky before it reached populated areas.
Ethan looked ahead to the sparkling lights of the Gaza Strip. The clattering of the engine and the rhythmic thumping of the helicopter blades reverberating through the fuselage rattled any remaining self-doubt from his mind. You’ve screwed it up, Ethan. Best thing he could do now was remove any responsibility from Aaron, Safiya, and Rachel before they were all caught.
“How far is it to Gaza now?” Ethan asked.
“Two minutes and we’ll be over Sderot,” Aaron replied quickly. “We could try for Yasser Arafat Airfield in southern Gaza but it’s not great for landing. The IDF bombed it years ago.”
“I can’t let them get hold of this footage. Take us as close as you dare to the Gaza Strip and turn north when we reach it.”
“What the hell are you going to do?”
Ethan reached out to the row of parachutes strapped to the rear of the fuselage.
“I’ll get out over the Strip and find my way back into Israel afterward.”
“You … can’t,” Aaron stammered, “it’s dark out there and you’ll have no way of seeing where you’ll land.”
“Nor will they,” Ethan said. “Besides, there’s a lot of open ground on the edges of the Strip near Nahal Oz.”
“Have you ever even used one of those before?” Safiya asked, gesturing to the parachute.
Ethan managed a meager smile that he hoped convinced them where it failed to convince him. “I was a Marine not an airborne soldier, but how hard can it be? Jump, pull, pray.”
From beside him, he could see Rachel watching as he slipped into the parachute harnesses and tightened them over his shoulders.
“This isn’t the best way to protect that footage,” she murmured. In the darkness, her features were lit only by the soft green glow from the instrument panel. “We could end up losing both you and the camera.”
“While I’m in Gaza I can find out if Lucy is being held there, and I know people who can help get me out again.”
Rachel got to her feet, swaying as the aircraft rocked through the night sky.
“Are you sure it’s Lucy who you’re going to be searching for?”
Ethan forced himself to look into her eyes without flinching.
“There isn’t anyone else there,” he said. “If there was, I would have found her before now.”
“How do I know that’s the truth?” Rachel said above the engine noise. “Selby and Woods showed you that photograph of your fiancée, and the first chance you’ve got you’re abandoning me to go running about in Gaza. How the hell is that supposed to help me find Lucy?”
“Israel wouldn’t let me into Gaza to find Joanna,” Ethan snapped, “just like they won’t let us into Gaza to find Lucy. This is the perfect opportunity. Are you willing to throw that away?”
Rachel glared at him, her mouth open to reply but no words coming forth. Ethan turned away and checked his harness before gripping the de Havilland’s interior door handle and looking ahead toward the cockpit.
“Ready?”
Safiya nodded, her dark eyes unreadable in the shadowy cockpit. Ethan turned and yanked the door open.
The night air blasted into his face, the aircraft yawing to one side as Aaron fought to overcome the sudden aerodynamic imbalance. Ethan peered over the edge of the fuselage as Aaron gained control and turned swiftly north. Streetlights flickered three thousand feet below, and out to the west Ethan could