The Wellspring (Kaitlyn and the Highlander #12) - Diana Knightley Page 0,77

the helicopter. “This is yours. You stay here, fire at anything moving that is not one of us. I repeat, not us. Got me?”

“Got you.” I moved into place behind the gun.

He tossed a gun to Hayley. “Everyone know what they’re doing?”

I said, “Hell no, but let’s go.” I set my stance like I saw in a movie once and set my jaw. I had one fucking job, shoot everything that moved. Not my friends.

Hayley yelled, “Hell no, but let’s go!”

The helicopter pulled in front of the wide big windows, Quentin smacked his hand on a button. “Hover button!” He pointed again at the important button. “When I say go!”

Someone looked out of the window. My adrenaline coursed through my veins. Oh my god we were about to — Fraoch, Quentin, and James moved to the side of the helicopter and shot tether ropes over to the roof.

“Push the button!”

Hayley pushed the button and there was a loud, very loud, pressure noise, inside my head. Like, KAGLUMPOW — time slowed down. Noise vanished. The scent was fire. My whole body vibrated.

Glass shattered and rained down. The royal residence was exposed through a gaping hole in the side of the building. A man raced across the room, two more men. I fired my gun, blasting a wide swath, sweeping left and right. It was heavy and terrible to watch. I hit a man and it looked like he might have exploded.

James and Quentin swung across, landing in the dust and glass, Fraoch was a second behind. They were shooting, running around, blocking my shot. Hayley yelled, “We’re getting hit from below!”

I swung the gun around and swept back and forth at anything that moved, checking over my shoulder to watch the action inside the castle.

Through the dust and rubble, James and Fraoch appeared dragging Magnus between them. He was unconscious. Quentin was four steps behind them, shooting, protecting them.

They got Magnus to the open wall, the edge of the building.

Hayley and I were shooting in all directions as helicopters and drones from the sky and tanks from below descended on us. Fraoch held Magnus around the chest, grasped a rope, and swung across. When he landed it caused the helicopter to dip frighteningly. He shoved Magnus up and in, then slid back across the floor. Hayley screamed, “Fraoch!” as he almost slid out of the helicopter.

He dragged himself back up as Quentin swung across landing beside him.

Quentin dove for the console. “Forgot to show you the missile!” He banged his palm down on a button and a missile shot from the front of the machine sending us lunging the other direction just as James swung across. He got his foot inside but lost his balance when we lurched.

I grabbed his pants as he fell back. “James!” I held on, James swinging from my hands, us both sliding from the helicopter as Fraoch grabbed my waist, yanked me back, then helped me grab James around the legs.

Quentin swung the helicopter around and we used the force and motion to pull James’s center of gravity up, into the helicopter.

He lay on the floor of the helicopter, dazed, “Damn, I thought I was dead for sure.”

“No one’s dying yet!” yelled Quentin. He fired another missile directly at the royal residence taking down the wall, then another into the offices, where he had seen men run, then our helicopter turned in a wide arc headed away.

Quentin took over firing my gun, and I crawled across the floor to hold onto Magnus. Gunfire was blasting all around, pummeling the sides of our vehicle. The whole contraption was shaking and jerking. It did not sound good. Smoke poured from the front.

Drones blocked us on all sides and a larger helicopter rose in front of us, its weapons aimed on us.

I held onto Magnus’s legs, glancing around at my friends shooting in every direction as the helicopter twisted and spiraled down and we were surrounded and chased and being shot at from every direction.

I pulled the vessel from my pocket. “Hold on! Everyone hold the fuck on! I’m jumping us, hold on!”

And I twisted the vessel and the wind buffeted the helicopter, setting us into a collision with the ground that was coming up hard and fast. I held onto Magnus as we were slammed and crashed and then lifted and pulled and lightning struck around us.

I woke up in searing pain, spitting dry sand out of my mouth, half in and out of the helicopter. An overcast,