Free The Last Survivor (A Wilde/Chase Short Story) by Andy McDermott Page A

enough to
thunk
against the aluminium. He froze. Had Kroll heard the noise?
    If he had, then the Englishman was dead. Kroll wouldn’t even need to use his last bullet – he only needed to open the door to push him to his doom …
    It remained shut. Eddie cautiously craned his neck to look into the helicopter. The Nazi was still fixated on the view through the windscreen. With the other door open, the rotor noise inside the cabin was as loud as it was out on the skid, drowning out everything else.
    Almost as if responding to his thought, Kroll took a pair of headphones from a hook and pulled them over his ears to muffle the sound. Eddie lowered his head again. That would reduce the risk of the Nazi hearing him open the door, but he still needed his distraction.
    He stretched out his right hand again, this time tipping his head back as far as he dared until he could see the pilot’s right arm and part of his headphones. The man was looking straight ahead, keeping the helicopter on a course towards New Jersey. Eddie pressed his fingertips against the window and tapped it.
    No reaction. He tried again, harder. ‘Come on, listen,’ he growled, continuing his little tattoo on the Plexiglas before turning his hand and banging the window with his knuckles. Liberty Island was quickly approaching, over a thousand feet below. ‘You playing Napalm Death in your earphones? Look around, for fuck’s sake!’ The raps became full-on pounding, but still there was no reaction—
    The pilot’s head finally turned towards him.
    Eddie knew instantly from the man’s incredulous flinch that he had been seen. He pressed himself against the fuselage so that he could stretch his hand as far forward as it would go, then quickly flashed all his fingers, twice in quick succession. After a short pause, he did it again – this time holding in his little finger on the second flash.
Ten
, followed by
nine
. Another brief wait, then he held in his little and ring fingers.
Eight
. Hoping that he had established the timing, he waved his flattened hand from side to side to suggest rocking the aircraft when the countdown reached zero, then retreated as fast as he could.
    He continued the count in his head.
Seven
.
Six
.
Five
. At the rear door, but he still had to get all the way behind it before opening it.
Four
.
Three
. His head passed the door handle. Another couple of steps, and he was clear.
Two
. Kroll was still in the same position but now with an odd look on his face, a dawning recognition that something had changed but unsure what …
    Eddie realised at the same moment as the Nazi. The pilot kept glancing down and to his right. He was trying to spot the stowaway, and by looking away from the instruments, he was making it far too obvious. Had he even understood the message?
    Kroll opened his mouth to speak, but some sixth sense instead prompted him to turn his head towards the window.
    Their eyes met. The Nazi’s widened in surprise—
    One!
    Eddie yanked the door open. Kroll whipped around, but the gun caught against the headrest as he tried to pull it through the narrow gap.
    The former SAS soldier lunged into the cabin – and the pilot slammed the cyclic control stick hard over to port. He
had
understood the countdown. Kroll reeled towards the open door as Eddie charged at him.
    The pair collided with a
whump
. The gun came through the gap as Kroll lurched back – and reflexively pulled the trigger.
    Eddie flinched away from the muzzle flash, but the weapon wasn’t pointed at him. The bullet hit the pilot. A red line sliced open across his forehead as it grazed his skull. He thrashed against his seat belt, then slumped to one side, unconscious …
    His hands dropped from the controls.
    The LongRanger immediately pitched downwards, curving towards Liberty Island. Eddie glanced in dismay at the freely moving joystick, but there was no way to reach it from the rear compartment.
    Kroll threw himself at the Englishman with a roar. Eddie tried