Free Life of Secrets by Bowen Greenwood Page A

kept
zigzagging harder and faster, now left, now right, dodging shots from the
chopper.
    Then, the
helicopter moved. As its rotors kicked up a spray of small stones, the aircraft
swept around and ended up directly in front of her, less than fifty feet away.
    With the
chopper broadside ahead of her, she could see the FBI agent in full raid gear
kneeling in the open door, pointing an M-4 carbine at her. The loudspeaker
blared again.
    "There's
no escape. We have you surrounded. Put your hands in the air. This is your last
chance to surrender."
    The chopper's
move had happened so fast she hadn't had time to react; she was still sprinting
forward – right at the helicopter. Her run carried her closer as the
loudspeaker ordered her to freeze.
    Instead of
freezing, she dove and rolled, a manoeuver that
carried her right under the copter. Alyssa experienced the surreal sight of
seeing the "FBI" logo painted on the bottom, right in front of her
face. Then she rolled out the other side.
    She jumped,
grabbed the skid, and hauled herself up. Just as the shooter made the switch
over to her side, she climbed into the open cabin. Long experience with
helicopters had prepared her for the tiny quarters. They were always very small
vehicles, even the luxury ones. And in this case, very close to the target was
exactly where she wanted to be.
    Before he could
bring his weapon to bear, she delivered a right cross to the jaw. She followed
that up with a kick that sent him tumbling out the open door.
    At the last
minute, she grabbed the M-4 out of his hands, then watched him fall with a thud
to the rooftop only a few feet below them.
    She swung the
rifle forward and sized up the two people flying the craft. The pilot, to
Alyssa’s delight, was female. So she pointed the M-4 at the co-pilot's head.
    "Out!
Now!" She screamed at the top of her lungs to be heard over the engine
noises.
    The man turned
around to stare at her in shock, eyes crossing over the barrel of the weapon.
He wasn't moving, so Alyssa put a bullet through the windscreen to drive her
point home.
    Without further
ado, the co-pilot undid his straps, threw open his door and jumped down to the
roof.
    The pilot was
in the process of doing likewise when Alyssa shouted, "Not you! Sit down
and get this thing out of here if you want to live."
    The pilot
looked at her, stared at the carbine, and then pulled back on the cyclic stick
to gain altitude.
    "Your
helmet! Take it off!" She yelled. Then, holding the rifle in her right
hand and cupping it under her elbow, she mimed taking the helmet off with her
left to make sure she got the point.
    "It's got
a mic in it. I need it to talk to air traffic
control!" she shouted back.
    "Exactly!
Take it off now or I blow you away!"
    It was a bluff.
She really didn't want to shoot an FBI agent. From Alyssa’s perspective, that
would be the worst possible scenario. Committing murder on the way to proving
herself innocent of murder would not exactly work out. But from the pilot’s
perspective, her own demise was eminently believable. First of all, there was
the matter of the barrel pointed at her head. Second, she thought that this
person invading her aircraft had already murdered the man who most likely would
have been the next President; for someone who had done that, killing a lowly
FBI agent would not be a big deal.
    She took the
helmet off and, getting the drift when Chambers did no more than wave the
barrel of the M-4 at the co-pilot's still-open door, she threw it out of the
chopper.
    "Head
east," she shouted. "Straight and level, nothing fancy, put the
autopilot on and talk to me."
    She watched
very carefully as the pilot complied, noting the location of the autopilot
switch when she activated it.
    "Oh, and
one more thing," Alyssa added as the pilot turned back to look at her.
    "I need
you to strip. Down to your skivvies."

CHAPTER SIX | FLASHBACK
    Chambers eased the
Mercedes into the garage and let it idle for a moment, sitting and enjoying