If it stayed on course, it would buzz the vineyard low and fast.
?What is it?? Andrew shaded his eyes again, took another look at the helicopter.
?I don?t know,? Mike said. ?Maybe we better get inside. Maybe it?s??
The machine guns on the aircraft thundered to life, the helicopter descending like hell from the sky.
* * *
Meredith trained her sights on anything moving, thumbed the fire button on the stick. The 20mm cannons screamed their song of death, lead shredding grapevines and pounding earth. The two by the parked cars dashed into the cabin.
She kept her thumb on the firing button, skimming low, and shot out the cabin?s front window, chewed up the door, wood chunks flying. She pulled up and banked at the last second, her left skid barely clearing the cabin?s chimney. She wanted to come around for another pass, and she flipped switches, arming the grenade launchers.
Her cell phone rang.
She kept one hand on the stick, fumbled for the phone with the other, and flipped it open. ?Hello??
?Hey, hon, it?s John.?
?Now?s not really a good time, babe.? She brought the helicopter around and popped two grenades through the roof of the little barn. It blew apart, a spectacular fireball crackup of flames and flying wood and billowing black smoke.
?What the hell was that?? John asked.
?I?m in a construction zone,? Meredith said. ?They?re demolishing a building.?
?Well, drive careful, hon. Anyway, I wanted to ask about the dry cleaning. Did you use the place downtown or the other place by the mall??
She was coming in too steep to get a good bead on the cabin, so she pulled up hard, hovered backward, and put the target in her crosshairs. The smoke from the exploded barn filled the sky, drifted in front of the Cayuse?s windshield, obscuring her vision. ?The one by the mall.?
?Okay, one more question.?
?I?m serious, John. This is a bad time.?
?I?ll make it quick,? her husband promised. ?I want to make a Crock-Pot of really hot chili. I know you don?t like it so I figured while you were gone??
?Cut to the chase, John.? She flew in fast, shot two grenades into the cabin and veered away at a steep angle so she wouldn?t get caught in the blast. The cabin?s walls blew out, and the roof collapsed on the rubble.
?I can?t find the Crock-Pot, and I didn?t know if we had any ground beef in the freezer.?
?You?re a grown man, John. Figure it out. I have to merge into traffic. Love you.? She hung up, tossed the cell phone onto the other seat.
She grabbed some altitude and circled the area three times. She didn?t see anyone. The cabin smoked but didn?t burn like the barn. It was possible somebody had ducked under a table or something and survived. That?s all she needed was to blow the place to hell and back only to have the fire department show up and save her target. She needed a closer look.
Meredith brought the chopper down slow and steady and made a slow circle around the cabin. The rotor blades blew the smoke back and kicked up dust. She let the Cayuse drift a few feet from the cabin toward the barn. She was maybe eight feet off the ground. She scanned the tree line and the vine rows in case somebody was hiding, waiting for her to leave.
She considered what to do next. She was fairly confident nobody could survive the cabin or the barn?s destruction, but she had to be sure. She glanced around for a place to set down. Then she could get out with her sidearm and?
The cockpit erupted with shattered glass and the flurry of metallic
?Shit!?
