“Understood,” Josh replies.
Watts has taken Dan’s position on the Browning, while Dixon and Kim are close by with their rifles also aimed at the door and I cover the rear with my rifle aimed at the hole, down into the building.
“First team, prepare for evac; that includes you, Simms, look after that holdall,” I order. “Downey, you’re with us, Kim, you go with the first team.” Downey is a medic; always keep a medic close by.
Alders lands the first Lynx cautiously, which considering the high winds and torrential rain, is understandable; he handles it well. The first five men quickly embark onto the Lynx and seeing Simms get on with the holdall is a relief. As soon as they are all onboard, Alders powers the Lynx’s engines and steadily takes off.
Watts constantly has to fire bursts from the Browning throughout the landing and take-off into the stairwell, he seems to be controlling the attacks. One Rabid escapes its fire but is quickly taken down by the other men. When the second Lynx lands, the Browning won’t be covering our Evac; we will hold position until it’s on the pad and then make a break for it, trusting that Alice has us covered when Alders’ Lynx is in position.
Alders’ Lynx rises into the murky forbidding sky that constantly has flashes of lightning running through it both near to our position and further out, over the city. Hell of a time for a savage storm like this to hit, I think to myself—right in the middle of our mission and Operation Denial that has tens of thousands of troops on the ground, trying to save the city. I discipline myself as I think that at least our mission is nearly done, we aren’t home and dry yet.
Alders’ Lynx nears its new covering position above us, and I see Alice preparing in the open hold, getting ready to provide cover for our Evac. As it closes in, Buck gives way, surrendering his position to Alders and then he starts to make his descent down to the Helipad, away to our right.
“Alice, receiving, over.”
“Receiving, Captain,” she answers.
“We will wait for your go-ahead and feel free to have a test fire,” I tell her, knowing she hasn’t used the door gun yet.
“Received, stand by.”
Watts’ firing of the Browning has slowed right down and I’m not sure if I should be relieved or alarmed by this. My gut tells me that it should be alarmed and that the Rabids are biding their time, waiting for the opportunity to strike.
We hold our position patiently, waiting for Buck to make his landing, knowing he has his work cut out for him with the atrocious weather conditions. Suddenly, Alice opens up with her door gun above and she hits the mark immediately, the tracer fire going straight through the open door and into the stairwell below. And my confidence unwittingly grows.
“Downey cover the rear,” I order as Buck’s Lynx gets close.
He takes up my position and I get up and move closer to the Helipad to watch Buck’s descent and get ready to get my team on board. The Lynx descends slowly and steadily as Buck constantly makes corrections to the descent, as the wind tries to blow the Lynx off course. It is nevertheless coming down nicely, sideways towards the Helipad.
Directly above the Lynx, the sky flashes and as if in slow motion, a lightning bolt forks all the way down and strikes the middle of the Lynx’s rotors. Shock and panic take over my body as the power of the rotors fails, grinding to a halt almost instantly and the helicopter drops like a stone from about ten meters up.
“Josh!” I shout as I break into a sprint towards the falling helicopter as if I can help him somehow. The bottom of the Lynx hits the side of the helipad, crushing and twisting its metal frame upwards. And for a second, I think it is going to stick there, miraculously held in place by the twisted metal frame. The left side of the helicopter is in mid-air though, and it starts to list over; it is going to plummet over the side of the building with Josh on board.
My feet hit the steps of the helipad as the Lynx approaches the point of no return, its list speeding up as it horribly tilts away from me. Suddenly the helicopter jolts as part of its fuselage breaks away from the helipad’s frame; it is about to drop.
“Jump, Josh,” I shout at the top of my voice in a frenzy, even though I can’t see him.
My heart stops as I see Josh at the hold door, pulling himself up on its frame, his face grimaced in panic. “Jump!” I shout again. The Lynx shudders constantly as parts of the metal frame break and the helicopter starts to fall away from the building. Fucking jump Josh, it's now or never I think to myself as the helicopter goes into free fall.
Josh manages to get onto his feet just as the Lynx slips from its perch and he falls forward, out of the hold door, not managing a jump as the helicopter plummets out of sight and down the seven floors to the ground below. There is a sound of glass smashing as the Lynx tears into the side of the building, pulling windows and glass with it on its way down before it crashes into the tarmac below.
At first, I think my eyes are deceiving me when I see Josh clinging onto a part of the helipad’s mangled frame that has been bent out from the mainframe by the force of the crash and the Lynx’s fall. I scramble across the broken frame to get to him and pull him to safety, the remnants of the frame creaking as I go, as if it will give way and follow the helicopter’s drop.
“Grab my hand,” I tell Josh as I reach out to him.
Josh’s chest is on top
