'Get to the choppers!' someone yelled. 'Get to the—'
Just then, Race heard an engine turn over and he spun in his seat to see the rotor blades of both of the Apache attack helicopters slowly begin to rotate.
German soldiers ran desperately for the two choppers, but they were small and skinny each only had room for a single pilot and a gunner.
The first Apache began to lift off just as a terrified trooper leapt up onto its landing strut and yanked open the cockpit door. But before he could even try to climb inside, one of the cats bounded up onto the strut after him, shoving him roughly out of the way before it slithered in through the cockpit door, its long slashing tail whipping over the side as it did so.
A second later, the interior of the cockpit windows was splattered with blood and the chopper—hovering ten feet off the ground—went wild.
It yawed sharply to the right, its rotor blades a speeding blur of movement, toward the other Apache, just as the six- barrelled rotary cannon under its nose blasted wildly to life, assaulting the entire village with supermachine-gun fire.
Tracer bullets sprayed everywhere.
The windshield of Race's Humvee exploded into a spider-web of cracks as the storm of bullets slammed into it.
Race ducked away from the impacts instinctively. As he did so, however, he saw a series of orange impact sparks fldre out all over the tail section of one of the Hueys moored on the riverbank nearby.
Then suddenly, like fireworks shooting into the sky on the fourth of July, two Hellfire missiles shot out from the flailing Apache's missile pods.
One of the missiles slammed into a nearby stone hut, blasted it to rubble, while the other just shot straight down the main street of Vilcafor, heading directly for the massive Antonov seaplane parked at the riverbank, before— shoom!—it whizzed in through the open loading ramp of the plane and disappeared inside its cargo bay.
There was about a second's delay.
And then the giant seaplane exploded. It was a monstrous explosion, momentous in its force. The Antonov's walls just blew out in an instant and the whole plane immediately listed dramatically to the left and began to sink into the river and drift slowly downstream.
In the meantime, the Apache that was causing all this damage was still lurching wildly toward its twin. The sec ond helicopter tried desperately to get out of its way, but it was too late. The rotor blades of the first Apache struck the rapidly-spinning blades of the second helicopter and a shrill metal-on-metal shriek filled the air.
Then suddenly, shockingly, the blades of the first chopper ruptured the fuel tanks of the second and the two Apaches exploded in a massive orange fireball that fanned out along the main street of Vilcafor.
Race turned away from the fiery scene, glanced at Walter Chambers in the front seat beside him.
'Jesus Christ, Walter,' he said 'Did you see that?'
Chambers didn't answer him.
Race frowned. 'Walter? What's the—?'
Purrrrrrr.
Race froze at the sound.
Then he looked at Chambers' face more closely. The bookish anthropologist's eyes were as wide as saucers and he seemed to be holding his breath.
He was also looking directly over Race's shoulder.
Slowly—very, very slowly—William Race turned around.
One of the cats was standing at the window.
Right at the window!
Its black head was absolutely massive. It took up the entire window. The gigantic creature just stared in at Race with narrow yellowed eyes.
It purred again. A deep, resonating growl.
Purrrrrrr.
Race saw its chest rising and falling, saw its long white fangs protruding over its lower lip. Then abruptly the animal snorted and he almost jumped out of his skin and then— whump! wall of a sudden, the whole Humvee jolted beneath him.
He spun to look forward.
Another cat had just leapt onto the bonnet of the Humvee!
It stood with its muscular forelimbs splayed wide on the bonnet of the car, its angry yellow eyes staring down at Race and Chambers, boring into their very souls.
Race touched his throat mike. 'Ah, Van Lewen. You out there?'
No response.
Screeeeeeeeeech I
The black cat on the bonnet took a slow, ominous step forward, its claws scraping against the steel hood as it did so. At the same time, the cat to Race's left nudged the Humvee's door roughly with its nose, testing it.
