Kellie swiveled, yelled for Chip and ran. The border collie flew into the open bay a second before she jumped. Pop and Jeremy grabbed her arms and dragged her onboard as Blake banked the helicopter sharply again, and lead ricocheted off some rocks behind them.
Travis had taken cover behind a knoll and gunfire pinned him down. Blake circled and tried to get closer. Kellie watched helplessly as he was driven back again and again. Finally, Travis raised one arm and made a twirling motion, signaling that the chopper should gain altitude and leave them behind.
Kellie’s heart nearly stopped. She stomped toward Blake, at the controls. “No! We can’t leave them!”
Blake glanced over his shoulder, a wild grin making him look half crazy. “Not on your life, sweetheart!”
She gave him a thumbs-up as she returned his grin, sure she didn’t look any less crazy.
“Hang on!” Blake took the chopper up as though theyweregoing to leave, circled and then Kellie’s stomach seemed to lodge in her throat, choking her, as he dove toward the ground. At the last second, he leveled off a mere three feet above the grass and held the aircraft steady while Travis leaped and rolled to the interior of the bay. Kellie cheered and gave Blake a high-five, lost in the thrill of the moment.
Once Travis was onboard with the AK-47, they had a chance. With half of his body concealed behind the bay door, he sprayed bullets into the brushy terrain beyond the golf course, keeping the enemy shooters’ heads down while Blake maneuvered the chopper closer to MacGyver. When they were still thirty feet away, MacGyver rolled onto his back and surged to his feet, running a zigzag course toward them. For some reason, their attackers stopped shooting. MacGyver hadn’t gone ten feet when a lone gunman vaulted over some rocks to his left and tackled him.
MacGyver went down, the side of his head hitting an outcrop. Apparently dazed, he tried to gain his feet but collapsed again. The gunman sneered as he stood over MacGyver and drew a knife from his belt.
In horror, Kellie glanced at Travis.Why doesn’t he shoot?But she knew why. The Russian made AK-47 could fill the air with lead in no time flat, but it was notoriously inaccurate. Travis wouldn’t shoot because he might hit MacGyver.
In dream-like slow motion, Kellie drew her weapon. As the man bent to grab MacGyver’s collar and moved the knife closer to his throat, Kellie aimed and fired three shots. Blood seeped from a triangle of wounds in his chest. He lurched backward and dropped. Almost immediately, he began crawling across the ground toward MacGyver, the knife still in his hand. Could she hit him again without killing MacGyver? Did she have any other choice but to try?
Suddenly, a black and white furry body catapulted from the cargo bay, hit the ground ten feet away and, in three strides, Chip clamped the man’s knife-hand between his teeth. The assailant dropped the knife, rolled away from the dog and MacGyver, and Kellie fired again. The man went still, and Kellie jumped from the bay, followed by Jeremy. They raced to MacGyver as Travis laid down cover, keeping the rest of Palazzi’s men from returning fire.
Jeremy kicked the knife away from the unmoving gunman, but it hadn’t been necessary. His open, staring eyes told Kellie he was dead. The realization chilled her blood, but she pushed her emotions away. There’d be time to deal with them later.
MacGyver was groggy but awake when they rolled him over. That was good, because Kellie wasn’t sure they could have hauled the unconscious man onto the chopper. As it was, Jeremy jumped in and pulled, with Pop’s help, while Kellie got her back under him and pushed. Once he was safely onboard, Kellie picked up Chip and lifted him in.
A sudden blast on the opposite side of the chopper threw her to the ground. She rolled away, covering her head, as the aircraft spun dangerously.Was that a rocket?Instantly, another explosion rocked the craft. Travis was knocked off balance, and the steady stream of bullets keeping Palazzi’s men pinned down ceased. The chopper lurched forward, bounced once on the ground before Blake pulled up, increasing elevation and speed.
Before he regained control and turned back, the remaining armed men had surrounded Kellie, pulled her roughly to her feet and bound her hands behind her back. A tall, heavily muscled man held a gun to her forehead while the others opened fire on the returning helicopter. One carried a rocket launcher, knelt down and prepared to fire.
Her chest heaving, her emotions taking a roller coaster ride, she prayed Blake would see the futility of coming any closer and pull up.Get Pop and MacGyver out of here!It was too late to save her. He needed to think about himself and the men with him.
As though Blake had heard her silent pleas, he pulled up at the same instant the Bazooka belched, and a rocket grenade zipped toward the chopper, barely skimming its belly as the craft roared over their heads and kept on going.
Chapter Seventeen
A groan rumbled from MacGyver’s throat. His hand went automatically to his head, where a ten-pound hammer currently pounded out a heavy metal rhythm—from the inside. Someone caught his hand, halfway to the target, and shoved it down again. He grunted with the effort it took to crack his eyes open.
Jeremy knelt over him with a bloody piece of gauze.Whose blood? And where the hell am I?It took MacGyver a few whacks of the hammer to make the connection between the movement of the gauze in Jeremy’s hand and the burning sensation on the side of his head. Pain ricocheted along his nerve endings, and he gritted his teeth as he strained to sit up. Jeremy tried to hold him down with a hand on his sternum, but MacGyver pushed him away and propped himself up on his elbows.
He squeezed his eyes closed against the bright blue, dotted with white clouds, just over Jeremy’s shoulder. The exertion of his movements made his stomach roll treacherously.
Gradually, the vibration from the floor and the steady whop, whop of the rotor blades separated from the clanging inside his skull.The chopper.His memory flooded back.
MacGyver ignored the pain and dizziness moving his head caused as he concentrated on the interior of the cargo bay. Blake was at the controls, earphones in place, and MacGyver couldn’t see his face. Charlie leaned against the front bulkhead, one hand tangled in Chip’s scruff, staring out of the bay opening. Unease grew slowly and mushroomed in MacGyver’s gut when he couldn’t find the one person he needed to see the most.
“Where’s Kellie?” His throat raw, it hurt to talk. It took far too long to refocus on Jeremy, but when he did, the marshal’s downcast eyes and solemn expression weren’t encouraging. MacGyver looked around again—as though there was someplace Kellie could hide—before jerking back to Jeremy. The pounding of blood through his veins kept time with the aching discord in his head. “And Travis? Where are Kellie and Travis?” Though his voice was stronger now, he couldn’t hide a distinct note of panic.
Not waiting for an answer, he hoisted his uncooperative body off the floor, staggered and likely would have hit the deck again if Jeremy hadn’t flexed a hand around his bicep to steady him.
“Easy, MacGyver. We had some trouble. Palazzi’s men brought out a rocket launcher. The first blast spun us around, and the second nearly took out the tail rotor. Blake had to gain altitude to level out.” Jeremy paused and raked a hand through his blond hair. “They had her before we could get back to her. There was nothing we could do that wouldn’t endanger Kellie in the process.”
MacGyver couldn’t believe what he was hearing and shook his head to clear the fog.Mistake.Pain ripped through his head again, and he fisted his hands, digging his fingernails into his palms. “You left her there?”
Jeremy took a step back, apparently not without common sense that clued him in to MacGyver’s desperate need to break something. “Calm down. We had no choice. Besides, we know exactly where she is.”
“How?”
“Travis went after them—alone. Said he didn’t want anybody slowing him down.” Jeremy’s scowl clearly meant he hadn’t necessarily been in favor of staying behind and letting Travis go without backup.