Slam. Judd Bell nails Enrico with an uppercut.
Groggy, the pilot slumps to the ground. He takes a moment to shake it off, looks up — and can see no sign of the astronaut. Where’d he go? Enrico can see Kilroy, though, and he doesn’t look well. What happened to his hand?
Whik, whik, whik. The tail rotor thunders towards Enrico again. He needs to get that chopper under control and help Kilroy. He pulls himself up.
Bunsen studies the young woman who tackled him. Who the hell is she and why did she do that? It doesn’t actually matter. She dies now. He raises the pistol.
Lola feels the weight of her phone in her hand. It’s an older iPhone 4S so it’s quite a bit heavier than the new version, so that’s good. Even so, it’s not much of a weapon, but then she doesn’t have time to pull the brass telescope out of her jacket pocket so it’s the only show in town. Man. She can’t believe she bought an iPhone to a gun fight. She draws her arm back and hurls it at the handsome guy.
Bunsen watches the white shape rocket towards him.
What is that — ?
Whack. It hits him flush on the cheek and stings like hell.
‘Hey!’ He touches the point of impact. Whatever it was has split the skin and really hurts. He glances at the ground, sees the woman threw an iPhone, looks back at her, re-aims and squeezes the trigger.
She won’t need a phone where she’s going—
Whump. Corey hits Handsome Guy like a train.
The Australian drives him into the grass and the guy doesn’t fire the shot. He scrambles to his feet and swings the pistol towards Corey. Before he can pull the trigger the Australian springs forward, twists the weapon from his grip and kicks him in the gut.
Handsome staggers backwards, trips and lands on the ground with an almost comical exhalation of breath.
Corey steps forward and points the pistol at him. ‘Not so tough without your gun, are you?’
The man looks up at him and grins.
‘You got nothing to smile about, mate. You are done.’
‘What is your name?’
‘You can call me “the Australian who just kicked your arse”. It doesn’t really trip off the tongue but I think it captures my general vibe.’
The man’s grin widens. ‘You’re going to die today, like all the others. You just don’t know it yet.’
‘You’re kinda mouthy for a guy without a gun.’
‘That’s because I’m a guy with a detonator to a really big bomb.’ Bunsen holds up a cigarette-pack sized box, his finger touching the green button on top. ‘I guess I have something to smile about after all. Now tell me, do you think you can shoot me before I press this button?’
Corey hesitates.
‘Drop the gun or we’ll find out.’
Corey reluctantly does it.
Thump, thump, thump. The Tyrannosaur skims across the park directly towards Bunsen, Enrico in the pilot’s seat. The rotor wash kicks up a blizzard of smoke and leaves that blasts into Bunsen and almost knocks the Australian off his feet.
A rope ladder drops from the rear cabin door and swings low. Kilroy steadies it as Bunsen grabs hold. He quickly climbs it to the cabin as the giant chopper lifts into the purple sky.
Corey recovers his balance, picks up the pistol and aims it at the Air-Crane. He’s pretty sure that if he hits one of the rotors the chopper will auto-rotate to the ground and the landing will be soft enough not to detonate the weapon. Unfortunately ‘pretty sure’ isn’t really good enough. So he releases the trigger and lowers the weapon — and immediately has second thoughts. Will history be kind to him? Would it be better for this neighbourhood to be destroyed rather than whatever location the weapon is being transported to now? Is it on the way to a crowded Disneyland? Or the Santa Monica Pier? Or Universal CityWalk? He can’t help but think it was better that Flight 93 crashed into a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, rather than its intended target on 9/11. Did he just send that bomb to the equivalent of the White House?
What did that prick have planned for it? Corey knows there’s only one way to find out. He must follow it. He turns for the Loach then catches sight of something under the rising Air-Crane and stops dead. ‘You’ve gotta be kidding me.’
Judd lies on top of the giant weapon under the chopper’s airframe, his face a picture of steely determination. He waves at Corey.
Dumbstruck, Corey waves back. Suddenly he’s very glad he didn’t shoot down the Air-Crane. Lola approaches, her retrieved iPhone in hand. ‘What on earth are you waving at?’
Corey just points at the climbing chopper. She looks up and sees Judd. Stunned, she instinctively waves too. ‘Is he insane?’
Corey turns and runs for the Loach. ‘We gotta follow them.’
Lola’s right beside him, astonished. ‘Why would he do that?’
‘To prove a point.’
‘What point?’
‘That he’s the hero everyone thinks he is.’
‘But he is a hero.’
‘He doesn’t believe it.’ Corey takes a moment. ‘I just realised I probably shouldn’t have told you that. Please keep it to yourself.’
‘Of course. And thanks for helping me out with that guy back there.’
Corey doesn’t respond. They run on, their footfalls and breathing the only sound. After a moment she turns to him. ‘What?’
‘Nothing.’
‘When someone says “nothing” it’s always “something”.’
‘You ignored everything I said.’
‘See? Always something.’
‘Do not engage those people. I said it twice. I even said please. It was just dumb luck that I got to that guy before he shot you.’
‘That guy was marching across the park to shoot you. And Judd. I wasn’t going to let that happen so I tackled him.’
‘Don’t help me, please. I can look after myself. I don’t want you to die trying to help me unnecessarily.’
‘I wasn’t “trying to help you” I was actually helping you and it looked pretty necessary to me. You should thank me.’
He shoots her an incredulous look. ‘You don’t get thanked for doing crazy-dangerous stuff. There’s no thanking for that. Just please, don’t do it again.’
‘But you do it all the time. Flying the chopper through those skyscrapers was the most crazy-dangerous thing I’ve ever seen in my life.’
‘I didn’t choose to do it. I was forced to.’
‘And so was I. That guy was going to kill you. That’s why you should thank me.’
‘And we’re back to where we started.’
They run on in silence, their footfalls and breathing, which is heavier than it was a moment ago, the only sound.
He glances at her. ‘You’re good at arguing your side.’
‘That’s why I’ve got such a big house.’
He can’t help but smile at that. ‘I just — I don’t want you to get hurt.’
‘And I don’t want me to get hurt either.’ She looks at him. ‘I’ll be careful.’
He regards her for a moment and realises that’s the closest they’ll get to an agreement. ‘Okay. And thanks, for tackling that guy.’