As a squelch came on indicating that the mike had been released, a new party broke in: Lewis from the other van. "This is Search Six. What's going on back there? Over."
Barret yelled into the radio, "No! Don't go out." But it was too late. The creature left the body and headed for the van. Barret had a side view as the door to the van slid open. The Synbat was on the DIA man before he even got a foot on the ground.
"Let's get the hell out of here!" Barret's words broke the copilot and crew chief out of their spectator modes.
Vergil reached for the checklist on his kneeboard and started reading it off.
"Fuck the checklist!" Barret screamed. "Generator switch to start. Fuel on." At the same time, the pilot rolled the throttle to the start position and pulled the start trigger. The turbine engine slowly whined to life. In the rear the crew chief was securing all the loose equipment.
Barret watched the N-1 gauge, the indicator of the engine's RPMs, slowly rise. At 15 percent the blades overhead finally began moving. Since he had been listening to the radio, the battery was down and the whole process was taking slightly longer than it normally would have. A minute at least, Barret calculated, before he could get them into the air.
Inside the van, Gottleib whirled in his seat as Pete crashed to the floor with the Synbat on top of him. Blood was spurting from a wound in the man's neck. As Pete's screams echoed off the panels, Gottleib reached for the MP-5 lying on the radio console. Sensing the new threat, the Synbat sprang off the downed man with startling speed and lashed forward.
Barret heard the roar of a submachine gun and a dying scream from the live mike in the van. The gun roared again.
"What the fuck is going on? Over." Lewis's voice crackled in the headset.
Barret keyed the radio. "I heard gunfire from inside the van. I think they shot it." Nevertheless, he was going to get into the air just in case.
"Search Base, this is Search Six. Report. Over."
No answer.
Forty seconds since starting and 40 percent power. The copilot turned on the inverter switch. "Straight to full power, watch the gauges," Barret commanded, ignoring the usual safety check.
The whine of the engine increased. Only ten, maybe fifteen seconds at the outside before they'd be in the air. Barret wondered why the men in the van didn't answer.
The Synbat appeared in the door to the van, MP-5 in hand. Long arms awkwardly held the weapon's stock to its body. The bowed legs were spread apart in a grotesque replication of a firing stance. Matted brown hair hung limply over the entire body and the protruding jaw dripped blood. The eyes scanned the clearing and focused on the source of all the noise.
"Jesus Christ! It's fucking armed!" Barret yelled as rounds slammed into the Plexiglas below him. Large cracks appeared as the bullets ricocheted off the nose of the aircraft. The Synbat pulled the trigger again, but the gun was out of ammunition. Throwing down the sub, the creature sprinted toward the helicopter.
Screw the safety requirements and the possibility of overtemp! Barret slammed the throttle to full on and hauled in an armload of collective. The chopper shuddered.
The Synbat came in for its attack, aiming for the exact point at which it had fired. It hit headfirst and the Plexiglas shattered. "You have the controls!" Barret screamed as he pulled his feet off the tail-rotor pedals, getting them out of reach of the two powerful hands that scrabbled blindly at him. Barret could see blood pouring from wounds in the creature's head as two golden eyes stared up at him.
The copilot repeated Barret's efforts at the controls, and this time the aircraft slowly lifted. Grasping for a hold, the Synbat snatched Barret's right pedal, causing the tail of the aircraft to swing violently to the right. Vergil desperately pressed on his left pedal to counteract. Barret stomped down on the creature's hand. That, in combination with the swing of the helicopter, caused the Synbat to lose its grip. A jagged edge of the windshield tore deeply into its left arm as it released its hold.
Barret sighed with relief as the creature fell off the aircraft onto the ground twenty feet below and lay there stunned. The copilot finally regained control of the wildly careening helicopter.
Vergil screamed a curse as the tail rotor tore into a tree behind them and seized up. They didn't even have time for an emergency reaction as the helicopter inverted and went down. One blade of the main rotor struck the ground first, twisting the other blade; it slashed into the cockpit, cutting both Barret and his copilot in half. The crew chief in the back was slammed against the rear bulkhead as the aircraft came to a tangled rest.
Bouncing in his humvee, Riley heard the screams of the pilots over the radio headset, then silence. Colonel Lewis's voice came on. "Search Base, this is Six. Report. Over. Search Air, this is Six. Report. Over."
Silence.
"Break. All search units head for the base camp. We're going to get this bastard. Out."
Riley had already turned his vehicle around and was heading for the base camp. Another minute and he'd be there. He swung the barrel of the .50-caliber machine gun in an arc. To be extra sure he recharged the gun, ejecting the round that had been in the chamber. He held the dual grips of the gun tightly against his chest, rolling with the bounces of the vehicle.
Carter spun the wheel and the humvee slid around a steep turn. Riley scanned the hilltop as it appeared before him, keeping the muzzle of the machine gun following the arc of his eyes. He could see the helicopter lying on its side at the edge of the clearing; amazingly enough, there was no fire yet. Riley checked the rest of the hillside. No sign of the Synbat.
"Go to the helicopter," Riley ordered. Carter drove to it.
"Man the fifty." Carter took his place; Riley hopped out and ran over to the helicopter. He could smell leaking fuel and knew that it was probably only a matter of seconds before the wreckage would erupt in flames. He peered into what remained of the cockpit. It was a jumble of blood, flesh, Plexiglas, and machinery.
Riley moved around to the side. The cargo door wouldn't budge. He opened the access for the emergency entrance and pulled the lever; the Plexiglas popped out of the side window. Riley slid in and grabbed the crew chief, hoisting him up through the window. He followed the body out, then threw him over his shoulder and ran just as the helicopter burst into flames.
Riley put the body down on the backseat of his humvee and quickly did a primary survey. The man was breathing and wasn't bleeding, other than a few scratches. He'd survive for a while without attention.
Riley replaced Carter at the fifty and put on his headset. Out of the corner of his eye he could see another humvee roar into the clearing. Riley circled his right hand over his head, pointed at his eyes, and then gestured for the vehicle — with Doc Seay standing in the hatch — to move to the left and take up security there.
A brown figure appeared to Riley's left front, stumbling toward the van. Riley depressed the butterfly trigger and the fifty roared. His first tracers were short and he was arcing the rounds up when the Synbat disappeared behind the cover of the van. Riley released the trigger.
"Ranger Three, do you have it in sight? Over."
"Negative. Over." Riley knew that Doc Seay would have seen the creature if it had made for the far wood line.
Riley switched to intercom. "John, move to the right so we can see the other side of the van."
The humvee moved at almost a walking pace. Riley kept the muzzle of the weapon trained on the van, expecting to see the creature hiding underneath or huddled on the far side.
Riley could now see another body lying near the wood line. Then the side door to the van came into view, gaping wide open.