Chapter 11 - The Chase to the Sky
The black twin-engine chopper roared to life on the estate's private helipad, its rotors beating the rainy night air into a ferocious vortex. Marcus helped Emma into the passenger cabin, securing her harness before climbing into the co-pilot seat beside his personal pilot.
The aircraft lifted off into the tempest, banking hard toward the dazzling grid of Manhattan. Below them, the highway lights blurred into ribbons of amber and red. Marcus picked up a headset, handing one to Emma.
"We have twelve minutes before her helicopter takes off from Pier 34," Marcus’s voice crackled through the comms. "The Port Authority has closed air traffic due to the storm, which means she’s flying illegally without clearance. She won't hesitate to shoot down anyone who tails her."
"I don't care," Emma replied, adjusting the microphone close to her lips. "She took my mother’s legacy. She humiliated me in my own home. I want to look her in the eyes when she loses."
Through the storm clouds, the dark expanse of the Hudson River appeared. At the edge of the pier, a sleek commercial helicopter sat idling on the concrete pad, its landing lights piercing the drizzle. A dark figure in a crimson trench coat was hurrying across the tarmac, clutching a heavy silver attaché case.
"There she is!" Emma shouted, pointing downward.
"Pilot, cut the altitude! Block their departure vector!" Marcus commanded.
Their black helicopter dropped out of the sky like a bird of prey, hovering barely thirty feet above the pier just as Victoria reached the passenger door of her aircraft. The violent downdraft from Marcus’s chopper whipped Victoria's trench coat around her, blowing off her hat and revealing her startled, furious face.
She turned, looking up at the black machine hovering above her. Recognizing Marcus and Emma through the windshield, Victoria didn't hesitate. She drew a machine pistol from her coat and opened fire directly into the cockpit.
May you like
Bullets spider-webbed across the reinforced ballistic glass. The pilot jerked the controls, banking sharply as alarms screamed inside the cabin.
"She hit the tail rotor hydraulic line!" the pilot yelled over the headset. "We’re losing stabilizing torque! I have to put her down hard on the pier!"
