Chapter 13 - The Fall of the Senator
The heavy caliber bullet smashed into the armored helicopter door, the kinetic force knocking Elena violently backward onto the tarmac. Alexander caught her just before her head hit the reinforced concrete, rolling them both beneath the helicopter's belly.
""Elena!"" Alexander roared, checking her frantically.
""I'm fine! Just bruised!"" she yelled over the engine deafening roar. ""The door took it!""
Alexander’s face turned into a mask of pure demonic fury. He reached into the open cabin rack, grabbing a shoulder-fired surface-to-air launcher kept for high-threat executive transport. He didn't take cover. He stepped out onto the open roof, balancing against the gale-force rotor wash, and locked onto Ward's hovering gunship.
Senator Ward scrambled to reload his rifle, his eyes widening in pure horror as he saw Alexander standing tall, launcher balanced on his shoulder.
""Checkmate, Senator,"" Alexander growled, pulling the trigger.
A hiss of rocket propellant shot across the gap between the buildings. The missile struck the gunship's tail rotor with pinpoint accuracy, detonating in a brilliant fireball of twisted metal and black smoke.
The gunship spun wildly out of control, clipping the decorative stone spire of the adjacent building before spiraling downward into an empty construction excavation site three blocks away, ending in a massive, earth-shaking explosion.
Alexander tossed the spent launcher aside, turning back to Elena. He dropped to his knees beside her, checking her pulse, his hands unusually frantic for a man who had just shot down an aircraft.
""Did it hit you? Are you bleeding?"" he demanded, his voice cracking with an emotion he had never shown before.
Elena sat up, bruised, clothes covered in soot, but alive. She looked into Alexander’s dark, terrified eyes and saw the raw vulnerability hidden beneath a decade of ruthless armor.
""I'm whole, Alexander,"" she whispered, raising a trembling hand to cup his rugged cheek. ""We survived.""
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Alexander closed his eyes, exhaling a breath he seemed to have held for twenty years, and pulled her into an embrace so tight she could hear the rapid, ferocious beating of his heart.
From the stairwell door, his security team rushed out, securing the perimeter. The threat was eliminated. The war was over.
