Chapter 13 - Wings in the Tempest
Blinding high-intensity searchlights cut through the rain clouds above the listing freighter.
A Vance Industries Sikorsky S-92 helicopter descended through the gale, its massive rotor blades whipping the sea spray into a blinding mist. Hovering dangerously close to the tossing crane towers, the chopper matched the dying ship’s drift with miraculous precision.
The side door of the helicopter slid open.
Marcus leaned out of the cabin, his injured shoulder heavily strapped in a black tactical sling, holding a high-capacity rescue winch. Beside him, strapped securely into a harness, stood little Leo, wearing an oversized yellow rain jacket and an emergency headset.
""DADDY!"" Leo's voice screamed through the storm, his tiny hands gripping the cabin frame. ""MOMMY!""
Elena looked up, her wide, tear-filled eyes locking onto the small boy framed in the helicopter's doorway. A gasp of pure, overwhelming agony and joy broke from her chest. ""Leo... my baby... Dante, that's him!""
""That's our boy,"" Dante said, his heart swelling with an emotion so fierce it drowned out the roar of the sinking ship.
Marcus dropped the heavy rescue harness onto the bridge wing. ""Hook in, Boss! She's going down fast! You've got thirty seconds before the vortex pulls us down!""
Dante grabbed the steel harness, strapping Elena securely into the center seat, wrapping the heavy canvas webbing around her frail body. He clipped the carabiner to his own chest rig, locking them together in an unbreakable embrace.
""Hold on to me, Elena!"" Dante yelled over the deafening scream of twisting metal as the freighter’s stern rose high into the air.
He gave Marcus the hand signal.
The winch cable snapped taut. The helicopter engines roared at maximum throttle, lifting Dante and Elena off the collapsing deck just as the ocean swallowed the bridge wing where they had stood seconds before.
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They swung through the freezing air above the swirling abyss. Beneath them, the Leviathan slid beneath the black waves with a catastrophic roar of collapsing steel and escaping air, vanishing into the depths of the Atlantic.
Dante held Elena tight against his chest as the winch pulled them upward into the warm, illuminated cabin of the aircraft. Strong hands hauled them across the threshold, and the heavy door slammed shut against the rain.
