The Impossible Future: Complete set by Frank Kennedy (mini ebook reader .txt) 📕

He saw a lone figure on a rock, the rifle no longer visible. Then he heard the report of a weapon, every bit as loud and ferocious but more measured, each burst a half-second apart.

Bullets pinged against the debris, wood shards flying without mercy, and Jamie did not see how he could avoid the rain of death. And in a surreal fragment of time, like when one wakes from a dream and faces the blunt force of reality, the bullets stopped landing. He heard a sickening whirr, several mechanical pops, and saw smoke.

The helicopter spun out of control, fire emerging from the engine just above the fuselage, the rotor blade stalling and the tail fin all but shot off. A man and his rifle fell from the open door on the pilot side, landing with a sickening thud on the logs. The chopper seemed to utter one last, painful death moan as it glided over the threesome and collided head-on with a pine tree, the metal contorting and the fuselage bursting into flames as it smashed to the ground, which shook.

Jamie, Ben and Michael stared at each other, the fiery wreckage, and then the rocks along the water.

Sammie lowered the M16. She was surrounded by shell casings ejected from the rifle.

 

37

J AMIE HAD NO words. This was beyond anything he could have imagined. He owed his life to her but couldn’t convince himself to wrap his arms around her. What Jamie knew for the moment was that Samantha Huggins was even further removed from the girl he grew up with.

“Holy hell,” Michael said before whistling. “Call this girl GI Jane and stick a fork in that dude. He’s cooked.” He offered hearty applause. “I don’t know how you did that, girl, but I am sold.”

Sammie formed the inkling of a smile, but her temperament didn’t soften when she locked on Ben. She navigated the rocks and strode up to him, rifle at her side, eyes full of water.

“Daddy was proud of me when I finished Dacha. Be glad I did.”

She tossed the rifle at Ben, who caught it against his body. He turned to Jamie and offered an uncertain nod.

“We’re alive, but we can’t stay here,” Ben told everyone. “We need cover.” He nodded toward Jonathan Cobb’s body on the logs. “Cooper, grab that AK and see if he was packing anything else. Another pistol, maybe.”

Michael shook his head and laughed. “No sweat, dude. But I’m gonna tell you straight up, an AK ain’t exactly my speed.”

 “Fine, Cooper. Military weapons should be left to people who understand how to use them.”

Without another word, Ben handed Sammie the M16. They shared an agreeable nod, and Ben limped his way toward the boat, which appeared to have dodged the shower of bullets. Sammie waited behind for Jamie.

Jamie could not express himself beyond a meek, “Thank you.” He tucked his pistol inside his pants and felt a curious swirl of emotions. He was afraid of what else he might learn about her, but he also had a swelling desire to kiss her.

“C’mon,” she whispered. “We gotta go.”

As the boat pulled away, leaving behind the fiery wreckage and the body of a man they all once knew, Jamie felt the déjà vu of once again fleeing death to the steady rhythm of an outboard. He fell into the back seat and set the pistol to his side. Unlike that first escape, Jamie found himself surrounded by a fully-armed if motley collection of soldiers.

Ben, who insisted on taking the wheel despite his injuries, laid an AK across his lap as he piloted the boat around the first bend. Michael held a pistol as he sat across from Ben. Sammie pointed her M16 down. Jamie saw the true Samantha Huggins.

He waited until the boat was a mile inland, having passed several bends, before speaking.

“How did you do it? How did you save our skins?”

She cracked a resigned smile.

“When I saw the helicopter coming, I knew the shortest route to the boat was a direct line through the brush rather than going around the point. I also knew we wouldn’t get the boat away in time. I needed the M16, and your brother lost it at the perfect moment. I got lucky.”

He swallowed. “What I can’t get over is how anybody could be that brave. You stood up on those rocks and put everything on the line for us. I heard those bullets coming down like a hailstorm. If your aim wasn’t perfect, they would’ve blown you away.” He almost reached out to her. “I reckon what I saw … you up there on those rocks saving our lives … it was probably the most incredible moment of my life.”

Sammie kept the rifle steady. She carried half a smile, and Jamie thought he saw a gleam in her eyes resembling the little girl who used to fawn over him. He knew in his heart he’d never see that person again, but Jamie felt unexpected pride in the young woman who more than redeemed herself for her earlier betrayals.

Up front, navigating Ginny’s Creek proved to be an adventure for Ben, as it twisted like a rattlesnake in motion, often narrowing to less than thirty feet wide, the water dark and shallow beneath heavy, overhanging trees. Ben wanted to go far inland; his inability to open the throttle frustrated him. The hole above his collarbone still bled, albeit slowly. To his left, Michael Cooper couldn’t stop jabbering about being alive.

“Here’s my problem,” Michael said. “You Chancellors come from another Earth where you’re swimming in tech that probably makes our best stuff look like pop guns. But you use pistols and rifles. What gives?”

Ben swung the wheel hard right to avoid low branches.

“We came here as observers. We weren’t supposed to draw attention to ourselves. Laser pistols might