Bliss (19 page)

Momentarily weightless, Lindsey hovered above the seat as the Bell’s cabin slid downward another five feet. Looking back, Lindsey could see the only thing keeping it from going over were the rear rotors that were embedded into the body of the nearest cooling unit.

A jolt of terror shot through Lindsey and she scrambled to get Katherine out of the back seat. Reaching across, she grabbed Katherine and heaved her between the two seats.

The chopper dropped another two feet.

If she could get Katherine to the door, she could shove her onto the tarmac. If the helicopter fell, she’d still have a few seconds to jump to the roof. It was only feet away.

I’ve got to get out now!

She gently hoisted Katherine toward the door, which hung open from broken hinges. She heaved. Katherine did not budge. She tried again. Nothing. She could feel the chopper slipping and then she saw why Katherine wouldn’t move. She’d caught her belt on the throttle control. As fear rose in her, Lindsey heaved one last time.

Katherine came loose and rolled onto the tarmac with a resounding thud.

As the Bell-260 dropped a few more inches, a great ripping noise erupted from the cooling unit. Lindsey looked in the direction of the sound and spied something that made her blood run cold. The remaining cooling unit was coming loose from its moorings, tilting precipitously toward the chopper. If it came loose, Lindsey knew, it would send the chopper over the edge and launch the giant cooling unit like a catapult. The image took only an instant to register.

In that horrific moment, Lindsey felt all the action on the roof of Imec, blur into a collage of shapes and sounds. Warren finally appeared, waving frantically–Katherine helpless–and the deafening roar of the rotor blades slicing through the air just above her.

This is it!

Lindsey took a deep breath and made up her mind. Standing on the edge of the open cockpit, knees bent, she launched herself toward the roof deck.

The jump seemed endless.

With a wild scream of desperation and force, she hit the edge of the roof with both arms extended, torso pressing against wall, dangling over the edge afraid to look down, knowing what awaited her. Spikes of pain shot through her arms sending her brain reeling. Hanging like a marionette, and with the wind knocked out of her, she finally swung her legs up and over. She lay frozen in place and watched as another spectacle unfolded a few yards away.

As the cooling unit began to collapse, the tail section of the helicopter came loose with a sickening crack.

Stephen Vetter, watching Lindsey’s ordeal from nearby, heard it as well.

But it was too late.

Before he could react, the tail section of the Bell-260 tore away from the cooling unit and slammed into Vetter with unimaginable force. The steel blades of the tail rotor sliced him in two like a giant cuisenart. Huge chunks of flesh flew in every direction, splattering body fluids on the walls nearby.

Lindsey saw what looked like an arm land next to her. She fought to keep from retching as she crawled to the safety behind a raised skylight just as the tail section tore past her.

Seconds earlier, Dan Warren had yanked Katherine to safety as the mangled helicopter at last plummeted to the ground... and exploded in a fireball 100 feet below them.

Dan Warren’s exuberance at seeing
Lindsey out of the helicopter instantly vanquished at the realization of what was about to follow. He staggered to his feet and peered over the edge at the burning hulk of the Bell-260. Wheeling toward the building, he scanned the roof. Where is that bomb?

He found the lower half of Vetter’s body fused against the side of the building.
Jesus Christ!
Warren felt bile in his throat. The black box Vetter had been wearing was not on him. Looking back across the tarmac, he scanned every square inch carefully, hoping that the bomb hadn’t gone over the side. Lindsey was attending to Katherine, and the pilot lay nearby, still in shock.

Now Warren saw it.

A small black box lying next to the building.

Warren dashed over and grabbed it. Fear shot through him. Vetter had claimed he had a triggering device, which would have meant he would have to detonate it by hand. But now, Dan Warren dreaded what he saw.

The bomb had a timer!

And it was set to go off in sixty seconds!

Lindsey looked at Warren and
the color had drained from his face. “Get down!” Warren screamed. “The bomb! It’s gonna blow when it hits the ground.”

Warren ran toward the edge of the building and heaved the bomb into the air. Moments later, a flash of yellow light spread across the desert darkness. Then, a sonic blast echoed. Lindsey could almost believe it never had happened. But the building rocked and jolted as the concussion wave passed over them.

“Holy Mother of God,” Warren said.

A cloud of dust rose around the building. The air was thick with the smell of sulfur.

Katherine sat against the building, rocking back and forth in stunned disbelief. Behind her, the pilot’s face was ashen under the halogen lights of the roof.

Overhead, an Arizona State Police helicopter hovered and shined its spotlight down on the Imec building. Deafening gusts buffeted down on them from the powerful rotors.

Exhausted, Lindsey and the others shielded their eyes as the police chopper sat down on the helipad.

Lindsey extended a hand to Katherine. “It’s over, let’s get out of here.”

The Mirage Hotel and Casino
was not the largest or newest of Sin City’s gambling houses, but it was perhaps the most popular. And it was Robert Applegate’s favorite. At the moment, however, Applegate was anything but happy. He’d lost fifty thousand today and his luck only seemed to get worse with each flip of the cards.

Maybe this hand will do it,
Applegate thought as he put down ten thousand in chips on the table.

He felt intoxicated as his cards were dealt–then annoyed when someone tapped him on the shoulder. But when he turned around, it was as if his face had suddenly petrified.

“Mr. Robert Applegate, I’m Agent Simmons, this is Agent Thomas, FBI. We’d like to talk to you for a few minutes. I believe you know what it’s about.”

Applegate slumped down in his chair just as the Black Jack dealer declared himself the winner of the last hand. He picked up the last of Applegate’s chips.

“Tough break,” Simmons said as they led Applegate away.

The New York morning was
crisp and clear and a small gathering of friends were standing in the pews of St. Mary’s church.

Lindsey Walsh smiled as she began he walk down the aisle. She would have loved for her father to be here to escort her on her wedding day, but she felt grateful that Dan Warren, now a good friend, had graciously offered to stand in.

The ordeal at Imec was a distant memory, and she could almost believe it had never happened.

Now, as she approached the altar, she could only think of her future. Her future with Jason back here at home in New York. In the six months since she’d left Arizona, her life had once again changed. Katherine Blair and she had started their own cosmetics firm. With Katherine’s chemistry background, and her sales experience, they already had two products under development.

You can go home again,
she thought.

Standing outside the church a half hour later, Lindsey looked at her maid of honor, Katherine, and her escort, Dan Warren.

“You know, you two, this is a great church to get married in.”

Warren grinned. “I love this town.”

“Me, too,” Lindsey said.