Temple

Nash, Lauren, Marty and Copeland leapt up into the rear compartment of the Black Hawk II at the same time as the chopper's two crewmen threw themselves into the pilot's and gunner's seats.

The Black Hawk II's rotors began to turn instantly.

Nash looked out from the rear compartment, saw Race and Renee running for the Super Stallion.

He yelled to the crewman manning the chopper's rear- mounted Vulcan minigun. 'Take out that chopper!'

As the Black Hawk II's rotors whipped into overdrive and the big helicopter slowly began to lift off, the copilot jammed down on his trigger and a blazing barrage of gunfire blasted out from the Vulcan.

The hail of gunfire that assailed the Super Stallion was shocking in its intensity. It pummelled the reinforced walls of the helicopter with thousands of bullet holes, each the size of a man's fist.

And then—just as Race and Renee were coming toward it—the Super Stallion exploded into a billowing ball of flames.

The two of them dived to the ground a split second before a storm of burning-hot metal whizzed over their heads, shooting out in every direction. Two stray shards of red-hot metal, however, slammed into Renee's shoulder, sizzling on contact. She roared with pain.

'Now take them out!' Nash yelled, pointing down at Race and the injured Renee.

The Black Hawk II was about fifteen feet off the ground now, rising quickly into the sky. The gunner immediately whirled the massive Vulcan around and drew a bead on Race's skull.

Blare!

The crewman's head snapped violently backwards, shot right between the eyes.

Nash spun around in surprise, searching the ground below for the source of the shot that had killed his gunner.

And he saw him.

It was Doogie.

Crouched on one knee over by the moat with a stolen lqavy MP-5 pressed against his shoulder, aimed directly up at the Black Hawk II! Behind him stood Gaby Lopez.

Just then Doogie loosed another shot and it pinged off the steel roof above Nash's head.

Nash yelled at his pilot, 'Get us the fuck out of here!”

With his arm looped underneath Renee's good shoulder, Race scrambled for the ATV.

The crowd of natives was now standing underneath the two Army helicopters, shouting angrily at them, waving their sticks, firing their arrows in vain at the armoured underbellies of the flying steel beasts.

Race leapt up onto the back of the ATV, yanked open the small circular hatch set inside it and helped Renee in through it.

Just as he was about to follow her, however, he saw Doogie and Gaby hurrying across the main street toward him, waving their arms wildly. Gaby was helping Doogie as he limped along as fast as he could.

They arrived at the ATV, clambered up onto it.

'What the fuck is going on here?' Doogie said in between breaths. Race saw his bloodied left leg. It had a makeshift tourniquet tied around it. 'We got here just in time to see the colonel shoot Leo in the fucking head!' Doogie's face was contorted with a mixture of rage and helpless confusion.

'The colonel had other priorities,“ Race said bitterly. 'Priorities that didn't include us.'

'What are we going to do?' Doogie said.

Race bit his lip in thought.

'Come on,' he said. 'Get inside. We're not out of this yet.'

The two Army helicopters—the Comanche and the Black Hawk II—rose into the sky above the main street of Vilcafor.

Nash looked out the side door of his chopper at the crowd of angry natives beneath him, yelling and screaming and waving their fists at the helicopters. He snorted a laugh as he turned away from them and looked out through the forward windshield of the chopper.

The two Army helicopters cleared the treetops.

And Nash's smile went flat.

There were eight of them—Black Hawk I helicopters— similar to his own but older; superseded models that the Army had discarded years ago. They were all painted black, with no markings on them whatsoever, and they hovered menacingly in a wide, 500-yard circle around Vilcafor like a pack of hungry jackals waiting on the periphery of the battle, waiting to pick up the scraps.

There came a sudden puff of smoke from one of the unmarked Black Hawks as, without warning, a missile shot out from one of its stub-like wings.

A long finger-like trail of smoke extended through the air in front of the helicopter as the speeding missile cut a bee-line for the Army Comanche. The Comanche exploded in an instant and dropped clumsily out of the sky. It smashed down onto one of the stone huts on the main street of Vilcafor, flames spilling out from its charred, twisted shell.

Race and the others were inside the citadel and about to climb down into the quenko when they heard the sudden explosion outside.

They hurried back into the ATV and peered out through its narrow slit-like windows to see what had happened.

They saw the blazing wreck of the Comanche lying awkwardly on its side on top of one of the small huts of Vilcafor.

They also saw Nash's Black Hawk II hovering above the village, not daring to move.