Page 115 of Kai
The clatter of the helicopter ebbed until I could almost hear myself think again. I opened one eye first, then the other. I found Kai staring at the screen.
“Bellator,” he demanded, his face blank. “Sitrep.”
“Thirty seconds to impact,” the bot stated.
Thirty seconds to impact?It didn’t make any sense, considering the helo had been hovering so close to us and it would’ve taken a missile less time than that to kill us and destroySerenity.
I caught a glimpse of the death machine as a black dot flying north at mindboggling speeds. “Why are we still alive?” I asked in a quaking voice.
“Because the helicopter never saw us.” The tension tightening Kai’s features eased. “We’re not and never were the intended target.”
“Twenty seconds to impact,” Bellator announced.
I took a second to steel my nerves. “If not us, who is the intended target?”
Pressing his hand on my back, Kai pointed at a monitor. I followed the line of his finger to the screen that showed the camera panning on the Cessna in the distance. In the image, the little plane tipped its wing and banked at a hard angle.
“W-what’s happening?” I stuttered.
Kai kept his stare on the monitors. “Li is taking care of his loose ends.”
“Ten seconds to impact.” It was Bellator again.
The Cessna angled one way and the other, dipping down its nose like a kamikaze at Pearl Harbor. The little plane headed closer to the ocean’s surface until a spray of water escorted the aircraft’s wings.
“What’s he doing?” I asked, confused.
“Evasive maneuvers,” Kai said.
“Where’s the helicopter?”
“Gone.” Kai pointed at the radar on a different screen. “On the way back to whatever black ops base it came from.”
My stare returned to the screen that showed the Cessna. The missile hit.
Chapter Thirty-seven
Kai
The camera’s focus strained. We got a long-range view of the moment the missile struck the Cessna. The explosion sent plane parts flying everywhere. Some of the water on the ocean’s surface vaporized, blurring the image. The thunder of the blast arrived a second later and shookSerenityon her moorings.
The blast rocked through me as well. My ears popped. Judging by the shock written on Cece’s face, she, too, felt the effects of the explosion. When the smoke and mist cleared, all I could see on the cameras’ augmented images were a few metal pieces, glinting distantly in the water.
“It didn’t kill us,” Cece murmured. “It went for Levine instead.”
I planted a kiss on the top of Cece’s head, and after plopping down on the chair, scoured the radar to confirm the killer helo was gone and was no longer a threat.
“Can’t say I’m surprised.” I studied the monitors. “High tech murder is Li’s MO.”
“Are you sure the devil’s helicopter is gone?” Cece asked.
“Affirmative.” I re-examined my indicators. “It didn’t go stealth on the way out, so Bellator tracked it all the way out of radar range. Wait until the guys hear about that beast in the air. I’m glad we’ve got footage, as blurry as it might be.”
It was only when I noticed Cece’s silence that I looked up from my station. A frown furrowed her forehead. The little vertical lines etched deeply between her eyebrows. Adrenaline continued to pump in my veins, and I was still in warrior mode, but I stood up, caught her in my arms, and kissed her so hard Iworried I might’ve bruised her lips. I was about to kiss her again when she splayed her hands on my chest and took a step away from me, leaving me puzzled.
“Kai?” she muttered, her eyes fixed on the monitors.
“I know.” I tried to hug her again. “This was a lot.”
