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The helicopter spun through the darkness over Raccoon forest
Rebecca Cha herself to look as calm as the men around her Thepast, all jokes and jabs left behind at the briefing This wasn&039;t a training exercise Three e as the one surrounding Raccoon, not that unusual--but with the rash of savage murders that had terrorized the s" had taken on newOnly a few days earlier there&039;d been a ninth victied as if it had been run through a ely attacked by so around the outskirts of the city, and the Raccoon police weren&039;t getting anywhere The city&039;s chapter of STARS had finally been called in to investigate
Rebecca raised her chin slightly, a pulse of pride edging through her nervousness Although her degree was in biochemistry, she&039;d been tapped as Bravo tea the team less than a month earlier My first mission Which means I&039;d better not cock it up She took a deep breath, letting it out sloorking to keep her expression casual
Edward shot her an encouraging sly pat her leg Socool As sin her career, she couldn&039;t help her age, or the fact that she looked even younger At eighteen, she was the youngest person to be accepted into the STARS since its creation in 1967and as the only female on Raccoon&039;s B teahed, s at Sully It wasn&039;t so bad, having a handful of hardass big brothers watching out for her--as long as they understood she could take care of herself when the need arose
I think, she silently ah she was in good shape physically, her combat experience had been limited to video simulations and weekend missions The Special Tactics and Rescue Service wanted her in their labs, eventually, but field time was mandatory and she needed the experience Anyway, they&039;d be sweeping the woods as a team If they did run across the people or ani Raccoon&039;s citizens, she&039;d have backup
There was a flicker of lightning to the north, close, the subsequent thunder lost to the drone of the &039;copter Rebecca leaned forward slightly, scanning the dark It had been clear all day, the clouds rolling in just before sunset; they were definitely going to go home wet At least it would be a warm rain; she supposed it could be a lot--
Boo storht it was thunder, even as the helicopter tipped wildly and dropped, a terrible rising, clattering whine filling the cabin, the floor vibrating beneath her boots A hot s?
"What happened?" soine failure!" The pilot, Kevin Dooley, shouted back "Erabbed a strut and held on, looked to the others so she wouldn&039;t have to watch the trees rushing up at therim, determined set to Sully&039;s jaard&039;s clenched teeth, the look of anxiety shot between Richard and Forest as they grabbed for struts or handholds on the shuddering wall In the front, Enrico was shouting so she couldn&039;t ine Rebecca closed her eyes for a beat, thought of her parents--and then the ride was too wild for her to think, the crack and crash of tree branches battering the helicopter too loud and jarring for her to do anything but hope The &039;copter spun out of control, whipping around in a tilting, sickening, lurching circle
It was over a second later, the silence so sudden and coone deaf, all led last gasp of the engine, and her own thundering heart, and realized that they were down Kevin had done it, and without a single bounce
"Everyone okay?" Enrico Marini, their captain, was craned around in his seat
Rebecca added her own shaky nod to the chorus of affir, Kev," Forest said, and there was another chorus Rebecca couldn&039;t have agreed more "Is the radio down?" Enrico asked the pilot, as tapping at controls and flipping switches "Looks like everything electrical is fried," Kevin said "ItWe weren&039;t struck directly, but it was close enough Beacon, too"
"Can it be repaired?"
Enrico addressed it as an open question, looking at Richard, their communications officer Richard in turn looked at Edward, who shrugged Edas the Bravo team&039;s mechanic
"I&039;ll take a look," Edward said, "but if Kev says the transmitter&039;s toast, it&039;s probably toast"
The captain nodded slowly, absently brushing at his mustache with one hand as he considered their options After a few seconds, he sighed "I called in ere hit, but I don&039;t know if it went through," he said "They&039;ll have our last coordinates, though If we don&039;t report in pretty soon, they&039;ll co"
"They" was the STARS Alpha tea with the others, not sure if she should be disappointed or not Her first mission, over before it started
Enrico wiped at hisit down at the corners of his er of one hand "Everybody out Let&039;s see where we are"
They filed out of the cabin, the reality of the situation hitting Rebecca as they gathered together in the dark They were incredibly lucky to be alive
Struck by lightning On our way to search for ht, amazed at the very idea Even if thethat had ever happened to her
The air ar rain, the shadows deep Sh the underbrush A pair of flashlights clicked on, the beah the dark as Enrico and Edward e Rebecca fished her own flashlight out of her bag, relieved that she hadn&039;t forgotten to pack it
"How you holding up?"
Rebecca turned, saw Ken "Sully" Sullivan grinning down at her He had his weapon out, the nine-riuys really kno toback at hiainst the darkness of his skin "Actually, ays do this for the new recruits It&039;s a waste of helicopters, but we have our reputation to maintain"
She was about to ask how the police chief felt about the expense--she was new to the area, but she&039;d heard that Chief Irons was notoriously stingy--when Enrico joined the his voice so everyone could hear
"All right, people Let&039;s fan out, investigate the surrounding area Kev, stay with the &039;copter The rest of you, keep close, I just want this area secured Alpha could be here in as little as an hour"
He didn&039;t coer, but he didn&039;t need to For the moment, at least, they were on their own Rebecca slid the nine-azine and cha theat anyone The others wereon flashlights She took a deep breath and started to walk straight ahead, swinging the flashlight&039;s beam around in front of her Enrico was only a fewparallel to her position A low hostly tide There was a parting in the trees about a dozen h it was hard to tell for the mist It was quiet except for a rumble of thunder, the sound closer than she would have expected; the storm was almost upon theain, then a glint of what looked like--"Captain, look!"
Enrico stepped to her side, and within seconds, five lea as, in fact, a narrow dirt road--and an overturned jeep Rebecca could see mp etched on the side as the team moved closer Military police She saw a pile of clothes spilling out fro in for a better look-- and then she was holstering her weapon and fu over to kneel next to the crashed jeep, knowing even before she sat back on her heels that there was nothing she could do There was too much blood
Two men One had been thrown clear, was crumpled a few meters away The other, the fair-haired man in front of her, was still half under the jeep Both wore ues Their faces and upper bodies had been badly h skin and ashes across their throats No way the crash had done all of it
Rebecca reflexively reached down and felt for a pulse, noting the chill of the flesh She stood and n of life, but he was as cold as the first
"You think they&039;re froithon?" someone asked Richard Rebecca saw a briefcase near the pale, outstretched hand of the second corpse and crouch-walked to it, half listening to Enrico&039;s answer as she flipped the case&039;s lid
"It&039;s the closest base, but look at the insignia They&039;re jarheads Could be from Donnell," Enrico said
A clipboard was on top of a handful of files, an official looking document attached to it There was a small headshot in the upper left corner, of a handso man in civvies--neither of the corpses looked like hi silently--and then her
Enrico looked up from where he was crouched, next to the jeep "Hmm? What happened?"