Against the Odds Read Online Free PDF Page B

thinking exactly how to make
it happen. As the inertia built, he began to search the ground for a place to
land, but something didn’t feel right, something was altering their approach
while they were still too high to make a safe landing.
    It was the blades, he realized. Instead of moving at the speed
they should have, they were sticking and slowing, jerking instead of spinning
smoothly. They were going to hit the ground hard. Way too hard.
    At the last minute, he flared the chopper, hoping to slow it as
much as possible, hit a little softer, keep the helo in one piece, but the
chopper was coming in too fast and the ground rushed up.
    Sabrina screamed as the windshield shattered and he leaned over
her, tried to cover her as much as he could with his body. The rotor blades tore
free and spun away, shattering into jagged pieces that flew like deadly knives
into the desert.
    The chopper shook and continued to disintegrate. After what
seemed like minutes but was only seconds, the machine finally started to settle.
Alex popped his seat belt and reached for Sabrina, eased her back in the seat
and saw blood trickling down her forehead. She was moaning, conscious, but
barely. From the corner of his eye, he spotted the lick of orange flames behind
them, rushing up from what was left of the engine.
    The fuel tank was going to blow. They had to get out and fast.
Reaching behind his seat, he grabbed his emergency gear bag, slung the strap
over his shoulder, then reached for Sabrina, popped her belt and started to pull
her out of the chopper from the pilot’s side.
    The effort had him hissing in pain, his body telling him he had
injured a couple of ribs, but there wasn’t time to worry about that now.
Ignoring the sharp stab in his side, he pulled Sabrina free of the wreckage,
half dragging, half carrying her over to an outcropping of rock, settled her
behind it.
    There was just enough time to throw himself over her,
protecting her as much as he could, before the helo exploded into a ball of
thick black smoke and searing flames. The blazing inferno shot into the sky, and
a barrage of shrapnel sliced through the air around them.
    Alex felt a sharp sting as a jagged piece of metal cut through
his shirt and sliced into his back. A second explosion ripped through the air,
then the only sound he heard was the crackle of flames.
    He took a quick look over the rock to make sure it was safe,
then turned his attention to the woman on the ground. Her face was as pale as
the sand under her head, and a thin line of blood trickled from her forehead to
her left temple.
    She moved her head a little and groaned. Then her pretty blue
eyes cracked open and she looked up at him. “Alex...?”
    The pain and fear in her voice made his chest clamp down. She
was lucky to be alive. They both were. Lucky he’d been able to make any kind of
landing at all.
    “It’s all right, you’re safe. I need to take a look, see where
you’re injured.”
    She reached a shaky hand up to her forehead. “My head...hurts.”
She swiped at the trickle of blood. “I think I cut myself.”
    His jaw hardened. She had hired him to protect her. But he
couldn’t protect her from this. “Are you hurt anywhere else?”
    “No, I don’t...don’t think so.”
    Jerking the strap of the canvas bag off his shoulder, he set
the bag aside and made a cursory check for broken bones, felt her legs and arms,
which seemed to be okay. He checked for neck or spinal injuries, didn’t find
anything obvious. There were nicks and cuts from the crash on her neck and arms,
but aside from that she seemed to be okay. Alex breathed a sigh of relief that
she hadn’t been hurt a lot worse.
    “I’m kind of dizzy.”
    “You probably have a slight concussion.” He held up three
fingers. “How many do you see?”
    “Three.”
    He checked her pupils. They looked normal. “You remember what
happened?”
    “We crashed. I remember how scared I was, how fast the ground
seemed to come up from