Page 190 of Aviatrix

Then, Rourke steps into view, stone-faced.

“Prep the helicopter,” he snaps. “I’ve got a ship waiting for me.”

“The VAL-X?” Jan Ming asks.

“I can’t wait to turn that thing into the killing machine Conrad promised,” Rourke sneers. The hatred in his voice is palpable.

He turns for the door, but Jan raises a pistol and shoots him cleanly in the back of the head.

I almost scream.

Rourke drops the cold, hard ground, just a crumpled pile of skin and bones now.

I don’t know how to react. I don’t even know how to breathe anymore.

“You can come out now,” Jan says.

I don’t move. I can’t move.

“Oh, for God’s sake you two, MOVE!”

Eli steps out first, shielding me. “Why the hell did you just do that?”

Jan chuckles darkly. “I made an oath. To protect Project Aviatrix with my life. I know how this ends for me, Major. But for now, we keep moving.”

Eli holds out his hand. I take it, still unable to fully breathe.

We step through the door into a patch of trees. A chopper pad in a clearing. Rourke’s chopper.

And in the distance, another helicopter splits through the stormy sky. I exhale a shaky breath.

Lark. Amber. Sasha. They made it out alive.

“I got them to safety,” Jan says, following my line of sight as she leads us toward the waiting Blackhawk.

“Where are we?” I ask.

“A mile outside the Pentagon,” she replies, pointing to the skyline.

I turn and my breath catches.

The Pentagon is on fire.

Smoke pours upward like a warning from the gods. Ash. Ruin. Silence.

How many lives did we fail to save?

“There was a coordinated attack,” Jan says grimly. “London. Paris. Rio de Janeiro. Moscow. Dubai.”

Tears sting my eyes. “All alien?”

Eli’s hand finds my shoulder. He squeezes gently.

Jan nods. “All alien. They struck each site for two minutes. Then retreated.”

“Retreated?” Eli and I echo.

“Yes.”