“Even Evan can’t see what will happen tonight. We go into this with firm objectives, a solid plan and determination. We stay in communication and above all, we pray. This could be over in the next twelve hours. When the battle does begin, go into it knowing we will prevail—we will because we have to.”
The intercom overhead squawked to life. “Ladies and gentlemen, we have less than five minutes until drop zone.”
“What do you think, Evan? Any last words of advice?” Alik asked. Evan reached out and touched his brother’s shoulder, trying to get a vision of his immediate future.
He paused and closed his eyes.
“I got nothing,” he said, shaking his head. “I’m so worked up, I couldn’t predict what letter comes after X in the alphabet.”
“Y,” Alik smiled good-naturedly at his little brother.
“You boys ready?” Margo asked. Her usually warm brown eyes crackled with adrenaline.
“Yes, ma’am,” they chirped.
“I love you so much and I’m so proud of you.” She leaned in to hug each of the boys.
She continued the hugs to Creed and Farrow. “I’m so proud of each of you for your courage and strength.”
“Love you too, Mom.”
“Thank you, Dr. Winter.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“It’s time,” Jacobi’s voice came on over the intercom. “Open the back door and get to jumping.”
“Let’s do this,” Creed breathed as he reached for the emergency handle of the door and yanked it wide. The wind ripped through the cabin. Everyone instinctively gripped anything bolted down to steady themselves.
“Remember to wait three full counts before the next person jumps,” Margo yelled over the roar of the wind. The other four jumpers nodded, tears leaping into their eyes as they squinted.
Creed moved into position first, wanting to model how to exit for Alik and Evan. He crouched at the open doorway, held the frame. He moved his body up, down and then pushed out of the plane arching his back immediately stabilizing himself. He cleared the plane and resisted the urge to turn around to watch for the others.
Alik, then Evan each stepped up next and mimicked Creed’s movements exactly. Margo gave Theo one last kiss before following Farrow out of the plane.
The five skydivers hurtled through the night sky.
59 Inverted Love
On the ground Meg heard the plane well before she could find it in the ink black sky. She knew they would have to lower their altitude but still found herself cringing at the engine rumbling through the otherwise quiet night.
Knowing she couldn’t reach out to Arkdone to determine whether he was suspicious of the low-flying aircraft, she channeled her sensors toward Ermos. The simpleminded chauffer was busying himself making coffee on the other side of the base tent from Arkdone. He wasn’t thinking of anything beyond measuring the coffee and bottled water just right to please his master.
Meg’s attention was torn between watching her family and feeling for an attack from their enemies. Through her night vision scope she caught sight of each canopy as they unfurled one after the other. She and Valen had moved closer to the metamonarch’s new base so they could provide cover. Valen’s sniper rifle looked for movement from the camp indicating that they spotted the plane and its jumpers.
“Anything?” Meg asked.
“I was about to ask you the same thing.” Valen said without taking her eye off the scope of her rifle.
“Five chutes just opened,” Meg offered.
“So far so—”
Pop, pop, pop!
“Shit,” Meg frantically looked for the source of the gunfire. More concerned about the safety of her family than herself, Meg leaped from her hidden spot, yanked her weapon eye-level and threw her sensors out. She felt the shooter immediately.
“North side of the tent,” she hissed, flipping the safety off her rifle. She exhaled and squeezed the trigger. Her aim was surgical. The Monarch spun, his shoulder hit.
“There are more,” Meg warned as she crouched back down behind a rocky ridge and aimed.
Semiautomatic gunfire echoed off the terrain.
“They’re gunning for us, now,” Valen grunted.
Meg risked dividing her focus between returning fire and feeling for her family as they continued their descent.
A bullet whizzed past Meg’s ear just as she felt Creed cry out. She looked up through her scope and saw a corner of his chute flapping free of its cord. He was falling fast.
Instinctively, Meg bolted. “Cover me!” she yelled over her shoulder as she sprinted toward Creed’s likely point of impact. She felt him struggling to regain control over his chute. More gunfire burst from both the Monarchs and Valen.
“Winter, Valen. We’re at your five o’clock,” Rhett’s voice came in clear through her earpiece. “You two secure the jumpers. We’ll draw fire.”
“Copy that,” Valen responded immediately. The moment she heard gunfire coming from behind her, she began running after Meg.