She extended her claw and pressed it into the lock of the van’s door. After a little jiggling, it popped open.
She slicked open the dashboard, finding the wires she needed to twist together. Working quickly in order not to be seen as the early morning activity started on campus, Zoe started the car in a few seconds and pulled out of the parking lot with a smile on her lips.
She felt slightly guilty as she drove past her brother’s driveway. She was being as big a jerk as he was. Maybe more so. He was just worried about her and he expressed it in his oblivious Corey Bright way.
Zoe knew her brother well enough to know he had good intentions. But his good intentions didn’t always make her feel very good about herself.
She hurried out of the institute’s road and onto the highway, determined to put an end to the shit she’d allowed to rule her life for so long.
She was done.
She was done taking Dima’s crap. Done being scared. She was done letting Corey hurt her feelings. And she was done letting Rollo tell her what to do. Never again. This was the last time. Dima was her problem, and she was going to end it.
As she drove down the highway, she saw a helicopter flying overhead. She hurried down the highway, east of town and up into the mountains, following the helicopter all the way. It started to descend in a pasture off the highway.
She turned off the highway, parking her van on the side of the road. She climbed out of the car and took the forest toward where the helicopter had landed. As she approached, her heightened shifter senses picked up the sound of voices and the low rumble of motors.
Peeking through the cover of the forest, she saw Dima and his men stepping out of a black SUV. Dima buttoned his Armani suit as he walked across the scrubby grass field, the helicopter blades whipping around his blonde hair.
Zoe took aim, using every bit of her heightened awareness to zero in on her target. Using both hands to steady her glock, she pulled the trigger and fired.
The bullet sliced through the air, impacting Dima in the shoulder. He fell to the ground, and his men jumped to attention, returning fire in a spray of bullets.
Zoe jumped behind a tree trunk, ducking out of the line of fire. Her heart pounded. She hadn’t killed him. The gunfire stopped and Zoe peeked around the tree to see the men approaching. She shot at them and ducked back behind the tree.
Another volley of bullets sprayed through the air, impacting the trunk and sending bark splintering all around.
Zoe gritted her teeth, wondering at the wisdom of her plan. She growled. She was not going to let these men have the last laugh.
She changed her clip and moved in to shoot at the approaching men. Just then, she saw a squadron of police cars rip through the field.
The Bear Patrol jumped out of the cars, parked in a perfect blockade. They opened fire on Dima’s gang. The men approaching Zoe ran back toward the helicopter as it started to elevate into the air.
Dima’s gang fired at the Bear Patrol and the Bear Patrol met their fire with their own. The helicopter inched into the air, and Zoe ran out from behind the tree. She opened fire on the helicopter, unwilling to let Dima get away.
Rollo saw her and ran out to grab her and pull her back behind the patrol car.
“What are you doing here?” he screamed over the sound of gunfire.
“Taking care of my own problems,” she shouted back.
Rollo lifted a scoped rifle, aimed, and shot. The bullet sliced through the air, impacting the helicopter’s propeller.
Zoe watched in amazed horror at what happened next.
16
Rollo could not believe his eyes when Zoe emerged from the forest, shooting at Ivanov’s helicopter. There had just been two men over there, shooting at her. He didn’t know whether to be furious at her or to weep in relief that she hadn’t been shot.
“What are you doing here?” he shouted at her over the spray of gunfire and whipping whirl of the helicopter blades.
“Taking care of my own problems,” she shouted up at him.
He gritted his teeth. Zoe was a pistol and apparently knew how to use one. He hefted his rifle, resting it over the top of his patrol car. Looking through the scope, he shot the ascending helicopter’s propeller.
The helicopter swung wildly in the air, twisting violently down to the ground. It landed with such a force at impact that the engine tanks burst and exploded. A loud blast filled the air and the Bear Patrol recoiled behind the squad cars. Zoe screamed and Rollo grabbed her, protecting her with his body. Heat washed over his back as he held Zoe away from the blast.
“Oh my God,” Zoe gasped, pulling out of Rollo’s arms. “They’re all dead.” He heard the horror in her voice and the tightening in her heart.
“It isn’t your fault, Zoe,” he said, putting his arms around her. “They were bad men.”
“Holy shit!” Gauge howled.
“Commander, you shot that thing down.” Knox proclaimed, slapping Rollo on the back.