Page 97 of Deserving Lara
“Piece of cake. I’ll help you.”
“What’s your name?” she asked, suddenly desperate to know.
“Lucas.”
“I’m naming my first son after you,” Lara blurted.
Lucas chuckled. “Awesome. Now, here’s what I need you to do.”
The next twenty minutes were some of the scariest of Lara’s life. She kept glancing between Owl, who was still unmoving next to her, and the screens in front of her, passing on the information Lucas requested.
Everything that had happened to her in the past was put into perspective during that flight. Being at Carter’s mercy? Piece of cake compared to this.
When she caught a glimpse of the mainland, she almost panicked again, thinking about what would happen to any people on the ground if she crashed. But Lucas talked her off the ledge and managed to calm her enough to turn the chopper more to the right and follow the coastline south.
When she neared the airport where Lucas wanted her to land, Lara’s hands were starting to cramp from clenching the controls. But the man’s voice never wavered. He’d cleared the air space, thankfully, so she didn’t have to dodge planes taking off or landing. Lara could see an ambulance and several police cars and firetrucks parked by the main building. They both freaked her out and were a huge relief at the same time.
“Okay, this is it. You’re hovering, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Good. Slowly—veryslowly—lower the lever next to you and apply slight pressure backward to the stick between your legs at the same time.” The nose of the helicopter tilted ever-so-slightly up, and the tail dipped as she approached the landing zone. “That’s it. Easy…slower, you’re doing great, Lara.”
She wasn’t. The chopper was lurching slightly back and forth and she wasn’t bringing it down slow enough, but suddenly all Lara wanted was to bedown. She understood now why people got off airplanes and kissed the ground.
As the chopper neared the tarmac, the rotor wash changed the way the controls felt. This was the part in the simulator when she usually messed up and crashed as she tried to land. Sweat dripped from her temple, but she didn’t dare take a hand off the controls to wipe it away. The truth was, she was utterly terrified. Not for herself, but for Owl. She didn’t want to kill him after all he’d done for her.
The rotor wash made the helicopter buck back and forth a bit, and as the skids touched the ground, Lucas said, “You’re almost there! Back off on the power and push the lever next to your seat to the floor.”
The chopper settled hard—and it took a moment for Lara to realize she’d done it. She’d actually landed! Lucas congratulated her through the headset.
“You did it, Lara! You’re down! There should be lots of people approaching you now. But you aren’t quite done yet. Back all the way off on the power. Did you do it?”
“Yeah,” Lara croaked.
“Good. There’s a red switch on the control panel, I need you to flick it; it will shut off the fuel to the engine. It’ll make it safer for the first responders to get to you.”
Lara did as Lucas instructed, vaguely remembering Stone doing the same when they’d landed after their test flight. The rotors of the helicopter began to slow, and Lara had a brief moment of disbelief that she’d actually flown a freakinghelicopterand landed without crashing.
Turning, Lara saw that the cavalry of cars and trucks had almost reached her, their lights flashing and, she assumed, sirens blaring, but she couldn’t hear them while wearing the headphones.
“Thank you,” she whispered.
“I didn’t do anything,” Lucas said, which made Lara want to cry and laugh at the same time.
As if he knew how she was feeling, he continued, “Seriously. This was all you. That sim program your boyfriend has must be amazing. I don’t know anyone else who could’ve done what you just did.”
“He’s a Nightslayer,” she whispered.
“A what?” Lucas asked.
“A Nightslayer. One of those fancy helicopter pilots in the military.”
“You mean Night Stalker?”
“Oh, yeah. That. Sorry.”
“Wow. They’re amazing. You obviously had a great teacher,” Lucas said. “Now take off the headset and talk to the first responders, Lara.”
