Russell Brooks - Pandora's Succession

Something was wrong with his right arm-he couldn’t move it. During the first blast he must have dislocated his shoulder when he landed on it. Adrenaline rush. Thank God for it or I’d be in agony right now. Fortunately, he was left handed.

But the impact from being thrown against the rock did more damage. Fox realized this when he grabbed the AK-74 and tried to stand back up with only one fully-functional arm, and his left ankle was twisted. There was also another pain on the right side of his chest that Fox assumed could be a fractured rib or two. Nonetheless, he had to get back up, lest he would remain a sitting duck for Demyan and his Milkor. He couldn’t let it end that way. Not with the October Man laughing at him the way he had a few moments ago, and certainly not with Dobbs’s and Levickis’s murderer trying to blow him away.

He got up and put most of his weight on his right leg. He shielded his eyes with his left hand as he opened them slightly-there was still too much dust and smoke. He could hear the helicopter hovering between twenty to thirty degrees above and in front of him. He reached out with his left arm and touched the rock face behind him. This meant that the cliff was to his right.

Fox hopped and skipped forward with the AK-74 aimed diagonally below to the left of the sound of the propellers and unleashed a fury of bullets, hoping to damage the cockpit and hit the pilot. When he emerged from the smoke and dust, Fox stumbled to the ground, but continued to shoot until he heard the clicking sound. No more bullets. But from what he saw, he hadn’t missed his target.

Demyan didn’t appear to have caught a bullet, but the helicopter moved erratically making him drop the Milkor as he was tossed about inside.

Fox caught a glimpse of the pilot hunched forward. It would be only moments before the helicopter went down. Fox rolled over and watched the helicopter veer downwards away from him and brush the surface as it bounced up again and spun around. It bounced off the ground a second time and veered out over the cliff and spun as it dropped.

Fox caught one last glimpse of Demyan as he tried to make his way to the cockpit, before the helicopter disappeared below the edge of the cliff in the same direction where the October Man lay. “Good riddance to both of you.”

The ground shook as Fox watched a large plume of fire erupt beyond the edge of the cliff and rain flames around him. With the AK-74 in his hand he rolled on his back and rested it on his forehead, taking bit of time to catch his breath. When he did, he rolled over slowly, got up into a crouch and remained in that position for a while. It was then that he saw a familiar object beside him. He put down the AK-74 and picked up the October Man’s red pen and looked at it as though to study it. He turned it around slowly and saw the word OCTOBER written in bold yellow Russian characters. As he held both ends, he pulled it apart to see a thin sharp wire unwind in front of him. Fox released one end of it and it snapped back shut. It could make a good trophy. But the more he stared at it, it became nothing more than a reminder of the people that murdered Jessica, and they were still at large.

He stood up, keeping most of his weight on his good leg and limped his way closer to the edge of the cliff. Black smoke emanated from the wreckage below, on the rocky beach. The ledge that was once there, where the October Man lay was gone-vaporized from the exploding helicopter. He threw the pen out at the sea as hard as he could and watched it disappear.

“Impressive, Fox. You saved us all,” said a familiar voice behind him.

When Fox turned around, he saw Tanaka. You got to be kidding me. Most of the dust had cleared, and there he was with a Sig P226. Tanaka kept the Sig pointed to his chest as he stopped a few feet away from him. After all of this, for me to see him now. Fox could think to do nothing other than smirk.

“My bad luck doesn’t seem to want to end. If it’s not this guy, it’s the next. And if it’s not the next guy, it’s you.”

Tanaka smiled. “It seems to be that way for you, Fox.”

Fox tried to raise his good arm until a pain shot through his ribs. He spat on the ground in front. “So go ahead and shoot me. That’s what Dr. Marx wants you to do,” he shouted. “Go ahead and be their foot soldier.”

Tanaka shook his head. “No, not now. You’re too badly bruised and beaten. But why don’t you try to take a little walk with me.”

The impact of the second explosion caused Parris to lose her footing and tumble down the rest of the hill. The dust cloud did not completely settle, but she covered her eyes and took shorter breaths to avoid inhaling the large amounts of dust. She heard less gunfire, but more explosions came from the same area where the landslide had originated.

“Fox,” she gasped as she looked in the direction of the blasts. Something told her that Fox had a lot to do with the explosions that she heard earlier. Lord knew the mayhem that he went through before and after they were reacquainted. And he was most likely doing it in order to lure the enemy towards him to allow her a safer passage. Hopefully he could hold them off long enough to allow either the Japanese or American troops to arrive.

She crouched and pulled the jacket of her pantsuit over her face as a strong wind gust helped to blow away the dust cloud. It was about a minute later when most of the dust had cleared that she spotted two bodies on the ground a few yards away. She released her jacket and immediately drew her HK. One sudden movement from either one, and she’d fire. To make sure she wasn’t being set up, she checked her surroundings before she got any closer. At about four feet away, she stopped. From there she was close enough to see them better and far enough not to be grabbed had either one been faking. She saw that neither were fighters from the same squad.

Parris saw the bullet wound to the ninja’s chest and the throwing star that stuck out from his attacker’s forehead. Convinced they were both dead, she holstered her weapon. The ninja was close to her height. She could easily fit into his clothes and his boots. And as an added bonus, the ninjas wore facemasks with mesh-covered eye slots. It was the perfect disguise.

Parris removed the ninja’s clothes and changed into them. She took out the case containing the vial of serum from her clothes and put it inside an outer pant leg pocket. She attached the scabbard with the M-11 to her waist and tucked the HK away in her pants. She then hid her clothes.

When she got nearer to the five Hexagon helicopters, she saw the two furthest away from the blast tunnel had sustained the most gunfire damage. Whether they could still fly or not remained a mystery to her. To her dismay and relief, she saw Fox escorted at gunpoint by Tanaka. He looked roughed up, and had the cuts and bruises to his face to prove it. He also limped on one leg. But if a small man like Tanaka did that to a man like Fox, she could only assume there was more to Tanaka than she thought.

She saw the recruits, visibly shaken, being led back to the rest of the group by two ninjas. Seeing the group and how vulnerable they were when Marx preyed on them made her breathe hard and clench her right fist. But then again, she knew she had to share some of the blame. When she looked back at Fox, the only thought that came to her was that he held them off for as long as he could and was lucky to still be alive. Now the baton was passed on to her to finish what he started.

Three more ninjas hastily returned. They ran up to Tabitha Marx and bowed before her. “The Arms of Ares has been dealt with. The landslide did away with many of them. My men and I finished off the survivors.”

Tanaka ordered two of the ninjas to guard Fox closely before Marx turned to Tanaka. “Has he been searched?”