Chapter 45 - Echoes of Generation Nine
The steel pipe of the fuel manifold shuddered violently under the impact of the heavy rounds, metal sparks flying in blinding arcs into the stormy night. Naomi felt the heat of the deflected bullets searing the air inches from her face.
"We can't stay here!" Ethan yelled over the thunder of the ocean and the weapon fire. "That tank will rupture in seconds!"
"Clara, hold onto Ethan's belt!" Naomi ordered. "Ethan, when I give the signal, run for the yellow crane arm on the south corner. There’s an automated life capsule rigged to the boom!"
"What about you?" Ethan grabbed her arm, his fingers digging into the soaked fabric of her sleeve. "Naomi, you can't fight a helicopter with a submachine gun!"
Naomi pulled the two flashbangs from her belt, alongside a high-explosive breaching charge she had taken from the dead Cleaner. "I'm not fighting the helicopter, Ethan. I'm fighting the pilot's arrogance."
She slapped the breaching charge onto the catwalk railing, rigging it to a five-second friction fuse. Then, turning toward the crane, she shouted, "Run! Now!"
Ethan didn't hesitate. Scooping Clara onto his hip, he bolted across the slick, tilting catwalk toward the yellow crane boom.
The gunship shifted its aim to follow the fleeing brother and sister. But before the pilot could bring the crosshairs down, Naomi broke cover in the opposite direction, sprinting straight toward the edge of the helipad.
She fired a full burst from her MP7 directly into the gunship's thermal imaging pod beneath its nose. The sensor shattered, momentarily blinding the automated targeting array.
The gunship banked violently to reacquire her. The side door slid back, revealing two heavily armed Cleaners preparing to fire down at her with marksman rifles.
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Naomi triggered the breaching charge on the railing.
The explosion ripped a twenty-foot section of the catwalk apart, sending a massive slab of jagged industrial steel whirling into the air like a lethal blade. Caught in the violent downdraft of the helicopter's rotors, the steel sheet was sucked straight upward into the main rotor assembly.
