He depressed the trigger, and fire erupted from the six spinning barrels, but another hard jink to the left caused him to lose his grip on the gun’s controls and fly in the opposite direction. Again, he grunted when the safety line snapped taut, then whipped him into the metal floor.

“Dammit! Keep us stable!”

Dave pushed himself up into a crouch and scampered back to the tail gun, clawing his way up the mount to regain his hold on the weapon. He knew Charlie was doing everything he could to keep from being eaten alive by the attack helicopter, but his abrupt maneuvers weren’t making it easy on the SEALs to target the threat.

Focus on the solution. Not the problem.

With gritted teeth, Dave set his feet firmly on the floor and angled the minigun in preparation for their next turn. On cue, they banked hard to the right, and their pursuer’s shadow appeared from behind their tail. He was ready and depressed the trigger again and spat fire into the dark shape.

Sparks flew as the 7.62 x 51mm rounds impacted the enemy helicopter and ricocheted into the night. He eased off the trigger and braced himself for Charlie to reverse course. When he did, Dave jerked the minigun around, using it to brace himself while aiming where he expected the attack chopper to appear.

But it didn’t.

Instead of moving in a predictable flight path, the Chinese helicopter increased altitude and tucked itself high above their tail and beyond Dave’s reach.

He turned and shouted over his shoulder, “He’s above us!”

Even though he knew Charlie couldn’t hear him, Dave felt himself floating off the metal floorboards as they dropped closer to the invisible water. He bent his knees and prepared for a jarring collision when the pilot stopped their descent, but he kept his eyes focused on the shadowed outline of the attack helicopter above them and willed it to reengage.

They leveled off, and Dave slammed back to the ground. But he had been ready that time, and he immediately angled the minigun upward and aimed to the side of the tail. If Charlie banked left, he might have another shot — albeit fleeting with little chance of success. But at the rate things were going, even a little chance was better than no chance.

Suddenly, the sky above them erupted in bright orange flame as the helicopter exploded in a flash. A split second later, Dave heard the high-pitched scream of a missile streaking through the sky and the thunderous detonation of it impacting with the Chinese attack chopper.

“What the…”

Charlie must have seen the flash too because he resumed his erratic flying. Unprepared, Dave whipped left and right, straining the carabiner he had used to clip into the safety tether.

“He’s gone,” he shouted. “Threat neutralized!”

But Charlie couldn’t hear him, and the aging Russian chopper continued zigging and zagging through the night, whipping the SEAL and its other passengers around the cabin to avoid being taken down by the unseen threat. Dave slammed to the ground but quickly pushed himself up as if popping up on a surfboard, looking forward to the cockpit that seemed impossibly far away. He reached down to unclip from the safety tether just as the helicopter dropped out from beneath him.

Dave flew up toward the ceiling, then slammed back down, cracking his head into the metal floor. Stars ringed his vision, and he thought he heard what sounded like a fighter jet roaring overhead before he blacked out.

42

Mace 201

Navy FA-18E Super Hornet

Colt watched the AIM-9X Sidewinder missile guide into the Chinese helicopter and detonate just above its stubby wings on the starboard side. He had a split second of panic when he thought the helicopter might keep flying, but then it exploded in a brilliant flash that cast an ominous shadow onto the friendly Mi-17 Hip racing east.

“Splash one, pop-up group,” Colt exclaimed with breathless relief.

“Two zero one, Tiger, green east.”

Colt pulled back on the stick while dipping his right wing to watch the friendly helicopter again disappear into the pitch-black night. As the flaming wreckage of the Chinese Z-10 fell into the water, Colt kept his nose pointed skyward to gain as much altitude as possible.

Speed is life. Altitude is life insurance.

“FUEL LOW… FUEL LOW…”

He reached down and selected the waypoint he had created for Scarborough Shoal, knowing that if he had any chance of being rescued, he would need to eject in the vicinity of where the Hip and the two Ospreys were converging. He had long ago given up hope that he might make it all the way to Clark Air Base and was already mentally preparing himself for the ejection.

“Tiger, any luck with a Texaco?”

The response was quicker than he’d hoped and most definitely not what he wanted. “Negative. Two zero four is on a bingo profile to Clark Air Base at this time.”