Goon - 16. Chapter 16

Pop, pop, pop, pop

There was a reason the two-day march was a favorite activity each semester. Their destination was always the firing range, and Micah was enjoying it as much as anyone else. Even if it was an outdated M16 from the Reagan era, the kick of the rifle felt good, and seeing his marksmanship skills had not decayed at all was like a balm to the soul.

He sighed when the cease fire flag was raised over his target and the paper silhouette was lowered to be replaced. He’d knocked out the center mass with the first magazine and had just finished knocking a clean hole through the center head region. While he waited for the silhouette to be replaced, he considered the best way to knock out the same with only the one magazine that was left.

“Showing off, Jericho?” Sergeant Major Smith asked as he kept his eyes glued to the row of Hoar Residence Cadets currently on the firing line. They were firing first, and already the other Cadets were muttering darkly. Even if the rest of his residence hall was doing just an average job, Micah was fairly certain his perfect score would put them over the top to win the shooting competition. That would get them the range time just after finals to play with the Academy’s heavy and light machine guns.

Rumor had it that this year they’d also get to fire a grenade launcher.

“Yes, Sergeant Major.” Micah answered as the target came back up. He’d get more points by spreading his shots through both masses. The wind had picked up a little bit while he waited and Micah knew it would help their scores. Cadets had a damn hard time adjusting their sights to deal with the wind, even though the flag pole over the targets gave a damn good indicator of direction and speed. He made his adjustments before popping in the last magazine and pulling the charging handle. The Sergeant Major had long since moved on to chide another cadet who was aiming less and shooting more.

Even with the screwy shooting of the Rooks, Hoar had enough points to easily keep first place, as long as there were no secret time travelers in the other residences. Micah left the range area with his fellow cadets and had just finished taking apart his M-16 when the sound of helicopter blades became audible. Like most of the other cadets, he turned with interest as a helicopter flared as it came over the tree line and began to settle down in the clearing to the rear of the firing area. Sergeant Major Smith and the Range Masters had ordered a cease fire as soon as they’d heard the blades of the helicopter over the sounds of gunfire. It was one of those bigger civilian transport jobs used to fly tourists or passengers over distances shorter than an airplane route but longer than the regular news or police birds regularly flew.

“What do you think that’s about?” Corey asked from where he sat next to Micah. Their heads were close together, but Micah still looked around to make sure no one was close enough to hear.

“I’d say last night, but we haven’t had a chance to call yet.” Micah said, remembering the vision, or whatever it was from the future. Two men in dark suits got out as the blades slowed their whirling and began to walk towards where the Sergeant Major was walking in their direction.

“Hey, Howard, did you call your daddy for a ride because you hated walking?” One of the seniors in their residence yelled at them and Corey flipped him the bird as they watched the Sergeant Major nod as he talked to the two men and then pointed in their direction. “Shit, what do you know!”

“Shut up, Burns.” Micah said as he nodded at Corey and they stood up, leaving their disassembled weapons where they were on the tarp and dropping the cleaning rags they’d been holding. Burns was snickering as they walked towards the three men, as were several of the other cadets, but Micah had a frown. There had been a possibility it was about someone else, but not when the Sergeant Major had nodded towards Corey and Micah.

“Micah Jericho?” The suit asked as they approached. He was middle-aged and looked vaguely familiar. The Latino behind him was in his early thirties, and both of them moved like soldiers as they turned to face Corey and Micah. They were just out of ear shot of the other recruits, and Sergeant Major Smith stood at the side, between his cadets and the men. “Corey Howard?”

“Yes.” Corey said, taking the lead and a step forward.

“Cadets, these men are Special Agents Burke and Rocha with the Federal Bureau of Information.” Sergeant Major Smith interrupted before anyone could say anything more. He gave Corey a very direct look as he continued speaking. “They say they are here to take you both to see the Senator. I have heard nothing about this, and I’m not able to get in touch with the Academy to verify this.”

“May I see your identification please?” Corey asked, giving the two men a look. They looked at each other before Burke pulled out his identification and flashed it to Corey, who actually put his hand out to take it and examine it carefully. Micah looked over his shoulder and admitted it looked genuine. “Thank you, Special Agent Burke.”

“It’s always smart to be cautious.” The man said with what looked like an approving nod and Micah frowned again. Special Agent Burke was tickling his brain and he was trying to remember where he’d met him before. It could have been Afghanistan, but he didn’t remember any of his interrogators there having that name. “If you’ll come with me, we should be in the air as soon as possible. A government plane is waiting for you at the airport.”

“Is my father okay?” Corey asked worriedly as he took a step forward and then he stopped, frowning as Micah stopped him with a hand.

“Our weapons?” Micah asked, giving the Sergeant Major a look.

“I’ll have your mates clean them.” Smith said. “Get going.”

“Yes, Sergeant Major.” Micah said as he released Corey’s arm. Burke walked next to Corey as they approached the helicopter, and Rocha walked just behind Micah who followed one pace behind and to the left of Corey. He was still trying to figure out where he knew Burke from as they climbed into the helicopter.

The passenger area was big, with two rear-facing seats in addition to the bench along the middle of the compartment. Behind them was a cargo area that was currently empty. Corey fumbled with the strap in the middle section of the bench seat until Micah leaned over to help him. Micah had already locked the seat belt in place for himself, and put on the headset as well as plugged it into the cockpit’s communication system. He could hear the pilot telling Special Agent Burke that they were spooling up for takeoff and Burke’s response. The sensation of knowing that voice, and the man, grew stronger as he heard it crackle over the headset, and he was frowning as he helped Corey with his own headset.

“You look like you’ve been in a helo before.” Rocha said from where he sat on the far side of the passenger cabin, facing them with a blank face. He’d already unbuttoned his suit coat and was relaxing enough Micah could see the Delta 10mm he had in a shoulder holster.

“Once or twice.” Micah answered with a non-committal shrug. They lifted off and the helicopter sped away, barely above tree-top level. It brought back memories, flying in similar helicopters during training exercises after joining the security company. That had been far different than the Blackhawks and other Army helicopters he’d been in while on active duty. Everything always looked different in the air, and it seemed just as he found a familiar landmark it would zoom out of sight.

“Why did my father send you?” Corey asked a lot more bluntly than Micah expected, and he frowned at his boyfriend.

“We don’t know.” Burke answered. “They just called the field office and told us to get a bird and get you to the airport as soon possible. We were told there is a plane waiting for you.”

“Okay.” Corey said with a significant look to Micah.

“Is there any way we can call him?” Micah asked. “Maybe we should go back to the Academy first and get changed out of these clothes.”

“There isn’t time.” Burke said with another frown, and Micah’s memory tickled again at that. “We have to get you to the airport on time.”

“On time for what?” Corey asked. “If it’s important enough for Dad to send a jet and a helicopter, we won’t lose much time going by the Academy and changing. It’s on the way.”

“It should be. “ Micah said, but he didn’t key the microphone because several things clicked at once. He should have been able to see the Academy from here, but they were flying so low that he could not really make out any landmarks. That was suspicious enough. He couldn’t see the shadow of the helicopter on the trees below, and that warned him that they were heading in the total opposite direction of the Academy.

While Corey argued with the man until Burke’s temper flared, Micah gave each of the agents a more detailed look. The suits were off-the-shelf, and the few FBI agents he’d ever met would not have bought attire that cheap. They had a lot of institutional pride and that included ‘the look’. These were more like men who wanted you to think they were FBI.

Then there was the fact that both Rocha and Burke was ex-Army. That didn’t immediately mean they weren’t FBI, because soldiers could and did join the FBI. However, they reminded him more of private mercenaries than law enforcement, and that brought the final bit of the pattern clicking into place. He knew where he’d seen Burke before.

His gaze shifted off the two men who he was now convinced did not work for the FBI and he stared at the ground passing by outside. The pilot had to dodge a particularly tall tree, and that gave him just a glimpse of the horizon and he had to bite back the curse. If he had to guess, they were flying at close to one-hundred-sixty knots, and they had now been aloft for fifteen minutes.

“Don’t try anything, Jericho.” Burke said flatly and Micah shifted his gaze back to the man who was now flexing his hands in his lap as he stared directly across the cabin at Micah.

“I’m sorry?” Micah asked, tilting his head to the side and trying to look confused.

“I can see it in your eyes.” The man said. “I was warned you’re not as stupid as you look.”

“What’s he talking about, Micah?” Corey asked with just the right amount of confusion in his voice.

“I don’t know.” Micah shrugged. “It’s not my fault your father sent a crazy FBI agent out here to pick you up.”

“We’re not here for the Howard kid.” The man said as he took his pistol out of his shoulder holster. It was a good old Glock 9mm, and fit his hand perfectly. Micah frowned again and then he sighed. The fact that Corey didn’t react at all showed his suspicions had been tripped too.

“Whoever faked those badges for you did a good job.” Corey said to break the silence.

“Where are we going?” Micah followed up the statement with a question.

“You’ll know soon enough.” Burke said as he reached up with his free hand and switched the circuit of his headset. Apparently he didn’t like the response of the pilot because he turned around to see the pilot as he yelled something. Rocha had also gotten his gun out, but he was listening to their circuit, not the conversation with the pilot, so the sudden swing of the helicopter to the right, and its starting to climb for altitude caught him by surprise.

When the helicopter leveled off, Burke was still yelling, his voice now audible, if barely, over the sounds of a helicopter in flight. Rocha’s attention turned to the pilot and Burke, and that was when Micah knew he would have his best chance. One hand released the seat belt and he flew across the cabin to strike the bigger Burke. Corey’s timing was off by a few seconds, and he hit Rocha just two seconds later, before the man could do more than raise his gun to point at Micah.

His fist struck Burke right under the right ear, and the man’s smacked into the forward cabin bulkhead. The gun in his hand started to come up but Micah’s other hand fell over it, the webbing of his fingers between the hammer and the firing pin, and he wrenched it outwards, away from the man’s hands. Burke managed to get his free hand around and punched Micah’s mid-section hard enough to get a grunt from him, but Micah’s head butt smashed his nose and knocked his head back against the bulkhead again. The reaction to the head blow was just enough for his grip to slacken, and Micah brought his feet up to push himself away, back to the seat he’d been in just a few seconds ago.

Corey was doing less well with his fight. Rocha was bigger and more experienced than him, and had managed to knock Corey to the deck of the helicopter. His gun was just moving from pointing at Corey to moving in Micah’s direction. Micah reacted without thinking, totally on autopilot as he flipped off the safety, pulled back the slide and fired a single round directly into Rocha’s eye socket.

The gunshot in such a confined space was loud, even with the ear protection of the headset, and the pilot was cursing as he turned around in his seat just in time to see the brain and gore splatter on the far side of the cabin bulkhead. Before Burke could move Micah had shifted his aim back to cover the man. With his free hand he adjusted the headset so it fit better on his head and then reached up to switch the channels.

“Pilot, can you hear me?” He asked after keying the mike. There was no response, so he switched to the next channel. It took three tires before he got a response.

“What the fuck is going on back there?” The pilot’s voice was edgy and Micah looked out the window to see they were now going in a circle.

“Did you know you were involved in kidnapping the son of a U.S. Senator?” Micah asked. Corey got up off the floor, his face white and looking scared, but he strapped himself into his seat and put his headset back on. He’d had further to go to attack Rocha and the cord wasn’t long enough to have stayed on his head.

“You just shot an FBI agent!” The pilot nearly screamed and Micah sighed before responding. Burke chose that moment to move and the cabin was filled with the sound of gunshot in its confined space. Burke went down on the floor, grasping his shattered kneecap but not even shouting in pain. “What’s going on now?”

“The kidnapper still alive decided to make his move.” Micah told the pilot. “They aren’t FBI agents.”

“Oh, and I’m just supposed to believe that?” The pilot demanded and Micah closed his eyes for just a moment. Corey had Rocha’s gun in his hand and was now pointing it at Burke, although his hands did shake a bit.

“My name is Micah Jericho, pilot.” Micah spoke again into his headset. The pilot stopped their circling and was putting them into a hover, just above the tree-tops. “The other guy in the cabin is Corey Howard, youngest son of Senator William Howard from the state of Georgia.”

“Shit, they told me you kids were part of some criminal group.” The pilot cursed. “God I hate the smell of blood.”

“So do I.” Micah replied and he could see the pilot look around the corner of the bulkhead and shake his head. “This guy that’s still alive is going to need a hospital. Can you get us to the nearest one, please, and call in the local law enforcement?”

“You’re not going to shoot me for transmitting?” The pilot demanded cautiously.

“Hell no.” Micah replied. “We’ll need to report the shootings and get Corey into protective custody as soon as possible, if someone’s trying to kidnap him.”

“That’s…” The pilot started to say but never finished his statement. Micah had made a horrible, terrible mistake. He’d not paid close enough attention to Burke as he should have, and the man had managed to pull a snub-nosed .38 from his ankle holster that Micah had not spotted. Corey was paying closer attention, and brought up the Delta 10mm he’d taken from Rocha’s dead body, but he forgot to take off the safety after having put it back on when he took the gun. Micah had let his gun settle into his lap and had to bring it up to aim, but was too late.

Burke could have shot Micah, or he could have shot Corey, but he probably knew he wouldn’t have time to shoot both of them, so he used his one shot to the best advantage, shooting the pilot instead. The pilot never got to finish whatever he was going to say as the .38 caliber bullet tore through his neck, and fresh arterial blood splattered everywhere. Micah’s bullet took Burke in the chest, tearing through his heart and the man’s body collapsed in death, the .38 rolling out of his hand as it fell to the cabin’s floor.

“Fuck!” Micah shouted, rushing to tighten his seat belt as the helicopter began to rotate wildly. He was no pilot and knew better than to try and rush to the cockpit controls. Corey looked like he was about to do that, but Micah’s hand against his chest stopped him and he screamed as the helicopter’s nose dropped dramatically. The pilot did his best in the last seconds of his life to get them safely on the ground, but the helicopter tore through the last several hundred feet of height and slammed into the ground.

“Get the fuck up!” Corey’s voice was the first thing Micah heard as he regained consciousness. He blinked his eyes, and rubbed blood out of them before he could see Corey’s frantic face over him. Micah groaned and tried to push Corey away, but felt weak as hell. “Don’t do this to me, Micah! You’ve got to wake up!”

“I’m awake.” Micah murmured as he struggled with the seat restraints. Miracle of miracles, the helicopter had nosed down towards the ground and had not broken up too badly as it hit the dirt. There was more than the metallic tang of blood in the air, and he realized he smelled the beginning of an electrical fire. That was not good, but most likely not immediately fatal. He had time to search the bodies of the other men in the helicopter, and he set about doing that right after freeing himself and wiping more blood out of his eyes. “See if you can find a medical kit.”

“I’ve already got it.” Corey said frantically. “What are you doing?”

“Seeing if they have a cell phone or something.” Micah said as he bent over Burke’s body first. He pulled out the fake FBI badge, stuffed it into a pocket of his grimy uniform and then continued his search. Sure enough there was a cell phone, probably a pay-as-you-go type, a wallet with his real identification and several hundred dollars of cash, and a set of keys. Micah took all of those things and wiped his forehead again. The cut on his forehead wasn’t too deep but he should bandage it soon. Head wounds were nasty bleeders.

“Got a wallet, his fake ID, a phone and some keys.” Corey said after searching Rocha’s body. He still had the first aid kit in his right hand, and Micah was pleasantly surprised to see the Delta 10mm handgun in his free hand. “Can we get out of here? I think I smell something on fire.”

“You do, so let’s get going.” Micah grunted as he stood up and got the door open. Corey was right behind him and they jogged for about a hundred yards through the small clearing they had crashed in before stopping. Along the way Micah had found he was limping from a stressed knee, but it didn’t feel broken or strained, just pulled a little. He also had to wipe his eyes twice because of the blood.

“Let me see that head wound.” Corey demanded as soon as Micah dropped with a grunt of pain. They were both breathing heavily but they were alive. As Micah tried to catch his breath, Corey set the gun down next to the first aid kit and began to search through it for what he wanted. “You know they weren’t after me, right?”

“Yeah, I know.” Micah murmured as Corey found the antiseptic and began to clean his forehead wound.

“This doesn’t look too bad.” Corey said. “It’s not deep at all, just long and thin. Let me get the gauze on it and then we can use those phones to call for help.”

“I’m sorry.” Micah said with a sob as he felt his emotions swell through him. It was always like this for him. After an engagement he would break down for a few minutes when he was alone and safe again. “You could have died because of me!”

“I feel so stupid forgetting the safety.” Corey said through a choked sob as he tried to stay in control while putting the gauze bandage on Micah’s forehead. “If I had remembered, the pilot would still be alive and we’d be safe now.”

“If it wasn’t for me you wouldn’t be in this mess.” Micah sobbed as he tried to get back under control.

“Bullshit.” Corey said as he finished taping the bandage and sinking to his butt in the grass next to Micah. There was a flicker of smoke from the helicopter, but no explosion or visible flames. The cockpit where the pilot sat was covered in blood and Micah had to fight the urge to throw up. “I think I’m going to be sick.”

“Don’t, or I’ll be chucking too.” Micah groaned. “This is my fault, you know. He saw me and knew I’d figured out they were fakes. I should have controlled my expressions better.”

“Oh, I thought you were saying if we weren’t together, or friends, I wouldn’t have been in this situation.” Corey said with a deep sigh.

“Well, there’s that too.” Micah agreed.

“Oh god.” Corey groaned, his head popping back into view as he sat up and gave Micah a very icy stare. “You are so not going there.”

“It’s the truth!” Micah exclaimed.

“No, it’s not.” Corey retorted. “Just think about this for a moment. Would you be involved in this, whatever this is, if you had never met me?”

“Well, probably not, but you’re not responsible for this specific situation!” Micah said with a frown.

“Neither are you.” Corey retorted. “Now, how about using one of these phones to call 911?”

“I would if we had a cell signal.” Micah said as he picked up the phone he’d taken off of Burke and saw that there wasn’t even a ‘roaming’.

“Any idea where we are?” Corey asked.

“East of the firing range.” Micah said. “Probably about forty or fifty miles given the speed of the helicopter.”

“That’s what I love about you, always able to figure this shit out and still you call yourself the stupid one.” Corey laughed. “Okay, so which direction do we go?”

“South.” Micah decided as he tried to stand up. His leg hurt more, and was starting to get stiff, but he could still put his full weight on it, so he figured they could just walk it off.

“Highway 2?” Corey asked with a frown and Micah nodded. “How far do you think it is?”

“I have no idea, but I’m not staying close to that thing and waiting for it to blow up and start a fire.” Micah said with a nod to the helicopter.

“Shouldn’t we leave something indicating which way we went in case they come looking for us?” Corey asked with a frown. “I mean, someone’s going to know the chopper is down.”

“Yeah, but will they be good guys or bad guys and how will we know the difference?” Micah asked with a frown. Corey was standing also, putting his gun in the back waistband of his pants and picking up the first aid kit. They had no food, no water, and wouldn’t likely last too long on their own, but Micah also was certain he wouldn’t trust any searchers that came looking for them. How could they trust anyone who didn’t have someone they knew and trusted with them?

“We need to get in touch with Mom or Dad.” Corey stated after a moment of thought and Micah agreed. “They could send Bill or someone we know to pick us up.”

“But we should lay low until we do see someone we know and trust.” Micah suggested.

“Well, then we shouldn’t wait around for search parties.” Corey said with a sigh and began to trudge off towards the South. Micah followed him, limping only a little bit.

“If it wasn’t for me you wouldn’t be in this mess right now.” Micah said with another sigh as they entered the tree line and left the little clearing behind.

“Do you really want to have this argument right now?” Corey asked him and Micah smiled.

“Might as well.” Micah said. “We’ve got plenty of time to argue.”

“I don’t like arguing with you.” Corey said with a sigh. “Why can’t you just accept that we’re in it together and shouldn’t blame ourselves? If I wasn’t my dad’s son, you’d have never been involved in any of this in the first place, right?”

“No, I’d still be rotting in some cell somewhere for not lying about a murder.” Micah said with a sigh and a frown.

“Then we’d have never found our true love together.” Corey added and Micah groaned again.

“Corey, you are too damn dreamy about this shit.” Micah complained. “True love is for movies and sappy romance novels.”

“Oh, really?” Corey demanded with a laugh. It really was easier to move at a good pace when they were talking. “Then what is this that’s between us? I mean, you came back in time to fix it so we were together!”

“I did not!” Micah protested. “I stuck my knife into a mess of wires because I thought it would stop Trasker from doing whatever it was he was doing! The next thing I knew, I was shooting a load of cum into your mouth and I was fifteen again!”

“Then you realized your true love for me and we became lovers for life!” Corey said and Micah frowned as he thought over what Corey was saying.

“You really want to know we’ll be together forever.” Micah said with a sigh and Corey frowned.

“Isn’t that what you want?” Corey asked.

“Well, yeah, but you know it’s not easy right?” Micah said. “Your mom’s really talked about a lot of this kind of stuff with me, and being in a relationship isn’t easy according to her.”

“Well, she and Dad are still together.” Corey said as his frown grew deeper. “Doesn’t that mean she had some good advice for you?”

“For us, yeah.” Micah sighed again. He was doing that a lot lately. “She’s told me how often her and your dad comes close to breaking up. They fight a lot.”

“They do not.” Corey argued.

“Yes, they do.” Micah said. “Why do you think they have their rooms on the far side of the house? It wasn’t to make it easier for you and Billy to fuck around and not get caught.”

“You’re joking.” Corey accused with an angry look.

“I wish I was.” Micah said.

“But they’re still together.” Corey protested with his lower lip pouting outwards. Micah couldn’t resist him at that moment and put his arm around Corey and bent in to tug at that lower lip with his teeth as they stopped walking.

“Yes they are.” Micah said with a smile.

“Then there’s hope for us.” Corey said with a smile. They were about to kiss again when the sound of an explosion echoed in the distance, causing both of them to flatten themselves on the ground. “Well, there goes the neighborhood.”

“Let’s get moving faster.” Micah suggested as he got back to his feet. If no one had seen the helicopter go down, they might see the fireball, or they might even see the fire that the explosion probably started. It was winter, but there wasn’t a blanket of snow on the ground, and it hadn’t rained in weeks.

It wouldn’t be good to be caught by the wrong searchers, or caught in a forest fire, either of which was very, very possible. Corey just nodded and they took off at a pace just below that of jogging, heading south. Maybe they could find the road, and a cell signal before they were caught by either fire or the wrong people.