The Helicopter

Maya Chen's POV

Maya Chen's ears were still ringing from the police station blast when she saw the black helicopter rising above the airport fence.

"No!" she screamed. "He's getting away!"

Through the smoke and chaos, Maya had watched Marcus Webb slip away from the state police. While everyone was distracted by the explosion that had just killed Thomas Morrison, Webb had taken a police car and raced toward the small airport outside town.

And he'd taken a hostage.

Emma Morrison. Jake's younger sister.

Maya ran faster than she'd ever run in her life, her lungs burning as she chased the helicopter across the airport field. Behind her, Jake was yelling Emma's name, but the explosion had injured his leg and he couldn't keep up.

"Maya, wait for backup!" Captain Rodriguez shouted.

But Maya couldn't wait. Emma was just a kid. Fifteen years old with her whole life ahead of her. And Webb was a monster who'd already killed so many people tonight.

Maya reached the chain-link fence and climbed over it, cutting her hands on the barbed wire at the top. She didn't care about the pain. She only cared about saving Emma.

The helicopter was thirty feet off the ground now, its blades whipping wind and dust everywhere. Maya could see Emma's frightened face pressed against the window, her hands pounding on the glass.

Webb sat in the pilot's seat, a gun in one hand and the keys in the other.

Maya looked around desperately for something, anything she could use to stop him.

That's when she saw the fuel truck parked near the garage.

An insane thought popped into her head. It was dangerous and stupid and would probably get her killed.

But it might be Emma's only chance.

Maya ran to the fuel truck and jumped into the driver's seat. The keys were still in the ignition—someone had abandoned it during the chaos.

She started the engine and drove straight toward the chopper.

Webb saw her coming and tried to pull up faster, but the helicopter was heavy and slow. Maya directed the truck right at the landing pad beneath him.

"This is for every person you hurt!" Maya shouted.

She slammed her foot on the gas pedal.

The truck crashed into the landing pad's support structure, making the whole platform shake. The helicopter wobbled dangerously in the air.

But it wasn't enough. Webb was still going to run.

Maya looked at the fuel hose connected to the truck. Another crazy idea formed.

She jumped out of the truck, grabbed the hose, and turned the valve wide open. Jet fuel sprayed everywhere, soaking the landing pad and splashing up toward the helicopter's underbelly.

Webb's eyes went wide with fear when he understood what Maya was doing.

If anyone lit a match, the whole area would burst.

"Land the helicopter!" Maya screamed. "Land it now or I'll blow us all up!"

"You're bluffing!" Webb shouted back. "You wouldn't kill yourself and the girl!"

Maya pulled out a lighter from her pocket. She didn't smoke, but she'd taken it from Webb's pocket when the state police had him on the ground earlier. She'd thought it might be useful as proof.

Now it might be useful as a weapon.

"Try me," Maya said, her hand shaking as she held the lighter up.

Webb stared at her for a long moment. Then he laughed, a cold, cruel sound that made Maya's skin crawl.

"You win, Miss Chen," Webb said. "I'll land."

Relief rushed through Maya's body. She'd done it. She'd stopped him.

But then Webb did something Maya didn't expect.

He pushed Emma out of the plane.

The girl screamed as she fell through the air, her arms flailing wildly.

Maya dropped the lighter and ran, her mind counting angles and distances. Emma was falling too fast. Maya would never reach her in time.

But Maya jumped anyway, throwing herself forward with her arms spread.

She caught Emma's jacket just before the girl hit the concrete, and they both crashed to the ground in a mess of limbs. Pain shot through Maya's shoulder, but Emma was alive.

"I've got you," Maya gasped. "You're okay."

Emma was crying and shaking, but she nodded.

Maya looked up at the chopper, expecting to see Webb landing like he'd promised.

Instead, the chopper was climbing higher, speeding away toward the mountains.

Webb had lied. He'd gotten rid of his hostage so he could fly faster and escape.

"No!" Maya screamed in anger.

State police cars were racing across the field now, but they'd never catch a helicopter.

Webb was going to get away with everything.

Maya watched helplessly as the chopper became a small dot in the dark sky.

Then she remembered the lighter.

And the jet fuel soaking everything around her.

And the small pool of fuel that had splashed onto the helicopter's landing skids while Maya was spraying it.

Maya's eyes went to the lighter lying on the ground a few feet away.

She could still stop Webb. The trail of fuel leading from the truck to where the helicopter had been would form a line of fire. If the flames were hot enough and moved fast enough, they might ignite the fuel on the helicopter's skids before Webb got too far away.

But lighting the fuel would cause a huge explosion. Emma and Maya were too close. They might not live.

"Maya, don't," Emma whispered, seeing the look in Maya's eyes. "Let him go. You saved me. That's enough."

Maya thought about all the people Webb had killed. Sarah Martinez. Thomas Morrison. All those children poisoned by the harmful waste.

If Webb escaped, he'd disappear to some foreign country where he could never be found. He'd live in luxury while his victims stayed dead or suffering.

That wasn't fair.

Maya looked at Emma. "Can you run?"

"What?"

"When I say go, run as fast as you can toward those police cars. Don't look back."

"Maya, no—"

"Go!"

Maya shoved Emma toward safety and dove for the lighter.

Her fingers closed around it just as Captain Rodriguez's voice screamed across the radio.

"All units! We have reports of more bombs! The airport is set to explode!"

Maya's blood turned to ice.

She looked down and saw what she'd missed before. Small devices connected to the fuel truck's undercarriage. Timers going down.

Webb hadn't been trying to leave cleanly. He'd been leading them into a trap.

The whole airport was about to blow up.

And Maya was standing in the middle of a pool of jet fuel with a lighter in her hand.

The timer showed fifteen seconds.

Emma was only halfway to safety.

She'd never make it.

Maya had one chance to save the girl. She could throw the lighter away from the fuel and run toward Emma, using her own body to protect the teenager from the blast.

But if she did that, Webb would escape.

Ten seconds.

Maya's hands shook as she looked at the lighter, then at Emma, then at the helicopter disappearing into the darkness.

Save one harmless girl, or stop one guilty monster.

Five seconds.

Maya made her choice.

She threw the lighter.

But not away from the fuel.

Into it.

The world exploded in flames, and Maya's last thought before the fire swallowed everything was a desperate hope that Jake would forgive her for not saving his sister.