Impact (Book 5): Black

to anyone. She prayed they didn’t try to get out.
The rotor noise echoed off the metal frame of the building and reverberated inside the spacious interior as it neared. The dull gray helicopter came in about fifty feet above the ground, passing over the middle of the train yard at a high rate of speed.
It passed in seconds, going over the fields to the south.
“Well, I guess it was nothing—” she started to say.
The helicopter banked to the left.
“Or, maybe it was…” she finished.
“It’s definitely coming back,” Asher said, sounding worried.
More of the workers came inside the building, obviously concerned about the aircraft making unusual maneuvers over their heads. Most stood by the entrance, as she and Asher were doing.
“Ash,” she whispered, “we have to warn the others. I’m sure they’re here for us.”
He glanced between her and the truck. “You want to run out there?” He sounded uncertain.
She shrugged, feeling her stomach clench up. “What else can we do?”
The helicopter flew in a wide banking arc, now lining up with the tracks coming in from the east. She pointed back to the flatcar with her truck. “If we keep close to the coal cars, it should shield us from the air.”
There was no time to debate the finer points of the plan. She shot a glance to Robert. “We’ll be right back.”
She and Asher sprinted across a short patch of open ground, then ran next to the blackened coal hoppers. The helicopter had come around a bit wide, which put it on the opposite side of the rolling stock.
“They’re getting out of the truck!” she yelled to Ash, who was a handful of steps behind her.
Ahead, the three passengers were out of the Suburban. They’d exited on the driver’s side of the truck, which was on the opposite side of the flatcar relative to her and Asher, but hadn’t gotten down.
“Guys!” she called out.
The helicopter glided in a hundred yards behind their tiny train. The rear cargo door had been opened; a woman sat back there, dressed entirely in dark clothing. Her long black hair blew wildly in the rotor wash, though it didn’t seem to bother her. She held a long rifle in her hands. Grace got a look at the huge scope when the woman dipped her eye to it.
“Get down!”
The tear of metal close by was followed an instant later by a crack of thunder from the woman’s gun. The bullet had come down and struck the metal ladder at the back of the boxcar, not far from her friends.
Logan and his dad tumbled off the flatcar. Shawn’s leg collapsed under him, though Logan quickly pulled him under the car itself. Diedre remained where she was. As a second and third shot rang out, she threw herself under the truck.
Asher fumbled with his rifle, intent on returning fire, but Grace didn’t want him to tangle with a hovering shooter with a big gun. She grabbed his shirt and yanked him backward, and down. “Get behind a coal car! We need a plan.”
Several more shots clapped out, some striking very close. Plinks of metal and the crunch of wood indicated the woman had aimed at her and Asher in addition to the three people huddled by the wooden freight car.
The helicopter hovered sideways, then canted a bit forward, as it apparently searched for better shots on her and her friends. All at once, it leaned sideways and banked away from them.
“What’s she doing?” Asher asked.
The rotary aircraft made a wide loop out to the last of the coal cars, perhaps a quarter of a mile away. When it shifted position, lurking closer, Grace noticed a pickup truck parked in that direction, as if it were watching the attack take place.
“Get out of there!” she shouted to the others. Logan and Shawn had been ready. They came out from under the flatcar. Shawn strained to take weight off his injured leg, but he waddled fast enough.
Diedre was slower getting off the flatbed.
Grace saw an opportunity. “We’ll get them over to this side. We’ll get lost in the rows of coal hoppers.”
Asher frantically searched the skies for where the helicopter had gone. She checked it out, too, wondering if the pilot was sneaking up on them from another direction. It didn’t matter, however. The lines of steel hoppers would shield them from multiple directions.
“Guys, run to the coal cars!” she yelled.
Her three friends had left the safety found under the flatcar and were crawling under the joint between the flatcars and boxcars when the helicopter reappeared. It came in from the direction of the lines of coal cars, but it ended up roughly in the same place it had been before. The woman was still in the back, but she now sat in front of a huge machine gun positioned at the edge of the door.
“Get down!” Grace screamed.
Columbia, MO
Once they were on the water, Ezra became fascinated by the lengths Haley went to get her cat out of its cage. She found a five-foot length of paracord, tied it onto her little collar, and let the kitty roam free. However, the cat didn’t seem to savor its freedom; it fell over and wouldn’t move. When she saw Ezra watching the proceedings, she spoke over the engine’s growl. “She’ll get used to it. I’m sure she won’t jump in the water willingly, but Butch mentioned we might hit something in the river that could stop us. I don’t want Victoria to lose her footing and fall in. That would be a bad day for all of us, I assure you.”
He laughed, knowing cats weren’t fond of the water. “It’s all fine by me. It looks like you’ve figured out a nice system for her. But what about your other pal?” He glanced down at