Yes little one. You can trust my friend. He will help you, came Flip’s reply to her question. But could she trust her father? Could she really trust anyone but herself? As she reached the door to the outside, Alp decided she had no choice. If she were going to save her sisters, she'd have to trust someone. It might as well be Lionel. The two of them reached the exit door leading to the parking lot side-by-side.
"Careful Alp. We don't know where the gunfire is coming from." Lionel reached out and grasped her shoulder. "Let me go first. You follow right behind." At least he isn’t silly enough to think he could stop me from coming with him, she thought as she allowed him to go ahead of her.
She watched as Lionel pushed the heavy metal door open and peered out through the crack. Alp bent down and around him to gaze through the opening as well. A man in a white lab coat laid on the pavement, writhing in pain. It looked like the doctor who’d inflicted so much agony on her sisters. Even so, the compassionate, healer part of Alp reached out to try to calm and sooth him. As Lionel opened the door a little wider she spied the source of the loud noise. The helicopters had taken off and were hovering over the parking lot.
“It looks like one of the helicopters was damaged or the pilot was shot. It's drifting towards the building next door," Lionel yelled.
Alp knew better. It wasn’t the helicopter that was damaged, but more likely its pilot. "No, the ‘copter is fine,” she answered. "It's Mel. I saw him on the roof of that building. He's controlling it." She pointed to the building across the parking lot.
"But how?" Lionel asked.
"He's suggesting the pilot do what he wants. The pilot appears to be resisting but not very successfully. Mel can be pretty persuasive when he wants to be."
"You stay here until I take care of Chickowski. We've got to get the gun out of his hand and get across the parking lot before the people in the ‘copters notice us."
Alp watched as Lionel zigzagged across the parking lot, then followed several yards behind. She watched as Lionel bore down on the wounded doctor and without breaking stride kicked the gun out of the doctor’s hand. She watched it clatter across the asphalt, coming to stop several yards from the injured man. I’ve got to get that gun, she thought.
She corrected her course just enough to scoop the revolver up, and quickly stuffed it in the pocket of her ski jacket. She reached the other side of the lot and paused next to the tall building a few yards from Lionel. Somewhere on the roof of the building she’d find her brother, so that’s where she needed to be. She looked up in time to see one of the helicopters disappear over the roof of the building. She felt certain it contained her sisters, but what was going on with the other one?
"What's wrong with the other aircraft?” Asked a breathless Lionel as he pointed to the second helicopter.
"Mel only wants the helicopter with our sisters," Alp yelled back at him. "He's doing something to the other one to drive it away."
The two of them watched as the second helicopter veered sharply to the right rapidly losing altitude as it did.
“My God, it’s going to crash!” Lionel exclaimed as he threw himself to the ground, dragging her with him.
She laid on the ground as the earth-splitting sound of the crashing helicopter washed over her; the metallic sound of rotor blades as they sliced through a car, pieces of the helicopter flung around like shrapnel, the body of the copter finally coming to rest in a burning heap. Please God, please let her sisters be on the other one. She stood up and brushed herself off.
"We've got to get to the roof. Mel won't stay there long now that he has what he came for."
“There's an old fire escape on the other side. Follow me."
Together they ran around to the other side of the building where they found an old metal staircase in much need of a new paint job. Lionel pulled the first rungs of the rusted steps down low enough for Alp to climb on. They felt overly rickety to her. She hesitated as she watched Lionel forge past her climbing rapidly towards the roof.
"Go ahead. I’ll catch up but be careful. He'll stop at nothing, and he's very dangerous," Alp called after him then felt silly for the warning. Lionel had just watched as Mel cold-heartedly destroyed a helicopter with everyone on board. Of course, he knows how dangerous her brother could be, but did he know about Mel's torch ability?
Alp considered yelling after him but couldn't find the breath to do so. Instead, she concentrated on the climb up the five stories. As she glanced ahead of her, she was encouraged to see that Lionel was already more than halfway to the top. Would he make it in time? And if he did, would he be able to stop her brother?
Then she had a thought. Maybe she could contact Mel telepathically and divert his attention for a few minutes. She decided to give it a try as she climbed. She thrust out her psychic energy in the direction of the roof and promptly felt Mel's familiar energy respond and just as quickly felt his mental guard block her.
Mel, wait for me, she thought with all her might. I'm coming Mel. Don't leave without me. She didn't know if he picked up her thoughts, but she continued to repeat the message as she made the arduous trek to the top.
She climbed for what seemed like an hour but was probably no more than five minutes. She’d lost sight of Lionel within the first minute but now as she neared the top of the building, she heard voices coming from above. She finally reached the top. She took a final step onto the asphalt and gravel roof and looked around. The blackness of the helicopter made it look larger and more ominous than it had from the ground, especially with the two large torpedo shaped tanks on either side. It reminded her of the vultures that had occasionally flown over Mel and her heads back in the fields of West Virginia. Ominous, foreboding, death personified. Its blades rotated slowly causing a womp-womp sound that reverberated against her eardrums. The next thing she saw made her heart leap into her throat as it pushed out a gasp between her parched lips. Lionel stood precariously balanced on the edge of the low railing that encircled the perimeter of the roof.
"Mel! No!" Alp screamed at her brother, realizing he’d turned his persuasive powers on her new friend. Friend? She thought. Yes, friend. She jumped between her brother and Lionel. She reached behind her in an effort to keep Lionel from plummeting to earth and screamed again. "I said NO!" She threw both the words and the thought like sharp daggers at her brother, aiming for his heart.
Mel staggered back a couple steps, a grimace of pain on his face as he grabbed at his chest with one hand and his injured leg with the other. So, he had been shot back in Danville, Alp thought. The site of her brother’s bloody pants leg pulled at her heart strings, but she mustn’t give in to him this time.
"Ease up, sis. Hey, we're on the same side. Ease up."
"No, Mel. We aren't on the same side,” Alp spit back. “You're on no one's side but your own. And it's evil — you're evil. I won't let you hurt anyone else."
As Mel stared at her, the confused, worried look on his face made her heart ache for him. "But sis, I'm just helping our sisters, our kindred."
"You're helping no one but yourself. That's all you're doing, and it’s gone far enough," Alp replied, but the edge in her voice was tempered by her love for him. She heard a sudden movement behind her as Lionel, finally released from Mel's control, fell back on the platform and into her. The two of them collapsed into a jumbled pile on the gravel roof.
By the time Alp recovered and looked around, Mel was nowhere to be seen. Still dazed by the collision, she watched as Lionel rose and ran over to the helicopter. Having absorbed the bulk of the collision with the larger man, it took Alp a little longer to reach the helicopter. “Are they all right?” She asked. Lionel backed out of the compartment rubbing his right hand with his left, a look of pain etched on his face.
"They seem fine,” Lionel answered. “I'm going to let you meet your sisters and free them from their bonds while I go round up your brother. Chunk should be along shortly to give you a hand." He patted her on the cheek. "Take good care of them, Alp."<
br />
"Oh, I will, I will.” She smiled back at him and added. "Thanks for everything."
After Lionel disappeared through the door leading into the interior of the DuPont Building, Alp took a quick assessment of the situation. In the rear of the helicopter, the neatly wrapped packages that were undoubtedly her sisters showed no signs of waking up. Each one was secured by a white jacket that tied their hands together across their chest. The lone pilot seemed to be in a deep sleep himself. Noticing the red and swollen area on the left side of his jaw, Alp suspected it had something to do with his lack of interest in his surroundings.
“But I need you to wake up and get back to work,” she muttered as she looked around the cabin. Spying a bottle of water wedged in the seat next to the pilot, she grabbed it and poured its contents over the pilot’s head. After a few brisk slaps to the sides of his face, he started to come around.
By the time he was awake enough to gaze around the cabin of the aircraft, Alp sat in the seat next to him; Chickowski’s revolver pointing at the pilot’s chest.
“Take just another minute to get your bearings.” She spoke softly but with an edge of authority she’d learned from Madame Sarrah. “Then you’re going to fly my sisters and me out of here. Do you understand?”
Flight
The pilot shook his head, spewing water around the cockpit like a shaggy sheepdog who’d just been released after its bath. Alp glanced around at the mass of dials and levers that encircled the pilot including several on the console between the pilot and her seat. Looking around the cabin again, she confirmed there was only the one pilot. Good, she thought. That’ll make this easier, but it also meant she needed him to cooperate. No way she’d be able to get her sisters to safety without him.
“What’s your name?” She asked once it appeared he’d come to his senses.
“James,” he answered, glaring first at her face and then at the revolver she continued to point at him.
“Hello James. I’m Alp.” She pointed to the back of the helicopters. “And those are my sisters back there. We need your help.” She let the snub nose of the revolver drift down just a bit in an effort to let him know she meant him no harm.
“You will help us, won’t you?” As she asked the question, she formed it in her mind as a statement…”you WILL help us and do as I say.” She had no idea if it would work but if Mel could persuade people with his mind maybe she had at least a little of that power as well.
The pilot shook his head one more time, then continuing to glance at the revolver, nodded his head. “I’m a soldier for hire,” he replied with a rueful smile. “I’d say you’ve just hired me away from my other boss…at least for the moment. Where would you like to go?”
Alp smiled back at him. He was a large man, filling the seat of the helicopter, but not fat. He obviously kept himself in shape, which given his chosen profession, made sense. His dark brown hair had a touch of gray at the temples and early signs of thinning on top. The weathered skin of his face reminded her of well-cured leather, making Alp think he’d probably been a soldier for many years. Despite herself, she found she liked him.
“Off this roof for starters,” Alp replied. “We’ll sort it out from there once we’re in the air.”
James nodded. “Okay. How about putting that helmet on?”
He pointed to the helmet setting on the console between them. She picked it up, surprised by its light weight.
“It won’t fit you but at least it’ll make it easier for us to talk once this baby gets going. It has some nice stealth features that will come in handy, but it can still be a little loud to carry on a normal conversation.”
He picked up his helmet that had fallen on the floor in front of him and put it own. Alp did as he instructed, then followed along as he demonstrated her how to buckle up.
“I know this harness appears a little complicated at first, but if this bird goes down, you’ll be thankful you have it on.”
“You’re not planning on crashing us, are you?” Alp asked with a smile even though she wasn’t sure she was joking.
“No, but then again you never plan a crash. They tend to show up when you least expect them,” James replied.
“If we are about to go down, push this to lock your seat belt.” He pointed to a lever next to her leg. “Keep the seat belt on as long as we’re in the air.” He pointed to a latch on the door frame, “If we do crash and the door is stuck, pull that lever. The door will fall off so you can exit.
“Oh, one more thing. Could you quit pointing that gun at me? Keep it in your lap if you must, but once we take off it won’t do either of us any good if you accidentally shoot the only person who knows how to fly this bird.”
Alp hesitated for a moment, then slowly lowered the revolver. “Any funny business and I’m not afraid to use it.” But even to her ears the threat sounded weak and her voice shaky. She watched in awe as he expertly flipped switches, and suddenly the engine started.
"That's the apu,” James said. “As soon as everything is working, I'll start the main engines, the rotors will start and it'll get noisy as hell in here.”
She watched as the pilot pushed two overhead levers, and the rotors began spinning wildly. He made a final glance around the aircraft then pulled a lever beside his left leg while pushing forward on the stick he was holding between his legs. The aircraft leaped into the air and began accelerating forward rapidly as it gained altitude.
Alp still didn’t know where they were headed, but they were moving quickly away from the lab where her sisters had been born and where they’d been treated more like lab rats than human beings. As she breathed a sigh of relief, she glanced behind to where her sisters lay. None of them moved except for the subtle in and out of their breathing. As her sisters slept on, she wished she could join them in their innocent dreaming.
As the helicopter climbed into the sky, Alp stared out the side window as the building they’d been on grew smaller behind them. A pillow of smoke rose from one side of the structure, and streaks of flame flickered out of several windows.
Mel, she thought and at the same time psychically called out to her twin brother. The last she’d seen of him, he had disappeared into the building with Lionel pursuing close behind him. She knew one of her brother’s powers he often used, especially whenever he felt threatened or trapped, was to start fires with his mind. He had to be behind this fire. But had Mel and Lionel been able to escape or were they caught in the building?
She reached out with her mind trying to detect Mel’s presence but felt nothing. Of course, that didn’t necessarily mean anything. He might be blocking her as he’d often done in the past. Still, she feared for him. Sure, she was mad as hell at him at the moment, but she still didn’t want any harm to come to him. She especially didn’t want to have played a role in his suffering.
As the burning building disappeared from her view, she turned her attention back to the pilot, but the adult size helmet he’d instructed her to put on slipped around on her head so she could only see out of one side of it. A she straightened it on her head, she noticed the pilot smiling at her antics.
He had a pleasant smile, revealing a bit of boyishness about him. He wore a nondescript olive colored flight suit, void of any identifying marks or patches; nothing that gave Alp any clue where he was from. It was clear from how he handled the helicopter, he knew how to fly. It made Alp feel better that she and her sisters were in skilled hands.
“How old are you, hon?” She heard the question coming from inside the helmet and realized there were connected by radio. She wasn’t quite sure how to answer the question since she and her sisters had been born only about three years ago, but due to their rapid growth rate looked much older.
“My name is Alp, not Hon,” she answered back, then “How old do I look?”
When the pilot didn’t respond, she tried again. He pointed to a button on the floor near her foot but just out of reach so he instructed her on how to lower her seat so she could reach
it.
“Push that button when you want to talk,” his voice reverberated through the helmet. She did as he instructed as she asked her question for the third time.
He didn’t respond at first but continued to maneuver the helicopter using the control stick between his legs. Alp studied the mass of toggles, gauges and levers around her, including several between her and the pilot and realized how important he was to her. There was no way she’d be able to fly this thing.
He glanced at her and said, “You look to be about the same age as my youngest daughter so I’d say you’re about ten, maybe eleven.”
“Close enough,” Alp replied then realizing she’d not been pushing the button she pressed it down and said it again.
“And your sisters?”
“The same,” she replied, remembering to push the button this time.
“Really?” James asked as she glanced over at her, an amazed look on his face. “How’s that possible? Wouldn’t that make you….” He paused for a moment as he counted on his fingers. “That would mean you’re octuplets, right?”
Alp didn’t have any idea what the word meant so she only nodded but since the helmet hardly moved she wasn’t sure he noticed.
“We’re sisters, that’s all I know…well, I guess technically we’re half sisters since we have the same father but different mothers.”
“Wow, this gets more interesting by the moment,” he replied. “This is your first time flying, isn’t it?”
Alp nodded. They flew on for a few minutes in silence before he asked her the most important and difficult question of all.
“Where do you want me to take you?” He pointed to the gun that she still held in her lap. “I mean this is fun and all. I love to fly this baby, and we can fly around for quite awhile with the reserve tanks.” He pointed out the window to the two large torpedo-shaped structures on either side of the aircraft. “But eventually we’ll need to head somewhere, right?”
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