Then there was a hand on his collar.
"I've got you," Brandt said. Standing on the struts, braced against the door, the sergeant was a sight for sore eyes. "Let's get you inside."
Davidson certainly didn't argue there. He let himself slip the rest of the way down the body of the helicopter as he was guided to the safety of the struts. As the helicopter righted itself, Davidson was pulled into the cabin.
"Thanks."
Brandt frowned, though. "I wouldn't thank me yet."
The sergeant nodded toward the Congo River. The surface of which was fast approaching as Brandt secured the door.
"What are you talking about?" Lopez scoffed. "We are totally going to make it."
The far shore seemed, well, pretty far off, given how quickly the helicopter was losing thrust.
"Okay. I lied," Lopez admitted. "We aren't going to make it."
No kidding.
Rebecca watched as, for one glorious moment, it looked like Lopez would prove himself wrong. The bank wasn't forty feet away. You could see the individual trees on the other side. You could make out the ripples in the mud.
Then the helicopter's engine gave one last sputter. The rotors ground to a halt, and the chopper just fell out of the air. Straight down into the Congo River. They hit the water hard, but not all that hard because, well, they just weren't that high in the sky.
"Evac," Brandt barked, flinging off his restraints.
Water lapped at the front windshield as they sank into the river. Rebecca unbuckled herself, then Vakasa. The girl climbed into her arms, clutching her neck. Rebecca didn't blame the girl. If she could have sought shelter in Brandt's arms, she would have done it. Unfortunately, Brandt was busy gathering as much gear as they could salvage. He trusted her to buck up. To be brave. Or at least fake it.
Talli went to grab the chopper's door, but Brandt shook his head. "Grab anything you can."
"But the higher the water gets, the harder it will be to-"
Lopez nodded to the bullet holeridden windshield. "Dude, we are not going to create a vacuum in here."
Rebecca nearly lost her balance as the helicopter slid down the muddy riverbed, deeper into the Congo. The water level was over halfway up the windows.
"Got mine," Davidson announced as he threw a fifth bag over his shoulders.
Surprisingly, Brandt didn't have anything on his. Instead, he handed out the equipment to the other men. "All right. Levont you are going out first. Then I will escort Rebecca and Vakasa. Talli-"
"What the hell is-"
Out of nowhere, a mass of flesh with a glistening row of teeth surged in the water, hitting the windshield head-on. The glass cracked, sending a spiderweb of flaws through the windshield.
In the glow of headlights, the giant crocodile shook its head and several front teeth fell out. Clearly, the ancient predator was not used to the concept of glass. However, those dark eyes did not seem deterred in the least. A meal was to be had.
"Watch out!" Lopez yelled as another crocodile, a good four feet longer than the first, slammed into the window next to her. The sliding door rattled violently. Then another slammed into the other side of the helicopter.
Talk about shooting fish in a barrel. Only, they were the fish, and the crocodiles planned to latch onto them and drag them to the bottom and drown them.
Vakasa shook in Rebecca's arms. The girl hadn't flinched at the sight of guns, but crocs? Crocs she was clearly terrified of.
The sliding door buckled as a crocodile rammed it again.
"This bird's taken too much damage," Lopez said.
"And the water we're taking on," Talli added as the river filled the chopper. It was up to their knees now.
Brandt looked to her, grief detailing his features. They would have to make a run for it. And clearly not all would make it. And the chick in the wedding dress and young girl? Vegas bookies would not be betting on them.
Then the door came off a hinge as the persistent reptile crashed into it again. Rebecca clutched Vakasa to her, throwing them both back as the croc used its wide snout to push open the door and its powerful tail to thrust itself halfway into the chopper.
Mouth wide open, it charged. The only thing that stopped it from grabbing them both was Davidson slamming the door closed on its neck. The croc thrashed against the restraint, hissing its fury.
For a moment, a vision of Rebecca's guide in the Amazon filled her vision. One second, he had been there. The next, a set of teeth had grabbed hold of his shoulder and her guide was gone. She remembered watching helplessly as the alligator shook Yerato as he pulled him into the murky water.
This croc meant to do the same.
Brandt pulled his gun, but Levont pushed it down. "We can't have blood."
"What the fuck-"
"We only have three to deal with," Levont pleaded. "You get blood in the water, we'll have a hundred."
As if the crocodile were listening, it stopped its thrashing and simply floated at the water level, doing its best to convince them it was only a log. A nice big log that wanted to eat them.
"Stealthy mothers, aren't they?" Lopez observed.
Then the broken-toothed croc slammed into the windshield again. Creating cracks so deep that Rebecca doubted the glass would hold up to another ramming. As the croc repositioned itself for another strike, they were about to find out.
"Any fucking suggestions, then?" Brandt asked Levont.
"We just have to tie its mouth closed."
"Oh, just that."
Levont, though, grabbed some rope and quickly made a lasso out of it. "Talli, you are going to have to poke it."
"What?"
Brandt shoved Talli over, snatching a rifle. "Don't worry," Brandt assured Levont. "I'm not going to shoot it."
"Vincent..." Rebecca called out. It must have been bad if she was using his first name.
The other crocodile-you know, the one that was trying to break in through the windshield-slowly paddled just at the edge of the headlights. Keeping himself steady and ready to attack.
Since he couldn't do much about that one, he turned to the croc actually inside the damned helicopter.
"Ready?"
Levont just nodded.
Brandt held the rifle at its butt and shoved it hard right under the croc's eye. He was ready for a lot, but not the explosive power of the predator. The thing had his rifle, crunching it between its jaws, faster than Brandt could blink. The croc spit the mangled gun back at him.
Brandt stumbled back a step, his hands shaking from the assault.
Levont, though, was at the ready, flinging the noose around the croc's snout. The thing shook its head side to side violently, but the point man had a grip of steel. Too bad the rope wasn't as strong as he was.
They all saw the fraying. It must have got snagged by a tooth on the way in.
Hell no.
Brandt reached for his belt, unbuckling it and whipping it loose. As he rethreaded it, the irony that it was croc leather did not escape him. This time prepared for the ferocity, Brandt grabbed the rifle, poking the giant reptile. The croc swiveled impossibly quickly, knocking the gun away. But Brandt was there, slipping his belt around the nose.
Riding the damn thing like a bucking bronco, Brandt wrapped the leather twice around the snout, then secured it with the buckle.
"Davidson!" he shouted to the man on the door. "On my signal!"
The sniper nodded, still leaning his body weight against the metal to keep the croc pinned.
Brandt braced his hands against the croc's shoulder, avoiding the flailing head and surging river water.
"Now!"
Once the door was released, Brandt shoved hard against the nobby skin, pushing the beast back into the river. Davidson wasted no time shutting the door. The last thing Brandt saw of the beast was the croc spinning and thrashing, trying to slip its restraint.
"Vin!"
Brandt turned to find Rebecca pointing at not just a pair of red glowing eyes, but three, no, four sets made it five.
Guess they didn't even need blood in the water to attract the crocs' relatives.
Looks like they had gotten rid of one crocodile, only to invite in a whole group of them.
Fuck didn't even begin to cover it.
Even though Brandt tried to turn her away from the charging crocodile, Rebecca wouldn't let him. It was a sight to behold. Even in the murky water, she could make out the forty-eight teeth capable of delivering up to five thousand pounds per square inch. She could even see the pink of its tongue and upper palate. Many a tribesman and even a pharaoh or two had witnessed this as their last sight.
Brandt nearly crushed her with his embrace as the croc's tail surged side to side, powering the reptile right at the cracked glass.
Then a blur from the right knocked the crocodile from its trajectory. A brownish, blobbish streak had saved them.
"Hippo!" Lopez yelled, swinging his camera around.
"The dolphins of the Congo?" Talli asked, staring out the windshield. "Did it just save us?"
"No, no, no," Rebecca said, shoving Brandt toward the door.
Levont was right with her, sloshing through the now thigh-high water. "Hippos are extremely territorial. They will-"
The helicopter shuddered as it was hit on the side. On the second attack, the chopper didn't just shake, it physically rolled over. Rebecca put her hands out to brace her, slamming into the roof of the chopper. Her fingers fished around for Vakasa, but could barely keep her head from smashing up against the metal.
And the hippopotamus didn't stop. Using his wide head as a battering ram, he rolled the chopper down the steep riverbank until the entire vehicle was underwater. Rotors and all. Metal squealed and glass groaned until the windshield couldn't take any more stress.
Shattering inward, the Congo came to claim them.
Rebecca was thrown backward by the rush of water, stripped from Brandt's hold. Then the door's frame bent, leaving just enough room for Rebecca to get sucked out into the river.
"Rebecca!" Brandt cried, but the water had him plastered against the back hull.
She fought the current to get back inside the chopper, but the hippo hit it again, tumbling it farther down the bank.
Something knocked against her leg.
Log, crocodile, or another hippo were only a few of the possibilities.
The best thing she could do for Brandt was to save herself, giving Brandt the leeway to save himself.
She kicked hard in the direction she prayed was the surface.
Davidson got churned under the rolling helicopter. A twisted rotor knocked him upside the head. Dazed, he drifted to the right just as the chopper flipped again. Its headlights creating a kaleidoscope of light and dark.
He wasn't sure where he was. Heading toward the shore or deeper into the river? Was his head pointing to the surface, or was he just striking for the riverbed? His lungs begged him to gasp. From the pain and for the oxygen. But there was nothing but murky water all around him.
Stay calm, he tried to remind himself. Let your natural buoyancy guide you. He'd had plenty of water-survival training. However, none of the course covered a hippo attack. The water was cut by so many currents even it didn't seem to know which way was up.
Darkness crept into the edge of his vision. The lack of air and blow to the head conspiring to black him out.
Then there was orange. Bright, playful orange.
A small hand reached out to him.
Davidson took it.
The girl struck upward and to the left. Davidson didn't hesitate to follow her course. He was running out of oxygen, though. Like, aneurism out. Then they broke the surface. Davidson gulped the precious moist air as his limbs tried to right his course.
"Kusimama," the girl urged.
Levont had been right. Davidson's African dialects could use some work.
"Kusimama," Vakasa repeated, jerking on his arm.