“Hundreds of hours,” Hali said assuredly.
MacD knew that wasn’t true. Hali had practiced it for the last two days with MacD to literally teach him the ropes. Before that, he’d done it maybe half a dozen times. Guess he wanted to calm Belasco. Panicky people did stupid things.
She nodded, and MacD and Hali checked the molar mics to make sure they were communicating. Then MacD clipped into his harness.
Just before Hali pulled the canopy up, the monkeys started going crazy.
“Someone’s coming,” MacD said.
The sounds of footsteps pounded down the trail, and Belasco’s three companions emerged from behind the trees twenty-five yards away. They were momentarily dumbfounded by the vision of the colorful canopies spread on the ground.
But their surprise didn’t last. Although they drew weapons, they had to dive for cover when MacD pulled out his SIG Sauer semiautomatic pistol and shot at them.
“Take off,” he yelled to Hali. “Now!”
Hali jerked his canopy off the ground, and he and Belasco swiveled around. With a couple of running steps, they leaped into the air.
Despite several more shots from MacD, the three assailants fired back from behind some rocks.
MacD couldn’t wait any longer. He shoved the pistol into his waistband and yanked the suspension lines up. The canopy caught the wind and billowed fully.
He noticed several holes had appeared in the nylon, but all he could do was hope they didn’t become larger.
He turned and ran forward until his feet left the ground. As soon as he cleared the cliff, he bled lift from the canopy and sank out of sight of the people shooting at him.
He saw Hali and Belasco in front of him, but something looked wrong. Belasco was hanging much lower than she should have been.
“Hali, is she hit?”
“No,” Hali replied, the strain evident in his voice. “But one of the rounds cut part of her harness. She’s hanging by a thread.”
“Can you make it?”
“I think so, even though it’s throwing off my balance. But we’ve got a bigger problem.”
“Bigger than nearly falling out of the harness?” MacD asked in amazement.
“I think we’ve got interceptors headed our way.”
Hali pointed in the direction of the large yacht that Juan’s Alpha team had infiltrated.
At first MacD didn’t see anything, but then several dots resolved against the blue sky, and he knew Hali was right. They did have bigger problems.
Four large quadcopter drones were headed straight for them.
16
Raven and Linc had planned to race down the broad boulevards that led straight to the long highway bridge connecting Rio to the city of Niterói on the other side of Guanabara Bay. But with little traffic to provide a means of escaping their pursuers, they had to come up with an alternative route. The men on the Ducatis were gaining. The bikes were faster than the BMWs, and it didn’t help that Raven had an additional rider with her.
“How are you doing back there, López?” she asked her passenger.
“I’ll make it,” he said, but his voice was weak, as was his grip around her waist. She didn’t want to drive too wildly for fear that he would fall off.
“Name’s Raven. Just save your strength and hold on.”
“Okay.”
Linc was behind Raven, occasionally firing shots in an attempt to ward off the pursuers. It didn’t seem to be working. She glanced in the mirror and saw the two Ducatis, followed closely by the Porsche SUV.