EPOV
I gunned the engine of the SUV and sped from my parking
spot in front of the Smithsonian, as I drove I pulled the small tracking device
from the pocket of my pants and switched to Bella's signal, it showed her
moving away from Mclean and out towards Dulles, when I thought about it, it
seemed pretty obvious, the freight terminal would be the ideal location to
launch an attack, as long as they had a private plane in order to fly out of
there, which I had no doubts they did.
"Please stay safe baby," I said to no one.
I felt guilty at leaving the guys behind, but had every
faith that they would be fine without me, they've been operating without my
interference for months now, one more mission without me is not going to do
them any harm. It's something they need to get used to anyhow. I watched the
signal beep across the tracking device as it moved into the freight terminal,
well so far I seemed to be on the right track. I continued out onto the highway
flooring the accelerator and speeding through traffic.
I cursed under my breath as I passed a patrol car and
suddenly the lights lit up and it was on my ass, "Fuck! Not now
assholes!" I yelled slamming my hand against the steering wheel.
I pushed the call button on my throat comm and called in
to SOCOM, "Hey guys this is Cullen, I'm en route to Dulles, tracking a
suspected terrorist, I have a patrol car on my ass, you need to get someone to
call them off," I said as calmly as possible.
Moments later the patrol car dropped off my tail with a
final flash of its lights in acknowledgement, I flashed my indicators in
response and continued on towards my goal. It felt like I'd been on the road
forever when the sign for the freight terminal loomed ahead of me, I sped
through the barrier, nearly taking out the portly security officer that only
just jumped out of my way as I passed him. Sorry dude lay of the doughnuts!
I slowed down as I rounded the terminal building and
moved onto the tarmac, Bella's signal seemed to be coming from the C-130 that
stood ready to join the cue for takeoff up ahead. I passed it and parked up
alongside a line of freight trucks. I stepped out of the SUV and tucked my
glock into the back of my pants and added a couple of more clips to my pocket.
With a final prayer that Bella was on board I moved swiftly alongside the
containers and various vehicles towards the rear of the plane.
The rear hatch of the C-130 was open, this was the only
chance I had at finding Bella, and I could only trust that my guys had gotten
to the President to safety along with all those other innocents caught up in
this fuckery. I could hear movement ahead of me as I snuck inside and hid
beside a supply cage, that's when I saw them. Bella was slumped on the floor
and appeared to be fixed to a device, the big guy from Bourtzi stood over her
with a menacing look on his face, a welding torch in his hand. Looking closer I
could see that she was fixed to a supply cradle, an image flashed through my
mind, shit! It made sense to me suddenly, the nuke was being delivered
by air, he'd get to the appropriate altitude flick a switch and it would be
forced out of the rear doors with Bella attached and literally fall into the
Smithsonian, what a sick bastard.
"You can come out Mr Cullen, no need to hide in the
shadows, we're all acquainted with each other." he sneered.
I stepped out from behind the cage and moved tentatively
towards him, lifting my glock from my holster and aiming it at him.
"Ah ah ah," he said wagging a finger,
"not very smart idea that Mr Cullen, I'd hate to have to damage Miss Swan
when she's already in such a delicate position."
"Stay the fuck away from her!" I snarled.
"Drop the gun." he retorted.
"So you can kill her without interruption, I don't
think so." I growled.
"She's going to die anyway, you're all going to
die, it's for the greater good, after tonight the Volturi will be invincible,
we'll have free rein to claim new territory and the United States will be in
turmoil. I'm excited to see how a country works when it's whole leadership
structure is wiped out in one sitting. Now drop the gun."
Bella's' eyes drifted open slightly, catching sight of
me standing there.
"Don't..." she whispered, before recoiling
when a kick hit her in the stomach.
I moved forwards again, angered at his touching her, but
stopped suddenly as the welding torch moved towards her face.
"Drop. The. Gun." he said, not moving the
torch.
The gun clattered to the floor.
"Good, now move over to the cage, climb in and shut
the door behind you."
I moved without comment, knowing that it meant Bella was
untouched. He secured the door, sneering at me through the metal bars, I
ignored him, my eyes firmly fixed on Bella huddled on the floor. Sure that I
was secure he moved back over to the device, pressing buttons and secured a
cover over what appeared to be an electro-magnetic detonator. Bright red
numbers flashed on a clock and begin to count slowly down from 20 minutes. The giant turned and looked me in the eye.
"Try to keep it together, you'll join her in hell
when it goes off, she'll just get there a little quicker." he said
laughing.
"Fuck you." I spat.
He shook his head, and walked away towards the cockpit
chuckling. The rear door closed behind me as the engines rumbled to life and I
felt the movement of the plane underfoot. If this is all the time we have left,
there is no way in hell that I'd waste it standing in here. I looked around the
cage for anything I could use to break the lock, but came up wanting. Looking
up, hoping for inspiration or divine intervention I saw that it wasn't fixed to
the ceiling, and spotted a gap, it would be a tight fit, I'm not exactly the
scrawny kid I used to be. Planting my feet into the bars I climbed, it didn't
take long to reach the top, sucking in a breath I squeezed into the gap, note
to self, cut down on the pizza. Bella had hardly moved from her spot on the
floor, the red countdown flashed angrily at me, taunting me for being slow. I
dropped down quietly from the top of the cage and moved swiftly to Bella’s
side.
"Bella...are you hurt baby."
Her eyes fluttered open as I cupped her face in my
hands, she shook her head in response, before looking towards her hands, I
followed her gaze and stumbled slightly at what I could finally see. We needed
to stop this bomb, but without hurting Bella it would be impossible. It's
almost as if he knew that I would have to make an impossible decision, hurt her
or die. Okay so when I think about it like that, it's not as impossible, but
still the idea of hurting her was abhorrent to me.
"Edward! Just do it, I know it's going to hurt, but
what choice do we have, just promise me that you'll work fast." Bella
sobbed.
I cupped her jaw in my hands, swiping the tears from her
flushed cheeks, for the first time in my life truly understanding the term
'catch 22'.
"Bella...I don't want to lose you, it's breaking my
heart to even begin to hurt you."
"Do it." she sniffed.
"I love you." I said steeling myself and
gazing into her soulful brown eyes.
"I love you too, now do it."
I nodded in acquiescence, hating myself for this, yet
knowing we had no other choice, hurting Bella was the only way that we were
going to put an end to this and hopefully she'd live to see it with me. I leant
forward kissing her with everything I had, if this is the end, then I couldn't
live with myself if I didn't do this first. We broke apart at the same time her
hands still secured tightly to the side of the bomb; those sick bastards are
going to pay. The countdown indicator flashed its angry red numerals at me,
reminding me that in ten minutes time I will have either stopped the bomb, or
made the ultimate sacrifice. Either way, if Bella didn't make it out of this,
neither would I. My life was forfeit the moment I laid eyes on her that day in
the briefing.
I knelt in front of her, eyeing the offensive metal
shackles that were cuffed around Bella's wrists, following the gentle lines of
her hands as they cupped the magnetic detonator coil, on to the weld that
secured the shackles to the bomb, ensuring she'd be the first to die should it
go off. Sick bastards, it's not enough that they want to create turmoil in our
country so that they have free run to take over new territory, but they have to
put Bella in this position, so that the only way I can disarm this thing is by
hurting her. I shook my head, anger, frustration and hurt pouring out of me.
"Edward... stop thinking, do it, please just...
please." she sobbed.
Using my multi-tool, I began to unscrew the casing for
the detonator; it worked with the use of magnets, creating an electro-magnetic
field. I could hear and feel the dull buzz as the casing fell from the bomb.
Bella stood shaking, her hands fixed tightly to the detonator. The C-130 banked
suddenly and my balance shifted slightly, I stretched my leg out to stop myself
from falling and put my hands out to keep Bella steady. Sweat beads fell from
my hair, if we get out of this, if I see another plane again, it will be all too
soon.
"Awww isn't that sweet, the lovebirds spend their
last minutes together crying. How poetic." The voice sneered from the
cockpit.
"Fuck you, you sick bastard." I yelled at him.
"Oh no, no Fuck You." he sneered, moving towards
the rear of the plane, a parachute firmly attached to his back.
Anger blasted through my veins and before I even had
time to think it through, I charged him, my shoulder fixing firmly into his
stomach as I pushed him with all the force I had in me against the side of the
fuselage. His head gave a resounding 'thud' as it came into contact with the
metal struts that made up the side of a supply cage. I pounded his face with my
fists, blood flying in all directions. I had a grudge to pay this giant for
what he had done to Bella not only this time, but the first time he took her
and I was cashing in all my chips.
"You don't get to walk away this time
asshole." I screamed at him, my fist pounding into his face, "You
don't get to pull that chute, you don't get to do anymore jobs for your sick
bosses, you don't get to touch her again."
He pushed and grabbed at me as I continued to wail on
him, punches and kicks resounded around the plane, snaps and screams become the
melodious accompaniment. Until finally there was silence. I dropped him to the
sound of Bella calling me.
"Edward, stop, we don't have time..."
"I'm sorry." I said, cupping her cheek.
"Edward... I-I...”
"Bella,"
"I don't want to die attached to this thing, but I
don't see how we'll have the time. If I'm going to die, I need to know that we
tried, we tried to stop it, we tried to save those people, do it Edward, do it
now!"
"Bella..." I sobbed, tears falling freely from
my eyes.
"Do it."
"I'm sorry." I said placing my hands over hers
and slowly twisting the detonator coil counter-clockwise, I could feel the
tension as her wrists strained against the force the shackles were putting on
them as the detonator moved. The colour was slowly draining from Bella's face
as she tried to remain quiet while I turned the detonator. I wanted to speed
up, get this over as quick as possible, but I knew that I couldn't, all it
would take was one slip and the electro-magnetic field would be disrupted and
all this would be for nothing. I could see the pain clearly etched on Bella's
face, the silent tears streaking down her cheeks. "I'm so sorry baby." I said turning
the detonator once more, the tell tale sound of bones snapping as the shackles
crushed into her wrists. I felt sick to my stomach.
The detonator slipped from its secured bed and landed
with a thump on the floor, Bella's wrists, still shackled to the head of the
coil. The countdown on the bomb froze at 33 seconds. I breathed a sigh of
relief. The only sounds were our laboured breaths, the adrenalin continued to
pump through my veins. I looked over at Bella, as she slumped against the bomb,
all colour now gone from her, her arms limply lying across the floor. I could
already see her wrists swelling from the breaks that I had caused her. My
stomach lurched at the thought of it.
I moved to her side, lifting her onto my lap as I cradled
her against me. She's here, she's alive, and she’s breathing. In that moment
nothing else mattered. The red light outside the cockpit flashed suddenly and
the sound of the rear door opening shocked me back into action, I rolled us
quickly away from the now disarmed device as a clang from below alerted me to
the immediate danger, just as we hit the side of the fuselage the cradle
lurched forwards hurtling the device from the plane, I shuddered realising just
how close I'd come to losing her.
"I love you." I spoke softly into her ear.
"I love you too." she responded breathily.
"Let’s go home baby, hopefully that fucker didn't
mess with the plane."
Standing with Bella cradled in my arms, I moved through
the cabin towards the cockpit, I placed Bella in the co-pilots seat before
moving into the seat adjacent. Thank heavens for auto-pilot. I secured the
headset and switched over to manual taking the controls and banking back
towards Andrews Air force base.
"This is Master Chief Edward Cullen; I need
clearance for an emergency landing. Transponder code Papa, Alpha, Zulu, 130,
we're coming in from the east and we're coming in hot." I said while
checking the dials in front of me, the fuel light flashed angrily, accompanied
by the altitude alarm.
"This is Andrews Tower, Cullen, pick any spot you
like, we've cleared the deck, we have emergency crews on standby, your airspeed
is showing at 400 knots, altitude is currently 200 feet, try to level out and
we'll see you home safe." came the response.
"Thanks tower, we'll see you on the other
side." I replied as I struggled with the controls. I fluttered the airbrakes
with my feet, attempting to regain some control, but nothing appeared to be
responding. I managed to line us up with the approach as more alarms sounded
throughout the cockpit. The steering became tight in my hands as I attempted to
keep us lined up. That bastard had rigged the controls to fail. I looked over
at Bella, her eyes were closed and her face was serene. I leant over and
buckled her seatbelt, hoping it would be enough, before doing the same to
myself. The flight console crackled as smoke plumed from the various dials,
sparks flashed across the control dials, alarms continued to wail at me as I
struggled to keep us on some semblance of course. The ground was approaching,
too fast my subconscious said. I aimlessly fluttered the airbrakes, hoping for
a break, I chuckled darkly to myself at the futility of it. Only one thing left
to do, let the tower know.
"Andrews Tower, this is Cullen, MAYDAY, MAYDAY,
MAYDAY, we're going down, we're going down, we're going down." I called as
the ground loomed closer and closer.
"Bella, I love you." I said holding her arm
across the seat and closing my eyes and bracing for impact.
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