21
Mickey and Tim screamed together.
“No. No. No.” Tim kept repeating it like a mantra. “They did not just do what I think they just did. No. No. No.”
Mickey hovered in place another three seconds before he acted.
He yanked up on the collective to gain another hundred feet and slammed the cyclic forward and to the left.
The smoke was blackout conditions at this altitude. All he could see was the red-orange heat below and the gray-black ash everywhere else.
But on the radar, he saw Firehawk Oh-One moving fast and low. At its upper speed, it was steadily pulling away from him. He retrimmed his flight, riding hard against the edge of his never-exceed speed and still lost ground.
The heat hammered at them. Tim kicked the air-conditioning on high, but still it felt as if the fire was rig
