Read Blackjack Dead or Alive (The Blackjack Series Book 3) for Free Online

it was hard to estimate without an altimeter.
    I struggled to stabilize our fall as the blue waters raced to meet us. I was the guy with the chute, so in theory, I had to face the ground, my hands and legs spread wide with the guard holding on to me, but I was afraid to lose my hold on the guy. I was his only lifeline.
    We rotated several times, starting to lose control. He tried opening his arms, but he was neither big enough, nor strong enough to halt our turning. In one of our spins, I saw a series of three small explosions above us. These were too far from the original split of the plane to be secondary explosions, and the tail section was only a few hundred feet from us, falling a bit slower than we were.
    Tearing out of the nearest of the explosions was Blackjack 2.0 on his skybike, diving as he nocked an arrow and readied to take us out. He was thorough, this guy, trailing the falling wreckage to ensure nobody survived. I don’t know if he recognized me, or if I was another target to be executed as it left the plane.
    My guard saw it as well, drawing his pistol and trying to aim a shot, but we were totally out of control. Blackjack 2.0 was angled above us, so I rotated us in midair, my chest towards the ground, the guard beneath me and facing our enemy. I spread my arms and legs wide to steady us, and given a stable platform, he opened fire.
    The guy was a marksman, hitting the bike with his first volley of shots, despite falling with his back to the ground, the speed of our descent, and the distance between us. I had my head rocked back, watching this all unfold, as the guard continued firing, emptying the entire energy pack. The metal frame of the bike erupted with each shot, until the fuel reservoir caught a shot and the whole thing exploded.
    But not before Blackjack fired a special tipped arrow.
    I tried to use my arms to maneuver out of the way, my eyes wide in fear as the missile arched toward us. My thoughts were filled with wonder, at the strength he must’ve had to power an arrow through these currents with the velocity to reach us. The arrow was wide, but it was never meant to hit us. I wrapped the guard up as the arrow closed within a foot of us, and just before it exploded, I recognized the incendiary tipped arrowhead as my own design. Gouts of flame engulfed us, tearing into my clothing and into the guard’s armor, and while we fell through it, flaring laces of the propellant clung to us.
    We were on fire and the guard had caught the worst of it by virtue of being beneath me. I patted at his burning armor, but the flames did their damage, his screams audible despite the howling wind. I looked back to see if my new namesake was following us, whether he had salvaged his bike, or if he had rocket boots, but he was nowhere in sight.
    I looked down and saw the ocean was an expansive, churning slab. I had to deploy the chute and hope it hadn’t burned too badly. The guard seized in my grasp, his body twitching from the pain of the burns, the smell of burnt meat was faint in my nose despite the rushing winds clawing at every breath. He jerked again, violently enough that he almost shook my grip, tensed once more and was still.
    I reached for my shoulder strap, keeping the dead guard held tight with my left hand, and pulled the chute. Nothing happened at first, and I realized that it must’ve burned up. Yet I felt the bulk on my back, something had to be there. If the flames had burned through the backpack that contained the chute, then some of it would have trailed out, burned as well, but the pack felt the same. I dug over my shoulder, ripping at the polyester top cover, feeling some charring of the fabric under my fingers. Once I had ripped enough of the pack open, its contents deployed, spilling out into an open parachute.
    The gut-churning pull as the chute caught air was a relief, despite a sudden jerk that felt like my head was travelling through my hips. The guard’s body almost flew out of my grasp,