It was over them a few seconds later, hovering above the cargo deck like an enormous dragonfly, its fuselage blocking the light.
‘Sound the alarm,’ the captain said to the mate.
Jane stood transfixed. The tips of the main rotor’s blades sliced the air a scant few metres from her, beyond the thick armoured glass of the bridge’s windows. She could see a pilot in dark glasses and a bulbous green flying helmet that made him look more a part of the machine than a human. A door slid open in the rear compartment on the side closest to her. Men in black rubber gasmasks with buglike clear plastic eyepieces were tossing out thick ropes and sliding down them.
She knew she should run, but something kept her riveted to the spot, trying to take in what was going on. Perhaps it was some kind of counte
