Another attack vehicle. Damn!​ How many did Goldbody have anyway? An armored vehicle against a single parachuting man with a gun? Nothing promising there, at least for the man with the parachute. The vehicle matched Adam's descent so that they were eye to eye. Adam just knew that the associate inside of the vehicle was getting a bead on him and was probably, at that moment, in direct communication with Gideon Goldbody himself. 

​     Aw, screw it. Adam jammed his gun down the front of his pants, then pulled the palm-sized dart gun out of his utility belt. The setting: GRENADE. He aimed it at the window of the attack vessel. Adam even glimpsed the woman inside at the controls. They locked eyes. Then,

     BAM! 

     Adam laughed at the effect. The attack vehicle went spinning off like a bear that had suddenly taken a bee sting to the eye. Adam roared with laughter. 

​     "You're laughing," Claudia said. "Good. That must mean that you're somewhat out of trouble."

     "Not really."  

     "I know exactly where you're at, Adam. Our submarine's very close. I think we can have it underneath you by the time you hit the water." 

     "Great." Back came the attack vehicle, only this time it wasn't acting quite so cocky. It bobbed in front of Adam a second time. Adam saw that the front window now had a crack in it, along with a gaping hole right at the cockpit. Cool. A target. He aimed his dart gun at the gaping hole. Two grenade darts went right into the little hole and into the cockpit until....

      BWAMM!  

​     The whole attack vehicle came apart this time, exploding in mid-air. Adam's parachute caught fire, and a big chunk of the attack vehicle slammed into Adam to send him flying away from the explosion. Oops. No more parachute. Once again, he plummeted. 

​     And still way too high. Several thousand feet above the Earth still, certainly. and there wasn't any other guys with parachutes to grab onto, either. He was going down.

​     "Claudia, can you hear me?" he barked into his com. "I've just been through another explosion. My hearing's going out on me again."

     Gibberish from Claudia. He couldn't make it out.

     "I'm going in for a dive," he said, "and I'll be hitting the water hard."

                                          CONTINUE