Sam Fisher- Airplane Brawl

Unlocking the door with one hand, he kept the rifle on Fisher with the other.

  This is it. Fisher tensed for the moment. Only one chance.

  As the cage door slid back on its runners, the seaplane bounced through another pocket of rough air and the rifle muzzle bobbed.

  Fisher threw himself at the gun, knocking it away with one hand, the other coming up to snatch at the metal D-ring on Sarge’s parachute harness. The ring came away with the first pull, and the chute popped open, a bloom of khaki silk unfolding from the other man’s back. It didn’t fill with air, but it was enough to put the man off his footing.

  Keeping up the momentum, Fisher put his shoulder into Sarge’s chest and the two of them went down to the deck with fists flying, the North Korean soldier struggling frantically to hold on to the rifle while the American fought to twist it out of his grip. The gun wavered back and forth, toward Fisher’s head and then away again.

  He grabbed a handful of parachute and forced it into his opponent’s face, blinding him, suffocating him, and the other man reacted with violent shock, jerking the 68’s trigger.

  The assault rifle brayed and a tongue of hot muzzle flare seared Fisher’s chest as the weapon discharged. Bullets sparked off the forward bulkhead as they marched up the metal wall, leaving another line of holes as the rounds punched through the metal and into the flight crew compartment beyond it.

  The cockpit! The thought barely had time to take shape in Fisher’s mind before the deck of the cargo compartment dropped away beneath them. The two combatants briefly went into freefall as the seaplane entered a steep dive, tumbling apart to slam into the fuselage’s support ribs.

  The rifle went clattering away and Fisher’s chute-shrouded opponent collided with the ceiling, before gravity took him back and threw the man down on to the deck. Fisher fared better, rolling off the impact and landing in a heap near the forward hatch. He looked through and saw the canopy of the cockpit, high up a ladder well, the glass spattered with crimson blood. Beyond the canopy he could see the looming blur of forested hills and mountains. They were going down fast.

- Dragonfire, Chapter 14