The dark helicopter, an Army Apache, gave up pursuing and instead dipped its nose and raced ahead, able to take a straight line while the Bentley twisted and turned, and as Shade came tearing around a curve, she found herself face-to-face with the Apache hovering over the road just a dozen feet off the ground like a falcon waiting for a mouse, the blast of its rotors kicking up a whirlwind of dust and debris and bending saplings.

Shade slammed on the brakes, and the car fishtailed madly. She was about to leap from the Bentley to rush the helicopter herself, but at the last second she saw the flash of fire and smoke and yanked the car sharply left as the missile flew past, missing them by inches and exploding in the trees.

The Bentley slewed wildly, and not even Shade’s speed could control it. The car plunged off the side of the road, crashed through a guardrail, and went airborne like some steampunk flying machine, and off the side of a hundred-foot drop.

Villain, Chapter 11