Redemption (The Alliance Series Book 1) by Marcus Abshire

telltale sound of a two bladed helicopter overhead. The two blades cut the air, creating the whoop-whoop-whoop sounds associated with those Vietnam movies only a lot faster.
                  That meant only two things. One, it was a UH-1 Iroquois, good for troop transport, sometimes retro fitted to carry firefighting equipment like those big buckets used to carry lake water to forest fires.
                  The second could mean it was a Bell AH-61 super cobra, the U.S. Army’s' version of flying death.
                  The way this day has been going I didn't think we were a forest fire in need of a water dump, which was right about the time the gunner opened up with the 20mm m197 Gatling gun mounted under the Cobra’s nose.
                  That’s right, a freaking Gatling gun.
                  Good thing for us they were interested in our capture. I knew this because I was still alive. There was no disintegration of the beat up ole Neon and us with it.             
    Instead, what I did see was a disintegration of the two lanes of blacktop on which Nathan and I were currently doing 68 M.P.H.
                  The Gatling gun ripped up the road about 200 feet in front of us in a spectacular display of firepower.
                  I was impressed.
                  Nathan was pissed.
                  He swore something under his breath that would be better not repeated and hit the brakes while simultaneously turning the car off the road and onto the shoulder.
                  The ride got a bit bumpy but Nathan was one of the best drivers the P.S.F.s ever trained. He somehow managed to keep the trusty Neon’s nose pointed in the general vicinity of the oncoming roadblock.
                  Thankfully, the Cobra had not destroyed the earth on either side of the shoulder or we would have quickly met up with the world’s largest speed bump.              
    As we flew past the destroyed road Nathan looked at me and smiled,              
    "See? Piece of cake."
                  "Yeah, piece of cake," I replied sarcastically.
                  "Guess they don’t want us dead, yet" I said.
                  "Give em time to get to know you." Nathan said smiling. "I’m sure they’ll come around."
                  Another thing that makes the Cobra a really good weapon for killing people, places, things and ideas are the hydra rocket pods mounted on either side of the helicopter. They can fire up to twenty rockets in a continuous burst, effective for destroying a nice strip of highway.
                  Therefore, it didn't surprise me when the Cobra opened up with them and created a crater in the road that extended onto the shoulder, cutting off our previous escape route, giving us no option but to either stop or try to jump a big hole in the ground.
                  Nathan slammed on the brakes as the Cobra flew overhead banking off to the left, disappearing behind some trees, leaving us alone on an empty stretch of highway listening to the sounds of the hot engine cooling.
                  Nathan looked in the rear view mirror and nodded saying, "Here comes the welcome wagon. How do you want to handle it?"
                  Nathan and I had worked together so long it seemed like second nature. He was an engineer wizard, which means he was good at building things and creating constructs out of magic. He was great for shielding, sound and light dampening fields, all kinds of neat stuff. I was more of a shoot first; ask questions later kind of a guy. I liked, or excelled at making a lot of noise and breaking stuff. When Nathan and I got in the thick of things, he naturally became my better self. He accented and supported my strengths by giving me enough time to blow up whatever was in our