Tunnels 04, Closer

then decided he should probably go and help his father. If he'd upset him, then he needed to patch things up between them, and offering his assistance was a sure-fire way of doing this. So Will washed his face with water from one of the canteens, swung his Sten gun over his shoulder, and began for the tree trunk in order to descend from the base.
    He'd crossed the grassland and was climbing the side of the pyramid when he first heard a sound that made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. Certain he'd picked up the throb of a distant engine, he paused for a moment. He listened hard, then shook his head. If there had been anything, it seemed to have stopped now, but nevertheless he began to take even bigger leaps up the tiers, frantically trying to locate his father. As he reached halfway up the pyramid, he ran along the tier, scanning the clearing below just in case Dr. Burrows was working on their recent finds down there. Turning the corner at the end of the tier, Will finally spotted his father. He'd been on the far side of the pyramid, where he was examining the moving stones.
    Dr. Burrows appeared to have already got over his irritation with his son as he looked across at him. "Ah, there you are," he shouted, his hand on one of the stones as he pulled it out as far as it would go. "I'm seeing if--"
    "Dad! Did you hear that?" Will yelled at him, pointing urgently at the sky.
    "Just a minute," Dr. Burrows said, mistaking his son's gestures as a greeting and giving him a small wave in return. As Will reached him, Dr. Burrows had taken hold of the next stone along in the row and was adjusting its position. "I'm trying out a new appr--"
    Just then, carried on a gust of wind, the sound came again for a few seconds. This time there was no doubt in Will's mind that he'd heard it, although Dr. Burrows seemed oblivious to everything but the moving stones.
    "For God's sake, just leave those alone! Didn't you hear that?" Will pressed him.
    "Hear what?" Dr. Burrows answered, retracting his hand from the stones and cocking his head to one side.
    He didn't have to try too hard to hear it this time.
    A helicopter thundered into sight, flying so low it was scattering the rainwater from the tops of the trees. It climbed, coming to a halt directly above the pyramid. With all the force of a minor tornado, the intense downdraught from the rotors blew in Will and Dr. Burrows' faces, and churned up rain-soaked grit and dust from the pyramid. Father and son crouched low as they tried to prevent themselves from being step off the side.
    "What is it?" Dr. Burrows shouted, as he tried to creep further out on the ledge for a better look.
    "No, you idiot!" Will cried, yanking his bemused father back against the side of the pyramid in an attempt to hide them both.
    "But who's in it?" Dr. Burrows was asking.
    "Just shut up!" Will ordered him. Now they were tucked in and less obvious to anyone above. Will didn't have a line of sight on the helicopter, and in any case he didn't much care who was in it -- there was no question in his mind that it was a military aircraft. And coming on top of Dr. Burrows' previous sighting of a Stuka, its arrival on the scene was hardly likely to be good news.
    Nevertheless, Will ventured a small distance out from the wall. Blinking against the dust and the wind from the rotors, he caught a brief glimpse of the pilot wearing a helmet and dark goggles. Then, as the helicopter rotated slowly around, Will saw that the side door of the helicopter was open. A soldier manning a substantial-looking gun was poised in it.
    As he kept watching, coils of rope were flung from both sides of the helicopter and unraveled to their full length.
    The Will saw something else that made his heart skip a beat. Behind the door gunner, he spied the gaunt faces of Limiters dressed in their characteristic camouflage. Then he saw one of them aiming his rifle -- it was directed straight in Will's direction.
    "Styx! There are Styx in it!" Will babbled, throwing himself back against the wall and wrenching the Sten gun from his shoulder. He cocked it ready to fire.
    We've got to get out of here!
    Will hurriedly scanned the jungle across from them. As he was trying to calculate whether they had any hope of crossing the clearing to reach it, he thought he glimpsed Elliott. She seemed to show herself from behind one of the massive tree trunks.
    He didn't have time to look further.
    At that instant, a whole host of other helicopters appeared