Page 45 of Confessions of an Apache Pilot

Brady came over the radio. “We have squirters coming out of the west end of your building, armed and moving toward the MED Unit. They’re getting Danger-Close.”

Danger-Close. That was the term we used when the enemy was close enough to a friendly that if we shot him, we risked the munitions hitting the friendlies, too.

“Son of a bitch,” I cursed to myself as I whipped the aircraft around. “Artie do you have them?”

“I do.”

“Brady, I’m on it. You mop up anything that runs off.” I switched frequencies to speak directly to Ty and his crew. “Jaguar they’re moving into Danger-Close range. Get. Down!” I looked where Artie had his sensors pointed. They were lining up behind a wall to get their shot. I kept flying in until I was nearly on top of them and then pushed the nose over.

The steeper you dove the aircraft the more accurate the munitions became, and the tighter the explosion. In other words, the steeper the dive, the less danger to the friendlies. We dove in at a sixty-degree dive. Our dive limit, any steeper and we wouldn’t be able to pull out of it in time to avoid the ground.

“You hit them with the cannon, I’ll hit them with rockets. Hold. Hold.” I cautioned Artie. We were closing in, one-thousand feet, nine-hundred feet. We were so close I could see the insurgents turning their attention to us. Eight-hundred feet. They were pointing their weapons away from the MED Unit and aiming at us. Seven-hundred feet, six-hundred feet. Artie hadn’t said a word, he trusted my judgment fully, despite the dangerous position I was putting us in. “Now!”

Artie opened up with the gun. We were so close that the rounds could have passed through the same hole. The shooters literally vanished in the explosion of thirty-millimeter rounds. I fired off several rockets, just to make sure there were no survivors. Cranking back on the controls, I pulled all the power we had, stopping our dive and leveling us off. My jaw was tight as we screamed across the rooftops, our wheels bumping off the tiles. We almost hadn’t gained enough altitude to avoid slamming into the buildings themselves. I fired off a few flares for good measure. The flares would land on the roofs and start a fire. Banking hard, I started climbing up, out of range of the weapons’ fire.

“Dustoff, do you have him yet?” It was all I could do not to scream at her. They needed to go.

“We have him secured. We’re on the move.” They picked up and headed off. I kept watch as they moved out. A fire had started where I dropped the flares, burning its way through the wrecked buildings. No one else came out and tried anything. Our risky maneuver made them realize what lengths we’d go to in order to protect our own. After a few more orbits Ty came back on the radio.

“Archer flight, Jag eight, why do so many villages get burned to the ground when you’re around?”

Brady answered him “Just a special bonus when working with Archer flight. Free of charge.”

Laughter answered him over the radio. Hastings wasn’t out of the woods by any means, but we were all grateful that he was heading back to the base where he could get help. We owed the fact that he wasn’t bleeding out into the sand to Jen and her team.

Relaxing back into my seat, I blew out a breath, trying to calm my raging system. I was glad for the break, short as it was. Brady and Ty’s banter helped bring everyone down a notch. My heart was still racing. The blood pounded through my head, making it hard to focus on the radio or mission. Nothing was going to work on calming me, not until I saw Jen and ensured myself that she was alright. Once this flight was over, I was going to find her.

CHAPTER 25

Jen

Iwas waiting at my aircraft long after the rest of the crew had headed in. We’d done our part. I’d checked in a few times on the man we’d brought in, but no one had been able to give me an update, just that he was in surgery. Sheppard and his team were still out there. It was going on twelve hours now. That was practically unheard of; you weren’t supposed to fly that long, ever. I decided to wait for them to land. I saw the team flying into the refuel point. They would refuel and move to parking before packing it in for the night.

He was going to be exhausted. I doubted he’d be in a mood to talk about what’d happened. Still, I couldn’t just go to my room and wait. I had to clear the air. I knew what he was going to say, and he wasn’t wrong. I didn’t anticipate the Beards having a hard time hooking their man up to the hoist. Normally, we would land and take him in, or have Sarah jump out to hook the hoist up.

My plan had been for them to hook him up, then fly off to a safe place and bring him inside the helicopter. Only, I hadn’t trained that with the Beards. They were unfamiliar with our equipment, and it had been dark. It wasn’t their fault. It was mine and mine alone. I would fix that tomorrow by having them practice on our equipment, in case something like this happened again. Hopefully it wouldn’t, but it was best to be prepared. But that was tomorrow. Tonight, I had to apologize to Mark.

I took for granted that Mark was up there watching over us. It hadn’t been fair, and watching him pull a risky maneuver in order to help us had almost made me throw up. I might have if I’d had the luxury of time.

My heart was already pounding. I kept wiping my hands against my pants to dry them. My palms wouldn’t stop sweating. Nerves raced through my body and it was slightly irritating, like I was about to be dressed down by a drill sergeant. It didn’t matter, I couldn’t relieve the tension coursing through me.

They were repositioning now. I looked at my watch. It was after three a.m. I should have just gone to bed.

As if that’s possible.

Licking my lips, I heard the whine as the engines were powered off. I watched him climb out and talk to his crew chiefs for a minute as they helped him with his gear.

Maybe he won’t see me over here?

I knew I had an ass chewing coming. I didn’t want to hear it. But I deserved it and I always took the berating when I deserved it.

It’s just that things were good before tonight. We’d been working so well together and then I screwed it up. Why did I care so much? I looked back at his aircraft. He was still there, and he was looking this way.

It’s dark enough that he probably won’t see me. He’ll just gather his things and… And put them back down to walk over here. Shit. He sees me. And if the way he’s walking is any indication, he’s pissed.

Through the dark, I felt his eyes lock onto me. He was walking, no, stalking toward me. I jumped in place as he dropped his flight vest as he moved, then jumped again at the thud of his armor hitting the ground. He was walking a little faster now and I looked around, wondering if I should head to the barracks. Now that he was coming toward me, I wasn’t sure I wanted to hear how badly I’d fucked up. Thinking of running was cowardly, but the urge was strong within me.

He looked like a wolf moving in for the kill. I wanted to run, oh how I wanted to turn and put as much distance as I could between me and his predatory stalking. There was no point in it, though. If I did, he would chase me. I knew he would. He had his prey cornered and all I could do was take the tongue lashing with dignity.

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