Page 22 of Bullets and Dandelions

A Super Stallion helicopter joined the fight and launched a missile at us. I did another loop de loop and the missile hit the Cobra.Kaboom!It broke apart and pieces of flaming debris rained down on the desert.

Johnson turned the M60 machine gun on the Super Stallion and shredded its tail rotor. Trailing black smoke, it spun wildly and slammed into the ground. A large fireball rose high into the air.

Two F-16 jets did a fly by and one of the pilots announced, “Area is clear of bogies.”

“No shit,” Tex groused.

Laughing like a crazy person, I shouted, “Whooeee! That was fun.”

“You’re fucking nuts,” Sergeant Stone grumbled.

“Hey, it’s a good day when you can walk away from a firefight in one piece.”

Rodriquez hooted. “She’s right.”

“Why did your flight instructor teach you air combat maneuvers?” Johnson seemed intrigued.

“The movie studio Chuck worked for needed more pilots for their Vietnam war movies. It was fun and the pay was awesome.”

Sergeant Stone checked his satellite phone. “What did your father think about you working for a movie studio?”

“He doesn’t know.”

“You sure about that?” Stone countered.

“No.”

Tex let out a low whistle. “Bet he’ll be pissed when he finds out you were responsible for shooting down two of his helicopters.”

“I didn’t shoot anyone down, you did, and those choppers belong to the CIA.”

“Sonovabitch,” Rodriquez spat.

Sergeant Stone typed rapidly on his phone’s keypad. “How do you know those helicopters belonged to the CIA?”

“There is a list of aircraft Roberts has commandeered on the microdot,” I replied.

“That was some damn fine flying, Reaper One,” a F-16 pilot said in my ear.

I keyed my mic, “Reaper One isn’t flying this bird, but Whiskey Tango Foxtrot is.”

Rodiquez burst out laughing. “WTF is a perfect call sign for you.”

“I gave you a direct order, Reynolds. You were to maintain radio silence. Now everyone knows where you are,” Sergeant Stone growled.

Yikes, he had a point. The lack of sleep was making me a bit loopy. “It won’t happen again, sir.”

“When I give you an order, I expect you to obey it without hesitation.”

“Yes, sir.” God, what crawled up his butt and died.

“What other talents do you possess?”

I frowned. “Talents, sir?”

“Combat skills.”

“Uh, well, I’ve had some demolition training, and I can parachute.”

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