Page 58 of True Valor
Will was short compared to the others.Hisdark-blond hair was wavy and he wasn’t spectacular.Finally, a PJthat was only mildly attractive.Well, that is until he looked overat her and smiled.He had a beautiful, sincere smile that lit hislight-blue eyes with merriment.
“Hi, Julie.”He stepped forward and shook herhand.“Will Pitkin.”
“Clancy,” Cruz corrected as he returned inflight suit, taggedHollywood, and also dumped gear in apile.They were sorting and packing as they talked, with remarkablespeed.
“Nice to meet you, Will.”
“So what’s the deal?”Nic asked.
Gabe answered.“Cessna Stationair down,slammed into Cloud’s Rest just before dawn.SAR found ‘em an hourago.They’ve got one team above and one below.The plane’s perchedon a ledge.Daniel’s on the team just above them.He reports atleast one alive.We’ll go in and triage and see if we can lift outthe survivors.”
Julie, now seemingly forgotten, found anearby seat where she wouldn’t feel in the way.
“And the plane?Is it secure?”As he spoke,Nic reached for some piece of equipment that Julie’d never seen,and checked the power.
“Are they ever?”Cruz laughed.“It’ll besporty.”
“Make sure you take enough rope to tie itoff.”
“Yes, Mother.”
Nic muttered something under his breath as hewent down the hall, returning shortly with radio equipmentoverflowing from his hands.Each member of the team that was goingup was finished stowing their gear and now stood, putting on aradio chest pack.
Nic handed them each a radio, connected to anearbud.Only Will waved off the radio Nic offered, saying hepreferred the older set with the boom mic, if it was okay.
“Okay with me,” Nic shrugged.
The others each put their radio in thechest-pack pocket, clipped the VOX box on and put their earbuds in.At Nic’s word, they each tested their radio, giving a thumbsup.
A nearby office door opened, and the manshe’d met this morning at the house came toward them.Yoda.Julietried to recall his real name but could only come up with David.He’d been very serious when they met, but now, he was even more so.The others she met were so ready with a smile.Their squad leaderwas not.
“Gabriel, you’re lead.The colonel’s ready,pre-flight’s done.You can take off any time.”
Obviously, though, that was not the case.David motioned them to the table near Julie and spread out a topomap.Then, he began speaking “rescue” language interspersed withEnglish and tapping on the map in different spots.At last, hestraightened, folded the map, and walked back to his office.Beforeclosing the door, he turned.“Make good decisions.”
Nic and Julie walked out with the threesome,who threw their packs in a Jeep nearby and climbed in.Nic againgrew quiet.Julie thought it was more than him not going.Maybe hewas afraid he’d lose another team member by not being there tohelp.When his face visibly paled as Cruz cranked the Jeep to life,Julie knew she was right.Almost as a blessing, Nic patted thefront of the Jeep and stepped back.
When the Jeep was out of sight, he turned toher.Concern still showed in his eyes, but now he smiled.Still,when she reached for his hand, it was cool and clammy.
“Where to now?”she asked, squeezing hishand.
“Well, we can hear as much or more if we gohang out at the SAR building.”
Chapter Twenty One
Twenty minutes later they pulled into theparking lot of the nondescript building that housed Search andRescue.If a person missed the small sign and arrow pointing theway from the main drag, they likely wouldn’t find it.Nic hadfilled Julie in on the way.
Most of the rescues in Yosemite wereIC’d—commanded—by Daniel Fraser, the ranking forest ranger for thepark.He must have needed the exercise because he’d actually goneon this one.Daniel worked with the PJs often enough that, onoccasion, they even drank together.
“He’s way too serious.A shot or two oftequila does the guy good from time to time.”
Daniel—not ever to be called Dan andGod-forbid if you called him Danny—led the team that perched a fewledges above the crash site.Nic explained that though he and Juliecould have listened in on the mission from the Air Force commcenter on base, they’d miss the finer points because the guys incomm wouldn’t be monitoring the SAR frequency.Here, they’d monitorboth the SAR frequency and the helicopter.Besides, they had betterfood here.
Nic led Julie around back, not bothering withthe front door.The room they entered was huge, but taken up mostlywith a conference table the size of Texas.White boards, with clipsat the top for maps, covered the walls.In the corner, anothertable held the equally large coffee pot and an open donut box.
A man and a woman stood at the conferencetable poring over maps.They didn’t look up when Nic and Julieentered.When Nic helped himself to a donut and offered one toJulie, they finally acknowledged their presence.
“Nic!”The man shot out his hand to shakeNic’s.“How the hell are you?I didn’t know you were back.God,man, so sorry about Joey, you know.”
