Page 63 of Call Sign: Thunder
“I’m so glad you called. You know me well.”
“I know you more than well. I know every inch of your body… and I can’t wait until I can inspect it again properly.”
Allie giggled. “Any idea when that might be? I know it’s only been a few weeks since I saw you on Valentine’s Day, but it feels like forever.”
“I’m working on it, baby. Hopefully, it will be soon.”
She didn’t say it, but it couldn’t be soon enough to suit her.
“Listen, I need to go. I can see they’re waiting for me. I’ll call again as soon as I can. Love you.”
He was gone before he heard her “I love you, too.”
The knock on the restroom door came seconds later.
Time to get back to work.
* * *
Zach
“Holy shit, is that a Dassault Falcon?”
Zach had read about the newest luxury jet popular with the rich and famous, but he’d never actually seen one before.
“We just got her about three months ago. I honestly think it was a waste of money, but who am I to turn down a fifty-million dollar gift?”
“More like sixty,” Zach corrected. “Well, I guess that depends on the interior configuration.”
They’d just arrived at the private airfield not far from Andrews Air Force Base. Like The Bunker, this location wasn’t on his phone’s GPS map.
After spending time at The Bunker being debriefed by Bing and his tech team, Zach had more questions now than he’d had when he’d stepped off the elevator almost two hours ago. But one thing was crystal clear — this group of mercenaries was well funded. The dilapidated Zebra Printing cover building aside, every piece of equipment he’d seen — from the office supplies to the business jet — has been brand new and top notch. There was no chipping paint like in the Marine barracks. No duct-taped desks or wired-shut jeep hoods like he encountered back on base.
He was just getting nervous about having to fly a brand new plane when a man dressed in a pilot’s suit appeared at the top of the steps.
“Hey, Crash. You get a nap in while I was gone?” Ryder asked as he climbed the stairs ahead of Zach.
He did his best to hide his smile at learning the pilot’s call sign, hoping it wasn’t a premonition.
“Yeah. I laid down at least. Not sure how much sleep I got,” the pilot chuckled as he stepped back inside so they could board.
The interior was unlike any plane Zach had been on, and that was saying something. He was so busy taking in the opulent seating, high-tech gadgets, and distant sleeping quarters, he almost missed the men’s conversation.
“…change the sheets. It’s bad enough I have to sleep in a fucking wet spot at home, but I’ll be damned if I do that on the Condor too.”
The pilot laughed at Ryder’s innuendo. “Don’t worry. Angel is back there changing the sheets now. We restocked the galley, too, so we have your favorite IPA again.”
“I’ll have to skip the booze this trip. Looks like I’m going out with Wrath tonight,” Ryder informed him as he threw the briefcase carrying their mission details on top of the conference table.
“Lucky you. I know you’d rather be in the field than getting stuck in the office.”
“No shit about that.”
“So who’s the new guy?” The pilot asked, thumbing in Zach’s direction.
Ryder hesitated and Zach was just about to introduce himself when The King finally answered.
“He’s on a trial run so we haven’t assigned him a name yet. Let’s just call him Newb for this trip, but you’d better watch out. He’s a pilot. He might prefer flying the cushy aircraft you pilot to the helo’s I’m planning to test him on this trip.”
