but you have a mission to fulfill.”
“Sir, we could arrange for a pickup after I return the troops back. At the very least, I could bring some supplies. I plan on stopping here on my return leg.”
“That might work, Captain,” Colonel Wilson says leaning back up in his chair.
“Captain Walker, I can authorize your fuel but you’ll have to depart immediately after. I cannot overrule General Billings’ order, but General Collins might and he’ll be arriving in a couple of hours. Maybe earlier if he heard your aircraft arrive. You might want to be gone then. That will be all, Captain.”
“Yes, sir. And thank you, sir,” I say coming to attention and salute.
“Sergeant Watkins,” Wilson hollers in the direction of the door and returns my salute.
“Sir!” Watkins responds, opens the door and salutes.
“Sergeant Watkins, escort Captain Walker to his aircraft and see it’s refueled. He’ll be departing within the hour,” Colonel Wilson orders Watkins.
“Yes, sir,” Sergeant Watkins says. “Shall I notify the general, sir?”
“That won’t be necessary, Sergeant,” Wilson responds.
“Yes, sir,” Watkins says after a pause, accentuating the underlying subtleties involved with the decision and order.
Sergeant Watkins and I start out of the door to Colonel Wilson’s office when Wilson calls to us, “Captain Walker.”
I half turn back towards him, “Yes, sir.”
“Godspeed and good luck, son.”
“Thank you, sir. And to you as well.” The image of him sitting behind his desk in the rays of the morning sun is forever imprinted on my mind
Calloway and the other airman are waiting outside the door as the Sergeant and I exit. They take up their previous stations behind me. “Calloway, Foster, at ease. The Captain has been cleared,” Watkins says. I hear the distinct click of fire select levers being flipped to what I hope is to ‘safe’ as we head down the stairs and out to the vehicle.
During the drive back to the flightline, I think about my conversation with Colonel Wilson. He seems a strict yet fair man and it certainly does seem he has stuck his neck out for us. I imagine General Collins is not going to be pleased in the least when he finds out that Wilson let us go. Colonel Wilson could have kept us here to take care of his own personnel but let us go on with our ‘mission’ to save others. I believe in his mind, he could have saved his own at the expense of others, but did what he felt was the right thing to do in spite of the potential consequences with Collins.
“Colonel Wilson is a good man, sir,” Sergeant Watkins says as if reading my mind.
“He is at that, Sergeant,” I say responding from the front passenger seat this time.
We return to the flightline and I see our aircraft sitting in its original position as the morning rays of the sun strike it. Several security vehicles still surround the front in a semi-circle yet I also see a fuel truck heading along the taxiway towards it. Behind me, I hear Sergeant Watkins speaking into his mic, “Alpha, you are cleared off. Bravo, remain in place and bring the weapons to my vehicle when we arrive. And clear room for the fuel truck to get through.”
“Alpha copy. Bravo copy,” I hear the responses come through his radio.
We arrive, stopping by the open aircraft crew door, just on the heels of the fuel truck as it pulls alongside our 130 and begins to attach the fuel line. The kids are seated at the foot of the door with two security guards standing nearby facing them while several other security personnel head into several of the vehicles parked around the aircraft. Two security personnel stand at the rear of the aircraft by the open ramp. Two soldiers walk up to Sergeant Watkins as I exit out.
“Bravo, stand down and head to your vehicles,” Watkins says over his radio as we head over to where Robert, Michelle, Nic, and Bri are sitting.
“Bravo copies.”
“You two, stay with me,” I hear him say behind me.
By the time we reach the door, the security surrounding the kids have turned and left to their vehicles, along with the two from the rear of the aircraft. The kids stand as the guards leave.
“Sir, I believe these are yours,” Watkins says handing us our weapons with the sound of vehicles starting up and leaving in the background.
“Thank you, Sergeant,” I say taking them from the two MP’s at his side. I hand the .45 back to Robert and the .38 to Michelle, taking the two Berettas and the M-4. “I wish you the best of luck.”
“And to you, sir,” he says saluting.
I return his salute and the three of them turn back toward their vehicles and head down the taxiway in Alpha’s wake. The sound of the fuel truck drowns out any other noise from the flightline and base.
“I take it from the fact that the truck is giving us gas and they gave us our weapons back that everything went well,” Robert says as we head up the stairs.
“Yeah, it went fine. I’ll fill you in on the details later. Right now, we have to head out after we are refueled,” I say as we head down the aisle to the rear of the cargo compartment and close the ramp.
“By heading out, you mean we are flying out now?” Robert has to shout above the noise of the closing ramp and fuel truck just outside.
“Yes, now go get strapped in and ready to leave,” I shout back.
The ramp closes, shutting out a majority of the noise outside, and I walk up the aisle a little behind everyone else. They head up the cockpit stairs and I head outside into the early morning sun to do a walk around. A strong northerly breeze has sprung up bringing a chill to the day. With the wind whipping against my flight suit, I walk around the aircraft checking for any damage or anything out of the ordinary and continue past the fuel truck just as they are finishing and reeling their hose in. I make sure the fuel hatch is latched and secured as the truck drives away leaving just the sound of the wind in my ears and flapping against my clothes. With a final glance at the base and surrounding area, I close the crew door, head back to the cockpit.
Turning the power on, I check the batteries assuring they are still fine, and turn on the radios once the checks are complete.
“Lajes ground, Otter 39 starting engines.”
“Otter 39, ground, roger.”
We start up the engines and get ready to taxi. “Lajes ground, Otter 39 taxi.”
“Otter 39, ground, taxi to runway 15, altimeter three zero one four.”
“Otter 39, three zero one four.”
We taxi along parallel to the runway and, once we arrive at the runway, contact the tower for takeoff.
“Otter 39, Lajes tower, you are cleared for takeoff. Maintain runway heading and contact departure on xxx.xx passing three thousand.”
Pushing the throttles up, the engines respond with their deep, throaty roar and we accelerate down the runway lifting off into a blue sky dotted here and there with high, white clouds. Cleaning up the aircraft and passing through three thousand feet, we contact departure and are cleared to flight level 250 and direct. “See you on our return, Lajes,” I say in reply.
“Good luck to you, Otter 39.”
We are about 150 miles out when the radio comes alive again. “Otter 39, Lajes departure, over.”
I look at the radio suspiciously wondering whether to answer. I look over at Robert and he is looking at me out from under his helmet. He merely shrugs. I press the talk button, “Lajes departure, Otter 39, over.”
“Otter 39, you are instructed to return to Lajes.” I knew I shouldn’t have answered.
“Lajes, you are coming in broken and garbled, over,” I say responding to their ‘request.’
A pause ensues.
“Captain Walker, this is General Collins and I am ordering you to return to Lajes.”
“General, I apologize but I am unable to comply as I have standing orders to complete my mission.”
“Captain! Dammit, I am countermanding those orders and you will turn that god-damned airplane around!” Note to self, do NOT answer the radio once we are away from any air field that is still under control. I am already
