That helo took off like it had afterburners, shooting up out of the trees that surrounded the LZ like sheer speed would compensate for any inadvertent contact with a tree branch. I damned near lost my lunch, what little of it I had left. Thirty minutes over the countryside, gazing down at it, I saw a swath of blackened land, evidence of some fire that had raged out of control. The one the admiral had told me about? I glanced over at him, and saw him nodding confirmation. 'It was headed west,' the admiral said. He pointed out the cave where they'd taken shelter to survive it.
There wasn't much more to say. The admiral had asked me a couple of times about my experiences in the dirt cave where we'd been held, and I found myself markedly disinterested in talking about it. Every time I started to say something, the cloying, dank feeling came back to me. The suffocation, air compressed around us, watching Gator curled in a small pool of water on the deck… maybe someday I'd be able to talk about it ? but not now.
I finally started breathing easy once we were over the beautiful blue waters off the coast of Vietnam. I stared out at the horizon searching for the one sure thing that constituted safety in my little world ? my aircraft carrier.
And there she was finally, stately and serene on the horizon. At first, all I could see was the antennas, that giant air-search-radar mast bristling with electronics. Then as we approached, the rest of her came into view. And finally, gloriously, that beautiful, sacred flight deck that I'd faced so many times myself. After seeing the admiral's face in the jungle, this ranked high on my list of things I'd never forget.
The deck was green, and we were waved in for a quick landing. The pilot took us in hard, slowing at the last moment to feather us back into a gentle landing. Corpsmen were crowding into the helicopter even before the rotors stopped turning, and they immediately took possession of Gator. This time, I gave him up. They could do more for him than I could.
Tombstone turned to me, an exhausted look on his face. Dark circles ringed his eyes, and the lines in his face were deeply etched. He smelled too, though I wasn't about to point that out to him. No doubt my own personal body odor was just as disgusting.
Again, the admiral seemed to be reading my thoughts. He smiled slightly, then said, 'You look like shit.'
'With all due respect, Admiral, so do you.' I tried to muster an answering smile, and found to my surprise that sheer relief let me do it.
He stood, stretching slowly, waving off the corpsmen that were swarming around both of us. 'I'm okay,' he said. He looked over at me. 'How about you?'
'I'm fine,' I said, following his lead. The urge to appear just too, too casual for my own good was upon me now. It's something we all do when we've pulled off some incredible hair-raising feat that never should have worked. We cool it, pretend like it was in the bag all the time. 'What now, Admiral?' I asked.
He fought off another medic, then shrugged. 'We're going to go see Admiral Wayne ? both of us,' he said as he caught my startled look. 'You got a problem with that?'
'Uh, no, sir,' I said, hesitating for a moment. I remembered the last time I'd seen Admiral Wayne ? God, had it even been this decade? I'd been pissed about the flight schedule, stormed into his office, and demanded to get on it.
Admiral Wayne should have shot me at that point, Hell, I would have shot me.
The prospect of seeing him again made my stomach flutter. But after the last week, I could handle a few nerves.
'Let's get going then,' the admiral said. 'Before these guys and girls decide to nail us with some morphine and kidnap us down to Medical.'
'Uh, Admiral?' I asked. 'Shouldn't we get cleaned up first? I don't know about you, but I'm pretty dirty.' A massive understatement if there ever was one. I was caked in dirt from scalp to toes, even inside my tattered flight suit. Even worse, I felt like things were crawling on me. Tombstone laughed. 'Batman's not going to mind,' he said. 'And the sooner I tell him what's going on, the sooner we can take care of the problem. C'mon ? besides, it'll be good for him. Getting exposed to what a real fighter pilot looks like for a change.'
12
The biggest messages sometimes come in curt, oddly accented voices barely audible through the crackle of static. This was one of those. Not only was Tombstone on his way back to the carrier, but he had a 'friend' he wanted to bring along.
Tombstone, Bird Dog, a stranger and Gator emerged from the helicopter, Gator on a stretcher. Until I'd actually seen them on my flight deck, I'd hardly dared to believe it was true. Tombstone I hadn't been certain about, but I'd been worried about his safety. And Bird Dog and Gator, as much as I hated to admit it, I'd virtually given up for lost. It was like seeing ghosts walk back across the flight deck. The gongs confirmed it, four of them, followed by the words 'Admiral United States Navy.' That shook me out of the silent fascination with the camera and brought me to my feet. I waited standing in the middle of my office, barely able to contain myself. I'd wanted to be up on the flight deck, just to see for myself. But with threat indications all over the board, I needed to be here, right next to TFCC.
Tombstone would understand ? in my place, he would have done the same thing.
There was no knock, no warning. The door to my office burst open, and I faced two of the dirtiest, filthiest, smilingest aviators I have ever seen in my life.
Tombstone crossed the room in three quick strides and buried me in a bear hug so hard I thought he'd crack ribs. Good thing I was in my old khakis ? mud and dirt cascaded down off of him, smearing everything that he touched.
Not that I cared. Hell, I would have let him hug me naked if he'd wanted to at that point.
'You made it back,' I finally said as Tombstone pulled back. There was a wholly joyous expression on his face, one of sheer pleasure in being alive.
'Did you let Tomboy know?' he asked immediately. He glanced around the room. 'I thought she'd be here.'
'She would have, if she'd known you were coming back in like this,' I said. 'She's flying CAP right now, on a double-cycle mission. Should be back on deck as soon as we get that piece-of-shit helicopter you flew in on out of the way.'
Then the stranger came into my office, and now I recognized him. He was Yuri Kursk, and it rankled having him on my ship. Things had a tendency to explode when he was around. I'd never been able to prove it, but I was convinced he was a player in too many dirty tricks on our last cruise. From the look on Kursk's face, Tombstone had already done a good job of convincing him what shallow ice he was on on board my ship.
'But she knows?' Tombstone asked again. 'You told her I'm okay, right?'
'Yeah, we told her. She knows. She said to tell you after she hits the tanker, she'll buster back.'
Tombstone nodded, relief flooding his face. 'It's just as well. Batman, I've got to talk to you.' He gestured at Bird Dog, who was maintaining a politely nonchalant expression, pretending he hadn't watched two admirals pound each other on the back like old fools. 'He needs to be here too,' Tombstone continued. 'Both of us have got things you have to know, but I'll go first.'
'Just a second,' I said. I was used to Tombstone bossing me around, but damn it, this was my ship. And my pilot who'd just come back from the dead.
I crossed over to Bird Dog and stood nose-to-nose with him for a moment, trying to scowl at him. 'The next time you want me to put you on the flight schedule, I'm gonna say no,' I said finally. 'Damn fool ? getting yourself shot down.'
There was a startled expression on Bird Dog's face for a moment, replaced slowly by a grin. 'I guess next time I won't come banging on your door, Admiral.'
I threw my arms around him, and gave him the same hard, quick hug that Tombstone had given me. Hell, I was already filthy, and I was so damn glad to see this young idiot back on my boat that it seemed the only right
