Chapter 34

CHAPTER 34

Jen

I couldn't believe how fast they moved. I thought for sure that it would take some convincing. The fact that he didn't even argue with Nick shocked me. In fact, that was the longest conversation that they'd ever had. He agreed to help. Just like that. No more questions, no arguing, no insults. Sarah was in need of help, and so they helped.

I wasn't sure why it was still so shocking to me. That was Mark. I was beginning to understand that. Personal grudges did not get in the way of helping others.

We made our way back to the Ops Center. Nick pulled the weather map up again, and put it on a screen next to the Blue Force Tracking map, the map used to track all friendly forces. Ross must have figured we were just trying to find a way through. We didn't tell him about our conversation with Mark. This was his silent way of showing us that there was no possible way to make it through this weather.

It wasn't much later before Mark and his team were in the air and headed south. We watched their Blue Force Tracking Icons on the map. When they turned towards the Bamiyan pass, Ross looked over to the radios and yelled to Vasquez, "Tell them the pass is closed and that they need to turn around."

Nick narrowed his eyes and looked at me. He gave a subtle smile before turning back to watch Ross. Despite the grudge, he had every bit of confidence in Mark.

"Archer zero-nine, Phoenix Ops Center."

"Phoenix Ops Center, go ahead."

"Archer zero-nine, be advised, the Bamiyan pass is closed. Clouds are at the surface."

I stared at the radio waiting on his response. I realized I was holding my breath. I slowly exhaled, trying to keep my heart from beating out of my chest.

"Phoenix Ops Center, the pass is open. We're heading south."

I forced out another slow breath in anticipation. Ross didn't even look up from his desk. He just shook his head and told Vasquez, "Nope, it's closed."

Vasquez keyed the mic again. "Archer zero-nine, Phoenix Ops Center, that's a negative. The pass is closed due to weather."

I let out a disappointed sigh. Nick tensed up even further, but he hadn't given up. He gave me a ‘wait for it' look. The silence dragged on for far too long. Then Mark came back on. His tone had changed.

"Phoenix Ops Center. Archer zero-nine. Put the Battle Captain on." He was speaking with exaggerated pauses. Deliberate, with repressed rage that all but sparked over the airwaves.

Ross rolled his eyes and walked over to the radio. He grabbed the mic and keyed it. "Go ahead, Archer zero-nine, this is the Battle Captain," he said in a tired tone. He already knew he was in for a fight.

"Phoenix Battle Captain, let me be very clear. I am looking down the Bamiyan pass. I'm looking clear through to the other side. The reason I'm able to do this is because the clouds are up at two-thousand- Goddamned- feet!"

Ross actually dropped the radio mic and stepped back, blinking due to the last words being shouted so loudly. Sheppard's fury was palpable. Ross rallied quickly, his face clouding over in anger.

"Archer Flight, the weather radar is clear, the clouds are at the surface."

"I wish I could suck at my job, then maybe I could spend more time sucking up oxygen with the other mouth breathers." That was Brady's voice. "Oops, did I say that on the Ops Center frequency? My bad."

"I hate these fucking guys. I fucking hate every last one of them." Ross was rubbing his head in frustration. Despite the heavy emotion that was dragging through us, I had to suppress a smile. Nick had said, ‘be you'. This is what he'd meant. They were going to bully the situation into going their way.

They continued ‘accidentally' transmitting on the wrong frequency.

"Can you imagine being so useless that you can't tell the difference between the computer monitor and actually seeing for yourself?" That was Laura.

"I heard that that asshole's only responsibility is to sit in the corner and hold a fucking balloon," Artie said.

"I never saw a balloon in the Ops Center," Brady replied.

"That's my fucking point! He had one job, and he lost it. Now he stares at the wall, arguing with real pilots about what they can, or can't, see. What a fucking loser," Artie said. Enough mics were keyed at this point that we could hear the others snickering.

Ross was shaking with rage now. His face was turning an alarming shade of red. Nick was also repressing a smile. I wasn't sure if it was because it was working, or if because for once the abuse was aimed at someone else.

I looked up at the Blue Force Tracking map. "Look, they're flying through the pass. It must be clear." My heart started pounding so loud that I could feel my ears throbbing. Apaches weren't rated for instrument flight; they weren't allowed to fly into clouds. He actually went into the clouds just to trick Ross. This was getting serious. My heart was in my throat. Fear that he and the others might get hurt was roiling through me. I didn't want them to be injured in the pursuit of helping Sarah.

Was this how he felt every time I pulled a risky stunt? How far was he willing to take this?

"Yeah, fine. Whatever," Ross mumbled. He waived his arm dismissively at the door. "Go. Launch. Take your guy, sorry, gal to Bagram. I'll tell the Colonel that the weather cleared."

We wasted no time. Hurrying out the door, we grabbed Sarah and went to the aircraft. Within ten minutes of having left the TOC we were fired up and were on our way to Bagram.

When we approached the pass, my heart started pounding in my chest again. Even through the Night Vision Goggles, it was clear to see that the clouds were a solid wall. It was a scarier sight than you would see during the day. The goggles didn't allow you to see three-dimensional contrast. So instead of the normal fluffy clouds you could see with the naked eye, you saw a blank area in front of you. Like someone took an eraser to the horizon. There was however a small gap underneath where visibility was clear.

We dropped down to the deck, about fifty feet off the ground, and started to follow the river that fed into the pass. We slowed down, going about one-third of our normal airspeed so that we could keep up with the twists and turns. Out flying your ability to see was a dangerous stunt and not one we were willing to pull right now. Despite our urgency, we had to get there alive.

We briefly considered going up and over the clouds and mountains. We were rated for instrument flight, and anywhere else in the world we could have done it. But out here the mountains were so high that we would never make it over them. It was just too risky. Instead, we opted for our original plan, a low level path.

We hugged the river and made our way through. I kept checking the Blue Force Tracker map. I could see Sheppard's icon blinking in and out. The signal was inconsistent this low to the ground with such high mountains surrounding us, but it would update sporadically, and I could see he was still around. I made a call to him on our air-to-air radio frequency.

"Archer Zero-Nine, Dustoff." There was no response. I turned to Nick with a questioning look.

"We'll try again in a few minutes, after we climb higher," he said. "The mountains are likely interfering with the signal."

We continued under the cloud level. We had a few close calls, where the clouds reached all the way to the river, and we were nearly forced to turn around. But luck was on our side—mostly. There were homes scattered all along the riverbank. We were able to use their lights to guide us down the river when we lost sight of it. We only had to do that a few times. Unfortunately, there was no way that we didn't wake up the entire valley flying right over their heads at fifty feet.

Eventually, we reached the end of the clouds and had clear skies through the valley. Nick and I both let out huge sighs of relief. I took the controls and took over flying. Flying that low and in the clouds was tiring, Nick needed a break. I was about to start a climb, to get back high enough that we would be safe when a flare went off.

It shot up from the left side of the river and went several hundred feet in the air. Worse, it was higher than we were. They were illuminating us. We must have woken someone on the river, someone who called ahead. We were flying through an ambush. There was no time for any feelings of nervousness or unease, all I could do was react. It was that, or die.

As soon as the flare went over us machine gun fire erupted from both sides. A stream of tracers raced up towards us from the right like a red snake. I banked hard to the left only to have another stream of fire rise up on that side.

They had us. If I yanked hard on the controls to climb, I would slow down and be easy to hit before we got altitude. I couldn't go left, right or forward. They had set up a perfect triangle.

I decided to try my luck banking left and right aggressively while slowly climbing. By climbing slowly, I could accelerate, and by weaving back and forth erratically I might be harder to hit. If I moved in three dimensions it would be harder to aim at us, even with the flare overhead. It was the only chance we had of making it out of this in one piece.

I banked back hard to the right and watched the tracers arc like a whip, trying to keep up with my erratic movements. Then everything went bright as day.

All I could do was watch in confusion and continue my course as the left side of the river erupted in explosions and lit up the valley. Two, then three… five. Then the right side lit up.

The silence that followed was deafening. My eyes adjusted from the sudden flashes back to darkness. All I could hear was my own heartbeat, and it might as well have been a hammer banging in my head.

"What… what just happened?" I asked. Nick muttered something incoherent.

While my mind was lost, my body was at least still in the fight. I had climbed up over one-thousand-feet and was still climbing and accelerating. That's when my peripheral caught it. Him . Mark was flying beside us. He must have been waiting for us where the clouds cleared up. When we had lost him on the tracker, he had flown all the way through and waited to escort us the rest of the way. He was committed to making sure Sarah got home. Committed to making sure we were safe.

I turned and looked out the window at his aircraft. My whole body got warm and began tingling. I couldn't help but smile because of the tornado of feelings that was swirling inside of me. I couldn't make sense of them all right now. Somehow, I felt like, I hoped, he was smiling back at me.

He had done it again. He'd saved my life. How many times now? Two? Three? I let out a much-needed breath.

Had I even been breathing?

I laughed out of sheer relief. "Thanks for the assist," I said on the radio.

It was a big enough risk for him to have flown into the pass before we launched. How much trouble he would be in for the ‘accidental' radio calls. Just getting us clearance to take off could land him in a lot of trouble. But to go all the way through the clouds, clouds that are illegal for him to fly in, and then get into a firefight. He was going to have to explain a lot. He knew that the moment we had asked for help. Somehow, I didn't think he was all that concerned.

Every time I'd needed him, he'd come through. Every time , I realized. He'd shown me through actions that he would be there for me when I needed him. Words were shallow and easy to manipulate. Putting his ass on the line for me was all the proof I needed. Just the thought of that had me blushing from head to toe. Thankfully, it was dark in the cockpit and no one would see it.

I looked over my shoulder into the back of the aircraft. Karolyn and Sarah were still strapped into their stations, their faces were pale, eyes wide, but now that we were up at altitude and things had quieted down we were all beginning to calm. "Everyone alright?" I asked. I got two sets of nervous hands giving me a thumbs up. I looked next to me; Nick's face was devoid of emotion. I couldn't tell if he was scared or relieved. I doubted he'd ever admit to it, but I'd guess he was as happy as I was to have Mark here. Well, maybe not as happy.