Chapter Thirteen
Seeing the guys without clothes carried Candy into the past, about ten years ago. Casualties were heavy on the front line that day and medevacs were in high demand. Night had fallen and the temperature in the desert was dropping rapidly. After three full transport runs for injured soldiers, Candy’s helicopter was grounded for fuel. Which was fine since the mission was about over. A few more helos were on their way in, but that was it.
As she stood outside the depot, she watched doctors and nurses frantically trying to save the lives of brave men willing to die for their country. She heard that several chopper pilots had been injured during their pickups. In the midst of all the goings-on, a shout came out for an SF pilot. SF pilots were a group of specialized flyers who picked up certain combat units.
As far as she could tell from her few conversations with those pilots, they did nothing different from what she did with her medevac chopper. Except the pickup locations were in more dangerous combat zones.
Someone hollered that no SF pilots were available. They were either en route back to camp or down in the battlefield. The coordinates for the pickup were not too far from her last field landing location. When a second call came in, she knew it was dire. The men needed help now. With nobody moving toward any choppers, she decided to take the call. If the situation was that bad, the unit would not mind a non-SF pilot dropping in.
With all the medevac helos down for service, she headed for one of the bigger non-emergency ’copters and powered up. Even though the helicopter was not equipped with full medical supplies, she would be able to fly the guys out. After giving the call letters of the helo and her ID, she confirmed grid coordinates and lifted off.
According to protocol, she should’ve waited for authorization to go, but sometimes when speed was the key, they cheated a bit and left early. There was never a time when departure was not approved. None she ever knew of. And of all times, now was a time to cheat. The first medevac request had come in over fifteen minutes prior. A transport should’ve been on site already. Every second she waited, another soldier could be killed.
Well on the way, she was surprised when a deep harsh voice came over her headset. “Lieutenant Obermier, this is Sergeant Sanders. Do you copy?”
She almost laughed. She didn’t deal with this sergeant much since he worked with the SF teams, but she still laughed when the men called him Colonel Sanders when chicken was on the menu.
“Copy, Sergeant Sanders.”
“Lieutenant, you are not authorized for an SF pickup. Copy.”
Oh shit. It was too late to turn back. She couldn’t turn back. There were no others available to save the men. “Copy, sir. Over.” She heard garbled noise and an electronic squeal through her headset. Then the normal dispatch person came on.
“You cheated, didn’t you, Obermier,” Dispatch said. “You’re already in the air.” Candy breathed a small sigh of relief. This guy in dispatch was a friend. He usually worked the combat runs when medevacs went out.
“Kellems,” she whispered, though not sure why, “no one was going to help these guys. I can’t just leave them to die when I can fly just as well as any SF.”
“Candy,” Kellems said, “you are disobeying a direct order.” He was silent a moment. “How close are you?”
“Almost halfway. ETA ten minutes,” she replied. “Is Sanders there?”
“No, he left after he talked to you. I don’t think he knew you were airborne.”
“I think that’s obvious, Kellems,” she said. “Do you want these men to die because I don’t have an SF at the end of my name?”
“No, Candy, but that’s not my job. I can’t make that decision.”
“Okay, here’s the deal, Kellems,” she said. “I didn’t take off. I heard what Sanders told me and I abandoned the mission. I’m now in my bunk getting ready for dinner. That’s all you know. Radio silence begins now.” She flipped the mic button, cutting off any sound on her side.
“Dammit, Candy.” Anger came from his voice, but she wasn’t worried about him. She saw the familiar landmark of her last pickup and passed it to reach the coordinates given earlier. Finding a flat area behind a rock outcropping, she set it down. Sand whipped into the air, creating her own dust storm. She had no idea where the men were. Hopefully, they saw her.
Through the hazy view came a group of men. One giant of a male carried an injured soldier over his shoulders. Following him, two others continued shooting their guns as they backed through the kicked-up grit. Those two were bloody, but on their feet. As soon as they were in, she started lift off.
The men shouted for her to wait. There was another coming. One of the soldiers yelled out a name she knew, telling this guy to hurry his ass up. If it was the same person she knew, she hoped he was okay. She liked him. He was funny and sweet. Big, though, over six feet tall and muscles out the wazoo. In fact, all these men on her craft were exceptionally big.
On the front of the helo, bullets from enemy fire ricocheted off the metal moving up to the windshield. Time was up. Despite the men’s objections, she lifted off the ground. One sacrificed for the good of the many. Barely off the ground, her head turned and she saw a wolf materializing out of the sand-filled air. With a leap, the animal covered fifteen feet of ground and slid through the open side door.
Candy banked away from ground zero, intensifying the mess of debris in the air, hopefully making the enemy’s shot off-target. Her heart pounded and adrenaline rushed through her system. That was the norm for combat evacs. But she’d never had her helo hit before.
Two things stood out on that mission, besides the Alpha Charlie ass-chewing she got after landing: On the way back, a guy said she didn’t smell like one of their pilots. She thought he must’ve said “spell” as some jargon of theirs meaning she didn’t have SF at the end of her name indicating special certification. And after they landed, no four-legged creature got off the chopper, but the guy whose name they called climbed down from of the back, buck naked. She knew he didn’t get onboard in that condition. That wasn’t something she would likely miss.
She never got the chance to talk to any of the guys as they were shipped out almost immediately while she carried out the punishment of being Latrine Queen for a week. They went easy on her since she did save the lives of five men, or four men and a dog/wolf.
Now, in the security room of the NIA building, she looked into the gorgeous eyes of the hot man close enough to kiss and said, “Are you a wolf?”