Desperate Situations (22 page)

"We don't know," Cowboy said.

Megan hit the intercom to the back. "Okay boys, you heard too. Tiny stay on a gun. Everyone else check to see if anyone survived," she said as she landed nearby. "Ask the military to keep one Black Hawk with us for a minute."

Cowboy complied. The others in the convoy slowed, but kept going. One military Black Hawk did wide circles as support. They could hear him calling back to base to dispatch any other helicopter available.

Megan turned to Cowboy. "I'm shutting down to take a closer look at the engines and tail rotor." She began to turn everything off.

As the other crewmen scrambled to the crashed helicopter, Megan jumped out of the cockpit and hurried to the tail rotor, which was just slowing down. She hurriedly inspected it. Soon Cowboy was helping. One on each side.

Megan glanced twice to the crashed helicopter to see that at least two men survived. Jake was directing the men in carrying survivors back to their helicopter. She was still looking
at the end of the tail rotors when Jake ran up to her.

"Two dead. Two in critical, I don't want to move them if we don't have to. Two minor." His blue eyes bored into hers.

"Monitor the injured. Retrieve the bodies. The military's trying to get us help."

Jake patted her on the shoulder and moved off. He was already directing Bosser and Fisher to bring the bodies back to the helicopter.

Suddenly Tiny stuck his head out the open door. "Ghost!"

Megan looked to see him motioning for her. She looked at Cowboy on the other side of the tail rotor. "I didn't check this end."

"I'll get it. Go."

Megan ran back to Tiny. "Yeah?"

"Chicken Hawk…" He pointed up at the military Black Hawk circling them. "Reports four trucks approaching rapidly on the road. ETE about four minutes." He pointed down the road past where the Black Hawk had crashed. "Military wants to know what you're doing?"

"Damn." Megan looked over at Jake then spoke to Tiny. "Make room for the rest of the wounded. Stay on the radio. Tell them I'm fishing." She ran to the crash site. Her face screwed up in anger. It was every helicopter pilot's worse fear. "Cupcake, company approaching. Four minutes maybe. Move the wounded as best you can. Move it!" She ran back to the helicopter.

"Nuthin'," Cowboy informed her.

Megan chewed her lips and let her eyes
rake the helicopter. "You check the oil lines. I'll do the engine. Hurry. Company. Four minutes if we're lucky."

"Shit. Even less. We gotta get airborne."

But Megan had already gone. She was climbing up the outside of the chopper. Cowboy checked the oil lines and fuel lines again. Nothing. He tried the linkages. Basically he was doing a preflight in a fraction of the normal time.

"Cowboy!" Megan yelled from the engine area on top of the Pave Hawk near the rotors. A glance to the downed Black Hawk showed that they were moving the last of the two injured. She looked down to see Cowboy waiting for her.

"Get me something heavy and metal. Fast." Megan looked up the road but no sign of company yet. She narrowed her eyes; in the distance she could see what looked like maybe a dust cloud. She looked down to see Cowboy searching. Then she turned her attention to the small black box attached to the non-rotating swash plate near the control tubes and main column that controlled the rotors on top of the helicopter. It was easy to miss on the pre-flight since it was the same color as the plate, and mighty hard to see unless you were looking for it. She studied it even as she heard gunshots. Her head flashed up, but still the trucks were at a distance. Yet.

***

Cowboy was frantically searching as Jake stepped up to him. "Problem?"

"Something heavy and metal. Ghost needs it on top of the chopper."

"Why?"

Cowboy shrugged still looking. "My guess is she found something."

Jake joined the frantic search.

"Hurry!" Came a yell from the top of the helicopter.

Jake stepped back to look up at her. "What?"

"I found a… a…. something attached to the engine. I need to knock it off. Find something, anything I can use to knock it off. Hurry. I can see the trucks approaching." She pointed down the road.

Jake frowned, climbing the helicopter. As he got near Megan, she pointed. Sure enough there was a small box attached to the metal holding the rotors in their casing. Lop off one rotor and the whole thing would fly like a box of rocks.

She glanced again at the approaching trucks.

Jake un-slung his rifle and with the butt, began hitting the box. The first couple of hits it stayed tight. On the fifth hit it broke loose just a bit. He hit it harder, knowing they were running out of time.

"Again. Harder," Megan coached. She looked over the side. "Cowboy be ready to fire up Death when we jump off. Redline her."

Jake continued to beat on the small metal box. It was coming loose but not fast enough. Both of them glanced to see that the trucks were now within firing range. And at the same time, Tiny opened fired.

Jake continued to beat on it. "Get inside. Fly. We need you to get us out of here. Go." He beat on it again.

"But…"

"Damn it. Go. You're our best hope. Go." Jake yelled at her, as he beat on the slowly loosening box. A bullet whizzed past them.

"Keep that box if you can," Megan said as she slid off the helicopter, literally sliding all the way down. She hopped into the cockpit and finished getting ready.

Cowboy frowned
, looking behind him at the trucks now circling the two downed helicopters. Someone in back had armed the other gun and now they were firing from both sides. Not to mention, the military Black Hawk flying overhead was also firing at the trucks.

Both Megan and Cowboy ignored the warnings and questions of the pilot in Chicken Hawk.

Megan waited with her thumb on the start button. "Come on, Jake," she whispered.

"He down." Came from the intercom. Fisher's voice.

Megan hit the start button and the panel lit up. She gave it full power immediately, which was hard on the engine, but they needed to get out of here. Still, it would take about two minutes before they could even try to get airborne and that was pushing it.

As she watched
, dials fluttered to life and the blades began spinning, she noticed Jake running back from the downed Black Hawk. A bright light came from the cockpit of the crashed chopper, but she didn't have time to speculate on it. She thumbed the intercom. "Is Cupcake in?"

"He in," Fisher confirmed.

As soon as the dial hit the right place, she lifted off, backing away at the same time from the location of the trucks and downed helicopter.

"Here we come Chicken Hawk," Cowboy said, so that the other Black Hawk would know they were going airborne.

But they were overly heavy. With the armament and crew, plus the wounded and dead from the other helicopter, she was over capacity. The higher altitude and heat didn't help either. She chewed her lip as she could feel the helicopter groaning.

An explosion blew from the direction of the crashed helicopter, adding to the stress.

The helicopter seemed to hesitate for a few seconds under the added weight then quickly responded. After several seconds, Megan slowed to catch her breath.

"What happened down there?" the pilot in Chicken Hawk asked.

"Sabotage," Cowboy answered him. "We found something attached to the swash plate. I bet the others had similar things."

Cursing was heard from the military Black Hawk. "Wounded?"

"We got four wounded, two are critical. And two dead," Cowboy informed him. He looked at Megan. "Who?"

Megan shrugged. She glanced back toward the crash. The four trucks emptied of men rushing to the wreck. "Damn it."

"We saved the personnel, Meg. That's a point in our favor," Cowboy said then hit the button for the radio. "We're heading to base with wounded, Chicken Hawk."

"Do you need an escort, Death?"

"Negative," Cowboy responded. "Head back and make sure the others are okay. Tell the White Pine crews after they land to check rotors, transmissions, tail rotors and engines, hell, have'em check everything as a precaution. Death out."

Megan turned the chopper toward home. "All those electronics. Damn it." She shook her head. "What was the explosion?"

"I dunna. What else could we do, Darlin'?"

"Nothing. Damn it anyway." She clicked the intercom button. "Cupcake?"

"Yeah?"

"Did you keep the box?"

"Got it right here. Looks to be some sort of remote control device or something. I damaged it pretty good getting it off."

"That's okay. You did good." She frowned. "Did any of you happen to retrieve any of
the GPS stuff or other electronics?"

There was a chuckle on the intercom
―Jake's. "Ghost, let's just say they won't be using any of that from the Black Hawk."

"What?"

"Standard operating procedure. Destroy it, if it's down. As you were starting up, I threw a thermite grenade in it. Boom." There was a huge smile on Jake's face, Megan could tell from his voice.

She chuckled. "I knew there was a reason I kept you around."

Now general laughter sounded from the back.

"How are the wounded?"

"We're doing what we can Ghost," Jake said. "The two critical ones, I don't know… Hand me that, Tiny. Thanks… We're limited here with what we can do for them Ghost. The other two have semi-minor injuries, they'll survive."

"Do your best, Cupcake." She clicked off the intercom and looked at Cowboy. "We got problems, Kelly." She could feel something through the seat of her pants.

"What?" He looked around outside then at the gauges. Finally, his eyes  got a strange look. "There's a wobble."

Megan nodded. "Cupcake must've damaged a control tube in getting the device off."

Cowboy frowned. "What to do?"

She once more chewed her lips. "I'm flying tree top. That way if we have to put down, we won't fall as far." She shook her head. With a sigh, she hit the intercom button as she headed to ground level. "Okay boys, listen up. We got a problem. There's a shimmy in the rotor system. I think we can make it back. But just in case, we're going to be flying as close to the ground as possible, flying along the road. I want someone manning those guns at all times. I mean cocked and ready to fire. Cupcake, make sure everyone is strapped in, including the wounded
, as best you can."

Cowboy shook his head as he panned the road.

"This is more than dangerous, guys. If anyone sees anything suspicious, speak up." Megan clicked off. She turned to her co-pilot. "Pray, Cowboy."

"Darlin', we ain't got a shot in hell of making it along this road. You know this goes right in
to the heart of al Qaeda country."

"It's our only shot."

"Yeah, I know. Luck be a lady tonight."

"Kiss her for me, Cowboy. A nice, big smack right on the lips," Megan said concentrating on everything. This was extremely dangerous. With all the bends in the roads and the winding through the mountains, they didn't know what lay ahead. Once they cleared the foothills, it'd get easier. But even a frightened bird flying off the ground could cause major problems. Not to mention bad guys being in an opportunistic place taking pot shots at them.

"Bend up ahead," Cowboy said, pointing.

Megan nodded and rose in
to the air a little to fly over the bend instead of around it. Then she immediately went back to car level about four feet off the ground.

"How's she feeling?"

"Shaky," Megan said. This was crazy. If it weren't for the wounded and fearing for their lives if she put down, she'd ditch the aircraft. "How far do we have?"

"Too far."

"She'll hold together," Megan said softly. "She'll hold together."

***

Jake tended the wounded with Fisher. Tiny was manning one gun, Bosser the other. Jake did everything he was trained to do, but he knew that unless they got help soon, the pilot of the crashed helicopter would die. Tippy was a good man, and Jake didn't want to see him go, but he didn't tell Megan that. She had enough pressure as it was. It would take all her skill to get them out of this alive.

He sat down next to Tippy when he felt the helicopter rattle. He looked up at Fisher whose eyes widened in fear. Jake smiled. "Trust the Ghost."

"I do. Most well. It is…" He waved his hand to the top of the helicopter. "I do not trust."

Jake smiled, but inside he felt that same way. He could feel them swaying one way and then the other as she negotiated turns. Then they would momentarily rise
, then fall back down, as they cleared bends in the road. It felt like an amusement ride. Only, this wasn't amusing.

He laid his head back against the headrest and took a deep breath. This was not a good day to die. He knew they'd get back. Megan was flying. She'd get them home safe. He opened his eyes to see Fisher once more staring at him. Jake smiled. He winked and got comfortable. There was nothing else he could do. Their lives and safety were in the hands of a woman pilot. And that's just where he wanted it.