Chapter 35

The helicopter materialized out of the mist and hovered momentarily over the pad, swirling the mists in the vortex of the rotors. Then, gently, the craft descended to a soft touchdown. As the turbine wound down the passenger door opened. Jacob stepped out and wiped his brow with his sleeve. He took several deep breaths, and then moved away from the chopper on unsteady legs.

"For a warrior, you sure get wobbly when the weather gets a little snotty. Ha, ha, ha," said the pilot as he clapped Jacob on the back.

At that moment Jacob's stomach chose to propel its contents far, far away. The pilot thanked his lucky stars that he was standing beside Jacob.

"Whoa man! Really, it wasn't that bad, if it was I would have set down somewhere."

Jacob's answer was to repeat the projectile vomiting, followed by a series of gagging sounds.

"You must be a lot of fun at an amusement park Jacob," said Donna as she approached the two men.

"Trust me, this is the first time that this has happened to me since I was a little kid. I must have flown a thousand missions in choppers, but ... this ... this ... acrobatic idiot of a pilot of yours is totally whacked! We almost hit a mountain and then trees and I don't know what else but I'll tell you right now that I'm not getting in that thing with him again... period!" sputtered Jacob.

Donna turned serious and asked the pilot to explain what had happened. He became chagrined and said, "We had a bit of bad weather is all."

"Ronny I want to know the specifics of this bad weather. I've fought battles beside this man (she pointed at Jacob) and I have never seen him like this. He's as brave as they come."

"Well, we reached BINGO fuel and then a sudden storm came up. Nothing serious, mind you, but the visibility got a bit spotty and there were a couple of times that I will admit to nearly hitting something, a cliff face and the tree tops. But honestly, boss, it was just normal bush flying. If it had been really bad I would have found a place to set down to wait out the weather. Honest," said Ronny while he raised his right hand.

"This is not your bird, Ronny! I've told you more than once to keep to a proper altitude. I know what you were doing, Ronny. You were just 'having a little fun' at the expense of the tourist. RIGHT?"

The man got red faced and bowed his head trying to hide the twisted smile that was on his lips and said, "Well ... err..."

"I THOUGHT SO! YOU PULL ANOTHER STUNT LIKE THIS AND I WILL FIRE YOUR ASS! GOT IT?"

"Yes, Ma'am," said the chastised pilot.

He wasn't smiling anymore. In fact, clouds of anger were beginning to darken his face.

"GOOD! Now refuel and then tell Sky to get ready to fly. I want this bird on standby."

"Yes, Ma'am."

"Now, Jacob, how are you doing? Are you ok? Do you need Ann to take a look at you?"

"No, no, but I would love some of Mary's herb tea to settle my stomach."

"Well, let's go get some, then," said Donna with a smile as she and Jacob headed for the main building.

When the two were out of sight Ronny began to grouse and mutter. "John wouldn'a said those things to me. HE would'a thought it was funny the same as me. That woman has been on my case since John hired me an' she won't be happy 'til I'm outa here, an' I really like this sweet little bird." Ronny patted the chopper lovingly. "Miss smarty-pants is really startin' to git up my nose. Maybe I ought ta do sumptin 'bout it." As he went about the refueling process he continued to ruminate on an idea. By the time the little chopper was gassed up and the fluid levels checked, the idea had solidified into an action plan. He said out loud, "In fact, I will. Now that this bird is fueled, I'm gonna take it and go! I've had it!"

Jacob and Donna were just starting up the steps to the lodge when they heard the helicopter's turbine winding up. Donna instinctively knew her premonition that Ronny would eventually turn on them was coming to pass. She looked back toward the chopper pad and saw the little helicopter lift off and move toward her. Ronny was clearly visible at the controls and he was giving her the finger as he flew over her. Though he was a great pilot, the man was truly stupid. Donna reached for her radio. It was now a permanent appendage, since her move to leader. She pressed the small red 'all call' button on the top of the radio. Jacob immediately heard a shrieking sound coming from every radio in the complex.

Donna then pressed the talk button and said, "CONDITION RED! I say again, CONDITION RED! Ronny is stealing the chopper! Stop him with extreme prejudice!"

As the chopper was gaining operational altitude a small rocket sped to intercept the fleeing helicopter. The explosion was impressive!

"DAMN THAT MAN, WE JUST REBUILT THAT THING! SHIT! SHIT! AND DOUBLE SHIT!" yelled Donna as she threw her hat on the ground in fury!

Jacob looked at Donna and back up at the cloud that was all that remained visible of the doomed aircraft and then back at Donna.

"Damn girl, when did you get stingers?"

Donna calmed a bit and smiled an evil smile, and said, "We've had them for a while now. Nice huh?"

Jacob then took a step back and looked Donna up and down and said, "You know? I think you are as tough as John! No, no scratch that, you're tougher. He would have tried to talk that jerk down. You didn't skip a beat. You just blew his ass out of the sky! DAMN GIRL! I like the new you. I'll follow you to war any time!"

"Well, thank you, kind sir," said Donna with a big smile and a little curtsey. She then continued with, "I hope that you will bring your people along, as well."

Both had a good laugh, and then Donna took up her radio again and pressed the little red button. Again the shrieking sound reverberated around the compound. She then called, "STAND DOWN, I SAY AGAIN, STAND DOWN. Aaron?"

"Aaron here."

"Aaron take a team out and make sure that no fires start out there in the bush."

"Will do, Donna." came the reply.

"Oh, and Aaron, start retrieval as soon as possible. We need to start insurance proceedings. It wouldn't be good for them to find out that we shot down our own bird. Over and out."

"On it, Boss. Over and out."

"Now, Jacob, I think we were about to get you some of Mary's tea," said Donna as she took Jacob's arm and the two walked into the lodge.

Over the next three days the crash site was scoured and all evidence of the downed helicopter was erased. Ronny hadn't made it far before being shot down and the trees were not overly thick where the bird came to rest. A small road was cut to the crash site and a deep pit was soon dug. What was left of the chopper (with Ronny's remains still at the controls) was then pushed into the gaping hole, and buried. By the end of the week, a small pole barn with a nice new concrete floor was erected over the chopper's grave.

Once material was moved into the barn to make things look natural Donna filed a fake flight plan for the chopper, followed the next day by a missing aircraft report.

The authorities did the usual thing and set up a search, which naturally proved fruitless. Donna was then able to file for the insurance. Official records now covered the missing chopper, and the death of Ronny.

As Donna sat at her desk working through a pile of papers she thought, "I hated having to waste all of that money and the time of those good people but we needed to cover our asses," then she said out loud with a heavy sigh, "Damn that man."

Jacob, who was sitting in the office with Donna drinking his morning coffee, asked, "What Man?"

"Oh, that stupid bastard, Ronny."

"Why the hell did John hire that jerk anyway?"

Donna looked up from her paper work and said, "The bastard really was a good pilot, and fearless at the controls. He saved our asses in Bosnia once by disobeying a direct order not to extract us. Of late he fell on hard times, and John, not wanting a repeat of what happened to our crew or the Joey thing, hired Ronny. My big Bro had a soft heart, and felt we had a debt to repay.

However, as soon as Ronny got here, he rubbed everyone the wrong way. He drank too much, was belligerent, had a twisted sense of humor, and was a major security risk. He will not be missed."

"Well that answers that question then. I was beginning to think that you were losing your touch. You normally have a second sense about people."

"Well, I think that John's illness went further back than any of us thought. There were some fairly serious errors in John's judgment, but none of us saw them."

"I have to admit that John was a deep thinker and he did things that didn't seem right at the time ... but, in the end, they were exactly the right thing to do."

"Exactly! That's why no one noticed his problems until it was way too late," said Donna sadly. She sighed heavily and continued, "I really miss him, and that huge brain of his, ya know?"

"You bet I know. Remember all of those phone calls awhile back?"

"Yes."

"Well, John was helping me out."

"Oh? How so Jacob?"

"I hate to admit it, but after Valkyrie made such a fool out of me and my people, I kind of lost my confidence. John was counseling me. He helped me a lot!"

"Ah, yeah, he was good at that. By the way, those killer teams that you mentioned at the meeting the other day."

"Yes?"

"I was wondering if we should grab one of them, for better intel. I mean those people are crazy, the way they operate out in the open like that, but..."

"I've been giving them a lot of thought, Donna, and I have a theory. I think that one team acts as bait while another team watches out for the other's back."

"Hmm ... I see what you mean. Could be..."

General Vezza smiled as he watched the helicopters skim low over the water. The ten choppers were moving quickly toward the General's base in the early morning light. The target of the attacking force was, however, not there. He stood hidden under a large stone overhang on a small island that was little more than a pile of rocks five miles to the Northeast of his base. In his hand he held a small box, a remote detonator.