Chapter 18

"The State Police are recalling their trooper," Walt told the group in front of him. "As much as I hate to see him go, authorities believe the arsonist who started the California blaze a little over a month ago was the guy stalking us."

"Well, who was it?" a voice asked from the group.

"Stuart Silverman. If you recall, we saved his life which he was none too pleased about. Unfortunately he tried to commit suicide and developed a grudge against us for stopping him. Well, charred remains from that fire have been identified as his. So they feel they no longer need to give us protection. Looks like he got his wish and the case is now closed.

"Next on the agenda..." A phone rang, interrupting Walt's meeting.

He jotted notes down on his pad as he spoke softly into the receiver, nodded a few times, then hung up.

"We'll continue this tomorrow. Right now we have a rescue. Rob, Sonny, Nancy, John, Dave and Virgil, stay."

When the rest of the room cleared, Walt looked at the faces of the six people in front of him. He could not read their reaction regarding the loss of the police protection.

"The rescue's in Phoenix. Fire broke out at that latest expansion project. Nancy, you pilot the new medivac chopper. Sonny's your flight engineer and John'll be your medic. You'll be standing by to take seriously injured people to the hospital. Virg, we need Big Bertha for this one. Rob's the engineer and Dave's the swimmer. However, to start I want John in your rig. He can transfer over when needed."

Rob elbowed Dave in the ribs. "Hey, you're Dope on a Rope."

Walt glanced over his glasses. "Actually, there's no hoisting involved today. No Dopes dangling from the rope. Since about 70 people are stranded that need to be airlifted off the roof, we can't afford to do single person lifts and the tandem's too big to set on the roof. So Virg has got to hover while you guys herd the victims into it as fast as you can. I'm hoping you can squeeze in about 35 people. That way, you might be able to get away with only two trips. Just act like an elevator; go up, get them, come down and drop them off, go back for more. If there are any injuries, Nancy will take care of them. Any questions?"

Walt waited. "No? Go get 'em."

As Virgil approached the burning building he saw that the roof was clear of smoke. Visibility was a plus but he was not happy with the winds. He looked at the roof and decided that it could not hold the weight of Big Bertha, especially loaded with 35 people. He was going to have to hover in the high winds within a foot of the roof. 'Well, I'm always up for a good challenge.'

Through his headset he instructed, "John, stay here. Rob, you and Dave go onto the roof and assist the people. One by the roof door, one by the chopper. Make sure to keep them from rushing us especially once we fill up and need to take off."

"You gonna hover in these winds?" Rob shook his head, "Better you in that seat than me."

"Okay, let's go in."

Virgil brought Big Bertha to within inches of the roof. He had one arm locked on the stick and the other on the collective. The wind wasn't quite as bad as he thought, but he was still going to have to work hard at holding her. He juggled watching the ground, reading the instruments and listening to John in order to maintain the hover. He noticed Dave and Rob had jumped out and were already headed over to the door.

Ducking from the rotor wash, Rob ran towards the door, ax in hand. He was informed it was illegally locked and he needed to break it open in order for the people to get out. A well placed blow in between the door and jamb should release the catch. Bringing the ax from straight overhead, he hit the door full force three inches from where he wanted it. "Damn," he swore under his breath. Wedged deep in the heavy metal door, a good hard yank was needed to dislodge it. Rob brought the ax up again and put his weight into the swing. This time the blade slipped right between the door and jamb and broke the latch. The door slid open.

A throng of people waited just on the other side. Since the rotors made too much noise to shout over, Rob blocked the door with his body and pushed his way into the stairwell partially closing it behind him as Dave completed the human barricade. Since the upper levels were still under construction, there were very few inner walls in place. Everyone could hear Rob from the top of the stairs. "Hey," he hollered, getting their attention. In his authoritative but comforting voice, he gave instructions to everybody. They listened carefully and he was relieved to see no hint of panic. The rescuer glanced over his shoulder past Dave to make sure all was ready and couldn't help but admire how still Virgil was holding that big bird.

Rob led the flow of evacuees in single file so as not to lose control. At the count of 30, Dave stopped the stream of people at the door. He looked to his partner to see if they could squeeze in five more. However Rob gave the signal that they were full and slid the chopper door shut.

Dave entered the stairwell again and spoke to the remaining people, "That big ol' airbus'll be back in just a few minutes. We have plenty of time and everyone will get out. It'll probably take two more trips, but the last trip should be very light and go fast."

Virgil felt the clunk of the sliding door locking into place followed by John calling over the headphones all was ready. The vibrations carried through his gloves as he increased power and the chopper lifted up and cleared the roof. Several police and local rescue personnel waited at the predetermined landing spot.

"Nance, we don't have any casualties needing to be airlifted to the hospital. At least not yet. I'll be down in less than a minute."

On the ground Virgil pried his hands off of the controls. He stretched his fingers and rubbed his arms vigorously to get feeling back into them. 'With work like this, who needs exercise?' When John and Rob made sure the last of the first group of people had safely cleared the area, they got back into the chopper and signaled Virgil they were ready.

Once again he lowered Bertha to within inches of the roof and locked his arms.

John called to Dave, "Hey, Dope. We're ready, start sending more out." People poured from the open door and headed to the hovering chopper. When it was about three-quarters full a gust of wind caught it from the side. Although Virgil adjusted to it in the snap of a finger, two victims and Rob were knocked down.

Dave saw what happened and held up the rest of the line. Rob got up, dusted himself off, and he and John helped the other people up. They did a quick assessment and determined nothing was broken and no major bleeding. But to be on the safe side, Virgil radioed the ambulance crew at the landing site that he had two that needed checking over.