Chapter 4

Dave stood staring at the instrument box in his trembling hands. Virgil told him what to do; what was it? He looked up at the helicopter screeching towards him. He yelled out to no one in particular, "He's crashing, he's crashing!" His grip on the controller tightened as solutions flashed through his numbed mind. He called into his headset, "Virgil, Virgil, can you hear me! Please answer."

He did not wait, could not wait, and pressed the button that would send a charge to the pilot. He called again, his voice frantically calm, "Virgil, can you hear me?"

With no reply, he started to thumb the horizontal and vertical controls. The helicopter was not responding. He pressed the button again. Nothing. Working himself into frenzy, he pushed whatever button was available. Even shook the control box at one point. All the while, he continued talking into the headset, hoping to make contact with Virgil. Dave's heart performed a native dance inside his chest as he watched the helicopter above him plummeting towards earth. "Oh, God," he whispered, believing he was about to witness a horrific crash.

"Yeow!" Dave screeched leaping into the air. Pain shot through his ankle. He looked down, confusion crossing the features of his face.

Snapping back to the emergency, he stood dumbstruck as he watched the chopper slow down, level off, and come in for a gentle landing. Through the sound of rotors winding down he heard a painful bellylaugh. It filtered through the shock and he turned to see Sonny doubled over, clutching his stomach, trying to catch his breath in between guffaws. Dave's eyes floated back down to his ankles and focused on a red sports car. A remote control toy. As he realized he was holding the remote in his hands, he heard, "Payback's a bitch" from behind him.

Virgil strolled past the victim, into the hangar towards his brother, a shit-eating grin on his face. "Take it easy, bro. You're gonna bust a gut if you continue laughing like that."

Sonny, gathering control of himself, slapped Virgil on the back as they headed to the back door of the hangar. "That was classic. True art. I especially liked your reference to the opening line of The Six Million Dollar Man. Nice touch." He shook his head talking more to himself. "She's breaking up, she's breaking up. Good one." And he broke into another fit of laughter, tripping into his brother.

"Any bets on when he will refer to us as the Earp brothers again?" Virgil asked not expecting a reply. "By the way, where did you hide and how did you get the car to hit him if he had the control box?"

Sweeping his arm, indicating the darkened rear of the hangar, "Lots of places to hide here. I slipped in the back door while you were doing some of your flippety-flips. And you know I always have these." He pulled a toothpick out of his breast pocket. "I stuck one into the front of the car to keep the wheels straight. All I had to do was aim the car and put it down. Dick took care of the rest. Actually, I was aiming the car to slide past his foot. But he was pressing so many buttons, that the car just went back and forth and back and forth ... hell I almost had a cow at that point."

Virgil chuckled as his brother broke out in another hearty laugh, "You're enjoying this a little too much, I think."

"Virg, this has to be one of your all time classics. I wouldn't have missed that for the world. But that hanger-fly-through was a bit hairy."

"Oh stop being such a mother hen."

Dave stood with his mouth agape staring at the backs of the departing brothers, his hands still clutching the remote control. His bottom jaw hinged shut as he looked back down at the car. A smile cracked his handsome face as he slowly looked back up. 'Good one.'

Bret Waterford pulled Cassie by the arm into a quiet corner of the television studio. "I want you here tomorrow ready to go when I finish the midday news."

Annoyance flashed in her eyes. "I had plans for tomorrow."

"If you want this assignment, you're going to have to switch your schedule to mine." He knew full well she needed this job and could push her. He would not have been able to get away with that if he had Trace, a well-established, respected cameraman. But Bret could walk all over Cassie. One of the perks of getting a rookie.

She pouted. "So where're we going?"

"I'm thinking of paying Global Rescue a little visit."

A supply van drove up to the GRNI guardhouse at promptly 4:10 PM. The guard looked at the computer screen and typed in Washburn Aviation Supply Co., the name on the invoice given to him by the driver.

He looked back at the man. "You Joe Patrick?"

He nodded.

The security guard looked at the screen and entered a few more keystrokes. Focused intensely on the computer, he pecked a few more times then looked back over at the driver. "You aren't scheduled for a delivery until next week."

A veil of confusion fell across Joe's face. "You sure?" He reached across the seat and pulled up a thick binder. He flipped through several pages, his finger running down to the last one. Poking it, he looked up at the guard. "I have here the delivery's today."

The guard contemplated the problem. This was their regular supplier and not an apparent threat. Looking at the dates, the schedule could have been a simple typo. Today was the 15^th and the 25^th was the planned delivery. The error could have been on either side. He handed the paperwork back to Joe. "You know where to go?"

Joe nodded. "Thanks."

Towards the back of the GRNI property, far from the security stop, he cruised along the stretch of hangars. Some were empty, some contained various aircraft ranging from small helicopters to medium sized planes. A blue and red jumpsuit appeared from behind one of the choppers. Joe waved nonchalantly to the mechanic and continued on as the greeting was returned. Beyond the hangars, sat several more vehicles ready for flight, which included the largest cargo jet he had ever seen. He wondered what the C-5 Galaxy was used for as he aimed for the helicopters.

Joe parked his truck next to what looked like a brand new helicopter and got out. He stood back and admired it as he slapped on a pair of cheap latex gloves. A lot of work needed to be done, and done fast. With a smile on his face, he hummed Whistle While You Work.