Chuck
One of the teams broadcast, "Got em, they are in a mass group moving through the brush. It looks like fifty to sixty of them. Not all have rifles, but the lead men do. Oh yeah, some of the people on drag have rifles too. We're coming back. They are moving toward you at your two o'clock. You won't have to worry; they don't have any perimeter guards or scouts. I'm out."
I broadcast, "Set up the wedge now at the north end of the pavilion. Find cover. See if you can find a big tree or rock or anything in case there is a blast. Remember, fire at any probable movement. Take no chances. You men in turbans come up and be a part of the welcoming committee. That should put them at ease for a few seconds. You acting as bus drivers, get your weapons in a position to get at them. Let's get set."
I watched as Lisa and Nightfox found cover and a good firing position at the corner of the pavilion. They should be able to cover their area without any problem. With them and the guys dressed up, we should be able to control anyone with rifles in the front.
Having everyone hear what everyone else was saying was a good thing. All of the men would know why I was doing something and would know how imminent contact was. It was bad though, as they all had the chance to get as scared as I was.
There was a large boulder about twenty feet out from the pavilion that I got behind. I think an entire team could have hidden behind it. Over the broadcast channel, I said, "Lisa, Nightfox, when the leaders get even with my position, tell me."
From the farthest out man in our wedge, I heard, "The leaders just passed my point. They're not paying any attention to their surroundings and just moving into the area. No one is looking to the side at all, just straight ahead. Even the men with rifles at the rear are on a Sunday stroll with their rifles slung over their shoulder."
Maybe, just maybe, we can get lucky. I looked down at my rifle and checked the position of the safety then began bunching up my muscles to stand and confront the leaders.
Lisa said, "The front is passing you now."
I stood and said, "Put down your weapons and put your hands up. Any strange movement will get you killed."
One of the men in front went nuts yelling and pulling his rifle from his shoulder. He fell backward with an unrecognizable face.
I kept yelling for everyone to put their hands into the air, but more and more rounds were being fired and more and more of the group were falling. A few men had their hands straight up with their eyes closed; probably in prayer that they wouldn't be shot. With my rifle to my shoulder, I scanned the group still standing, watching to make sure no one moved.
I broadcast, "You men at the rear begin shaking down the men still standing and tie-wrap their hands. As those guys begin taking care of that group, the next people on both sides do the same. Leave two men to provide cover and watch for movement."
I told the men still standing at the front of the group, "You three, take ten steps forward and stand." I waved at the men dressed as terrorists and said, "Shake em down and put tie-wraps on them. Be careful with the backpacks."
I broadcast, "Put all backpacks in a row out in the parking lot. Don't attempt to open them, just carry them out there and put them down."
I told the guys dressed as bus drivers, "Begin picking up the backpacks of the men who are down. You don't have to be too careful of the men; they're dead and you won't hurt them. Be careful of the packs though and look for anything hanging out."
I was still holding my rifle at the ready when a guy on the far side reached over his shoulder for his pack. I squeezed off a round that did an eye exam, but it was one of three or four rounds that nearly took the guys head off. The man next to him yelled and began crying, begging us not to shoot him. He wet his pants.
I was with that guy. I almost wet mine. As the men worked their way up from the back of the group, the guys dressed like terrorists were working their way back from the front. All the rest of the men were at the ready with their rifles pointed at the group, making sure no sudden movement occurred without immediate counteraction.
In my peripheral vision, I saw that Nightfox and Lisa were out of their positions, facing the other side of the group holding their rifles at the ready. What a way to have your intended help you with your job. But then, it's her job too. I'll bet she never figured on anything like this when she agreed to become an alternate pilot for number one.
When the last man was searched and his backpack was placed on the ground, I radioed John to tell him we were in control of the second group. John said, "Clean up your area as best as possible. If you have three buses, put all the dead in one bus. Also, police all of your brass so there is no evidence of anything happening there. We need to keep this from the general public. They don't need to know over a hundred terrorists were planning on killing a hundred thousand or so citizens."
All the men heard the broadcast and were doing a basic training ground search for any brass. They were stretched out in a line, picking up anything that was not native to the ground. The men raked branches over the ground with blood stains while trying to clean up the mess the group had made walking into the parking area.
All of the men had now changed back into their regular clothes and were attempting to get the bus drivers and terrorists off the bus one at a time to put on their own clothes.
One of the team leaders hollered at me to come to the storage area of one of the buses. He pointed at two stacks of something folded up and said, "Body bags, they expected to have bodies out here. Wonder what that's about? We'll use the bags for the dead. That way we won't smell the blood and dead people."
Another guy was equally as excited when he came to me and said, "That end bus has an entire side of the storage compartment packed with explosives. Hell, it might be the entire compartment. I can't see the other side. Let me go look."
I radioed John, "We need headquarters to send a very large containment vehicle. I probably have two to three thousand pounds of high explosives on one of the buses. See what you can do. How about getting one of the helicopters over here to use for communications to headquarters?"
John said, "Now you're thinking. I'll have one on the way over there. We have an AWACS in the air checking to make sure there isn't anything flying around that could be looking at us. It's quiet so far. They are tracking any vehicles that get near the park area as well."
I gathered the team leaders and told them, "Let's unload that bus with the explosives and put it out on the far edge of the parking lot. We'll space the back packs out and look for anything that may look like a detonator."
As soon as they were beginning to move the explosives, one of the team leaders called a halt. He came to me and said, "All of them are wired together with detonators on each case. I've got men cutting wires and looking for a receiver. I think that bus was what they were going to use to destroy the bridge."
I said, "If that's true, the trigger should be up near the driver or a passenger seat behind or next to the driver, let's look. Ah, let's get everyone away from around the bus and let's move it to the other side of the parking area. I think I can drive it. Wait for me to get it moved."
As soon as I sat in the driver's seat, I found the trigger. It was a plain box that had wires that went through the floor, and also to a box with two large gel cell batteries on the floor. The wires had spade ends on them but were not connected. I used my Kbar and cut the wires going through the floor then picked up the batteries and put them outside the bus along with the control box.
Back on the bus, I looked around for another control point while walking up and down the aisles of the bus. I didn't see anything, so I went back up to the driver's seat to move the bus. Once the bus was moved to the other side of the parking area, I saw a large stack of boulders that I thought would be good to put the bus behind. If it went off, at least the boulders should shield us from most of the blast and shrapnel.
Helicopters began arriving. When one set down, a group of men got off, wearing white jumpsuits, and carrying big square briefcases. They were greeted by the team leaders and were led to the backpacks. All of the eight men began delicately opening the backpacks and inventorying the contents. Another helicopter had more men in white coveralls and they headed my way toward the bus with the explosives.
I told them about the detonators in each case of explosives and the control box and batteries that I had already removed. They just nodded and went to the bus to begin working with those explosives.
John and some more men got off some other helicopters and I went up to meet them at the pavilion. John counted our prisoners to discover we had forty-two men captured even though we had been forced to kill twenty-six. John said, "All of these men are going to be a problem. Where can we put them?"
I said, "Use the buses and drive straight to Colorado. If you can get them into the maximum security prison there, that would be as good as Cuba."
John said, "Damn, couldn't you have just shot them?"
"I was trying to be a good guy, John. I think the men would have gladly taken care of it, but we're not trained that way. We should have put them on their bus and pushed the button. That would do it. I'll bet they were planning on doing that with a busload of them anyway."
My stomach was growling, so I asked, "Do you have any food yet? I'm starved and I don't really want another MRE."
John looked at me as if aggravated, "That's all you'll get until we get this cleaned up. We have some Deputy Marshals on their way to take control of the prisoners, but you're going to have to delegate some of the teams to accompany them. I think you have the right idea of going straight to Colorado, so let's use the buses and the Suburbans and haul the prisoners straight there. I'll have our electronics tech go over the vehicles to make sure they don't have any GPS locators on them. If they do we'll just dump them along the road somewhere. Can you assemble your men for me to talk to them?"
I used the radio and broadcast, "All personnel fall in behind the pavilion. The leader wants to talk to all of usnow."
Knowing that everyone in these teams came from some form of military background, I got what I expected. Everyone, except the men guarding the prisoners, were standing at ease in three rows.
John looked around to see the guards with the prisoners so he keyed his radio and said, "I'll just broadcast this so everyone can hear this together." He took a deep breath and said, "You men have neutralized a threat to our country that is even bigger than nine eleven. It's just like the massive cache of explosives we found in Las Vegas recently. The result of the terrorists' activities would have killed thousands and would have interrupted commerce in the San Francisco and Oakland area for years. You are to be congratulated. All of you will receive commendations in your file and I'm sure that will mean something extra for you in your pay sometime soon."
John moved around a little, then addressed the men again, "I need some volunteers to ride with the buses to Colorado. About twenty men should do the trick, so any of you who want to make the trip, see Agent Peters over by the prisoner bus."
He looked at all of us standing in front of him and said, "You, we, did good on this. Good job and thanks."
John motioned for me to join him, "Chuck, you should probably write a report describing how you took the buses and terrorists' guards and then how you took down the group that came in. Don't do it on Marshal's paperwork and don't talk about it to anyone, absolutely no one. Make sure Lisa and Nightfox know that too."
John was uncomfortable about something, and he said, "They had me join up for this one mission and I don't think they plan on keeping me as part of their network. I think I'm even going to ask to not be invited on future missions. This was as close as I want to get to being blown to smithereens. Damn, that had to be the scariest thing I've ever seen. Weren't you scared?"
I smiled, "Sure, John. Just like any other time I've been shot at or been under attack back when in the military. At the time, it's so scary you shake, but it passes. As soon as it's over, it's over. Life goes on, John, you made it and are able to do it again another day."
"I think I'm done, Chuck. I don't want any more of this and I need to be a dad and husband. I'll do what's necessary for the Marshal's Service, but even there, I don't want any more hairy stuff. Christ, just think if that bus over there goes off. There won't be enough of me or anyone else to ship back in a body bag. I just want to get the hell out of here."
"Relax, John, go sit in the shade over there behind that boulder. Nothing is going to get around all those boulders next to the bus and that big one over there. Have some coffee, I smell it. Someone is making us a snack."
I had never seen John in this condition, but I guess this had been a real awakening to him. These few days had put that final fear into him. It had taken away his military daring and was telling him he had no more second chances. I kind of knew the feeling, but had regained my confidence each time it had happened. In his condition, John wouldn't be a good partner on something really dangerous. He might fold at the wrong time.
Lisa was waving at me and yelling, "Come on over, there's coffee and sandwiches over here. They brought us something to eat."
Nightfox was sitting with a big cup of coffee and four sandwiches in front of him. I took a couple, along with a cup of the fresh coffee, and sat with Lisa and Sam. Lisa touched my hand and said, "You know what? We do make a good team. Sam and I were your backups all the way. Between the two of us, I wasn't concerned at all. All those explosives were a worry, but you can't do anything about them if they go off, so we were just ready to keep that from happening if we could."
Sam said, "Little Lisa is a real torch. She was picking off those guys faster than I could spot them. They were all clean shots as others fired at the same time. We had a good team, Chuck. Everyone was on top of the situation and worked to make it happen."
Lisa grinned, "That's the first time I've had to use a weapon in combat. When I got shot down, I was picked up before anyone could come try to capture me. Doing this stuff is scary, but not really that bad when you have others you can depend on. We do make a good team."
We ate, or rather stuffed ourselves on some real food and had some coffee. While we were at the picnic tables, a couple of bomb container trucks arrived at the parking lot. The guys in the white coveralls began putting explosives in each of the big armored trucks. They had emptied all of the backpacks of explosives and detonators and had consolidated them into boxes to stack easily.
The three of us walked over to watch and observe, then were asked to move the bus back to the pavilion area so it could be loaded with prisoners. Two buses were going to be used for prisoners, along with the three Suburbans. Each bus was going to have eight guards and each Suburban would have four men. It was going to be a long drive, so the Secret Service had sent some professional bus drivers to take the wheel.
All of the prisoners were given a chance to go to the restroom and were now chained with waist and ankle restraints. After a small snack and a cup of water, the prisoners were chained into their seats and secured. The guards got on the buses and the other men got into the Suburbans. The bus carrying the dead brought up the tail, as it was going into Seattle to get rid of its grisly load.
John came over to us and said, "Come on, we can take a helicopter back to Seattle. The rest of this cleanup is being handled, so we're out of here. Come on, I want to go home."
Our helicopter was loading when I noticed someone I knew in the cockpit. I banged on the window and waved. Mouse grinned and waved back. He opened the door and asked, "Want to fly this thing back to Seattle?"
"Naw, you do a good job. I'm going to relax for a few minutes." I remembered something and asked John, "Where are my rifles?"
John nodded and pointed at another helicopter that he had come in on. I ran over to it and found my two field cases with the rifles in them. I pulled them out and went back to our helicopter and climbed on. Lisa smiled at me and asked, "Didn't want to forget your toys, did you?"
We flew back to Seattle fairly fast, landing at the airport in front of the hangar where the Citation was parked. I waved at Mouse as he took off again, to go back to the busy parking lot out at the park.
We walked back to the Citation and had to display our IDs to the guards there. We stashed our packs and weapons before I asked everyone. "We can find a clean bed and get some sleep or maybe grab a shower and head back now. What does everyone want to do? I'm in favor of getting cleaned up and sleeping a few hours, then flying back. We'll fly through to Andrews so John can get home, so it will be a long flight."
Even John was nodding in agreement. He said, "No sense in killing ourselves by being too tired. Let's relax, clean up, have a nice dinner, and fly home early in the morning. I'm sure our bodies are still on east coast time, so we can leave here at three or four local time.
It was six PM now, so if we showered and ate, we should be able to be asleep by eight at the latest. That would give us six solid hours of sleep before we had to get up. We all grabbed our duffel bags and walked out to hunt up transportation to the nearest hotel with a restaurant.
As soon as I turned my cell phone on, I saw that I had a dozen messages. I would listen to them when we got to a room. A Secret Service agent found us and took us to a nearby hotel. He gave us a number to call to get back to the plane in the morning. He said for us to register by using our service numbers so our bills would be taken care of.
I let John and Nightfox register first, then registered for Lisa and me. No way was I passing up the opportunity to snuggle with my soul-mate. We went up to our rooms with the intention of meeting to eat in a half-hour.
Lisa and I were immediately in a clutch, kissing each other, thinking we might have time for a quickie. I suggested, "Let's clean up, eat, and get back up here, then we can enjoy each other for a while. If we wanted rest we should probably have gotten separate rooms."
Lisa said, "Don't even think about it. I haven't been able to hardly touch you for a couple of days and I'm not passing up this opportunity to have you alone."
We did take a quick shower and dressed in civilian type clothing. We met John and Sam downstairs and enjoyed the biggest steaks they had. John had several drinks, but Nightfox and I didn't. Sam doesn't really drink, and I shouldn't if I was going to fly. Lisa doesn't drink much and didn't get a drink either.
When we finished eating, I said, "I want to meet you guys down here at three local time. If we leave here at four local or seven eastern, we can get back home before real late in the afternoon. Sleep well, Guys."
The last of this was said as we got off the elevator. Lisa's and my room was between John's and Sam's rooms. They didn't even blink as the two of us went into the same door. They both knew our situation.
Lisa and I had some serious loving for well over an hour. Both of us had multiple peaks that left few, if any dry spots, on the bedclothes. It didn't make any difference as we both fell into an exhausted sleep.
The phone woke me and I picked it up and heard the recorded wakeup message. The clock said, two forty-five. Lisa sat up on the other side of the bed and headed to the bathroom. I hopped into the bathroom and as she got up from the toilet, I peed then joined her for a quick shower.
We were downstairs at a minute or so before three and greeted John and Sam as they exited the elevator. John said, "How about we pick up a sandwich on the way to the airport operations building and get going."
We all agreed and the Secret Service driver I had called was parking at the door. He drove us by an all-night Burger King where we bought a bunch of breakfast sandwiches, then out to the plane where we went through the ID thing with the guards. The others boarded the plane while I did my preflight inspection. I was happy to board and pull up the stairs, shutting and locking the door. In a few minutes, I was spooling up the engines, watching gauges and noting the big hangar doors opening to let me out. When all the gauges said go, I called in a flight plan then called for taxi and takeoff information.
At that hour of the morning you would have thought the place would be dead, but there was a line of aircraft waiting to take off. I guess they were all heading east and to get there to do anything of value, they had to takeoff early.
As we were climbing to our assigned altitude, I could see I was following a 747 that was on the exact same path I was on. When he didn't climb out of our assigned altitude I called control to ask about a change of altitude and the situation. They informed me there was no 747 in the area I was flying. I asked them to hold and nudged up closer to read the numbers. I gave air traffic control the numbers and they said it was impossible. I asked if they could see my squawk and they replied yes. I asked if they could see another aircraft near me and they said no.
I dropped back and identified myself with my security number so a supervisor would get on the radio. Meanwhile, the 747 was slowing and was now down to about four hundred knots. I advised control what was happening and the supervisor said they could not raise the aircraft with the numbers I had given.
A few seconds later, two Air National Guard F-16s were on each side of me. Over my secure channel, one of them said, "I'm going to take a look into the cockpit. Stay back here and drop down a couple hundred feet or so to stay out of the wash."
The fighter flew up parallel to the 747 cockpit and held at that location. He was trying to communicate with the aircraft, but there was no response. The second fighter went to the other side of the 747 and was flying with the aircraft when the big aircraft began lowering. It wasn't a dive but was heading down at about ten degrees.
One of the fighters said, "There're several people in the cockpit. It looks like a fight is going on in there. Oh man, someone just fired a shot and it opened a hole in the side window of the cockpit."
All of a sudden a voice came over the radio, "This is Northwest 6477 declaring an emergency. At least two of my crew are dead and two or three hijackers have perished as well. We have a hole in our right cockpit window, but it appears to be holding. Request permission to descend to ten thousand feet and I will be traveling at about two hundred knots."
The big aircraft began descending and I followed it down.
Air traffic control (ATC) confirmed what the 747 had requested and acknowledged the emergency. The 747 then requested the nearest field that could handle the aircraft. They were given Salt Lake City and were given a heading with a straight in clearance.
I called ATC and asked if they need me to follow the aircraft in and they advised, "There will be a welcoming committee on the ground for the aircraft. You shouldn't be needed. Thank you for advising us. Citation X-ray 4440, are you going to resume your flight plan?"
"This is Citation X-ray 4440, we will resume our flight plan at flight level 440. We are climbing now."
I punched up the flight management computer again to make sure of the altitude and direction, then sat back. Sam came forward and said, "Don't you get enough excitement on the ground? Do you have to find shit when you're flying too?"
"Hey, I didn't do anything but report a problem. You saw and heard what was going on. We were perfectly safe. I just wanted to help if we were needed."
Sam said, "I'll get you some coffee. It's been done, but I didn't want to bother you. I'll bring you two a couple of sandwiches too."
There wasn't much of a tailwind, but there was some. The fast little plane got us all the way to Andrews in record time. As soon as we landed, a fuel truck and a big Buick met us in front of the Secret Service operations building. As John got off the plane, the Marshal got out of the Buick and came to shake our hands. The man said, "Heard you all did a good job out there. Sure glad to have the A team on this one. I don't think the Director knows much about it yet, so you guys keep this under your hats for right now. None of you need to write any reports. There will be enough reports written to take care of anything you would have to say. Anyway, good job."
John was pulling the Marshal toward the Buick and bending his ear the whole way. The Marshal waved at us and pulled away. Sam said, "I think John is not going to go with us any longer. I think he's reached the end of his time in the field."
I nodded in agreement, and Lisa looked at me sternly. I thought to myself
'What did I do?'
When the aircraft was fueled, I updated my flight plan to head for home then was directed to the runway. We were soon at our altitude, cruising toward home. Lisa said, "Why didn't you talk to him? You know, get into his head. I did and told him to settle down. I kept telling him to relax, but he kept repeating that he didn't want to be that afraid like that ever again. I didn't think it was that bad, did you?"
"That blast was scary, Lisa. The force of it was over the top as far as I was concerned. All of us were lucky we weren't hurt or killed. The whole group of us was lucky. Our advantage was we knew they had explosives and we knew what could happen when I was firing. It happened and you experienced one hell of a blast. If that bus had gone off on us today, we wouldn't need the Citation to fly. We would have our own wings if we were lucky."
Lisa said, "Yeah, I know it was dangerous, but I can tell you it isn't as scary as having your aircraft shot out from under you. That's scary. I was in control though, and did everything I had been trained to do. Just like this gig, we did everything we were trained to do."
I grinned at Lisa and said, "Speaking of gigs, what's going on with Pops and Rags?"
Lisa smacked her forehead and said, "Oh yeah, I keep forgetting to tell you. Steve's guy that manages the restaurant and dinner theater had enough space next to him to create "Peachtree Blues and Jazz." The place just opened without advertising so the guys can get used to it. They decorated it similar to what their old bars used to look like. Pops even found an old upright grand that's in great condition. Rags is promoting an open house for musicians on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, and is having a jam session for all musicians interested in blues and jazz. On Friday and Saturday, he's hiring groups for entertainment and then on Sunday afternoons there is another open jam session for any kind of music. Small groups can come in and get some exposure. Single musicians can do something solo if they want."
"Wow, that sounds like fun. Have you sat in yet?"
Lisa grinned, "Sure did and even took Bonita with me one night. Kathy came along to watch and we had a great time. We only played a set, but Bonita was thrilled. The audience thought it was a hoot to have that little girl playing so well. Pops is in love with her and wants to teach her to play only blues and jazz. Rags is equally as infatuated, and says the kid is going to be just like me. You can imagine that Bonita is really happy."
"I'll have to make sure I get a chance to go there. What day is it anyway?"
Lisa said, "Let's see we left on Sunday, got into the field immediately then and wound up doing everything Monday. Today should be Tuesday, unless I'm way off. It seems as if too much happened to only be Tuesday."
I said, "I know. Hopefully, I don't have anything else. My phone has a bunch of messages, but I didn't take time to get them off. I could use a day or two off anyway. This bird is about to need some maintenance too."
When we taxied to the hangar where the Citation is housed, I noticed a lot of cars out in front of the charter office. After shutting down and opening the door, we were rushed by Mercy, Kathy, Sue, Brandy, and Tiani. They all grabbed us and were hugging us as if we hadn't been home in years.
Steve, Mark, Gene, and Wes walked out and they all stuck their hands out to us. Steve said, "You two are heroes again. It's all over the news. You interrupted an airplane hijacking and the passengers over-powered the hijackers. The hijackers got so nervous while you were trailing them the passengers were able to take them. Some crew were killed and a couple of hijackers were killed too. They all credit you for saving them."
Lisa and I looked at each other thinking, "Whew," glad they don't know what we really did the last couple of days.
I said, "We actually didn't do anything except report an aircraft in our airspace. When we asked about it, some interceptor aircraft came up and that's probably who distracted the hijackers."
Gene said, "It doesn't make any difference. You were the ones to alert the authorities. You thought enough to call Air Traffic Control to find out what was going on. You did the smart thing to make sure the computers weren't screwed up again. Good job, Chuck."
Jimmy came strolling up and I told him, "I don't have any write-ups but you might want to consider the hundred hour stuff. I've been pushing this baby pretty hard."
Jimmy said, "Was going to suggest that. How about taking it offline for a couple of days and we'll do a thorough job on it? Besides, I need to test drive this thing a little. My dad wants to help me too while he's here visiting."
We all laughed at how obvious it was that Jimmy wanted the opportunity to fly the neat Citation.
I walked over to get my car and began loading the trunk. There were a lot of raised eyebrows and concerned looks as I pulled the two rifles in their field sleeves from the aircraft. We put all of our weapons into the trunk and I said, "I want to go put our stuff away, then I'll be over to the patio for a beer or drink or something. I think Lisa and I might go to the Jazz and Blues club tonight to play with whoever might be there. I'm getting rusty and we need the release."
There were nods of understanding all around and the three of us took off for the house.
As soon as we had unloaded our duffels and equipment into the house, we worked fast at the kitchen table to clean our weapons and put them all into our cases. While we were doing this, Nightfox was looking at Lisa and said, "Haven't seen a chick cleaning a weapon for a long time. We didn't have too many around with the group I was in. You handled yourself well yesterday and were very accurate. You must be getting some practice the way you were shooting."
Lisa smiled, "I go to a gun store the girls told me about. The guy has a unique firing range where I can use the rifle. I like to fire my handgun, which is a lot of fun. I've even gone to the range at the federal building with Jan. They have one hell of a range there."
Sam said, "Yeah, they sure do. I've been there and used the range. Chuck and Jan set records there for speed and accuracy."
"I heard about that from Cap, the range guy," Lisa said, while finishing up her rifle. "He wanted Jan and me to compete, but I'm no match for her. I learned to use a handgun slow and deliberate. My instructor had me counting in a rhythm all the time. Cap said that Chuck teaches a little like that."'
I said, "It's whatever works for you. The most important thing to remember when shooting is be accurate, make every round count."
Both Lisa and Sam nodded in agreement as they finished the weapons cleaning.
Nightfox left to wash up and Lisa and I went to the bedroom to use the big bathroom there. As I was entering the bathroom area, Lisa was coming from her room and closet area. It's always fun to hug a naked lady. We hugged with the usual results, but wanted to get over to the patio quickly for the camaraderie that was waiting for us.
We took a small cart to the patio and joined a growing group that was arriving. It almost seemed like a welcome home party. Nightfox was walking in the door with Maria and her kids. The ladies of our house again swarmed Lisa and me. We were able to hug all our lovers and pet the growing bellies of the three pregnant ones. When that settled down, we got a lot of hugs from all the kids, especially Bonita, then Steve's ladies gave us a welcome home hug.
As Lisa and I were trying to move toward the bar to get a drink, I made the comment, "Man, everyone is really huggy tonight. You would think we had been gone for weeks."
Mercy was still with us and said, "You two were sending out a lot of fear these last couple of days. I could feel both of you were anxious about doing whatever you were doing. Both of you were even startled at the same time by something. I don't know what you were doing, but I could tell it wasn't fun."
I looked at Lisa and said, "We're going to have to learn how to cloak our brains a little better. This babe is too perceptive."
Mercy said, "Not just me, mom called me, telling me she was feeling you constantly. She said you wouldn't let her in, but she felt your emotions."
I was fixing Lisa a Cuba Libre and myself a Beefeaters when Sue and Kathy brought a couple of trays of snacks out to the bar. Lisa and I reached for chunks of cheese at the same time.
Steve was watching us and said, "Mercy has been a wreck while you were gone this time. She was concerned over what was happening with you and Lisa. Does this mean I've lost one more of my important pilots and instructors?"
Lisa said, "No way, Steve. I'm doing what I enjoy by flying and teaching. This other thing is just a part time thing that I do. My duties with that have sort of changed and I may now have to go out in the field sometimes."
I looked at Steve and made a head shake motion to give him a hint that the subject was not a good one. He nodded and smiled at me in understanding. I was raising my glass to have my first taste of Beefeaters when my cell phone rang.
Primary editing by Pepere
Proofing by Sagacious
Additional Helicopter Knowledge by Rotorhead
Last one through – Deenara2000