A Soldier Finds His Way (11 page)

“Hank, you’ll go up with the little one. Edward, you’ll go up with Miss Audra. I’ll go last.”

Audra raised a hand. “Stop. Whoa. Back up the apple cart. What do you mean by go up?”

Edward explained the process of being hoisted up into the helicopter.

“No. Absolutely not. Do you see wings on my back? Do you see any feathers on me? No!”

“Maybe we can give her the sedative instead.” Hank laughed.

“Hank, stop it. She’s upset, but she’ll be okay.” Edward turned to Audra. “I’ll be with you all the way. You’ll be fine. It’s not a big deal. We’ve done this maneuver a lot of times.”

“Not with me you haven’t.”

“Look, Zoe isn’t afraid, are you Zoe?”

Zoe lifted her chin and shook her head.

Audra stomped her foot. “That’s because she’s oblivious to what you want to do to her.”

Marcus pulled coats, hats, scarves and boots from his bag. “These things are compliments of Jackson’s little girl. She’s almost nine years old, but they’ll do. And this stuff is from Greco’s wife for Audra.” He pulled the rest of the winter gear from the bag.

“Lucky for us there were several local search and rescue helicopters gearing up alongside us at Stewart Airport. I spoke with the guys from one of the groups. They said they were glad to have us help out. One of them pointed out the Special Forces patch on our uniforms and asked if we were rescuing the President.” Marcus chuckled. “Anyway, when I told him there was a child involved in our rescue, they offered a small harness for her. Remind me to give it to a member of the ground crew when we return.” He pulled it out of the bag.

Audra’s eyes widened at the sight of the harness. Color drained from her face, and she clutched her stomach as if she was going to be sick.

Edward moved to her side. “Take it easy. Everything’ll be okay.”

“Miss Audra,” Marcus said. “Your parents and Zoe’s have been notified. It might ease your mind to know we’re dropping you and Zoe off in a field right by your house. Your father was so excited he had the field cleared of snow for our arrival. Zoe,” he looked down at her, “your mom and dad are excited about seeing you.”

Hank smiled big and gave Zoe’s hair a little yank. “Looks like you and Audra are going to have quite the welcome-home party.”

“Yay.” Zoe squealed a little laugh. “Can we leave now?”

“We’ll leave soon enough, Zoe,” Edward said. “Anything else, Marcus?”

“It’ll be a short flight. The weather looks good for it, too. We had an alternate drop-off plan, if I’d found that Audra’s injuries required hospitalization. But I feel she can go home and see her regular doctor, who can x-ray that arm and check her out.”

Marcus patted Edward’s back. “I’m afraid we’ll have to leave on the mission right after the drop off. I know this makes for abrupt good-byes, but it’s the best we could do under the circumstances, LT.”

Audra’s hard, fast breathing caught Marcus’s attention again. “Ma’am, take slow, purposeful breaths. Try to control your breathing or you’ll hyperventilate.”

Edward pulled Marcus aside. “Don’t you have anything to give her to calm her down?”

“Unfortunately, I don’t. I couldn’t administer anything to her anyway. She’s a civilian. I’d need her doctor’s approval to give her something even if I had it.”

“Okay. She’ll be fine. How much time do we have?”

Marcus looked at his watch. “About fifteen minutes until flyby.”

Hank lifted Zoe onto the kitchen counter and began putting on her socks and boots. “These are a little too big. Let’s stuff the toes with something.” He crumpled some paper towels and shoved them into the boots. “How’s that feel?”

She nodded. “Good.”

Edward made a three-sixty turn. Audra had disappeared. He pushed the curtain aside.

Audra sat on the bed trembling.

He squatted before her. “Audra, look at me.” Taking her chin in his hand, he forced her to look him in the eye. “Everything will be all right, you’ll see. I’ll be right beside you every minute of the way until—” He steeled himself. Now wasn’t the time to let emotions overtake him. “Trust me one last time.”

A nod of assent preceded an explosion of tears. “I’m scared, Edward.”

“I know you are, but this is what I want you to do. I want you to take a few controlled breaths, in through the nose, out through the mouth, then look at me and say, Edward, I trust you. Do it.”

At first her breaths came in short gasps, but she followed his instructions. She breathed in through her nose, and exhaled through rounded lips.

Edward took her hand and held it between his. “Say it.”

“Edward, I trust you.” She continued to cry, but not as hard as before.

“Say it again.”

In through the nose, out through the mouth, she practiced once more. “Edward, I trust you.”

He dried her tears with his thumbs and cupped her face in his hands. “That’s right. Let your trust in me stomp all over your fear. That’s how you control it.” He tried to make his smile as warm and friendly as he could. “Now, let’s get you ready to go, okay?”

Audra nodded.

Edward took her hand and led her back into the kitchen.

The chopper approached and the radio came to life. “Greco to Weatherly. Come in. Over.”

Marcus picked it up. “Go ahead, Greco. I copy. Over.”

“How’s it going down there? Over.”

“Green light. I repeat. Green light. Over.”

“Understood. Green light. Over.”

“That is correct. Over.”

The sound of the chopper faded into the distance.

Edward grabbed his coat. “Let’s gear up.”

* * * *

“Hank,” Edward said, “why don’t you take point? You’ll be cutting somewhat of a trail for the rest of us.”

He dropped a hand onto Zoe’s shoulder. “Zoe. I want you to fall in behind Hank so I can keep an eye on you. You got that?”

She gave an energetic nod.

He smiled. “Excited?”

She nodded more.

“Audra, you’ll be with me. Marcus will bring up the rear. Let’s go.” He opened the door and they filed out into the cold.

Hank led the way, and Zoe followed.

Edward stayed close to Audra.

Marcus’s footfalls crunched behind.

Cricket yipped and pranced, and ran from the front of the hikers to the rear and back over and over.

Audra stumbled and fell to a knee with a groan.

Edward helped her up. “Go at a pace that’s comfortable for you. We’ll take a few breaks along the way. If you get too tired, or if it becomes painful, I’ll carry you.”

She nodded. “Okay.”

They trudged onward.

“I see the river. And the crate,” Hank shouted.

“We made good time,” Marcus said. “We’ve got about ten minutes before the bird arrives.”

Hank gave Cricket the sedative and locked her in the box. She whined for a few minutes and settled down.

The men wasted no time in putting on their harnesses. Hank rigged the small one on Zoe. Edward put his harness on and arranged Audra’s for easy donning.

“I can’t.” She backed up and shook her head.

“Audra, if there was another way, I’d do it, but this is how it has to be. Relax.”

She trembled as if he’d said nothing. “I can’t do this, Edward. I just can’t.”

“Yes, you can. Trust me.” He put the harness on her and reached behind her to straighten the straps.

Audra’s body lurched in his arms. She gagged.

“Are you al—”

She vomited on his arm.

Marcus dropped his backpack, retrieved some wet wipes, and handed them to Audra. “Here, take these. I’ll see what else I have for you.” He found a few packages of square gauze and opened them for her.

She cleaned herself up and began cleaning Edward’s sleeve. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry,” she said, choking up.

“Hey, it happens. Don’t worry about it,” Edward said.

Marcus stuck an extra package of wet wipes in her coat pocket.

The chopper arrived and hovered over them, then lowered a line.

Marcus secured the carabineer to the crate and signaled for a lift. He held a tag line and kept the crate steady as it rose. A soldier at the door of the helicopter pulled the box into the body of the craft and lowered the line again.

Hank secured himself and Zoe to the line. She seemed to realize what was going on and let out a scream. He signaled and they began their ascent to the helicopter. Hank and Zoe disappeared inside the bird.

Audra trembled and tried to run away.

Edward held onto her.

The line came back down, and Marcus helped secure it to Edward and Audra’s harnesses. Marcus stood back and signaled for the lift.

Edward held Audra tight against him. “Put your arm around my neck. Don’t look down.”

She complied, though stiff and gripped with fear. While Zoe had screamed, Audra didn’t make a sound during the lift.

Edward and Audra fell to their knees on the floor inside the chopper.

“Welcome aboard, LT, ma’am,” Sergeant Dexter said.

Jackson unhooked them and guided Audra to a bench seat.

Edward shed his harness and helped get Audra’s off.

“She’s going to blow, sir.” Jackson pulled a small greasy bucket out from under a seat.

Audra threw up into the bucket.

“Well, ma’am,” Jackson said, “that makes you an honorary member of the unit. Don’t be embarrassed. It’s a rite of passage, isn’t it, guys?”

“That’s right,” Greco shouted over the noise of the rotors. “Welcome.”

Dexter gave Audra a wink.

Jackson handed headsets to each of the passengers so they could communicate with one another.

Marcus arrived on board and closed the door. The Black Hawk banked and began the journey to the drop off. Marcus checked on the girls. Zoe had calmed down, and Hank bragged about what a brave kid she was.

“But I screamed.” Zoe tossed up her hands.

Hank nudged her with an elbow. “So did I, didn’t you hear me?”

“No, you didn’t.”

“I did too, you were screaming a little louder, that’s all.” Hank looked at Jackson. “Didn’t you hear me scream?”

“Like a girl.” Jackson laughed.

Edward adjusted Audra’s headset and pointed. “This is Major Greco, Sergeant Dexter, and Corporal Jackson.”

Greco tipped his head in greeting.

Dexter opened a bottle of water and handed it to Audra. “Hi. This was rough on you, but you made it okay.”

Audra sipped the water. “Thank you, Sergeant. Am I going to have to be lowered from the helicopter when we get home? If so, please open the door and kick me out right now. I don’t think I can do that again.”

Dexter laughed. “No, ma’am. We’re going to set this bird down nice and easy and you’re going to walk out of here.”

Edward switched his and Audra’s headsets to an alternate channel. “There, now you and I can speak privately.”

“Well, you’ve seen me at my absolute worst.” Audra took another sip of water and wiped her mouth. “This has been quite an eventful few days. I’ve driven off a cliff, almost killed Zoe, had to be resuscitated twice, broke my arm, and was undressed and seen naked by a stranger.”

Edward restrained a smile. Only a woman would be embarrassed about a rescuer seeing her in the buff in a life-or-death situation.

Audra wiped a tear with her finger. “I’ve eaten strange food, thrown up on you, and was yanked up by a string into a helicopter where my grand finale was throwing up in a bucket and getting praised for it. I’ve got vomit in my hair and probably smell terrible. Look at me. I’m a complete mess.”

“You look good to me,” Edward said under his breath.

“What? What did you say?” She looked directly into his eyes.

“I said you look good to me. You always look good to me.”

With blushed cheeks, she turned and looked out the window for a moment, then looked at him again. “Edward?”

“Yes.”

“Can you stay a minute and meet my parents when we land?”

“I can’t. We’re already behind schedule because of the weather. We put down, deliver you and Zoe, and we leave. I have orders.” He tried not to make eye contact with her.

Sudden turbulence rocked the aircraft.

Audra gasped.

Edward took her hand. “It’s okay. Just a little bump.”

She leaned into his shoulder.

Audra’s mic picked up the sounds of her slightly accelerated breaths and fed them into his headset. Music to his ears. A delight, considering when they met she was pale and lifeless.

Zoe squealed and tapped Audra’s leg. “Look, Aunt Audra, there’s your house. I see Mom. There’s Grandpa.”

Audra sat taller and stared out.

Edward leaned toward the window. “That’s your house?”

“Yes.”

“It’s big.”

The pilot reached back and nudged Greco, then displayed five splayed fingers. “Five minutes.”

Greco gave him the thumbs up.

* * * *

The Black Hawk landed.

Audra’s face was poised for crying. Edward covered her hand with his.

Dexter opened the door and jumped out first.

Hank leapt to the ground and reached back for Zoe. He lifted her to the ground with care, and she ran across the field toward her waiting parents.

Dexter helped lift the crate to the ground and Hank dragged it a safe distance from the aircraft.

Hank returned and motioned with both hands for Audra to exit the chopper. “Audra, come on,” he shouted.

She swiveled in her seat. “Edward, please, please come with me.”

He pulled her into a tight embrace. “Good-bye, Audra. Go to your family. Run to them and don’t look back.”

Greco swatted Edward’s leg. “Let’s go, let’s go! Lieutenant, offload the civilian.”

Hank helped Audra to the ground with Edward lending a hand from inside the bird. Hank took her hand. “Keep your head down! Move quickly!” He trotted away, pulling Audra behind him.

Dexter waved and closed the door.

The chopper lifted and turned. Edward pressed his forehead to the window.

Audra’s family was running toward her, but Audra was on her knees, looking back at the chopper, crying.

The helicopter lifted, and the rotor wash sent violent, swirling particulates of snow, dirt, and dry grass into the air.

Audra covered her eyes as Hank used his body as a shield to protect her. As the chopper banked away and fell out of sight, he helped her to her feet. She fell into his arms, unable to stop crying. He held her tight and comforted her for a few moments until her parents scurried to her side.