Way of the Warrior (Troubleshooters #17.5)(96)

It played out, but she was no longer connected, no longer in control. She simply watched the chopper’s recorder play out the sequence of events.

The hit to engine one.

Kendall pulling the Fire Suppress T-handle at the same moment Dusty had.

She could have belly flopped into the rocks, killed most of her crew and possibly—she looked again at the rocks—probably walked away.

But her decision, the only real choice—at least for her—was to turn her own side of the chopper into the cliff wall and to keep her foot down on the right pedal to kick the tail and the rear cargo bay up into the air, over that deadly line of boulders. She did so again, not that it would change how the tape played out.

Again, she watched as the chopper nosed in and tumbled. Could feel the searing pain once again in her right leg. Could remember pushing and pushing against the pain as they rolled, even after there was no longer any pedal to push against or any foot to push with.

The video came to a stop. The chopper rocking once, twice, and then dying from the abuse.

Dusty must have pulled the recorder cartridge during the evac.

She’d never seen it before, hadn’t thought about it. The review board had exonerated her long before she was out of the drugs enough to care. She’d awoken to a Purple Heart and a Silver Star Medal for valor. She’d known why, she just didn’t know how anyone else knew. This probably meant her crew knew, and that’s why they stayed in such close touch. She’d saved their lives at such a cost to herself.

“It was the only choice.” Her voice was hoarse and scratchy as she confirmed what she’d always known.

“It was the damned bravest thing I’ve ever seen,” Jake Hamlin said gruffly from behind them. “An honor and a privilege, Captain. An honor and a privilege.” Once again, he left her alone with Kendall in the cockpit of the simulator.

Her heart was calm. The adrenaline comedown wasn’t bad as such things went.

“Hell of a risk there, Clark. Sending your girlfriend back on that flight.”

“Hell of a risk,” he agreed quietly, “to do that to the woman you love.” He’d said he loved her before, but never with that roughness of honesty she couldn’t deny.

“Why? I mean we had a good thing going. Why risk it? Trying to cure me of my nightmares?” And she did love him back. But that didn’t mean she could say it.

“No. Trying to cure you of your stupid-ass idea of leaving the service. Your heart would die without it. Look at how much you have to give. Just because you can’t fly combat, doesn’t mean you can’t train others to make those hard choices when they have to.”

She kept her silence. It was a big idea. A huge one, and it would take a bit of getting used to.

He filled the silence that she couldn’t. “I’ve been flying training missions in this box and through the Pacific Northwest for five years now. Maybe one in fifty could have done that maneuver even if they tried. Maybe one in a thousand would have made that choice. You saved your entire crew and all three casualties, Lois. Every one of them. You really are Superwoman, and you’ve got to know that’s worth teaching.”

Lois began shutting down the flight controls, resetting the simulator so that it was no longer a crashed chopper on a field of boulders half a world away.

Kendall was right. She was going to have to sit down with Clara and get her foot in the door with AW2, so to speak.

“You really love me enough to risk losing me? For my own good?”

“I do.”

Lois pulled off her helmet and rested it on the joystick of the cyclic, brushing at the scuffs and scratches across the Superwoman logo. She turned to look at Kendall for the first time since she’d entered the simulator. Saw that, as Superman always would, he spoke absolute truth.

“Of course, I had an ace in the hole.” His deep voice was a caress.

“What was that?”

He tapped her helmet. Not the logo, but the heavy block letters she’d had painted beneath it.

How could she help but be madly in love with a man who understood her better than she understood herself? Well, if he’d risk that much for her, she could do no less for him.

Lois now knew that Kendall deserved only one answer. An answer that she would give gladly, now and on the altar.

It was a promise to last them a lifetime.

“NSDQ.”

Order M.L. Buchman’s next book

in the Night Stalkers series

Bring on the Dusk

On sale now





This story is dedicated to “CNN Top 10 Hero of 2013” Dale Beatty and his battle buddy John Gallina. After volunteers built a home for double-amputee Dale, they cofounded Purple Heart Homes—a nonprofit organization that has built or remodeled dozens of homes for disabled veterans. More information at: www.purplehearthomesusa.org





ABOUT THE AUTHOR


M.L. Buchman has over thirty novels in print. His military romantic suspense books have been named among the “Top 5 of the Year” for Barnes & Noble and NPR and “Top 10 of the Year” for Booklist. In addition to romance, he also writes thrillers, fantasy, and science fiction.

In among his career as a corporate project manager, he has rebuilt and single-handed a fifty-foot sailboat, both flown and jumped out of airplanes, designed and built two houses, and bicycled solo around the world. He is now making his living as a full-time writer on the Oregon Coast with his beloved wife. He is constantly amazed at what you can do with a degree in geophysics. You may keep up with his writing by subscribing to his newsletter at www.mlbuchman.com.