AllFreeNovel
Share Us
After running through all the checks, I caught Panther’s eye and gave a nod, then we climbed up into the cockpits and prepared for takeoff. As Panther was the lead on today’s mission, he taxied out ahead of me. When he moved into position, I drew to a stop behind him and waited. Seconds later he was hurtling down the runway at a breakneck pace, and my stomach dropped and my heart lodged somewhere in the back of my throat.
Okay, that was new, this feeling of total exhilaration coupled with terror as the nose of Panther’s F-A/18A Hornet lifted and he shot up into the great blue expanse above. I guess that was how you felt when you watched the man you love strap himself into a machine that would blast him into the sky. Excited, because you knew what a rush it was to be sitting in that cockpit, and deathly ill because you also knew how damn dangerous this shit was.
With Panther safe and clear, it was my turn now, and while I’d been nervous watching him, I felt none of that for myself. Instead, my adrenaline began to hum in anticipation of the rush I knew I’d get from takeoff.
I waited for the all-clear then gunned the engines and shot down the runway like a bat out of hell. Fuck me, this feeling never got old. I went straight up into the sky, then locked on to Panther’s coordinates and set out to find him.
The plan for today’s hop was to shake things up a little. Instead of coming in hard and fast, we were going to execute things a little differently. We’d been up against Gucci and Whiplash before, and if I knew my buddy, he’d be expecting my usual kind of take-no-prisoners flying. But today we were playing by Panther’s rules, and that bastard was a stealthy one.
As I pulled into formation, with Panther in the lead, the ten feet separating us felt like next to nothing out here in the never-ending stretch of forever.
I looked over to see him give a quick wave of acknowledgement, and then through the speaker in my helmet he said, “I’ve got you on my six. You ready?” and it took everything I had to be on my best behavior.
“I’m in position and got you in sight. Ready when you are.”
Panther gave a thumbs-up and then pulled ahead, banking to the left, and as I executed a turn to keep in position, the roar of the slipstream made the Hornet’s wings flex and the body of the jet shudder. Panther punched it into gear, until we were clocking some serious Gs, and as we tore through the clouds dotting the afternoon sky, I scanned every inch of blue I could see.
Come out, come out, wherever you are, I thought, as I searched for signs of Gucci and Whiplash, and like the universe decided to hear my call, the sunlight caught on something off to my right. Ahh, there you are.
“Bogey on your right,” I said into the comm, and I knew the second Panther spotted them because he leaned into that direction and began to dive low, implementing the plan we’d discussed back on base if all conditions were favorable—and they were.
I fell in beside him, and we found the cloud cover we were after and sped toward the unsuspecting duo above. The goal was to get in under them before they even realized we were there.
My senses were tingling now, as the high-risk portion of today’s hop was about to be initiated. Panther shot out from under Gucci’s tail and went straight up, and I followed suit, barely clearing Whiplash’s tail end as I began to climb toward the heavens.
The second they saw us was obvious—they broke formation, no doubt in an effort to try to see what the fuck was going on behind them. But it was too late now; we had them in our sights, and this hop was about to show who was more skilled at this one-on-one shit.
The skill set Levy wanted to witness in this final hop was of the highest caliber. He wanted to know that his pilots—the Elite pilots—knew how to handle themselves when up close and personal with the enemy. This kind of combat was all about geometry and piloting. It was about assessing the other pilot’s energy and willingness to go all the way. You had to watch and observe every maneuver they made, orient to what they were doing, then make a decision on what to do next. Once you’d done all of that, you had to maneuver yourself into position to counter it—all in a handful of seconds that could mean life or death.
This job wasn’t for the faint of heart. Panther and I topped out at our max altitude and then began the steep dive back to the two below, and the thrill of the chase kicked into high gear as I zeroed in on Whiplash and watched Panther pin Gucci.
