“I met a woman on the way to a mission,” Ace began. Tex chuckled on the other end of the line.
“That sounds like a good thing, Ace. What do you need me for?” Tex inquired. “You need some advice in the love department?”
“No, not exactly. She seems to have some kind of death wish or something. I was hoping you could dig into her past and see if anything significant comes up,” Ace answered. He went on to recap his conversation with Daisy. “I know I’m asking a lot. It’s an invasion of her privacy. It’s not like she is missing or is a terrorist, but she intentionally volunteers to go into the field, the front lines. I need to know why,” Ace sighed before continuing. “She’s a surgeon for the Navy, but will volunteer to go into the field despite how dangerous it is. I can’t believe it is just because she wants to help the wounded. There is more, I just know it.”
“Ace, I think you need to talk with her. Give her a chance to open up to you about her past,” Tex told him. “You know I’m always glad to help, but I don’t think it is the right thing to do at this point. She will resent you for invading her privacy. Let her tell you about it when she is ready,” Tex concluded. Ace knew Tex was right. He needed to do this the right way and not ruin something before it even started.
“Is it too much to ask if you can verify her military career?” Ace inquired.
“No, I don’t think it will hurt to check the facts,” Tex replied. “Give me what you’ve got.”
Ace related all the information he had on the mysterious Dr. Daisy Robertson. Tex went to work looking in to her military career. A few days later he sent Ace a file with the information he had uncovered. Ace was horrified to learn about her military career, namely the injuries she had sustained in the line of duty. She had been declared MIA on three different occasions, and had been hospitalized four times for injuries sustained in the line of duty. After learning all these things about her past, he became even more determined to make a connection to her so he could save her from certain death. He was honestly surprised she hadn’t been killed already.
Chapter 5
Daisy stayed busy over the next four months. Unfortunately for the men and women serving in Afghanistan, there had been plenty of work for her. She continued to suffer from nightmares several times a week. It was so frustrating. They didn’t usually last this long. She really wished whatever was going to happen would hurry up and happen. The anticipation was killing her. She had been on several helicopter flights into the field, but all had been uneventful for the most part. She had finally decided that it wasn’t a premonition this time. It was just her mind messing with her.
A bright note in her life of death and carnage, were the messages from Ace. He had emailed her every day for two weeks even though she didn’t respond. Finally, he had worn her down and she had replied his email. It was really only to chastise him for his persistence, but it soon became an obsession for her. She looked forward to hearing from him. They had begun chatting on social media, too. She would check her messages several times a day to see if he had written back again.
Ace had messaged her last night. It was short only to say he missed her and couldn’t wait for her to return to the States. She had immediately replied back.
How can you miss me? We only met briefly a couple of times. ~Daisy
I miss your snarky comments and the scowl that is constantly on your face when you are trying to get me to back off and leave you alone, but most I miss seeing you relaxed in slumber. You looked so beautiful when you were sleeping on the plane. I hope to see you that way again soon. ~Ace
Wow! You don’t mess-around do you? You just put it all right out there. ~Daisy
Daisy, I have told you from the beginning I am attracted to you. I want us to get to know one another and hopefully move past just being friends. I have loved chatting with you over email, but I am looking forward to more when you are back home. ~Ace
Hummm. I will have to ponder on that one. I told you I don’t do relationships. I don’t have the time and my vibrator can take care of any physical needs that might arise…pun intended. ~Daisy
Look sweetheart a vibrator cannot take care of you like I can. If you think a vibrator can take the place of my dick or my mouth you have not had sex with the right man. Plastic cannot replace the real thing. End of discussion. ~ Ace
Point taken. I will take it under consideration. I have to run. I need to make rounds. Talk to you soon? ~Daisy
Definitely. Be safe and come home soon. ~Ace
A knock at the door pulled Daisy back to reality from her musings.
“Enter,” Daisy called.
“Dr Robertson? There is an urgent call for medics near the border with Syria,” Ensign Bethany Stone said as she entered Daisy’s door. “Some soldiers have crash landed and have wounded. It’s unclear what caused them to crash. We are preparing a couple of Helios to go out and assess the situation. I just wanted you to know we may have wounded coming in soon.”
“I’ll go with them. The wounded will need urgent medical attention,” Daisy said as she jumped up from her bed and slipped on her boots. She grabbed her jump bag and followed the private out to the waiting chopper. “Be sure the staff are ready for our return. We may need to take some to the OR right away.”
“Yes, ma’am Dr. Robertson. I will make sure we are ready when you return,” Ensign Stone replied.
Daisy ducked her head to avoid the blades of the chopper as she ran to board the waiting bird. She mentally ran through a check list of supplies that might be needed. She needed to be prepared for whatever type of injury she might encounter. The bird lifted off and they headed out into the breaking dawn. The sky was beautiful this morning. It was lit with various shades of pinks, purples, and oranges against a back drop of a lovely shade of blue. Daisy thought about how pretty it was and wondered if the soldiers waiting for them to come to their aid were seeing the same magnificent sky she was seeing.
They arrived at the crash site in about 45 minutes. Smoke billowed into the clear morning sky. Life could be so ironic, such beauty in the face of such destruction. It reminded her of the morning of 9/11. The smoke rising from the towers against a backdrop of beautiful clear blue skies. The pilot circled the crash site a couple of times, looking for a good place to land and making sure there were no tangos in the area. Once on the ground, Daisy disembarked the chopper along with her protective detail. They crouch-ran from the chopper as they made their way to the downed craft where they found the crew and passengers of the downed craft.
“We are sure glad to see you guys.” a large soldier said as they approached the craft. “My name is Wolf. These are my team members, Abe, Cookie, Dude, Mozart, and Benny. We aren’t in need of medical attention, but the pilots could use some assistance. We didn’t want to move them until you guys got here.”
“Hello, I’m Dr. Robertson,” Daisy replied as she neared the men. “Let me get in there and see what we have.” Daisy moved toward the downed craft. It was laying on it’s right side. The smell of jet fuel was strong. Daisy looked around but doesn’t see any flames despite the smoke that was rising from the front of the craft. As she neared the wreckage, Dude and Benny came up to her. They knelt down and made a human ladder for her to climbed over into the open side door of downed aircraft.
When she entered the craft, she dropped down and crawled her way to the front of the craft. She immediate began to assess the men’s injuries. The pilot had a head injury and a broken femur. He was confused and talking out of his head. Daisy gave him a quick once over, but despite his injuries his vital signs were stable for the moment. He was stable enough to wait while she checked the other man.
Daisy moved to the co-pilot next and saw he was pinned in the craft by his legs. He was unresponsive. He appeared to have lost a significant amount of blood. His blood pressure was low, and pulse was weak and fast. He needed immediate extraction if he was going to survive.
