Grace.
With a slight shake of my head, I pushed thoughts of her aside.
“You don’t think you can do it?” he asked, obviously noticing my gesture. “If not, you need to tell me right now. I can’t have you up in the air or on the mountain and panic.”
“No, sir. I’m ready. Completely ready.”
He looked relieved, looking over my shoulder, a moment of recognition settling in. “Axe. My office.”
My entire body tensed but I remained quiet, even as Axe piled in, ready to go where I wasn’t. “You boys know the drill. I can’t think of a better time than now for you two to start working together. For your benefit, Viper, since you were called late, missing the team meeting we just had, both planes are headed up, one team dropped on the summit. You guys are a part of that. The other will hit the west side. You’re going to work your way down, trying to keep it from going over the other side. We have several goals, the main one being the students at the university.”
“Wouldn’t they be automatically vacated?” I asked.
Axe snickered, which garnered him a dirty look. “They’ve been through this drill a half dozen times.”
“Then why the fear?”
The captain hesitated before answering. “There’s some indication the fire was purposely set.”
That’s the reason he wanted the campus checked for explosives. Could be the same guy. Fuck. I’d left Grace all alone.
“Shit,” Axe said. “Same asshole?”
“We don’t know and we can’t care. Alright, gentlemen. Viper, suit up. A short flight and no room for error. Be safe out there and maintain radio contact. This one could take a while.”
Axe was out the door first, obviously waiting for me. “You’re late.”
“Yeah? Well, at least I’m here to have your back.” I refused to waste any additional time arguing with the man. We weren’t going to be friends. That was fine, but at some point I might not be able to tolerate his bullshit. Today wasn’t the day to pick a fight.
“Let’s just hope so, Viper. Let’s see if you can work with the big boys.”
Christ. I was sick of his shit.
I rushed into the locker room, grabbing everything I’d need. In prison there’d been no luxury of decent equipment, no real budget for anything that mattered, including protective gear. Everything had been handed down from previous men. As I checked the contents of my bag as required by every jumper before every mission, I touched the fire-retardant blanket.
Something else we hadn’t been provided, two inmates losing their lives because of it.
No amount of complaining had done any good. I struggled into the fire-retardant suit, the rush of adrenaline exactly as I remembered. My thoughts turned briefly to Grace, but I had to walk away from my feelings and all concerns. If I didn’t, I would get myself or one of my team killed.
There was no place for lamenting. But I couldn’t help but grab my hatchet just in case. Not standard equipment, but I’d called it my good luck charm.
Time to head out.
There was no fanfare about boarding the plane. The cargo hold was exactly as I’d remembered from the days of jumping with the Army, which allowed me to feel more comfortable the first time I’d been on the plane. With the size of the Casa C-212, we carried a full load of twelve jumpers along with a spotter and the pilot.
Within a few minutes, I was strapped in, sitting across from Axe. He glared at me, studying my pack and the way I was dressed.
I noticed only one Beckett brother was on the flight. As I was reminded they’d lost a brother recently, I turned my attention to Axe. His brain was churning with whatever ugly thoughts were on his mind. Whatever.
The pilot began to roll down the airstrip and Rock stood up, using the VHF radio we all had attached to our suits.
“Buddy check!” Rock called out.
Axe begrudgingly turned to me, investigating my parachute pack and attachments before I did the same with him. The tension was thick, acidic, and threatening to go off at any moment.
“Alright, gentlemen, listen up. Welcome aboard flight six-six-six to hellfire. On board today to service your every pleasure is our pilot, John, the Bull Sampson making his inaugural flight. Let’s give him a Zullie welcome.” Rock was in his element, even rubbing his hands together.
I had no idea what that meant, learning quickly as everyone swirled their fists, wonking as several cheered. I didn’t raise my hand in celebration and why? Because Axe was obviously bothered by the new member. When he caught me looking at him, he shook his head, ignoring me altogether.
