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“I’ve heard that. But they were easier to find than you guys.”
“Boots on the ground missions must be cheaper to film than anything with aircraft. Though they retired the Kiowas. The studio could probably get one cheap,” Atkinson added.
“That won’t work since you can’t extract a Special Ops team in a Kiowa.”
“That’s for sure. Did the Navy letting them use their aircraft for ‘Maverick’ have anything to do with you getting green-lighted to observe us?” Bryson asked innocently.
“Not directly. I knew from previous attempts that it would be hard to research the Spec Ops angle, but this story required them to be from a top-tier unit. A fellow volunteer at the USO in Charlotte was a Green Beret, but he’s been out of the service for nearly thirty years. A lot has changed since then. I figured I’d have a better chance of encountering someone at the USO here who would invite me to a team barbecue so I can see how you guys interact with each other. I’ll even bring the barbeque.” She gave a cheesy smile despite her offer being for real.
“That’d be easier to arrange than getting this approved. So, how’d we get so lucky to have you here?” Bryson delivered a subtle smile along with his interrogation.
“I, uh, volunteered at the homecoming for the 82ndAirborne.”
“The 82ndAirborne?” Cruz scoffed.
“At the homecoming, I met a few wives, and one gave me her contact information. I also noticed a soldier I thought might be a First or Master Sergeant in the 82nd. I didn’t meet him that night, however, I did run into him at the grill on post after I finished tutoring a student a few weeks ago. I noticed his West Point ring while we talked and knew I was slightly off about his rank.”
“Yup,” someone said, and a few heads bobbed in agreement.
“So, Colonel Ayers . . .?Heset this up?” Bryson hadn’t made the connection.
“No, I met ColonelHolmstrom, and in talking about my volunteering with the USO and me moving here to do research for the series, Graham agreed to help me.” She left out everything in between.
“You didn’t know who he was?” Atkinson questioned her.
“I’m a little embarrassed to say I did not. I thought Colonel Thomsen was still in command.”
“They did keep that change of command rather quiet.” Bryson didn’t elaborate further. “The colonel must like your storyline to arrange for you to be out here.”
“Graham cleared it with General McKittrick. It was definitely a case of meeting the right person at the right time.”
“The colonel’s a busy man. If you need someone to look at the scripts or act out scenarios to make sure they work, I’d be happy to help. We hate it when they don’t even try to get things right.” Cruz leaned in as he spoke. “You know, adding a real-life Green Beret to the cast could give you that authenticity you’re looking for. Let me give you my contact information.”
“Dial it back a notch, Cruz. You just re-upped for another three years,” Bryson said.
Erin chuckled. “I’ll mention thatifthe series gets picked up.” Having these men interested enough to help could make all the difference. “We made it past the first stage, and they’ve ordered a pilot script, but that doesn’t guarantee anything since networks only order five to ten series each year, and the majority don’t last a full season.”
“And yet, they put out some crap programs and tons of reality shows,” Atkinson said.
“The only reason I even got my idea presented is that I have a former student working as an assistant for a studio exec. Being a female and over forty are two strikes against me. That’s why I need to nail this pilot episode and have at least a treatment, which is basically a synopsis, for the rest of the season.”
“It sounds like breaking into the business is tougher than what we do,” Bryson remarked. “And like you need to observe more than just today.”
“I would like to observe longer. Graham said that would be your call.” He could put her with another team, and it would benefit him to have more men see them together, though for her purposes, staying with the same team would help her get to know the men and develop her characters.
“We’ll see how this afternoon goes. Tomorrow, we’re supposed to do some jumps. That would be a lot of standing around on the ground bored unless you wanted to jump with us.” Bryson looked serious, but Erin didn’t buy that.
“I’d love to. But could I get earplugs if we do HALO jumps? I didn’t expect it to be so loud when I went skydiving before.”
“No way. You’ve jumped?” Bryson asked. “Jumping out of a plane is a hard pass for my fiancée.”
“It was research. However, doing a tandem jump isn’t the same as doing a free fall. And watching videos isn’t the same as doing an actual run-through in the shooting house.”
“Don’t be telling everybody you did that. The majority of research requests get denied. I’m surprised that one conversation with the colonel at the grill was enough to get you authorized.” The captain was clearly fishing for information.
“It took more than one conversation,” Erin admitted since he’d given her an opportunity to convince these men she and Graham were romantically involved.
ChapterEighteen
