Clear and present danger - Tom Clancy [344]
"CAESAR, this is SNAKE, over."
The second refueling was accomplished within sight of the beach. They'd have to tank at least once more before heading back to Panama. The other alternative didn't seem especially likely at the moment. The good news was that Francie Montaigne was driving her Combat Talon with her usual aplomb, its four big propellers turning in a steady rhythm. Its radio operators were already talking to the surviving ground teams, taking that strain off the helicopter crew. For the first time in the mission, the air team was allowed to function as it had been trained. The MC-130E would coordinate the various pieces, coaching the Pave Low into the proper areas and away from possible threats in addition to keeping PJ's chopper filled up with gas.
In back, the ride had settled down. Ryan was up and walking around. Fear became boring after a while, and he even managed to use the Port-A-Pot without missing. The flight crew had accepted him at least as an approved interloper, and for some reason that meant a lot to him.
"Ryan, you hear me?" Johns asked.
Jack reached down to the mike button. "Yeah, Colonel."
"Your guy on the ground wants us to do something different."
"Like what?"
PJ told him. "It means another tanking, but otherwise we can hack it. Your call."
"You sure?"
"Special ops is what they pay us for."
"Okay, then. We want that bastard."
"Roger. Sergeant Zimmer, we'll be feet-dry in one minute. Systems check."
The flight engineer looked down his panel. "Roger that, PJ. Everything looks pretty solid to me, sir. Everything's green."
"Okay. First stop is Team OMEN. ETA is two-zero minutes. Ryan, you'd better grab hold of something. We're going to start nap-of-the-earth. I have to talk to our backup."
Jack didn't know what that meant. He found out as soon as they crossed the first range of coastal mountains. The Pave Low leapt up like a mad elevator, then the bottom dropped out as it cleared the summit. The helicopter was on computer-assisted-flight mode, taking a six-degree slope-it felt much worse than that-up and down the terrain features, and skimmed over the ground with bare feet of clearance. The aircraft was made to be safe, not comfortable. Ryan didn't feel much of either.
"First LZ in three minutes," Colonel Johns announced half an eternity later. "Let's go hot, Buck."
"Roger." Zimmer reached down on his console and flipped a toggle switch. "Switches hot. Guns are hot."
"Gunners, stand to. That means you, Ryan," PJ added.
"Thanks." Jack gasped without toggling his mike. He took position on the left side of the aircraft and hit the activation switch for the minigun, which started turning at once.
"ETA one minute," the copilot said. "I got a good strobe at eleven o'clock. Okay. OMEN, this is CAESAR, do you copy, over?"
Jack heard only one side of the conversation, but mentally thanked the flight crew for letting the guys in back know something.
"Roger, OMEN, say again your situation… Roger that, we're coming in. Good strobe light. Thirty seconds. Get ready in back," Captain Willis told Ryan and the rest. "Safe guns, safe guns."
Jack held his thumbs clear of the switch and elevated the minigun at the sky. The helicopter took a big nose-up attitude as it came down. It stopped and hovered a foot off the ground, not quite touching.
"Buck, tell the captain to come forward immediately."
"Roger, PJ." Behind him, Ryan heard Zimmer run aft, then, through the soles of his feet, felt the troops race aboard. He kept his eyes outboard, looking over the rotating barrels of his gun until the helicopter took off, and even then he trained the mini down at the ground.
"Well, that wasn't so bad, was it?" Colonel Johns observed as he brought the aircraft back to a southerly heading. "Hell, I don't even know why they pay us for this. Where's that ground-pounder?"
"Hooking him up now, sir," Zimmer replied. "Got 'em all aboard. All clean, no casualties."
"Captain… ?"
"Yes, Colonel?"
"We got a job for