Chapter 2-

Chapter 2

Complex Personalities

Somewhere In the Air, Above South America

Henry Barrow took a deep breath and let it out.  He hated to fly, he really hated it.  He looked around the copter’s cargo bay at the other members of this team. They all looked very relaxed, smiling and laughing.  Of course they were, they were all air force crew.

            Barrow’s mentor, Colonel Lennox, had once said to him that “If you wanted to take it easy, you should have joined the Air Force.”  The Air Force had all the toys and none of the guts.  Barrow had joined the army because he wanted to do the real work.

            He looked at the commander of the little team, an air force Major in his late thirties.  He wasn’t a career officer, that was obvious.  He had the air of a distracted college professor and was busy chatting to one of the younger officers.  Henry did notice the impeccable uniform and the shine from his belt buckles and shoes.  He was certainly “strack”.

“Don’t like to fly?” asked the man sat next to Barrow.  Barrow glanced to the side and said nothing.

“Don’t like to talk neither then Captain?” said the same voice.

“In the army, a senior non com would still address me as sir.” Said Barrow. “Then again in the army, you guys would have flunked out in basic wouldn’t you?”  The air force sergeant laughed, it was a genuine laugh and Barrow felt himself loosen up a little bit.

“You got me there Captain, sir.  I’d never have made it in the army.  But here in the Air Force I make the grade.  May even excel every now and again.  I’m Sergeant Wooderson sir.”

“Captain Henry Barrow, US army.”

“So you’re the army liaison on this op then?” asked the Sergeant.

“Don’t remind me” Said Barrow sourly.  It reminded him of the meeting with Colonel Adams and the orders.  He was indeed the army liaison but it was clear that the Air Force regarded carrying him as the extent of their courtesy.  He was merely there to observe.  Major Dalton had full command and Captain Barrow was just to observe and advise.

“Observe and advise, that’s my brief.”  Said Barrow.

“Good luck with that one Captain sir.” Said Wooderson.  “No disrespect Captain sir but you ever worked with Major Dalton before?”

“Nope.  Never worked on an op like this with Zoomies before.”

“Well he’ll listen to everyone who can play at his level, don’t matter the color of his uniform or the rank.  But he don’t like to play games.  If you don’t make sense to him, he’ll just ignore every word you say.”

“Thanks.  Thanks for that advice” Said Barrow.

“No sweat Captain sir.  “Wooderson chuckled to himself.

            Barrow adjusted the safety straps again and tried not to think about the altitude, the speed or anything like it.  It didn’t seem to help very much.  Barrow felt his head swimming a little bit.

“How long have you known the Major then?” asked Dalton.

“A few years I guess.” Said Wooderson.

“Is he a good man?  I assume he must be to get this command?”
“Yeah he a good man sir.  I mean, for an officer anyway.”

“I assume that was meant with all due respect?” asked Barrow.

“Well of course it was Captain sir.”

“Yeah I thought as much.  What’s your field then?  If you’ve done air frame investigation before?”

“Metallurgy, I’m an air force engineer sir.  I do a bit of logistics too though.” Said Wooderson with a smile.

“Metallurgy?  You got a degree in that?” asked Barrow.

“Yeah but only from community college in Mobile.  Nothing special.”

“You didn’t want to be an officer then?” asked Barrow.

“Nah, nah sir.  I decided that I’m a digger, not a dreamer.” Replied Wooderson.

“Maybe you should have joined the army after all.” Said Barrow.

“I’ll try to take that as a compliment Captain sir.” Said Wooderson.

            There was one female officer on the helicopter.  Barrow noticed her early on.  She had a fresh face and short auburn hair.  “Perhaps the air force isn’t all bad” he thought to himself.  He got up to go and talk to her but was intercepted en-route.

“Probably shouldn’t move around during the flight Captain.” Said the other man.

“I don’t think we’ve met Captain.” Said Barrow back, trying to keep things light.

“No, we’ve not.  I’m Captain Dietz, Air Force.”

“Captain Henry Barrow, US Army.”

“I can tell you are from the army Captain.  It’s fairly obvious. But don’t worry, we’ve been moving you guys around for fifty years.”

“Lucky you’ve got us to do the fighting for you.” Said Barrow.  Dietz smiled and Barrow felt himself relax a little bit.  The two officers sat back down.

“The op is a strange one Captain.  Do you think that’s why the air force got preference over the army?” asked Dietz.  Barrow bit his lip for a second, an involuntary tell.

“I don’t know why the call was made.  I just know that those are, or were, army personnel on that plane.”

“Did you know any of them?” asked Dietz

“No, it’s a big army.” Replied Barrow.  He wondered what it was about the other branches of service that made them think that all army personnel knew each other.

“Well, we’ve got the ball now, that’s you included.”

“I hear that the Major doesn’t suffer fools.” Said Barrow.  Dietz’s expression changed almost imperceptibly.

“No, no he doesn’t.  But if you’re not a fool then you needn’t worry.” Replied Dietz.

“He’s a friend of yours?” asked Barrow, putting the pieces together.  They were probably of an age, more or less.  Yes of course they were friends.  Barrow cursed himself for his lack of tact.

“Yes he is.  We’ve worked together many times before.  If you’ve got a working brain and mouth and understand which to use and when, you’ll be fine.  The color of your uniform wont interest the Major.  Just the shade of your intellect.”

“I’ll be able to manage.” Said Barrow.

“I don’t doubt it.” Replied Dietz.

            A little later and they were discussing the operation, what the likely cause of the plane crash was, the likelihood of their being survivors and what they might be required to do. They also briefly discussed what the secret cargo might be.

“There’s no real sense in speculation” Said Dietz.  “We’ve got a job to do.  We’ll find out what this cargo is soon enough when we get there.”

“We might not.” Said Lt Chung.

“Why not?” asked Barrow, curious about the other young officer.

“A lot can happen to enescorted cargo once a plane has gone down.” Said Chung

“True but I doubt anyone will have been able to get up the mountain before us.”
“Unless they were already there.” Said Chung

“A suspicious mind”  noted Dietz.

“Yes indeed.  So you think the plane may have been brought down and the cargo stolen?”

“It’s a possibility” replied Chung, looking pleased with himself.

“In which case we’ll be required to try and recover it.” Said Barrow.

“You ever done a covert rescue operation?” asked Dietz.

Chung looked worried. “No sir.  I don’t know.”
“Well some on the job training might be coming up then.” Said Barrow, smiling.

“We’re not really equipped for that.” Said Chung, his tone much boyish than before.

“Aw Lieutenant, don’t worry.  We’ve got you covered.” Said one of the NCO’s.

Chung looked around at the wry smiles and then smiled and shook his head.

The kid can take a joke, thought Barrow.  There’s hope for him for sure.  He looked over at Major Dalton and read a stony expression.  But maybe he cant, thought Barrow.

Barrow had now spoken to all of the officers aboard, even the flyboy pilot Captain Ostrow and his strange, quiet co-pilot Wharton.

            The female officer had turned out to be a greener than grass Lieutenant, Hannah McPherson.  She’d seemed very nervous indeed and yet he figured she was a smart girl. The air force, to give its due, generally got the smart ones.

            There was a series of heavy bumps and Barrow looked around wildly.

“Dontcha worry none Captain.” Said another NCO, Sergeant Harrison.  “This bird’s just refueling.  It was a long flight!”

Barrow looked out the window and saw the copter was indeed refueling from a transport plane.  He shook his head and sat down.

“Air force has the coolest toys right?” Said Harrison.

“Yes it does.” Replied Barrow and then lapsed into nervous silence.

            A little later, another series of bumps and the chopper began it’s descent.  Major Dalton stood up at this point and took a microphone down from an overhead.

“Team, I’m Major Peter Dalton for those of you who don’t know me.  We’ve got a downed cargo bird.  Our job is to recover what we can from the crash site and then see if we cant figure out what caused her to go down.

            The brass says this is important and a secret, so no writing home about this one.  But if we all do our jobs properly, we’ll be out of there as soon as possible and have some vacation time coming to us when we get home.  Questions?”

“What are the odds of this being terrorist related?” asked Chung.

“Low but not out of the question.” Replied Dalton.

“So no action then?” asked Barrow.

“The odds are slim indeed.” Replied Dalton.