happened?
The nerve agent was only supposed to be effective for a maximum of 48 hours.
Stacy had been fine two weeks ago when I’d first met her, and was fine when we
winched her up into the aircraft. The only thing that made sense was the
briefing I had received earlier in the day was wrong. How many of us were
about to become infected? I watched Gwen closely, but she just lay in a ball
on the deck sobbing. Mayo, who had had lots of contact with Stacy and was
covered in her blood looked completely freaked out but otherwise seemed fine.
I looked down at my blood stained hands and a little thrill of fear ran through
me. Something about bio-weapons has always terrified me. Probably because
it’s not something I can see and fight. Putting fears that I couldn’t do
anything about aside I grabbed one of the headsets and slipped it on my head.
As soon as the noise cancelling kicked in I could hear Mayo and Anderson
speaking. Not waiting to find out what they were discussing I cut in on the
conversation.
“Anderson, can you get me on the radio with flight ops at
Arnold?” I asked, lowering myself into a web sling seat and keeping my
distance from Gwen.
“Can do, Major. Stand by.”
The headset went silent for a few moments then Anderson’s
voice came back, “Major, go ahead for Arnold flight operations.”
“Arnold, Major Chase here. I need to speak to Major Masuka
immediately.”
“Wait one, Sir.” It was actually more than one, more like
five, before I heard Masuka’s voice in the headset.
“Major, I’m pretty busy right now. Can’t this wait until
you’re back?”
“Are we on private comms?” I asked.
There was silence for a moment then a hum and click. “We’re
private. What do you need?”
“We rescued two teenage girls. Both were healthy when we
got them into the aircraft, but one of them just turned right in front of me.
The intelligence that the nerve agent is no longer a threat seems to be
flawed.” I kept an eye on Gwen and Mayo both while I spoke. One surprise for
the day was enough.
“Repeat that,” she requested. From the tone of her voice I
could tell she had heard me just fine but wasn’t processing the bad news, so I
repeated myself.
After a few moments of silence she acknowledged she
understood.
“Find an Army Colonel named Crawford,” I said. “He’s either
still at Arnold or has recently left for Fort Campbell. He needs to know about
this ASAP. And I would suggest you get some armed MPs into flight ops right
away.”
“Understood,” was her only reply, then another click and she
was gone.
“How long to Arnold?” I asked Anderson over the intercom.
“Uh… 20 minutes, Major. You want me to step it up?”
I didn’t even hesitate, “Yes. Get us on the ground as fast
as you can.”
The noise and vibration increased as Anderson pushed the
Pave Hawk to its top speed. Gwen still hadn’t moved. Mayo had found a blood
borne pathogen response kit in a storage compartment and was washing as much
blood off his skin as he could with a large squeeze bottle of Hydrogen
Peroxide. He held it out towards me and I gratefully extended my hands. The
liquid bubbled when it hit the blood on my hands and I rubbed them together,
scrubbing as well as I could. When we were as clean as could be for the moment
he used the rest of the bottle to hose down the blood that was congealing on
the deck, but nothing short of a fire hose was going to get this helicopter
clean.
Twelve minutes later I felt our speed and altitude change
and looked out the door. We were over the outer perimeter of Arnold AFB and
Anderson was taking us straight in to the flight line we had departed from. A
couple of minutes later he flared only a dozen feet above the pavement and set
us on the ground with a barely perceptible thump, executing a textbook perfect
dust-out or combat landing. I’ve flown with a lot of Viet Nam era pilots
The nerve agent was only supposed to be effective for a maximum of 48 hours.
Stacy had been fine two weeks ago when I’d first met her, and was fine when we
winched her up into the aircraft. The only thing that made sense was the
briefing I had received earlier in the day was wrong. How many of us were
about to become infected? I watched Gwen closely, but she just lay in a ball
on the deck sobbing. Mayo, who had had lots of contact with Stacy and was
covered in her blood looked completely freaked out but otherwise seemed fine.
I looked down at my blood stained hands and a little thrill of fear ran through
me. Something about bio-weapons has always terrified me. Probably because
it’s not something I can see and fight. Putting fears that I couldn’t do
anything about aside I grabbed one of the headsets and slipped it on my head.
As soon as the noise cancelling kicked in I could hear Mayo and Anderson
speaking. Not waiting to find out what they were discussing I cut in on the
conversation.
“Anderson, can you get me on the radio with flight ops at
Arnold?” I asked, lowering myself into a web sling seat and keeping my
distance from Gwen.
“Can do, Major. Stand by.”
The headset went silent for a few moments then Anderson’s
voice came back, “Major, go ahead for Arnold flight operations.”
“Arnold, Major Chase here. I need to speak to Major Masuka
immediately.”
“Wait one, Sir.” It was actually more than one, more like
five, before I heard Masuka’s voice in the headset.
“Major, I’m pretty busy right now. Can’t this wait until
you’re back?”
“Are we on private comms?” I asked.
There was silence for a moment then a hum and click. “We’re
private. What do you need?”
“We rescued two teenage girls. Both were healthy when we
got them into the aircraft, but one of them just turned right in front of me.
The intelligence that the nerve agent is no longer a threat seems to be
flawed.” I kept an eye on Gwen and Mayo both while I spoke. One surprise for
the day was enough.
“Repeat that,” she requested. From the tone of her voice I
could tell she had heard me just fine but wasn’t processing the bad news, so I
repeated myself.
After a few moments of silence she acknowledged she
understood.
“Find an Army Colonel named Crawford,” I said. “He’s either
still at Arnold or has recently left for Fort Campbell. He needs to know about
this ASAP. And I would suggest you get some armed MPs into flight ops right
away.”
“Understood,” was her only reply, then another click and she
was gone.
“How long to Arnold?” I asked Anderson over the intercom.
“Uh… 20 minutes, Major. You want me to step it up?”
I didn’t even hesitate, “Yes. Get us on the ground as fast
as you can.”
The noise and vibration increased as Anderson pushed the
Pave Hawk to its top speed. Gwen still hadn’t moved. Mayo had found a blood
borne pathogen response kit in a storage compartment and was washing as much
blood off his skin as he could with a large squeeze bottle of Hydrogen
Peroxide. He held it out towards me and I gratefully extended my hands. The
liquid bubbled when it hit the blood on my hands and I rubbed them together,
scrubbing as well as I could. When we were as clean as could be for the moment
he used the rest of the bottle to hose down the blood that was congealing on
the deck, but nothing short of a fire hose was going to get this helicopter
clean.
Twelve minutes later I felt our speed and altitude change
and looked out the door. We were over the outer perimeter of Arnold AFB and
Anderson was taking us straight in to the flight line we had departed from. A
couple of minutes later he flared only a dozen feet above the pavement and set
us on the ground with a barely perceptible thump, executing a textbook perfect
dust-out or combat landing. I’ve flown with a lot of Viet Nam era pilots
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