Wyatt depressed the reset button and called the motel. He gave the girl on the desk the airport number and asked her to have Barr call him when he got in.
Sixteen minutes later, the phone rang and Wyatt waved off the airport guy, then picked up. He turned his back to the manager.
“What’s up, Andy? You don’t want me to call Jan?”
“Cliff’s in his room somewhere, Bucky, catching some Zs. Get him up, hit every motel room, and toss everyone’s clothes and baggage in the Jeeps, then get back here. Wait. Stop and settle up with Jorgenson on your way. Tip him big, huh?”
“Damn. What’s going on?”
“We’ve got an early go signal. And we’re going.”
Wyatt hung up and went back out to his Wagoneer. He had the engine running when he changed his mind and shut it off. Back in the airport office, he asked to use the phone again, then put the long-distance call on his special card.
“Aeroconsultants. This is Liz.”
“Hi, Liz. Is Jan around?”
“Hold on, Andy.”
After two minutes, she came on the line.
“Hello, Andy.”
“How’s it going?”
“Fine. It’s better with Gering and Harris back. We may catch up someday. I’ve landed a restoration job and another security contract.”
“Wonderful,” he said.
He was prodding himself, but just couldn’t reach over the edge. Come on, Wyatt!
“Is that all you wanted?” Kramer asked.
“Uh, one thing. Our schedule’s been moved up. We’re taking off this afternoon.”
A few moments of silence passed before she said, “I don’t like that. Last-minute changes mean mistakes.”
“We’ll be okay.”
“You haven’t completed your full training schedule, have you?”
“We’ve got enough of it,” he said.
“Uh huh, that’s crap. No good. This has been bad from the start.”
“It’s all right, Jan. What do you mean, ‘bad from the start?’”
“It’s a feeling.”
How did he deal with that?
“A few more days, and it’ll be over. Hang in there,” he said.
“I’ve got an offer. Full partner, upscale firm. Tell Bucky that I’m taking it.”
“I don’t want you to take it,” he said.
Long pause on her end.
“You don’t? Are you into suppressing the advancement of women, now?” she asked with a laugh, but the laugh sounded hollow.
“You know better than that.” He felt a little defensive, but didn’t think he needed to feel that way.
“Give me a better reason,” she said.
“I need you right where you are.”
“You do? You need me? And where is that?”
“With me. beside me.”
“Oh, damn you, Andy!”
“I mean it.”
“But you can’t say it?”
“You know me, hon. I’m not good with the words, but there’s no one else.” His own laugh sounded hollow. “Bucky said he was going to propose to you this morning, but I want to get my bid in first.”
“Jesus Christ! This is fodder for the afternoon soaps.”
“I don’t watch them.”
“Good damned thing.”
“I love you, Jan.”
“Finally, you ass! Oh, my God, I love you, too. More than you’ll ever know.”
“You’ll be there when I get back?”
“Yes.”
“Are you sure?”
“I don’t know how I’m going to break this to my father. We are getting married, aren’t we? I’m not sure I heard you mention the word.”
“We’re getting married.”
Her tone changed abruptly. “Don’t go.”
“Got to, hon.”
She sighed. “I know. Be very careful, Andy.”
For some reason, he felt a great deal better on the drive back to the hangar.
The C-130 transport was parked out on the apron, being used as a radio base station for the training flights. Wyatt pulled up next to it, got out, and went to lean inside the hatchway.
Winfield Potter was on the radio.
“Hey, Win!”
He shoved his headset back from his right ear and turned to Wyatt. “Yo, boss?”
“Call all the planes in and start fuelling them up.”
“No shit?”
“We’re on the way.”
Potter started calling aircraft.
Wyatt walked over to the hangar and found Demion and Kriswell debating some point.
“Okay, guys, we’re moving out.”
They both turned to him.
“We’ve got some kind of deadline to meet. I’ll give you the details later.”
“Well, hell,” Kriswell said, “I guess I’d just as soon be surprised as wait for another five or six days.” Demion held up his clipboard. “We’ve still got a stack of bugs to work on, Andy.”
“But nothing that would ground an airplane?”
“No.”
“Make up a schedule and hit the priority items any time we get a couple hours on the ground.”
“Got it.”
“We should have all planes on the ground in about fifteen minutes. I want a briefing with all pilots. Everyone else turns out to refuel and pre-flight aircraft. We want external tanks in place.”
“I’ll see to that,” Kriswell said.
Wyatt checked his watch. “It’s one-twenty now. Wheels up by three.”
The word spread fast through Demion and Kriswell, and Wyatt’s team shifted into action. They all seemed to know what to do, and the standard bickering turned into good-natured repartee.
It was times like these when Wyatt appreciated the people who worked for him. With him.
Kriswell and the ground personnel began fuelling operations from the tanker truck as well as loading the transport with tools, equipment, and spares still in the hangar. Castered pallets of oil, hydraulic fluid, and engine parts were nudged out to the lowered ramp of the Hercules with a tow tractor, then winched aboard. They were taking along one small tow tractor, miniature crane, and several ordnance carts. One pallet contained gear for quick encampment: tents, cots, sleeping bags, jerry cans of water, and Meals Ready to Eat (MREs).
Barr and Jordan arrived in two Jeeps and parked near the rear of the C-130. They had stripped the motel rooms without regard to filling suitcases.
Wyatt went out to meet them and helped carry the personal items aboard.
“You’re not much of a packer, Bucky.”
Barr dropped his load of clothing in a pile, and Jordan dumped his load on top.
“They’re going to have plenty of time in the air to sort it out,” Barr said.
“The Navy would never allow this kind of mess,” Jordan said.
“Yeah, but the Navy takes ten days to deploy,” Barr countered.
Wyatt went back to the first Jeep, grabbed a suitcase from the back, and tossed it to Barr, who heaved it on to Jordan in the cargo bay.
By the time they finished, Zimmerman had returned with the last F-4, and Wyatt called the pilots into one corner of the hangar.
Everyone was dripping sweat.
“I’m not going to miss this humidity,” Gettman said.
“Assignments,” Wyatt said.
They all had a pretty good idea of which seats they were getting, but Wyatt had not yet finalized them. Since equipment or personnel problems, or losses, might have forced changes, they had all been training in several different roles.
“I’m Yucca One,” Wyatt said. “Barr is Two, Hackley is Three, and Gettman is Four. Zimmerman and Jordan get Five and Six.”
“Damn,” Zimmerman said.
“Sorry, Dave, but you and Cliff have the most backseat experience. Those are the skills we’ll need from you.”
“And I get the Herc,” Demion said.
“Right, Jim. Your call sign will be Wizard.”
Dennis Maal, with his background in KC-135 Stratotankers, had always known he would fly the C-130F. “Do I get to come up with my own call sign?”