Wind River Protector

by Lindsay McKenna

  “I’ve not ridden horses very often, so I wouldn’t know.” He saw her give him an evil grin.

  “You never know, Mitchell. Maybe I can introduce you to the Wild West. You’re an Easterner.”

  “Guilty as charged.” He chuckled. “I like all animals, so it would be interesting to get to know a horse.”

  “It could be a lot of fun. And that’s what has been missing in my life. As a kid growing up here, my brothers and sister and I were mini wranglers. We all worked on the ranch to help out. I’ve missed that, too.”

  “I’m glad you came home,” he said, meaning it.

  “Would you have gone home to North Carolina if Pete hadn’t hired you out here?” she wondered.

  “I don’t know. I’ve always had this thing for the West. Maybe I read too many cowboy books as a boy growing up,” and he grinned bashfully, melting beneath her smile. She was attractive, but it was that inner charisma that was part of her that beckoned so strongly to him. Andy’s demeanor was a far cry from the pilot who got shot down in Afghanistan. They’d slept off and on during the daytime hours and moved at night, which was helped by their NVGs. And it was always under the threat of being captured, so they didn’t talk about their past, their personal lives or even where they had come from.

  Now? He had a chance to meet her all over again, and he warned himself to tread carefully. If Pete hired her, and Dev was sure he would, that made any thoughts he had about pursuing some kind of relationship with Andy a bad idea.

  Rubbing his chest, he wondered why Andy had interested him even four years ago. At that time, he was fully focused on getting them to survive their crashes. To get back to a place of relative safety. He’d wanted to know about her on a personal level, but it hadn’t happened.

  More than anything, he was fascinated by her and what she was like when they weren’t in dire straits and danger. Andy now was relaxed, the tension gone from her expression. She had an oval face with a strong chin and high cheekbones. She used her mouth to broadcast a lot of her feelings, and he liked that her lower lip was a bit fuller than her upper lip. It was her gray eyes that could go to a pewter color when she felt threatened to right now, a semitransparent gray with those big, black pupils that held an intensity in them. This was a woman whose mind clicked along at Mach 3 with her hair on fire. And being a combat pilot, Dev understood her mind was like a bear trap, a mental computer weighing, visualizing and seeing flight strategies before they had to be initiated. Many men would be threatened by her, but he wasn’t. Just the opposite: he was drawn to her, drawn to know her much better. His heart thumped in quiet joy over this unexpected meeting. He thought he’d never see Andy again. But here they were.

  Glancing at his watch, he saw it was almost seven a.m.

  “Our offices are located at the south end of the new regional airport building,” he said. “Did Jackie give you directions on how to get there?”

  “She did, bless her heart. I haven’t even been over there yet. My parents want to show me around before the grand opening on July Fourth.”

  “It’s a beautiful place, modern, with Wi-Fi and so much more. Very airy and light inside the main building.”

  “I’ll be over there for the interview,” she assured him.

  “And I’ll be waiting for the official sit-down with you. I’m sure it will go fine.”

  * * *

  Andy had changed her clothes in favor of navy-blue linen slacks, a white silk tee with a dark blue blazer and a bright red scarf around her neck, the ends hanging just inside the opened coat. She wore a set of pearl earrings her mother had given her on her fourteenth birthday, saying all young women should have a set of them. On her eighteenth birthday, her graduation gift was a double strand of white saltwater pearls. She didn’t wear those today but loved the warm feeling that came with the earrings.

  Choosing flat white leather shoes that were comfortable yet professional looking, she also wore the gold Rolex she’d been given to her by her Grandmother Martha and Grandfather James to celebrate her college graduation. It was a very expensive gift and she rarely wore it, but today was a good day to do so. Because she was going to go on to be a pilot, the Rolex they had bought for her had all the bells and whistles she could use while flying. She dearly loved her very rich grandparents who never seemed to care that she and her siblings were adopted. Their affection was steadfast, and her heart warmed with such love in return for them.

  She drove to the Nellie Tayloe Ross regional airport, which was getting its finishing touches for the July 4 opening. She liked that her parents had insisted that it be named after a Wyoming woman who was instrumental in the state’s growth. Nellie was the first woman to be elected by voters to be governor of the state. Maud was very proud to have a woman’s name on one of the major airports in the country. After all, the others were usually named after men, and her mother was a feminist of the first order. So was she.

  The airport was white, long and gracefully shaped into an “S,” the windows tinted almost a turquoise blue. Huge areas were already created with black asphalt, white parking lines marked on each rectangular area. Near the entrance, she saw the American flag flying next to the Wyoming one. What was nice was a recently created statue of Nellie that stood in an oval near the front entrance, bronze and gleaming in the sunlight. This was a donation from her Grandmother Martha, also a feminist. Grinning, Andy wondered if by some moment of kismet Maud and Steve had chosen her, not knowing just how much of a feminist she would grow up to become. Did genes somehow magically cross over to their adopted baby? She knew science would pooh-pooh such an idea. She had grown up with two terrific sets of grandparents. Steve’s parents lived in Wind River since they had retired and handed over the reins to her parents.

  For whatever reason, Andy wasn’t terribly stressed about this interview. She parked in the day parking lot near the south end of the long complex and walked in a double set of doors that swung open for her.

  Inside, there were workmen and women vacuuming, painting and polishing metal here and there. She liked the light pouring in through the massive wall of windows. It had all the modern security machines necessary, the airline names above each area and long rows of counters that were ready to go. Thrilled that all the major carriers had leased space, it showed that the western part of Wyoming would finally have their own major airport, and it was going to be an important one economically for the area.

  She followed the signs on the first floor, the pale-blue tiles waxed to perfection as she turned and walked down a shorter hall. The signage was excellent, and in no time, she saw the office Jackie Turnbull had told her about. Tucking the paper into a pocket of her blazer, she touched her hair, which she had put up in a thick knot at the nape of her neck. Jackie had given her the four numbers to press into the keypad that would open a security door that would lead her to the woman’s office.

  Inside, there was light slanting down the blue tile hall, all the glass-enclosed offices on her left. On the right was a wall that held many wooden frames for photos. None were displayed yet. She spotted Jackie at her desk, black-framed glasses down on her nose as she worked over some papers. Knocking lightly, she said, “Hi, Jackie.”

  “Oh, hi, Ms. Whitcomb!” She stood, pushing her glasses up on her nose and smiling. “Come in! May I get you some coffee or tea?” and she gestured to the corner, where the machines were situated.

  “No, thank you.”

  “Have a seat. I’ll let Mr. Mitchell know you’re here.” She beamed. “He’s been waiting to talk with you. I gave him your résumé to read and he’s ready for you.”

  Sitting on the comfortable light-blue upholstered chair in front of her desk, Andy nodded. “Great. Thank you.”

  Jackie picked up the phone and dialed a number.

  In her briefcase were copies of all her certificates, permits, medical evaluations and other FAA-required information. Earlier, she had sent only her résumé. If Dev felt she was qualified, she’d hand over all these documents,
which were necessary to a pilot’s ongoing right to fly. Andy didn’t try to fool herself: she’d been drawn to Dev Mitchell four years ago as she was right now. It bothered her because what if he was engaged or married? That would mean he was hands off and she had to shut down her personal interest in this man of mystery’s life.

  What surprised Andy the most was that upon seeing Dev again, that same yearning to be close to him, to hear what he thought and how he saw the world was even stronger than the first time they met. Oh, she’d had relationships off and on throughout her adult life, but none of them could be compared to the way her heart reacted to this enigma of a man. He was not giving her any signal other than that he was interested in her as a possible hire. That deflated her a bit because she knew she needed a job like this in order to stay in the valley. And right now, home was calling her strongly and that was where she had to focus, providing she got the job.

  “Andy? Mr. Mitchell will see you now.” Jackie pointed to her left. “Just go out this door and he’s the next office down on the left.” Then, she crossed her fingers for her. “Good luck! I already told those two guys I wanted to see some women pilots hired, not just men.”

  “I like your attitude. Let’s see if that happens.” She rose and gave Jackie a look of gratitude. Women had to stick together. As Andy left the office, her mind was on the strides women had taken in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. But they still had far to go.

  She saw Dev sitting behind his desk. He was on the phone, looked up and noticed her approaching, gesturing for her to come in and take a seat. Doing so, Andy saw a stack of what she assumed were résumés sitting on his desk. Behind his desk was a large color photo of him in his Army pilot uniform, looking toward the camera, seated in his Black Hawk. There was an expression of deviltry in Dev’s eyes, and that cocky grin she’d seen at times was on his handsome face. He wasn’t pretty-boy good-looking. Instead, he had a face that had seen good times and hard times. There were crinkles at the corners of his eyes, telling her he was a pilot. She had some herself. His mouth stirred her in womanly ways, and she quickly moved her gaze to his forest-green eyes, which were filled with laughter. She liked his reddish-brown hair, but most of all that blanket of coppery freckles across his cheeks and nose made him very attractive to her. He might be a man, but she liked seeing this side of him, that twist of his mouth, the glint in his eyes. The freckles double-checked her, showing that he might have to play adult when necessary, but she had a sense his little boy side was intact. Andy would like to meet his playful side; her life was too serious and she wanted to lighten up, play again herself, laugh and see the world through his eyes when he was in that kind of playful mood.

  Dev hung up the phone. “Sorry for the interruption.”

  “No problem.” She liked his smile. “Good news, I trust? You’re smiling.”

  Chuckling, Dev got up and shut the door to the office. “My old crew chief in the military was Larry Fowler. He saw the ad and is applying for a job with us. We need two crew chiefs to rotate with the four pilots. He’s a certified paramedic, and that makes him almost a shoo-in for this job. Besides,” and he scratched his short hair, “Larry is always stirring up trouble with a big stick. We were talking about some of the times we got in to those types of missions. He’s got a helluva positive outlook on life and I always wanted him to fly with our crew. When things weren’t serious, he was funny and a jokester.” He sat down.

  “I was thinking, as I saw you laughing and smiling, that it’s going to be contagious. Flying an A-10 wasn’t ever a joke. It was a heavy responsibility.”

  He grunted and opened her file. “Combat is never funny, as we well know.”

  It was her turn to grunt an answer. Words weren’t necessary.

  “I’ve had a chance to check out everything on your résumé, Andy. All I need now is for you to show me your flight certifications, FAA permits and your medical evaluations permitting you to fly. If all is in order, I’m recommending you to Pete Turner. I don’t want to leave you hanging. I’d very much like to have you on our team.” He opened his hands. “Let me give you the template for our working with the sheriff. We’re hiring four pilots. You are the first one that I’ve recommended for hire.” He thumbed toward the pile of résumés. “I’ve got two other potential hires, both women Black Hawk pilots like yourself. The fourth is a man. Pete and I learned a long time ago that women in combat are just as steady and can think through a crisis just like men can. You showed me what you were made of out there in the mountains of Afghanistan. You’re rock solid. You don’t get rattled and, most important, your focus was intense and didn’t waver. That’s the kind of pilot I want to fly with here.”

  Her heart thudded with relief. “That’s good to hear.”

  “The group we hire is going to have forty-eight hours on duty and forty-eight hours off. We will have two sets of pilots plus one crew chief with each duty section. All of us are going to have to learn Wyoming laws and commit them to memory. You come from California, and their regulations for law enforcement flights are probably a little different from Wyoming’s.”

  “I would expect that. It makes sense.”

  “We want to hire everyone in the next two weeks, if possible. We go online July fourth, after the Nellie Tayloe Ross Airport opens. I will have a schedule drawn up and everyone will get that monthly schedule as an email. There’s a squadron room that is divided up between male and females. Each will have lockers, bunks, a shower and anything else we might need. There’s also going to be a kitchen where we can cook, as well as a small dining room.”

  “That sounds plush,” she said, pleased.

  “It’s a brand-new airport. It’s going to have the latest of everything in it. We’ll have our headquarters on the south end of the building. On the north end will be a wildfire unit that is similar in all ways to ours: offices, sleeping quarters, kitchen, showers and a dining room. It’s pretty nice digs. I was over there the second day after I arrived and Pete Turner showed me around. So, for us, it’s plush, a damned nice upgrade compared to Afghanistan.”

  “Sounds wonderful.”

  Dev got serious and folded his hands on the desk, holding her gaze. He went through what would be expected of her, the types of missions, the hours, the link training in Salt Lake City, Utah, mandatory for continued pilot upgrades and for keeping their skills refreshed for emergency flight situations. “And all pilots hired, regardless of gender, will make the same salary.”

  “That’s really good to hear,” Andy said, surprised.

  “You’ll have a medical exam from the state of Wyoming. I’m going to give your résumé my approval and Pete Turner, my boss, will make the final decision. I’m sure he’ll hire you, so this is just a formality. I’ve asked Jackie to put together a file for you so you will have everything you need to know. And if you come across something that needs an answer, see me. I’ll be running the day-to-day missions and planning. And I’ll also be on the flight roster. Part of my job is to give all of you FAM flights, familiarization of Lincoln County, which is where we’re charged with enforcing the laws. Your flight uniforms will be ordered and paid for by the county, as will all your other flight gear, including your helmet, any radios or other necessities.”

  “Pretty much the way LA runs its helo unit,” she said. “All good.”

  “Any questions?”

  “When do I start?”

  “Officially, June thirteenth. I’ll give Pete my approval of you, and he’ll need a couple of hours to go over everything in your personnel jacket.”

  “Was he a pilot in the military?”

  “Yes. US Army. He flew Black Hawks until he lost an arm. He has a prosthesis now, and you can’t tell the difference. He left the Army, headed to Seattle, Washington, law enforcement, which is where I met him. We worked together for almost four years. He was in upper management and I flew the Black Hawk.”

  “It’s nice to have someone like him in your life. You don’t have to start over w
ith a new, unknown boss.”

  Dev smiled a little and rocked back in his chair. “You could say the same of us, Andy. We’re a known quantity to each other. We know what to expect from each other.”

  Chapter Four

  June 11

  “That’s an amazing coincidence,” Steve Whitcomb said to Andy. They were having dinner together at seven o’clock at their log home.

  “Synchronistic,” Maud agreed. She cut into her pork chop, which was slathered with apricot sauce. She smiled across the rectangular oak table at her husband. “Don’t you think it was rather a coincidence you and I met as we did?”

  “You’re right,” Steve murmured. “Still, to meet Dev Mitchell four years after he disappeared from your life, Andy, is in a class by itself.”

  “The world of the architect,” Maud teased, spooning some yams in melted butter onto her fork. “This falls outside your carefully constructed world. Synchronicity abounds.”

  Laughing with them, Andy murmured, “You two have very different brains, that’s for sure. And yes, I’m stunned by meeting Dev once again. When I tried to find him and couldn’t, I gave up and let it go.”

  “And you have a pilot’s brain,” Steve teased.

  “Gotcha.” Andy laughed. She finished off her pork chop and paid attention to the fresh-cut green beans, which had almond slivers and petite white onions mixed in them. “I keep wondering if one of Sky and my unknown parents was a pilot.”

  Maud gave her a thoughtful look. “Steve and I have had conversations along that line from time to time, too. We wondered the same thing.”

  “I surmise that maybe your father was a pilot,” Steve offered.

  Maud snorted. “Why not her mother? Women fly just fine. They’re just as good as any man at a stick or yoke.”

  Holding up his hand, Steve pleaded, “Peace, sweetheart. I’m not saying women can’t fly, but Andy and Sky were given up by their mothers. Somehow, I don’t see either of those women being pilots. Maybe I’m prejudiced, though.”