Wind River Protector

by Lindsay McKenna

  “Well, those who are left, Kaen and Elisha, are connecting with Gonzalez.”

  “In what way?”

  “Take a slow left bank here. We’re at the end of the valley. We’ll fly near the Elson property, but I want you to climb and go upward on the mountain range. I’ll direct you to where we’re going.”

  “Uh-oh,” she muttered. “Don’t tell me there are drug drops up in mountain meadows.”

  “Yes, good call. Gonzalez is sending planes over in the dark of night to these meadows. Then the Elsons drive to either end of the trailhead, park their trucks and hike in to pick up the bales of drugs. Either that or they use an old dirt road at one end and drive where instructed to load the bales. If they’re dropped closer to the parking lot, they carry them back to where they’re parked, load them and take off. From there, they distribute them in a chain to the states around Wyoming.”

  She sucked air between her teeth. “Damn. That’s a real escalation of drugs going through our area.”

  “Roger that. And it’s our biggest law enforcement issue right now. Sarah, the sheriff of Lincoln County, is working with the FBI, DEA and ATF contingents.”

  “We’d need their help,” Andy agreed. She nudged the helo toward the lower slopes of the mountain range that moved from north to south. It bracketed the east side of the one-hundred-mile-long valley. The Wilson Range, on the western side of the valley, also ran in a north-south direction.

  Dev guided her up to six thousand feet, and for the next hour, he helped her identify six different meadows that were used for such drops. Andy had turned grim about it. In part, he thought, because this valley was her home. And she, like him, wanted to keep it and the people who lived here, safe. But could they?

  Chapter Six

  June 18

  The 10:30 a.m. sunlight was bright through the Plexiglas, and Dev adjusted the air conditioning in the cockpit to keep them comfortable. Andy had just swung the helo north, beginning the flight home to the airport, when an emergency call came in from the Lincoln County Sheriff ’s Department. He picked up the radio, answering the call from the dispatcher.

  Listening intently, he wrote on his kneeboard, scribbling the GPS location of the situation. Sliding a glance toward Andy in the right seat, he saw her lips purse, listening to the conversation.

  Dev signed off and turned to her. “There‘s been a cell phone call from Rogers, a small town along Highway 89. A hiker has broken his ankle at Spring Creek. He called the Lincoln sheriff’s office for help on his cell phone. Luckily, there was cell service near Rogers.”

  “I know that area,” Andy said. “I’ve hiked there many times.”

  Nodding, Dev said, “We should check out landing near the hiker to pick him up and take him to the hospital in Wind River. What’s the landing area like?”

  “There’s a small lake at the end of the creek,” she said, banking the helo after Dev punched in the new GPS location.

  “We need official approval on this. I need to call Pete to get it.”

  “Good idea,” she said drily. Swiveling her head, she was constantly scanning the instrument panel and the sky around them.

  Within minutes, Dev had Pete’s approval on the unexpected rescue operation. He said Dev could leave the Black Hawk to render aid, provided there was a safe landing area. Andy, who was the pilot-in-command, had to remain with the idling helicopter. Dev agreed with the plan. As they flew parallel to Highway 89, the only major road through Wind River Valley, he relayed the information to Andy.

  “Do we have any medical supplies on board yet?”

  Shaking his head, he said, “No. Next week. The two crew chiefs that Pete is going to interview are both paramedics.” He held up his hands. “I’m not one, but I think I can help this hiker get on board and we’ll fly him to the Wind River ER for help.”

  “It’s better than nothing.” She saw the meadow opening up around Spring Creek. To her left was the small lake. According to the map on her instrument panel, the GPS was about half a mile from the lake. The red “x” indicated where the hiker had given of his position. Squinting a little, she saw that the meadow was oblong and paralleled the path of the creek. About half a mile on either side of the flat, grassy area was a thick green carpet of Douglas fir.

  Dev had taken the binoculars from the side of his seat and was studying the area. “Looks like a good, flat, grassy landing area, Andy.”

  “Only question is whether it’s saturated with water from the creek or not. Do you see any dead trees nearby? Dead branches sticking up? Anything that would nick the blades as I descend?”

  He liked her attention to detail. That came from being a combat pilot. “I see some downed trees, but nowhere near where the hiker’s supposed to be located.”

  She grunted and gave a brief nod, her attention on her flying.

  “No blanket in the back either?” she wondered.

  Dev twisted around, studying the interior of the Black Hawk. “No . . . nothing. The whole cargo area is bare.”

  “Okay. Just wondering.”

  In ten minutes they were over the area. Andy spotted the hiker, who was sitting down, one leg stretched out in front of him, frantically waving his arms above his head. Her gaze swept the surrounding area. The man was sitting about ten feet from the creek. Land adjacent to water could be mushy, even swampy, making a landing dangerous. “I’m going to go about a hundred feet inward toward the meadow. It should be hard-packed ground, not soggy.”

  “Yes,” Dev said, tucking the binoculars in a side pocket, “I agree. I worry the soil where that guy’s at could be too soft for tripod landing gear. The tires could sink into muck, and then we’d be in double trouble.”

  “Roger that.” She swung the Black Hawk farther into the grassy meadow filled with colorful wildflowers. Not seeing any overhead power lines or anything in the immediate area of the landing she’d chosen, she slowly eased the helo down. Not trusting the soil, she hovered inches over the meadow, the wheels grazing some of the taller wildflowers. Gently, she landed, feeling the tires bite into the soil, keeping the power up thanks to Dev on the throttles.

  “Feels solid,” she told him. “I’m landing.”

  “Roger,” and he eased the throttles back once the bird was on the ground, surrounded with waving grass and flowers being buffeted by the whirling blades.

  “I’ll keep the blades moving, but we’ll be on idle position,” she told him. “I’ll let Pete know we landed.”

  Dev set the throttles. “Roger that.” He gave her a sharp look. “I’m going to unharness, slide open the starboard door behind your seat and egress. I’ll leave the door open.”

  “Roger.” Andy knew Dev wasn’t only being copilot but behaving as a crew chief, talking to her and letting her know ahead of time what he was going to do next. That way, no surprises, no confusion or misunderstandings between them. He clapped her left shoulder with a pat as he left the cockpit. Her skin tightened beneath her uniform. She liked their teamwork. He was a seasoned helicopter pilot and it showed. She had less time in a helo, and not under combat circumstances, so she valued his insight and experience. It made the landing safer.

  The blades moved lazily above her, the shadows dancing across the cockpit flooded with blinding morning sunshine. It was a good day for a rescue. Luckily, the weather cooperated, and because it was a morning flight, there was a lot less air turbulence when getting the injured hiker back to the ER.

  This was their first rescue. It wasn’t law-enforcement-related, but Andy knew they could be called out for lost or injured hikers, automobile accidents or the other issues that inevitably happened during the summer months in the valley and surrounding mountain ranges because the tourist population increased exponentially during that time.

  She watched Dev’s progress. The grass was lush, thick and tall, sometimes up to his knees. He walked alertly, lifting his hand to the hiker, who was about fifty feet ahead of him. How injured was he? He appeared to be in his late teens, with a kna
psack on his back, wearing a black baseball cap and a bright, neon-orange jacket and blue jeans. She was too far away to see the hiker’s expression, but she thought he must be relieved, if nothing else. There was no road or trail into this area. It was off the beaten path most tourist hikers took. Maybe he was a local. Usually tourists, from what Dev had told her in one of their familiarization meetings, stuck to trailheads that were marked with nice, oval asphalt parking lots that had restrooms. Out here? There were no restrooms. Just Mom Nature at one’s disposal.

  Dev’s voice crackled in her ears. He was wearing a shoulder radio. He’d reached the hiker, shook his hand and knelt down, facing him. “Andy, call the ER. The guy’s name is Justin Thatcher. He’s a local, from Rogers, Wyoming. He’s six foot tall and one hundred and seventy pounds. He fell into a badger hole he didn’t see because of the grass, and there’s part of a bone sticking out above his hiking boot. It’s an open fracture. The doctors have to know that in advance. He’s in a lot of pain.”

  “Roger,” she said, turning her radio frequency to the ER’s radio. In a minute, she relayed the information. It would take about twenty minutes to fly from where they were to the Wind River Hospital. Andy knew enough about injuries that a bone sticking out of the skin wasn’t good. He’d taken a really bad fall.

  Dev had left his radio on as he helped Justin stand. The kid was lanky, unsteady and had slipped his arm around Dev’s broad shoulders. Pride in Dev drifted through Andy as she watched their slow progress in her direction. The hiker hopped on one leg, holding up the injured one. They reached the outskirt gusts kicked up by the whirling blades and bent their heads, crouching forward, heads down, a hand across their eyes. Dev’s helmet with the dark visor was in place, protecting his vision, but the hiker was almost blinded.

  Justin’s face was pale, his blue eyes dark as Dev guided him to sit on the lip of the open door. Andy watched with sympathy. The kid looked like he was about to pass out from that exertion. Dev had taken a small towel out of his knapsack and wrapped it as best he could around the injured leg to give it some support. She saw blood leaking through the folds of the towel and wondered just how much he’d lost. Deciding to call the ER again, she reported what she saw.

  “Ask him what his blood type is,” the nurse on the other end said.

  “Dev? What is Justin’s blood type? Does he know?”

  Dev got him inside with his injured leg spread out across the deck of the helicopter. He leaned over Justin, lips close to his ear.

  “He says O positive.”

  “Roger that, I’ll relay it to the ER.”

  Dev reached up and took down a pair of earphones, putting them on Justin, then explained how he could talk with them on the IC or intercabin connection. The kid nodded, relief on his etched, perspiring features as Dev slid the door shut and locked it.

  Patting the kid on the shoulder, Dev said some comforting words to him and left him leaning against the rear bulkhead, his legs spread out in front of him. There was no way to strap him in at this point. Luckily, there would be few air pockets on their short flight to the hospital.

  Dev eased into the cockpit, sitting down and pulling the harness over his shoulders, locking it in place. “Okay,” he said, “ready for ascent,” and he placed the palm of his hand on the handles of the two throttles above his head, awaiting her orders.

  “Roger that,” Andy said. She sat forward, her full attention on the takeoff.

  Once in the sky, the vibration feeling comforting to Andy, she turned to a private channel to speak only with Dev and said, “This is a helluva way for me to make my first real landing at the hospital.” It had a large asphalt circle outside the ER area.

  Grimacing, Dev said, “Yes, I was just thinking about that. Want me to do the landing? I’ve practiced doing it about ten times since I’ve arrived.”

  “No, I’ll be fine, but you can be my other pair of eyes and spot for me. Any suggestions are welcome.”

  He liked her confidence. There was a ghost of a smile on her lips. “I’m sure you’ve been in far more serious pickles than landing for the first time at a hospital.”

  “You could say that.”

  Chuckling, he twisted around, checking on their patient. Justin had stretched out now, his hands across his belly. He had his eyes closed. At least he hadn’t passed out—yet. For that, Dev was grateful. He lamented not having more of a medical background.

  Within twenty minutes, Andy had them hovering over the large, black asphalt landing pad with a white circle around its edges, near the hospital. He guided her in because there were power lines to the south. They weren’t that close to the landing area, but it was something she needed to tuck away in her mind for future reference. Just as before, her landing was light and gentle. She asked him to bring the blades to idle and he followed her request.

  Andy watched as a team with a gurney rolled rapidly toward them. Two male aides, a nurse and a doctor came to the side door. Dev slid the door open for them and helped Justin slowly sit up. The two orderlies entered the cargo hold, maneuvered the hiker to the lip and positioned him gently onto the gurney, getting him comfortable. Within moments, they had whisked him back into the open doors of the ER and disappeared inside.

  Dev slid the door shut, locked it, turned and threw her a gloved thumbs-up.

  “Nice landing,” he congratulated her, sliding into his copilot seat. Pulling the wide nylon harness across his shoulders, he added, “Ready to go home to the airport?”

  “Better believe it,” she murmured. “Been a pretty interesting day so far.”

  Powering up the throttles by easing them forward, Dev warmed to her smile. “I think Pete will be more than impressed with your impromptu performance,” he said.

  Lifting off, a dance between the cyclic, collective and rudders beneath her flight boots, she said, “Thanks.”

  “I’ll buy you a mocha latte to celebrate.”

  Laughing heartily, Andy eased the Black Hawk toward the airport after reaching a particular altitude. “You’re on, Cowboy.”

  * * *

  “Mmm,” Andy said between sips of her mocha latte at Kassie’s Café, “this tastes great! Perfect end to my first FAM flight.”

  Lifting his Americano, Dev murmured, “Let’s celebrate. A good day was had by all. We accomplished a lot, much more than was required.”

  It was nearly two p.m., and the place was about half full, mostly tourists dropping by, which was great for Kassie’s business. Andy studied Dev across the booth table from her. “Were you on ‘good behavior’ with me today?” Giving him a wolfish grin, she saw him sit back, brows raised in surprise, giving her a confused look.

  “What? Why, no.”

  “Just wondering. I’ve seen some bosses be ‘nice’ at first and then, later, within a couple of weeks, their mask comes off and you meet the real guy you have to work with.” Shrugging, she said, “Sometimes, it’s okay. But I had to quit one firefighting company because of that change between the dude who was one way in the beginning and, within two weeks, a bully and arrogant jerk thereafter, trying to push and order me around. It didn’t work.”

  “I had some of that in the service,” he said. “But as for me? What you see is what you get. I’m not PC per se. I do try to be diplomatic, but that’s something I’m learning to do. It doesn’t come easy.”

  “Because you call the shots as you see them.”

  His mouth twisted. “For better or worse, yes.”

  “My parents would love to meet you, Dev. They’ve asked me to invite you over for dinner at their home sometime soon.”

  His brows rose again. “That’s nice of them. But are we clear on the first issue? That I’m not putting on a game face now and then later will turn out to be an ogre boss?”

  Laughing a little, she said, “I had that coming. Yes, it’s settled. I’m glad I’ll be working with the guy I worked with today. No surprises down the road is good to hear.”

  “I’ve been wanting to meet your parents
anyway.”

  “Oh?”

  He sipped his Americano. “Just to thank them for all the years, probably over a decade of concentrated work, to bring this regional multihub airport to this little valley. That’s a huge, unrelenting vision to get running. I’m impressed with them.”

  “My mother, especially, knows how the lobbyists of Washington, DC, work. And not all lobbyists are ogres either. She works with several outstanding firms that have true ethics, good morals, values and integrity. They work toward what she terms ‘compassionate humanitarian goals.’”

  “She sounds pretty compassionate herself.”

  Dipping her head, Andy said, “My mom and dad gave the four of us something money couldn’t buy: the understanding that there is a right and a wrong. There might be gray areas, but they guided us to always do the right things for the right reasons. I saw them, every week, dealing with lobbyists, making phone calls, and my mom flying to the capitol to speak to senators and congresspeople. When I was older, because I had an interest in what she was doing, I’d go in and sit with her at some of those meetings. I learned a lot.”

  “She knows the system, then.”

  “Because my grandmother, her mother, knew it. My mother grew up doing the same thing with Grandma Martha, and she made it part of her life, utilizing that knowledge and experience to bring this amazing gift of an airport to Wind River Valley.”

  “They should erect a statue to your parents,” Dev said, meaning it.

  “Oh, no!” Andy laughed. “My parents are very low key. They’ll sing the praises of so many others around them who have helped bring this vision about, but never would they take personal credit for anything. They’re great leaders, in my opinion.”

  “Well, something should be done for them. This valley isn’t going to be the same once the airport opens up for business.”

  “They’ll take quiet pride in it, and privately congratulate each other. It’s their way.”