Cam gave Gus a glance that spoke volumes. On their first day together, she’d tested him on single and double engine failure, and he’d done everything right and recovered without stress.
Gus gave her an unhappy look. “Is there more to this, Gus?” she asked him.
“Yeah, there is.” He looked across the table at the two scowling women. “I went through Apache school with them.”
“Oh,” Snake muttered, “so you know these dudes intimately.”
“Unfortunately, I do. In school, they didn’t haul their weight. They thought it was playtime, not serious work. They kept passing the flight tests and I couldn’t figure out why at the time.”
“And,” Cam told them grimly, “we found out from Maya that there were serious politics being played to get these two boys through the school no matter how badly they flew. There are indications that IPs signed off their flights with a passing grade when they shouldn’t have.”
Groaning, Snake got to her feet. She scratched her head and paced the length of the room, then stopped. “Okay, so what I’m gathering is we’ve got two so-called ‘pilots’ who really aren’t anywhere near up to grade. They skated by because of the smoke and mirrors, right?”
“Right,” Cam agreed quietly. She saw Wild Woman’s blue eyes widen.
“Then how the hell do they expect you to have this drug interdiction mission up and running in four weeks?” Her voice was high and off-key with anger.
“Bingo,” Cam agreed. “That’s why I called you two in. I needed help.”
“Help?” Snake asked, frustrated. “How about kicking these two jerks out of the cockpit and going back to the school and getting two people who did pass?” She pointed to Gus. “He passed. And he’s doing a good job, according to you. So why not find two more Mexican pilots who are hungry, who are damn good pilots, and trade them off for these two playboys?”
“It’s not that easy,” Gus told her.
Snake glared at him. “I’ll tell you something, Chief. Our C.O. down at the base would kick these two guys out in the blink of an eye. She wouldn’t stand for this kind of ineptness in the cockpit. They’ll get someone killed up there real fast, and it isn’t gonna be me in the back seat getting it because they’re sloughing off and don’t know what the hell they’re doing. No. Not on my watch.”
“I agree,” Gus said. “But Cam’s been saddled with them. This mission is more than just what it seems on the surface. It’s political, too.”
“Yes,” Cam agreed, growing grim and giving Vickey a sober look. The pilot sat down.
“I’m caught between a rock and a hard place,” Cam told Jessica and Vickey. “The only way I can get rid of them is to force them into signing those papers that say they agree to be reassigned elsewhere.”
“And if you know anything about Hispanic men,” Gus added, giving Cam a glance, “they have machismo and ego to burn. My personal opinion is that now that Cam and you have put them up against the wall, they’ll try to come around because they won’t opt for the second choice.”
“Which is to look bad, look like the failures they are,” Snake muttered, rolling her eyes. “Dude, this sucks.”
Cam sat back in the chair, her hands on her thighs. “Yeah, it does. I didn’t realize what I was stepping into.”
“Dominguez threw up in his cockpit,” Snake said. “I made him stay out there and clean it up himself. I wasn’t about to let the ground crew clean up after he barfed.”
“Good!” Cam exclaimed. “What maneuver did it?”
“Inside loop,” Snake growled. “He couldn’t do it. I had to take the controls and get the bird out of it. He was barfing all over the place and complaining he has a ‘delicate stomach.’”
Jessica laughed and looked at her friend. “You gotta be kidding me!”
Snake gave her a dirty look. “I’m glad our cockpits are separate. I’d hate to have had to smell that awful odor for three hours.”
Cam wrinkled her nose. “You mean you didn’t land right away?”
All the women chuckled. Everyone who flew experienced nausea and at times threw up. But they kept on flying.
“No,” Snake said, “because the dumb idiot forgot to put his barf bag in the thigh pocket of his flight suit. If he’d had it with him, he coulda used it and things wouldn’t have ended up so bad. So—” she grinned wolfishly “—he suffered the consequences of not making sure he had the appropriate gear during preflight. Oh, well…”
“I’ll bet next time he will,” Gus said.
“That’s my bet, too,” Snake agreed, her mouth pulling into a sour smile. “You only forget once in our business.”
“Well,” Cam said, “that’s the least of our problems, as I see it.”
“Yeah,” Wild Woman griped, “how do you get these two dudes to qualify for legit flight status? They can’t possibly learn interdiction at this point. Isn’t there something you can do, Cam? Can’t you force the Mexican government to give us two qualified pilots?”
Shaking her head, she murmured, “No, I can’t.”
“Okay,” Snake said, “then we’ll force these dudes to quit by making them work so hard they’ll want to leave here screamin’.”
“That’s the plan,” Cam said. “I have no other options. That’s what I saw before you came.” She gave Gus a slight smile. “If we had two more pilots like Chief Morales, we’d be on easy street, but that’s not what we got handed.”
“Okay,” Wild Woman said, rising and giving Snake an evil look as she stretched her hand toward Gus. “You got our flight mission for tomorrow?”
“Yes,” Gus said, and handed it to them.
“Good. C’mon, Snake, let’s go into TJ, have some tequila and lime straight up, plot, plan and figure out how to chase these two tricycle pilots outta here so we can get two good replacements on this mission.”
Gus saw Cam smile as the two women left. There was relief in her wide, beautiful eyes. She deserved to have help, under the circumstances. When the door shut and the room grew quiet, he slowly rose to his feet.
“Want to have chow with me?”
Looking up, Cam smiled. His face was strong and chiseled. There was nothing not to like about Gus. “Yeah, I’d like that, X.O.”
Grinning, Gus said, “I kinda like this new position. I’m privy to all the dirt that’s goin’ around in the squadron.”
Laughing, Cam stood and gathered up the reports. She would transmit them to Maya and Morgan later as proof that the two playboy pilots were as bad as she had originally described them. Over time, she hoped the mounting evidence in each day’s flight would, perhaps, force Morgan Trayhern to do something about it.
“Yeah, well, I’d rather not have dirt to sweep under the rug of our squadron, if the truth be known.”
Opening the door, Gus smiled down at her as she hefted the dark brown briefcase in her left hand. “I know. There’s nothing like a well-oiled, well-run squadron. My dad has that touch. He’s a great manager of people.”
“I’m learning how to be,” Cam said good-naturedly as she stepped out into the hall. A number of crews were coming in for the night, making the place noisy. Looking up and down the corridor, she saw nothing of Zaragoza and Dominguez. They were probably in their rooms on the first floor, nursing their wounded egos after today’s humiliating flights.
Heart lifting with joy, she walked with Gus at her side. This was the first time she’d be with him at the chow hall. It was something Cam was looking forward to. “Does this mean we won’t have our nightly meeting out in the grove?” she asked, because she really looked forward to that quiet, uninterrupted time with him.
“Heck, no. That’s still on the table, if you want it to be?” Gus searched her wide, forest-green eyes, which shone with gold flecks in their depths. Cam was happy, he realized. And that made him feel good.
“Great,” Cam sighed. “It’s a special time and I look forward to it, Gus.”
The strumming of the guitar made Cam want to melt into Gus’
s arms. It was nearly midnight, and the stars shone brightly, like glittering pinpoints overhead among the black branches of the trees. Tonight Gus had brought her fresh baked cookies once again. She’d learned that he’d found a Mexican woman not far from the base who could bake them so long as he supplied the ingredients. Somehow—Cam didn’t know when—Gus had made a trip across the border to San Diego, to go to a grocery store and buy the items needed. His thoughtfulness was never ending, in her opinion. The bag of chocolate chip cookies sat between them. She sat on the rough picnic table, her feet on the bench below.
As he finished one of his many songs, Cam smiled over at him. “I really love your music.”
“Thank my mother. Maybe mothers humming lullabies to their children from birth on put songs like these in musicians’ memory.” Gus gazed back at Cam, absorbing her soft, dreamy smile. Tonight her hair was newly washed and hung in chestnut folds around her face and shoulders. She wore a pale green tank top, her denim jacket and a pair of dark green cotton slacks. In his eyes, she looked like a lovely young woman, certainly not an Apache gunship pilot.
“I think you got the best of both worlds growing up,” she murmured.
Running his fingers across the smooth surface of his guitar, Gus nodded. “Tell me about your growing up years, Cam. You said your mother named you and your two sisters after flowers?”
Munching on a cookie, she said, “Yes. I’m the oldest. Iris is twenty-four and Dahlia, whom we call Dal, is twenty.”
“And are they in the military?”
She shook her head and wiped her fingers on her slacks. “No. Just me.”
“So how did you get interested then, in the army? And flying combat helicopters?”
“My dad, who runs an automotive shop, was a helicopter mechanic when he was young and in the army. I guess he passed it on to me.” She gave Gus a humorous look. “When I was little, my dad used to let me come to the garage, and he’d show me how car engines worked. By the time I was ten, I was changing oil and spark plugs and adjusting carburetors.”
“That’s where you got your interest in mechanics,” Gus said with a nod. In the moonlight, her profile was clean and soft. “So, where did you get the passion, the assertiveness a combat pilot needs, I wonder?”
“My dad was a super athlete, Gus. He’s a quiet kind of guy and you’d never realize he had the heart of a lion inside him. He’s intense and focused when he works on a car engine. In high school, he was track champion, and went on to the nationals. He could have gone on to the Olympics, but he suffered a knee injury that took him out of competition.”
Nodding, Gus said, “But like his daughter, he never quit.”
“No…my dad’s not a quitter. Ever.”
“And your mother? What do you have of her in you?” Gus saw her lips curve softly.
“Oh…. my mom.” Cam’s voice dropped as she spoke. “Well, she’s a schoolteacher in a middle school. She’s a biologist. Actually, a microbiologist. That’s what her degree is in. She loves to teach kids about nature, about the life that surrounds them.”
“So that’s why you all were named after flowers. I see.” Gus grinned as Cam smiled at him. How close they were. And how much he wanted to touch those full lips. An ache grew in him, keen and sharp. Would Cam let him kiss her? Gus wasn’t sure. But he wanted to, despite the loss he’d endured that had nearly destroyed him.
“Yes, she used to tease us fondly and call us her ‘blooming idiots.’ She meant it lovingly, because she really supported us in doing whatever our heart, our passion, led us to do.”
“And you wanted to reach for the sky?”
“Yes,” Cam murmured, taking another cookie. “I love flying. No one else in our family flies now, but my parents think I got the bird blood from my grandfather on my father’s side. He was a pilot during the Korean War. He flew P-51 Mustangs, and he was an ace.”
“Impressive.”
“What about you? What moved you to fly? Your dad?”
“Yes.” Gus strummed the guitar gently, the sounds vibrating softly around them. “I admired him. I still do. He’s been my best teacher. My role model. I want him to be proud of me.”
“I don’t know how he couldn’t be,” Cam said sincerely. She liked the slight smile that curved Gus’s mouth. A bolt of heat went through her as she studied those lips. She wanted to taste that mouth of his with her own. Would Gus be as strong and cherishing as she suspected? Sharing something more with Gus was too much to expect, Cam tried to tell herself, especially with her bad past history with men. She knew her idealistic side, the dreamer, wanted someone exactly like him, but that in reality dreams like hers never came true.
“My dad said I was like an eagle,” he chuckled. “My mother, who as I told you is Yaqui Indian, said I had the earth in my blood. The blood of the Jaguar.”
“Jaguar? That’s really something. I wonder if you’re a member of the Jaguar clan in South America like Maya is?”
“My mother never mentioned that. She said I had a jaguar spirit guide but I’ve never seen it.”
“Looks like the eagle won out?”
Shrugging, he said, “I guess so….”
“You don’t sound so sure.”
Gus strummed the guitar again. He liked the vibration of the wood against his body, and the sound of the chords. “Maybe I’m both. I’m not sure of that yet. I thought I was, but…well, life changes you sometimes.”
She heard pain in his voice and saw his hooded eyes darken. “Something bad happened.” It was a statement. Cam knew what she’d sensed was true because she felt an enormous sadness cloaking Gus.
Looking over, his hand stilling the strings of the guitar, he searched Cam’s luminescent eyes, which radiated concern for him. His heart almost burst with a shaft of pain. Without thinking, he spilled his trauma to her.
“I fell in love with a woman three years ago,” he began quietly. “Sandy Grove was an aerobatic pilot of international caliber. In some ways, she was like you, Cam. She had that quiet confidence, that gutsiness that didn’t always show until she was in her plane, doing the tricks. She was superconfident, a good person who lived life with a passion, right at the edge.” Frowning, Gus looked down at his boots. “I fell in love with her. She was an incredibly heart-centered person, so full of life. Unafraid to grab it and go for it.”
Cam frowned as she heard the sadness in his tone. Gus straightened up and looked at her. “Sandy died two years ago in a flight accident. She was creating a new maneuver for an air show over in France when the wing of her plane tore off….”
“I’m so sorry,” Cam whispered, and without thinking, she reached out and gripped his left arm for a moment. “So sorry. I can tell you loved her with your heart and soul.”
Mouth quirking, Gus said, “Yeah, loving a woman in a dangerous profession isn’t a wise idea.” He felt her hand, the firmness of it, the gentleness of her touch on his arm, and his flesh tingled wildly. Seeing the tears in Cam’s eyes, he felt like crying himself. In that moment, he wanted to pull her close and bury himself in her warm, comforting arms. But he couldn’t. He didn’t dare. As beautiful, caring, brave and wonderful as Cam was to him, Gus was too scared to reach out to her.
His words sank deeply into Cam’s pounding heart. Gus had loved a woman in a dangerous profession…. Searching his shadowed face, caught in the mire of grief and longing she saw in his eyes, Cam sat there, confused. She couldn’t understand the look of longing in his eyes as he held her gaze. Was that desire emanating toward her? Releasing his arm and shaking herself internally, Cam fiercely told herself no, that was impossible. His grief-stricken statement about never loving another woman in a dangerous job included her, no doubt. For she was an Apache gunship combat pilot. Her life could be snuffed out at any minute, Cam knew. And so did Gus.
She sat there, feeling a sharp pang of anguish in her heart.
Chapter 9
Cam was in her office at 0530 the next morning, working on the mountains of paperwork she h
ad to process. Now she understood what Maya and her X. O. Dallas Klein, went through. No wonder they looked forward to getting away from their offices! Giving the piles of paper a glum look, including her Out basket, stuffed full of things that Gus would have to handle, Cam stopped working for a moment.
Gus’s words came back to haunt her—again. He wouldn’t or couldn’t fall in love with another woman who was in a dangerous profession. That meant her. Frowning, Cam tightened her fingers around her pen. So why was she so bummed out about it? Gus had never said he loved her. Maybe because she was so lonely for male companionship, she had misinterpreted his looks and all too brief touches as meaning more than they really did. Cam had committed that crime before, in other relationships, and had gotten badly burned. Why, when she knew better, was she allowing herself to get emotionally involved with Gus, then? She sat back and digested all these revelations.
She hadn’t slept well last night. The mission was weighing heavily on her. Cam was unsure what kind of knee-jerk reactions the two Mexican pilots would have to being firmly boundaried and forced to work. She wondered if it would really turn them around. Her personal life was an unexpected part of this mishmash as well. That was disconcerting. Never in a hundred years had Cam even thought of the possibility of being drawn to another man.
There was a knock on her door. Who could that be? Cam looked at her watch. No one was due for another twenty minutes.
“Enter,” she said in a loud, firm voice.
Snake stuck her head around the opened door. “Got a sec, Cam?”
“Hi, Snake. Sure,” she said, gesturing for her to come in. “Yeah, always. Just shut the door. I don’t want any pilots eavesdropping as we chat.” She grinned widely.
Snake laughed and quietly shut the door behind her. She was dressed in her one-piece olive green flight suit, her helmet tucked beneath her left arm.
“Gettin’ to see you without the students around is proving to be a major chore,” Snake said, setting the helmet on the edge of Cam’s desk.
“Yeah, no kidding. I miss our easy talks in the chow hall back at the cave.”
An Honorable Woman Page 10
