“And the trust becomes you.” He raised her hand to his lips. “You keep changing and showing your softer side, and I won’t be held accountable for my actions,” he murmured, kissing her hand.
After the grueling two-hour mathematics test, all the TPS students stretched or got coffee. Dan had left the room during the fifteen-minute break, and Chris forced herself not to watch him leave.
“How did you do?” Chris asked her classmate, Frank Conway.
“Flying is fine, but this damn math is a bitch!”
“You did okay,” she reassured him.
Frank slowly got to his feet. “You like some coffee?”
“Love some,” Chris responded tiredly. “Put a shot of whiskey in mine,” she kidded.
Frank grimaced. “How about in an hour over at the O’Club? Major McCord will probably only hold us for another forty-five minutes since it’s Friday.”
“Thanks, but no.” Chris looked at him. “You guys do it for me.”
“Chris, you never go out and celebrate! All you do is go to the barracks and hit the books.”
Chris rose and stretched, placing her hands against her hips, leaning slowly one way and then the other. “Just my nature,” she explained, smiling.
“Well, I’ll get our coffee,” he said as he sauntered away. The room was partially empty, with Brodie and four of his sidekicks lingering behind. Chris ignored them, walking around the room to loosen her tight muscles. Another six pilots were discussing the test in lowered voices.
Brodie eyed Chris across the aisle. “Hey, Mallory,” he called, his voice carrying enough so that everybody could hear.
Chris lifted her chin, turning and meeting Brodie’s glittering gaze. “Yes?”
He grinned, easing his whipcord body onto the desk top, a wolfish smile on his narrow features. “I stumbled upon a pretty interesting piece of information about you.”
“Oh?” She immediately went on guard, realizing Brodie was going to start harassing her. He always chose a time when the instructor was absent. Another half dozen students filed back into the classroom armed with fresh cups of coffee. Chris tensed. Why was Brodie openly challenging her this time?
“Yeah.” His gaze drifted around the room. Now he had everyone’s undivided attention. “I don’t know about anyone else here,” he began loudly, “but if I were an engineer or navigator in this class, I sure as hell wouldn’t be flying with you, Mallory.”
Chris froze, her lips thinning as she glared over at the pilot. “What’s your game, Captain?”
Brodie laughed. “No game, Mallory. You eject when it gets down to the nitty-gritty.” His voice lowered to a deadly snarl. “The way I hear it, you left your buddy to die in a T-38 in Texas. The least little thing goes wrong and you’re ready to call it quits instead of staying to help the air commander with the situation. Just think of it, guys. Would you like to be with Mallory when she puts a T-38 into a spin? Only thing was, her AC stayed with the plane trying to control it and died doing it.” Brodie gave her a chilling smile. “You chicken out when the chips are down. That’s not what I’d like to see in a test pilot.”
A roar engulfed Chris, and she fought against the sudden deluge of emotion that Brodie had torn loose within her. A hundred questions caromed through her mind. How had he found out? Who had told him? That was privileged information! And every pilot in the room was staring at her, expressions suddenly closed, guarded and measuring. Her throat constricted as she stared disbelievingly over at the smiling Brodie.
“Well?” he prodded. “You’re white as a sheet, Mallory. It must be the truth.”
Frank Conway had entered with coffee in hand just in time to hear the accusation. “Probably a third of these pilots have punched out at one time or another,” he defended swiftly.
Chris managed to leash her emotions. “It’s all right,” she told Conway. She turned on Brodie, her violet eyes black with anger. “I did punch out, Brodie. And I don’t know who gave you that information, but you’ve screwed it up.”
Brodie rose, very sure of himself. “Wrong, Mallory. You’re the one who’s screwed up. You left the pilot alone in a bird that was heading for the ground. You left him to die—”
“That’s enough!” McCord snarled, stepping into the room. His voice cut like a knife through the turgid, confused atmosphere. Dan walked between Chris and Brodie, glaring at both of them. His thundercloud blue eyes were narrowed upon Brodie. “Captain, sit down. Nobody throws unsubstantiated accusations around in my classroom. Is that understood? I won’t have anyone throwing stupid attacks like that in this school.” Dan stepped within inches of Brodie. “Is that clear, Captain?”
Brodie glared back. “Yes, sir, Major.”
Chris felt her knees weaken, but she forced herself to walk to the chair before she collapsed. Dan ordered everyone to sit down, and launched immediately into another hour on aerodynamic theory. Her heart was pounding relentlessly, her body bathed in a cold sweat as Brodie’s words sank deeper and deeper.
Chris had lost the entire hour. She remembered nothing of Dan’s lecture, but was aware of only renewed pain, embarrassment and agony.
McCord walked up to Brodie after class had been dismissed. As badly as he wanted to, Dan could not console Chris. It had taken every bit of his concentration to continue to lecture that hour. He had seen the paleness of her features, her violet eyes wounded holes of pain, and watched her retreat within her shell. His anger was barely controlled as he stopped at Brodie’s desk. “I want to see you right now, Captain.”
* * *
GRIMLY DAN THREW the lecture notebook on his desk and waited until Brodie had shut the door to his office. Then he turned menacingly on the pilot. “Just what the hell are you spreading now?”
“Nothing that isn’t the truth, Major.”
“I told you once before, Brodie, we won’t tolerate attacks on anyone here. Male or female.” He pointed his finger at Brodie. “You’ve really overstepped your bounds this time, mister.”
“Think so, Major? Then just what the hell is the truth about Mallory and that T-38 incident?”
Dan gauged him in the shattering silence that built between them. Normally when Brodie was caught in the act, he became conciliatory. This time he was belligerent. Dan’s instincts warned him that Brodie wasn’t lying. His mind spun. None of the other instructors had been informed about Chris being in an accident and having to punch out. A new fear began eating at Dan. “I want the whole story, Brodie. Now,” he ground out.
“It’s short and sweet, Major. She and Captain Jim Rosen were up getting proficiency flight hours in a T-38 when it went into a dive.”
“Uncontrolled?” Dan asked sharply.
Brodie shrugged. “I don’t know.”
“You don’t know? You just sat out there an hour ago and accused Captain Mallory of not being able to fly! You’d better get your story straight. And in a hell of a hurry!”
“I don’t know all the details!” Brodie snarled back. “She punched out and left the AC. Word has it that she should have stayed. Some think that if Mallory had stayed with the bird they both could have pulled it out in time.”
Dan’s breathing was harsh. “I want facts, Captain. Not goddamn stories!”
The captain paled. “Check with Reese Air Force Base in Texas. You’ll get all the info you want, Major. I’m surprised none of your people knew about this,” he threw back boldly.
The tension thrummed palpably in the small office between them. Both men were tense, squaring off. Dan forcefully unclenched his fists as he grabbed his flight cap and walked around the desk. He was several inches taller than Brodie and stopped, glaring down at him. “You’d better hope for your sake that you’re right, Captain Brodie,” he breathed softly, his voice lined in steel. “Because if you aren’t, I’m having you disqualified from TPS. There is no place at this school for a pilot who operates on half truths. We rely on facts here, mister. And yours had damn well better be correct.”
Brodie stood
a step away, his eyes widening momentarily. “It’s a pretty sad state of affairs when a student has to find out about another student’s lousy flying ability. I ain’t going up with anyone who’s a chicken in the clutch, Major. Man or woman,” he breathed hotly. “And I’m not worried about being on waivers, either. I’ll stick to my story and what I said. All you need to do is confirm it.”
Dan punched Brodie in the chest with his finger. “Captain, until you hear back from me, you keep your mouth shut concerning this incident,” he ordered. Dan left the office, heading toward the commandant’s quarters. The halls of TPS were deserted. It was late Friday afternoon, and everyone was taking well-earned breaks and letting off some steam from the grueling work.
Dan walked into Peggy Dube’s secretarial office. “Peg, where’s Colonel Martin?”
Peggy lifted her head, detecting anger in Dan’s carefully modulated voice. “He’s gone up to SAC Headquarters at Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska. He’s going to see if he can’t wangle a B-52 bomber out of them for the class later on. Why?”
Dan quickly ran his fingers through his dark hair. “Something just occurred in my class, and I need to verify some data through the files.”
“He’s already locked the files,” she apologized. “Maybe I can help?”
Dan sucked air in between his clenched teeth. “It’s regarding Captain Mallory. I need to know if she was involved in a T-38 crash at Reese. I don’t know when. I need to verify the information.”
Peggy’s green eyes widened slightly, her brows dipping. “Oh, dear,” she murmured.
He shot her a keen look. “You know about it?” Of course, what secretary didn’t know her boss’s business?
Peggy nervously shuffled some papers together before meeting his demanding gaze. “I only know that it occurred, Dan.”
Scowling he asked, “Do you know if she was cleared of the incident?” Reason told him she had to be, or else no one would have allowed her to come to TPS. Dan couldn’t figure out why the instructors weren’t told of it.
“I don’t know. Look, come back Monday morning. I’ll leave a note on the colonel’s desk, and you can discuss it with him further, Dan.”
“That’s not good enough, Peg. I’ve got one officer who knows bits and pieces of this incident and is beginning to spread the story around the whole damn base. It needs to be stopped now before it goes any further.”
She gave him a helpless look. “All I know, Dan, is that the colonel kept the information to himself. He felt the fewer that knew, the better. That way there was less chance of it getting out to the press and putting more pressure on Captain Mallory.”
He clenched the flight cap in his hand. “Unless I can find out the truth about this, Captain Brodie is going to do some real damage. Right now I’ve ordered him to maintain silence until I could do some investigating of his allegations.”
Peg shook her head, giving him a shrug. “No one can get into the colonel’s files until Monday, Dan. I’m sorry.”
Dan turned, capping his desire to explode at anyone who got in his way. “Well,” he muttered, “I guess I’ll go to Captain Mallory, then.”
“I’m sorry,” Peggy said as he left.
“Yeah,” he breathed softly, “so am I.” He strode quickly down the polished hallway, throwing open the back door and taking the concrete stairs two at a time. His heart was beating heavily with fear—fear for Chris. Brodie was on to something. As he drove toward the BOQ he began putting the jigsaw puzzle together. Chris had never lost her skill, confidence or courage to fly jets. If she had been in a crash, it wasn’t showing up in her flying performance. His mind snapped back to the time when he knew a pilot by the name of Jim Rosen. In the past few years he had lost touch with Jim except to run into him at the O’Club whenever he flew to Reese on business. Dan frowned. Reese was where Jim had been flying as an instructor pilot. Chris had also been an instructor at the base. Dan tiredly rubbed his face. And how had Brodie gotten this information? Brodie had sworn to find some dirt on Chris. The colonel wasn’t even allowing his own instructors to know about the incident. Why? Exhaling forcefully, Dan parked the Corvette, getting out. It was up to him to put a halt to the rumors surrounding the woman he loved.
7
TAKING OFF HIS flight cap, Dan walked to the end of the hallway on the first floor of the BOQ, where Chris had her quarters. His knock was firm against the door. He swallowed hard, realizing that Chris was probably in severe emotional turmoil by now. His heart wrenched. He wanted to protect her and felt helpless because he wasn’t sure how to do it. Knocking again, he called out her name. “Chris, it’s Dan. Open up.” His voice carried down the hall. Another thirty seconds fled by with agonizing slowness before the door was unlocked. Putting his hand on the knob, Dan twisted it and opened the door, coming face-to-face with Chris.
Chris stared at him. “Come on in,” she said tonelessly, stepping aside. She had changed from her flight suit into the pink silk robe. Droplets of water still clung to her black hair, evidence that she had taken a recent shower. Her stomach knotted as she saw the anger in Dan’s narrowed eyes. Chris walked nervously toward the couch, her arms crossed against her chest. Tensing, she heard the door close quietly behind him. The silence was brutal, and Chris squeezed her eyes shut. She wouldn’t cry! Now everyone would know about the crash. The heartache was too personal.
She felt Dan’s hand upon her shoulder, turning her around. His touch was firm, yet gentle with insistence as she tried to resist.
I don’t want to do this,” he said hoarsely, “but I need to know the truth, Raven. I want you to tell me what happened.”
She lifted her violet eyes upward, tears swimming in their depths. A sob threatened to choke off her voice. “It’s too late!” she whispered painfully.
Dan gripped her shoulders. “It’s not! Look, I tried to find out about this crash through Brodie. All he has is half a story leaked out by someone at Reese. I tried to find out through the commandant, but he’s gone for the weekend.” Dan gave her a small shake. “I didn’t want to have to drag it out of you, Chris. No one, not even the other instructors, knew anything about a T-38 crash at Reese. Brodie is going to spread this rumor around if I don’t find out what really happened,” he said, frustration choking his words. “And I can’t get that information without your help. Did it happen?”
Chris began to tremble, dislodging herself from his hands. She turned her back to him, staring at the curtained window. Tears trickled down her cheeks. “Yes, it happened,” she admitted, raw with pain.
Dan walked up to her and drew her back against his body. His anger at Brodie forced him to ask, “Were you cleared after the investigation?” The words were out and could never be taken back.
Chris turned, her features ravaged with pain. “That’s all you care about, isn’t it?”
He grew tense. “The commandant wouldn’t let you come to TPS if the crash had been your fault, Chris. So it’s a very small part of why I’m here,” he explained levelly, tryng to maintain a conciliatory tone to the conflict escalating between them. “I need the truth in order to keep Brodie quiet.”
She was hurting inside so much that her anger toward Brodie was aimed at Dan instead. Her lips trembled, tears flowing down her face unchecked now. “All you care about is your lousy school image!”
His lips thinned. “Dammit, Chris, quit overreacting. I don’t like this any more than you do.”
She lowered her lashes, everything blurring. “The commandant must have been worried that the crash would affect the school’s image.”
Dan growled an epithet, reaching and placing his hands on her tense shoulders. “Get that chip off your shoulder and hear what I’m asking of you,” he ordered tautly.
Chris glared up at him. Dan was excruciatingly close. His breath was hot and moist against her face. The anger in his blue eyes was laced with thunderstorm black. His fingers tightened against the flesh of her upper arms. “I hear you asking whether or not I’m cleared of
that crash!”
“No! Do I have to tear this out of you piece by piece? Is that what you want? I can put some of it together. I knew Jim Rosen. He was a fine pilot. And I also know you. Your flying skills are excellent, Chris. If there was a crash, then there had to be something mechanically wrong with the aircraft.” Dan lowered his voice, realizing he was nearly shouting. His tone became roughened with emotion. “I know what your nightmare was about now. You were crying ‘punch out’ and ‘it’s stuck.’ And I also figure that the crash happened no more than a year ago because you’re still too emotional about it.”
With a strangled cry, Chris fled from his captive hands. She ran to the other side of the room, whirling on him, her face contorted with naked anguish. “I should have stayed!” she screamed. “I should have stayed and helped Jim!”
Dan froze, stunned by the ferocity of her cry. What he was seeing and hearing was more than just a reaction to a plane crash. He groped, blinking back an unexpected reaction: tears. Holding out his hand in a calming gesture, Dan walked slowly toward Chris. She had put her hands across her mouth, shoulders drawn upward, shaking. Oh, God, her eyes. Her eyes were brittle with hurt. His throat constricted as he halted a few feet from her, his hand still outstretched.
“Raven,” he called softly. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have shouted at you. Come here....” His stomach twisted as he saw her eyes widen with despair. She was trembling visibly. All he wanted to do was hold her and take away all the pain he had just forced her to confront. Damn Brodie. Damn the whole double standard system. He realized that he had just broken her emotionally. Acid stung his mouth. “Come...” he begged hoarsely.
As she hesitated, Dan closed the distance between them. He groaned her name, taking her into his arms, pressing her tightly against his body. A sob wrenched loose from her and Dan could only hold her, a feeling of helplessness crawling through his heart and soul. Stroking her unbound hair, he whispered, “I’m sorry, honey. So damn sorry. Let go of that pain. Don’t hang on to it....”
Chris wept brokenly. After a while she became oddly silent, huddled against him, numb after her emotional outpouring. There was a measure of safety in Dan’s arms as she forced herself to talk in a raw, almost inaudible voice. “Jim was AC on the flight. We both were logging proficiency hours in the T-38.” She winced, reliving that day again in her mind. “It was in the late afternoon, and we were flying at thirty-nine thousand feet. It was just straight flight, no acrobatics or anything. We had just leveled out and were flying toward Lackland Air Force Base when the plane suddenly went into a spin. The right rudder was stuck.” Chris shuddered, hearing the scream of the wind, the wail of the jet engines and Jim’s calm voice describing the problem. “He asked me to help him,” she mechanically went on, as if she were a robot describing the incident. “No matter what we did, the T-38 wouldn’t respond. At twelve thousand feet, Jim ordered me to punch out. I said no. We had worked the rudder a little, and I could feel it freeing up slightly and so could he.” She sobbed, hiding her face against Dan’s body. “I punched out at seven thousand because Jim screamed at me to go. I thought he was right behind me...and he rode the bird into the ground....”
Touch the Heavens Page 9
