only the good die young I’ll live forever. I’m gonna hold him to that. No, I meant I’m gonna find a safer MOS. A safer job in the Army. I don’t much like helicopters anymore.”
“Me neither. And to think I had ten friends who volunteered to take the tour in my place. And I told them all no. I thought it would be fun.”
“You’re not having fun?”
“Hardly. Are you?”
“I’m lying next to a gorgeous woman, all alone in the woods. It’s every man’s dream. How can I not be having fun?”
“Wait! Joel, I heard something. Over there. On the other side of the wreckage. Are you sure no one else survived?”
He almost told her that just before the darkness fell, he’d seen West Texas turkey buzzards circling overhead.
He almost told her that the sound she was hearing was almost certainly the buzzards picking at human flesh.
Eating the carcasses of what once was her friend, and Joel’s colleagues.
But he thought better of it.
“I’m sorry to say I’m positive, Hannah. What you’re hearing is probably just a deer, or a raccoon.
“It’s just you and me, kid.”
Then he passed out.
Chapter 14
It was just after midnight. Most of the search team had been released for the night and told to try to get some sleep.
Most of them, if they were able to sleep at all, would do so fitfully.
“Try your best,” Frank had asked them. “We’ll start back up at first light, and I need you all alert and on your toes.”
Frank Woodard, like many military leaders, was bad at following his own advice.
Instead of trying to get some sleep himself, he was at the control center with Karen.
They were watching Sami, now laying on a couch in the open lounge across the lobby.
The lights had been dimmed, and Brad was sitting on the floor beside her, wiping her tears.
Frank and Karen could very clearly hear her sob.
Karen’s heart went out to her.
“Not just her father, but also her two best friends in the world, are missing without a trace. How can fate be so cruel to one human being?”
“It does seem odd that it would happen at the same time, doesn’t it?”
At that moment, the radio sprang to life.
Bryan, still sitting on Salt Mountain and scanning the darkness of the woods looking for any sign of a signal fire, said, “Karen, check your west-looking monitors. Tell me what you see.”
Karen instantly spun around in her chair. Her eyes as well as Frank’s immediately went to monitors seven and eight.
“We see them, Bryan. The headlights from four vehicles traveling in convoy, heading this way on Highway 83. Is that what you’re talking about?”
“Yes. I couldn’t tell how many there were. I just saw some headlights pass between the trees at short intervals. Do you think they’re headed this way?”
“Possibly. It could be Marty coming back. Maybe Lenny scared up a second shift of searchers.”
“Or…” Brad said as he and Sami approached the desk, “Maybe the helicopter never left San Antonio. Maybe it wasn’t working so they’re bringing John and Hannah back by car.”
Mark came running down the hallway, in time to hear Brad’s words.
“Brad, if you’re right I’m gonna kiss you.”
“Oh, no, you’re not.”
The words came not from Brad, but from Sami.
Frank brought logic into the equation, and crushed the mood.
“If they were bringing John and Hannah home, they wouldn’t have needed four cars to do it.”
“Damnit!” Mark exclaimed. “They’re turning down the wrong road.”
Again, Frank stated the obvious.
“Me neither. And to think I had ten friends who volunteered to take the tour in my place. And I told them all no. I thought it would be fun.”
“You’re not having fun?”
“Hardly. Are you?”
“I’m lying next to a gorgeous woman, all alone in the woods. It’s every man’s dream. How can I not be having fun?”
“Wait! Joel, I heard something. Over there. On the other side of the wreckage. Are you sure no one else survived?”
He almost told her that just before the darkness fell, he’d seen West Texas turkey buzzards circling overhead.
He almost told her that the sound she was hearing was almost certainly the buzzards picking at human flesh.
Eating the carcasses of what once was her friend, and Joel’s colleagues.
But he thought better of it.
“I’m sorry to say I’m positive, Hannah. What you’re hearing is probably just a deer, or a raccoon.
“It’s just you and me, kid.”
Then he passed out.
Chapter 14
It was just after midnight. Most of the search team had been released for the night and told to try to get some sleep.
Most of them, if they were able to sleep at all, would do so fitfully.
“Try your best,” Frank had asked them. “We’ll start back up at first light, and I need you all alert and on your toes.”
Frank Woodard, like many military leaders, was bad at following his own advice.
Instead of trying to get some sleep himself, he was at the control center with Karen.
They were watching Sami, now laying on a couch in the open lounge across the lobby.
The lights had been dimmed, and Brad was sitting on the floor beside her, wiping her tears.
Frank and Karen could very clearly hear her sob.
Karen’s heart went out to her.
“Not just her father, but also her two best friends in the world, are missing without a trace. How can fate be so cruel to one human being?”
“It does seem odd that it would happen at the same time, doesn’t it?”
At that moment, the radio sprang to life.
Bryan, still sitting on Salt Mountain and scanning the darkness of the woods looking for any sign of a signal fire, said, “Karen, check your west-looking monitors. Tell me what you see.”
Karen instantly spun around in her chair. Her eyes as well as Frank’s immediately went to monitors seven and eight.
“We see them, Bryan. The headlights from four vehicles traveling in convoy, heading this way on Highway 83. Is that what you’re talking about?”
“Yes. I couldn’t tell how many there were. I just saw some headlights pass between the trees at short intervals. Do you think they’re headed this way?”
“Possibly. It could be Marty coming back. Maybe Lenny scared up a second shift of searchers.”
“Or…” Brad said as he and Sami approached the desk, “Maybe the helicopter never left San Antonio. Maybe it wasn’t working so they’re bringing John and Hannah back by car.”
Mark came running down the hallway, in time to hear Brad’s words.
“Brad, if you’re right I’m gonna kiss you.”
“Oh, no, you’re not.”
The words came not from Brad, but from Sami.
Frank brought logic into the equation, and crushed the mood.
“If they were bringing John and Hannah home, they wouldn’t have needed four cars to do it.”
“Damnit!” Mark exclaimed. “They’re turning down the wrong road.”
Again, Frank stated the obvious.
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