Read Online Top Hook by Gordon Kent - Free Book Online Page B

wanted to find Stevens, the former acting det commander, who probably believed he should have been given the command, even though it was so screwed up that the CAG had made a special point of it. Getting Stevens on his side was an important priority, if it could be done.
    The det also had a long list of maintenance problems that Alan thought had been gundecked too long, but, stepping in late and starting behind, he had to trust thechiefs to get the planes in the air until he could find what was really wrong and fix it. As it was, his unit had one aircraft scheduled to launch in four hours, and he wanted to prove himself to Rafe by making sure it was airborne on time.
    Alan put his own name on the flight sked for that first event, scratching a jg named Soleck, whom he hadn’t even met.
    â€œWhere’s Mister Soleck?” he said to a chief who was overseeing the unpacking of the maintenance gear.
    â€œWho’s that, sir? He our missing officer?”
    â€œ Missing? ”
    â€œLast I heard, there was one hadn’t reported aboard, sir.” The chief was very businesslike; if he had heard the talk that Rafe had referred to, or if he had ideas about the new CO who had got involved in a shooting onshore, he said nothing.
    But an officer who hadn’t reported aboard? And where the hell was he? Alan reached for the only solid ground he could in the uncertainty of the det: a senior chief he knew and trusted. “Where’s Senior Chief Craw?”
    â€œSenior’s gone down to VS-53 admin, sir.”
    Alan ducked out of the ready room and swung down the steel ladder to the S-3 squadron’s admin section, his bad foot giving him a hippity-hop rhythm. Craw was sitting at a computer terminal with another officer hovering by him, but Alan pushed past.
    â€œSenior Chief?”
    â€œCommander! I thought I’d wait till we had some privacy, but, damn! it’s good to see you, Mister Craik.”
    Alan tried to smile. “It’s great to see you, Martin.” The use of the senior chief’s first name caused them both to look at the other officer, by some ingrained reflexof training and custom that said that officers should not call enlisted, however senior and however close, by their first names. “Lieutenant-Commander Craik, this is LTjg Campbell. His part of the translant ran like a top.”
    Campbell stammered a greeting and looked embarrassed. They shook hands; Alan had missed meeting him at Pax River. He turned back to Craw. “How bad was the move?”
    â€œNothing we couldn’t handle. The planes were flying off empty and we were leaving half of our spare parts on the beach, but I sort of fixed that first.” Martin Craw’s sentences implied volumes. Sort of fixed that first suggested an argument won.
    â€œWhat else?” Alan and Craw exchanged a look that meant Tell it like it is.
    â€œThe inventory was crap and the acting CO released the fly-off officers at 1500. Plus a new guy from flight school wasn’t informed that we had an immediate movement and went on leave straight from Pensacola.”
    â€œIs that LTjg Soleck, by any chance, who’s on the flight schedule in four hours?”
    Craw sighed. “Roger that, skipper. I’m trying to reach him. See, nobody ever sent him an info packet or a schedule or anything, so he has no idea we’re looking for him, either.”
    â€œDo we still have land lines tied in?”
    Craw glanced at his watch. “About ten minutes longer.”
    â€œGive me a phone. Then I’ve got to start meeting people.”
    He called the listed number in Pennsylvania twice. It rang through, but no one answered and there was no machine. Then he called the duty desk at NAS Pensacolaand asked for a contact number for LTjg Evan Soleck. The petty officer at the other end shuffled papers for a few minutes and asked to call back. Alan hung up, feeling defeated by telephones in his every attempt, and