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“Stop! No more jokes.” A chuckle sneaked through anyway, punting his muscles as predicted until he groaned. “Did she send you in here to torture me so I would laugh myself into traction?”
“Sorry.” Cutter smirked as he resumed flipping chart pages.
Tanner sagged back on his pillow. The gladiator image began to take on an odd fantasy appeal in his drug-impaired mind. At least the drugs offered a convenient excuse. Damn, but Kathleen would have made a magnificent warrior goddess. That woman never needed anyone.
The ultimate loner. Tanner’s muscles tightened in response. That loner mind-set proved a threat to the crew mentality essential to his Air Force doctrine. The Air Force, the team spirit, was everything to him.
Never leave your wingman.
Tanner raised the bed higher, ignoring even thoughts of discomfort. “Can’t you do something about this? Get me outa here and back in action with my crew. Man, you’re one of us. You have to know how crazy this is making me.”
While all flight surgeons specialized in treating flyers and their families, a handful of those doctors were also flyers themselves. Cutter being one of the few. Tanner couldn’t help but hope that might nudge the scales in his favor. “Well?”
“Sorry. Can’t help you, my friend. I’ve seen your chart. I know your history. O’Connell’s dead-on with her diagnosis, and there’s no mistaking her notations.”
“Figures I lucked into the one doctor on the planet with perfect penmanship.” Time to invest in an Armed Forces Television schedule.
“Yeah, you are lucky. Lucky she didn’t string you up like a piñata. We flight docs don’t take well to having our orders disregarded. If I were you, pal, I would start thinking up an apology.”
“The piñata sounds less painful.” Deep down, he knew he owed her better than that. She’d kept him in the game years ago when he’d wanted to quit.
“Kick back, pal. Take care of yourself. You were only weeks away from leaving your crew, anyway. You should be up to speed in time to upgrade.”
Should be. The words didn’t comfort Tanner any more than the Demerol.
What if the grounding became permanent? What would he do without his wings? His mother swore his first word had been plane. While other kids drew puppies and trees, he’d already perfected his own depiction of Captain Happy Plane. “Six weeks is a long time in a war. If something happens and I’m not there…”
Cutter closed the chart. “I hear you, and I understand what you’re feeling. But there’s nothing I can do.”
Last down and his field goal had fallen short. Tanner scrambled to salvage what he could for the rest of his team. “Look out for Lance. Okay? Make sure he gets a solid copilot.”
Cutter stilled. “Is there something I should know about?”
“Nothing specific. He’s just not…up to speed. He and Julia are having trouble again. Deployments and stress messing with another Air Force marriage—” Tanner stopped short. Hell of a thing to say to a guy only weeks away from the altar. “Oh, hey, sorry, bud.”
“No sweat. Lori and I know what we’re up against. Nobody said Air Force life was easy on the family. It’s going to be work.” A full-out smile creased all the way to his eyes. “She’s worth it.”
Tanner gave his friend an answering smile. “Congratulations.”
Cutter nodded, then thunked the bed rail with Tanner’s chart. “Now get well. Lori’ll kill me if my best man falls on his face halfway through the ceremony. Look on the bright side. You won’t have to haul yourself across the Atlantic on a civilian flight to make the wedding. You can head back on the tanker with me next week.”
“Great. Nothing like sitting in the back seat.” Tanner’s hands already itched to be in control.
From the day he’d drawn that first airplane, he’d known he would be a pilot. Forget he was a poor kid working two after-school jobs to help support his single mom and twin sister. Course set, he’d achieved his goals, Air Force Academy, pilot. He’d never wavered in his focus. Except for the night he’d heard his sister died.
The night he’d kissed Kathleen O’Connell.
Chapter 3
Kathleen hovered in the doorway of Tanner’s hospital room, unable to draw her gaze away from the man who had filled her thoughts too often that morning. Flat on his back, he took up the whole bed. A dimple flashed in his unshaven jaw as he laughed with Cutter. Tanner’s exuberance for life hadn’t dimmed, even after a downing injury and a hefty shot of Demerol.
She watched the two men talk with their hands, typical flyer “talk,” their hands flying tandem aerial maneuvers.
Her guard perilously shaky of late, she envied them their camaraderie, the easy exchange apparent in most flyers. She knew better than to blame their exclusion on her being a woman. Years of growing up the misfit in her family had left her with the assurance she simply didn’t get it. Relationships. Her ex had confirmed the conclusion through his lawyer.
So she stood alone in the hospital doorway, feeling too damn much like the little girl who perched in trees with a book about bugs. All the while peering down at a blanket full of her sisters and their friends having a tea party picnic.
Tanner’s laughter rumbled out into the hall. Teams and partnerships bemused her. She understood in theory, but in practice…she couldn’t make it work. The flyers respected her yet didn’t include her. Her nickname—or lack of one—being a prime example.
Flight surgeons were sometimes given honorary call signs, like Grayson “Cutter” Clark or Monica “Hippocrates” Hyatt. Kathleen was just “Doc,” the generic appellation afforded any doctor who hadn’t received the distinction of a naming party.
Not that she wanted to change herself just to be a part of some flyers’ club. Flying solo offered fewer risks.
Before she’d helped Tanner into his clothes, she’d regained her objectivity, barely. She wouldn’t let her guard further crumble, regardless of how cute he looked in that incongruous hospital gown.
Kathleen rapped two knuckles on the door just beneath a miniature Christmas wreath. “Hello, boys.” She gestured to their flying palms. “Shooting down your watches with your hands again?”
Tanner started, looking up at Kathleen in the doorway. A painful twinge worked its way through the Demerol, but he resisted the urge to wince.
Her half smile, wry though it was, shook his focus. His hands stopped aerial maneuvers and landed on the bed. “Hi, Doc.”
Cutter glanced from one to the other, his brows pleating. “Did it just get chilly in here? Time for me to punch out.” He passed the chart to Kathleen on his way to the door. “I’ll check in with you both later.”
Her smile faded as Cutter left. Disappointment nipped Tanner. Too much.
He wanted to bring that smile back. What a crazy thought. Must be the drugs again. Regardless, Cutter was right. Kathleen—
Kathleen?
Tanner frowned, and refocused his thoughts. O’Connell deserved an apology. “I’m sorry about last night.”
“What?” Still no smile in sight, not a surprise since her face looked frozen with shock.
Tanner inched up. “I shouldn’t have given you hell on the flight line. It’s not your fault my back’s out. Are there some torturous tests you want to run so I can pay my penance?”
Her gaze skittered away, and she flipped through his chart, avoiding his eyes. “Just follow the recovery plan.”
“I intend to be a model patient.”
“Music to my ears.”
“The sooner this is over, the sooner I can get back on a crew. I don’t expect you to understand, Doc.”
Her head snapped up. The diamond glint in her eyes could have cut glass. “Why not, hotshot?”
“Hey, I’m trying to apologize here.” He raised his hands in mock surrender. What had he done this time? Not that either of them ever needed much of a reason to argue. “The least you could do is be gracious.”
Hugging the chart like a shield, she pulled a tight smile again. “Pardon me. Must be something else this ‘Doc’ didn’t learn in medical school. Apology accepted.”
“Great.”
“Thanks.”
“Fine!”
A cleared throat sounded from the hall just before Lt. Col. Zach Dawson knocked on the open door with exaggerated precision.
The Squadron Commander. The boss. Tanner wondered if a plague of locusts might be next, because his day couldn’t get much worse.
Lt. Col. Dawson ducked inside. “Hey, you two want to fire it up some more? I don’t think they heard you in Switzerland.”
Kathleen popped to attention. “Good afternoon, Colonel.”
Tanner sat as straight as he could, mentally cursing the hospital gown. “Colonel.”
“Captains.” The Squadron Commander nodded. His Texas twang echoed in the silent room as he ambled to a stop at the foot of Tanner’s bed. “So, Doc, when’re you going to cut my guy here loose?”
“Overnight in the infirmary should have him back on his feet, ready for desk duty within twenty-four hours. Two weeks on muscle relaxants. I’ll reevaluate then, but he’ll likely be on flying status again within four weeks. As long as he keeps up with his chiropractor appointments, there shouldn’t be a repeat.”
The commander shot her a thumbs-up. “That works.”
Tanner studied his boss for signs of impatience over the lost air time and found none. No gripes or pressure to get him into action? Unusual for Dawson. “Thanks for stopping by, sir.”
“Just checking on one of my men. And having O’Connell here saves me arranging a meeting later.” The commander plucked a metal chair from the corner and straddled it, his arms resting along the back. “Doc, how about pull up a seat and let’s chat.”
Eyes wary, Kathleen lowered herself to the recliner by Tanner’s bed. “Yes, sir?”
The commander scrubbed a hand along his close-shorn hair, taking his sweet Texas time. “See, I’ve got this morale problem in my squadron, and that concerns me.”
Tanner frowned, sweeping a hand over his face to clear away the Demerol fog. “Sir?”
“Morale is the glue that bonds a unit. And when there’s a problem in that department, say infighting among my officers, especially in front of my enlisted folks, it needs to be addressed.”
Their flight line incident. Cutter had said it was the story of the day, apparently for everyone. Icy prickles started up Tanner’s back that had nothing to do with pinched nerves.
The commander pinned Tanner with his deceptively easygoing stare. “Bennett, what’s the first thing I do when I’ve got dissenting fliers who need to establish camaraderie?”
Those icy prickles turned into a veritable shower. He knew where this was headed, and it didn’t bode well for either of them.
“Well, Captain?”
Tanner voiced the inevitable. “You send them TDY as a group.”
Dawson shot him a thumbs-up worthy of Caesar at gladiator games. “Exactly. A little temporary duty together is just the ticket.”
Kathleen’s light gasp tugged Tanner’s gaze. Every last drop of color drained from her already pale face until freckles he’d never noticed popped along her pert nose.
Lt. Col. Dawson continued as if Kathleen’s telling gasp hadn’t slipped free. “Get away from the rest of the squadron. Work together. Ride together. Eat together. Play together. Spend every waking hour with each other until things settle out.”
It wasn’t the waking hours that worried Tanner. “And what will be our official function during this TDY?”
“I’m sending you two to check out a C-17 accident. Put all that money spent sending you to safety school to good use.”
“Crash? I heard something about one on the news earlier. No details released though.” Tanner shed his own concerns, nothing in comparison to a crash in their small and tight flyer community. Any accident was personal. “Did anyone die?”
“No fatalities.”
Tanner swallowed a relief stronger than the meds pumping through him.
“It’s a test crew,” the commander continued. “Only minor injuries to the loadmaster. Baker’s crew, Daniel Baker.”
“Crusty’s crew?” Tanner exchanged a quick look with Kathleen.
The commander frowned. “Problem?”
Kathleen straightened. “We all attended the Academy together. But no, sir, that shouldn’t be a problem.”
Tanner wished he could be as certain. The last thing he wanted was to write up a fellow flyer—a friend.
Folding his arms over his chest, Tanner clenched his jaw shut before he said something reckless. Why couldn’t he have kept his mouth closed on the runway the night before?
The commander cleared his throat and resumed the brief. “It happened last night while you were airborne. The crew was running a test mission, dropping a two-pack of Humvees. The drop went bad and ripped the ramp right off the airplane. A lesser crew would have bought it.”
Or a crew that was off its stride from losing a team member.
Dawson canted forward. “So I’ve volunteered you two to head on over to the site and join the investigation team. See if you can figure out what went wrong. Perfect timing with Bennett being grounded for a month. You can even spend Christmas together. I call that downright serendipitous.”
Serendipity stunk. The flicker of horror on Kathleen’s face told him her feelings flew the same path.
But the deed was done. The best he could hope for was a good locale, one of the bases where they could lose themselves in recreation after hours. Away from each other. “And where was this test mission being flown?”
“At Edwards Air Force Base.”
In the middle of the California desert. Tanner slumped back on his pillow.
Lt. Col. Dawson pushed up from his chair and swung it back against the wall. A steely warning flashed in his silver eyes, belying his laid-back attitude. “Lighten up, Captains. This will make for great reading in your performance reports. If memory serves, and I believe it does, O’Connell’s got a major’s board coming up. Soon, right, O’Connell?”
Kathleen’s jaw flexed before she nodded.
“Thought so. This accident should be a snap to wrap up. Investigations can speed right along if the team’s working together.” Dawson’s head cocked to the side. “Or they can drag on for weeks. Hear that, Bennett? Weeks. I sure would hate to reschedule your upgrade slot. Again.”
Tanner pulled a weak smile. “Me, too, sir.”
“Good enough, then. I’ve already submitted the paperwork for your tickets back to the states. Be packed and ready by tomorrow night.” He dropped a hand on each of their shoulders. “Captains, consider yourselves tied to each others’ side for the next month.”
The commander nodded and loped out of the room, shooting them both a final thumbs-up just before the door eased closed. How appropriate, since Kathleen looked as if she wanted to feed him to the lions.
Two walk in. One walks out.
