John O'Brien - Return

“We’ll try but the sooner you get here, the better,” he answers.

“Copy that, standby,” I say.

“Michelle, go get Lynn and have her come up here please,” I say in the intercom.

She heads into the back as I pull the various nav and approach charts out of our flight bags. Robert has control of the aircraft as I begin plotting a flight path to the airfield into the navigation computer, further configuring an approach to the main runway. Lynn comes up behind me and begins to ask what is up. I hold up hand stalling her while I finish inputting all of the numbers. A mistake here could be disastrous and we could find ourselves attempting to fly half way across the world. I figure the predominant winds there would be from the north with the season so I plan to use runway 35L. With the inputs complete, I switch the nav system over to the new flight plan. The aircraft begins a gentle bank to the right as I turn to Lynn and shout the situation to her.

“Are we going after them at night or wait until daylight?” She asks not once thinking we would not be going to help the soldiers in trouble.

“I don’t think they’ll make it until daylight,” I answer.

“I’m not overly fond of going in at night. What’s the plan?” Lynn asks.

“We only have twelve NVG’s so two teams. I would say a very small team but I think we’ll need the firepower. We’ll do a flyby on night vision to pick our route and scout the situation,” I say answering.

“Roger that. I’ll brief Black and Green Teams,” she says.

“I’m going as well,” I say.

“Haven’t you done enough?” She shouts in an exasperated tone.

“Haven’t you?” I shout back.

“Okay, fine,” she says turning to head back.

“Am I going?” Robert asks once Lynn has left the cockpit.

“No, someone has to stay here and get the plane ready to go on a moment’s notice. Be setup for a battery start. Don’t worry, you’ll get your share with the state the world is in,” I add taking control of the aircraft, turning off autopilot, and beginning a descent to the base.

The area ahead of us should be lit up by the lights of Colorado Springs and the surrounding towns, forts, and bases with the glow of Denver further to the north. Only pitch blackness shows beneath our nose. It looks as if we are descending into a large, black hole.

“Sergeant Mullins, this is Otter 39,” I say pressing the push-to-talk switch.

“Otter 39, go ahead,” he says with definite gunfire in the background.

“Switch to semi if at all possible to conserve your ammo. We’re going to do a flyby so you’ll hear us overhead in about 15 minutes. We have to land at the airfield and make our way to you,” I say giving an outline of our plan.

“Copy that Otter 39,” Mullins responds.

“Robert, I want you to stay on our ground freq. You’ll be the radio relay to Mullins. Keep the aircraft on battery power but with the lights off,” I say as we continue down.

We don our NVG’s and do a low pass over the base, sighting the location of Sergeant Mullins and his group by the flashes of light from their gunfire. There is a main road from their location directly back to the airfield ramp that we locate on our pass over the area. Lynn is looking over my shoulder in the cockpit as we fly over.

“We’ll have to exit and seal the aircraft up quickly on arrival. We can’t be caught with the aircraft open. Everyone will have to exit through the side door. The ramp is too slow,” I yell to her.

“We’ll be ready,” she says and disappears once again as I fly the aircraft away from the base and set up for the approach.

We will not be using landing lights in this case as I do not want to attract more attention than we already are. Before, we left the aircraft sealed up so I was not overly worried about the attention. Here though, we will be very vulnerable so this one will be on NVG’s alone. Not the optimum solution but one I have done a few times before. And, I have a nice, long, paved runway. The few times this was necessary before was a remote patch of ground in the middle of nowhere. And when I say nowhere, I mean nowhere.

The approach goes well with the interior lights dimmed but I set it down rather hard on the runway. Depth perception is always tough with these stupid NVG’s. We slow down and pull off of the runway. I shut down the engines on the left side as we taxi in so the props will be stopped on that side and we will be able to exit the aircraft quickly. I leave Robert to taxi in as I head to the back and gear up. He also knows to give us the all clear if he does not see any night runners about. I tell both teams to load up on ammo and carry a couple grenades each, remembering my need, or want, of them back in the CDC building. I pack four of them myself, hanging them on my tac vest, making sure the pins are bent.

We all line up inside the cargo compartment, ready to exit the side crew door like a line of paratroopers ready for a drop. Waiting for the aircraft to stop and the all clear to sound. I am in the front with my hand on the door actuator. I will exit first and remain by the door to quickly close it back up. If we get caught outside, I briefed that we will open the door and rush back in but if it looks like the night runners are about to overwhelm us and get inside, the door is to get shut regardless of who is still out there. In this manner and with these thoughts, we wait.

The aircraft comes to stop with a slight forward lurch. Anticipation fills us all. Black and Green Teams will exit immediately behind me and set up a small perimeter. I will seal the door and then we will be silently off; quietly making our way through the base to the BX approximately three quarters to a mile away.

“All clear,” Robert shouts from inside the cockpit.

I lower the door, quickly exiting and turning. Both teams fluidly follow behind and set up around the aircraft. I push the door back up and seal it up. So far, so good. In the green light from our night vision goggles, the ramp looks clear of night runners to the extent of our vision. I hear the far side engines winding down as their fuel source is cut off.

“Robert, tell them we are on our way and to expect us in about thirty minutes,” I say into the radio.

“Roger that,” he replies picking up the lingo.

“Lynn, we’ll head out in staggered formation as before. You take the left, Drescoll, the right. I will be out ahead in the middle. Center on me,” I say.

“Copy that,” Lynn says.

“Yes, sir,” Drescoll responds.

We start off across the ramp, all eyes alert and ready; weapons loaded and ready to fire.

“Mullins just said there are a lot of night runners in the parking lot around them and they are low on ammo,” Robert relays.

“Okay, thanks and keep us informed if he has any more updates,” I reply.

“Okay Lynn, Drescoll, when we arrive, we’ll create a hole for Sergeant Mullins and his group to exit through. Then we’ll beat feet back here in a rapidly folding rear guard action, two soldiers firing half of a clip each on semi and retreating back on the run past the next two in line to take station at the rear. Ten meter intervals. Don’t forget to reload. And no firing except on my command. Questions?” I say and ask.

“Will do,” both Lynn and Drescoll respond.

We head across the ramp and pick up the main road on the other side. I am quite surprised we do not have any visitors at this point as we made quite the entry but am glad of it. The main road is split by a grass meridian between the two, one-way streets; each one with two lanes. Black is on the left behind me with Green staggered behind them on the right. The road passes what looks like a park to my left but I cannot really see that far into it to determine. Silence prevails in the night air; chilly at this high altitude and after spending time in the heat these past few days.