Kylie smiled as she moved to the refrigerator. She took out two bottles of water and handed one to Hope. "So if you like him, why are you playing these head games with him. Why don't you just come out and tell him so?"
"Because I'm not like you." Hope unscrewed the lid and took a drink.
"What's that suppose to mean?"
"You're used to this sort of attention from guys. They flock around you like buzzards to road kill."
"Thanks."
"You know what I mean."
"Hope, you're a very attractive woman. I'm sure there are lots of guys around here who'd love to go out with you. It's just that you--"
"I what?"
"You're not very approachable. You don't trust people. You think everyone has a secret agenda to hurt or use you."
Kylie was right. Hope trusted very few people.
"You should be cautious, yeah. I mean there are a lot of men around here that are only after one thing, but not all of them. Nick, for instance. I'm getting very good vibes from this guy."
So was she. There was only one problem. "He's a ranger, Kylie. It's an impossible situation. Not only does he have one of the most dangerous jobs in the army, he's deployed on little notice, and it could be weeks or months before I'd see or hear from him."
"That's true, and we can't have that. What, with your busy social calendar and all."
"Oh, shut up." With a grin, Hope splashed her with some water from her opened bottle. "Why don't you make yourself useful and help put this laundry away?"
Chapter Six
"Are you wearing your hair up?" Kylie asked.
"Yeah, why? Do you think I should wear it down?"
"Looks better."
Hope removed her scrunchie, then slipped her M9 into her side holster and looked in the mirror. For once she wished she could wear something other than fatigues to a cookout.
"You look great." Kylie handed her a pair of sunglasses, before opening the door. "And you couldn't ask for a more perfect day."
Hope followed her out into the late afternoon sunlight. The only good thing about winter in Iraq was the mild temperatures that never dipped below freezing. Today they'd hovered in the low seventies.
Nick met them as they rounded the concrete barrier surrounding their living area. He held up a sack. "Got 'em. One bag of ranch, as requested, and a bag of barbeque."
"You gotta love a ranger. They always come prepared," Kylie said with a jab to Hope's ribcage.
"By land, sea, or air, we lead the way."
"Well, lead on, handsome," Kylie said, "Next row, first trailer from the end."
A large group of soldiers had already gathered on the deck of fellow pilot, Stu McIntosh's unit. Hope spotted Brody and their crew chiefs and nodded her greeting.
"All right, the twilight ladies are here," Stu hollered. He stood in front of a large grill filled with burgers, steaks, and hotdogs. Music blared from a small boom box sitting on the steps of his trailer. A small group of male and female soldiers were dancing nearby.
Nick looked at Hope. "Twilight ladies?"
"Twilight is the name of our team because we prefer flying at night."
"Have fun kids," Kylie said before deserting them. She walked over and snagged Brody by the hand and started dancing.
"Looks like you've accomplished your goal," Nick said.
Hope was on the verge of telling him it wasn't that difficult when Stu joined them. "Don't be shy you two. Get on out there. I'll holler when the food's ready."
Nick wrapped his hand around hers. "It's been a while, but I'm game if you are."
"Sure."
No sooner had they joined the group of dancers, the music switched to a slow song. Instead of offering his other hand, Nick placed his arms around her waist leaving her no other alternative than to place hers on his shoulders. Less than a minute into the song, he dipped her backwards, forcing her to clasp her hands around his neck. When he smiled down at her, she knew that'd been his goal.
One slow tune led to another, and it wasn't long till Hope relaxed in his arms. She was surprised how good of a dancer he was. He'd no doubt had lots of practice. Hope had too, just not with someone she was so attracted to. She reflected on the past week -- all the chance meetings -- the long talks -- and realized her mission to avoid falling in love with this man was failing horribly. What was even more alarming was she didn't care. She enjoyed being with him, and that was the only thing that mattered.
The latest song came to a sudden halt, and Stu yelled for everyone to grab a plate. He then restarted the CD, but at a much lower volume.
Hope reluctantly stepped from Nick's arms and reached for his hand. "We better hurry if you want one of those steaks."
He squeezed her hand gently. "I'd rather have something else."
Hope met his smoldering gaze. Her pulse soared. No man had ever looked at her like this. She knew then, without a doubt, her heart belonged to him. Forcing herself to breathe, she anticipated his next move.
She didn't have to wait long.
Nick let go of her hand and draped his arm around her shoulder, then guided her around the side of the CHU. With his hand now at the back of her neck, he smiled at her. "Do you know every time I look at you, you take my breath away?" He wrapped his other hand around hers and drew it to his solid chest. "And I've wanted to do this since the moment I saw you in that cockpit."
Without hesitation, Hope met his lips and gave fully to the gentle, yet urgent, exploration of her mouth. Her free hand slid up his muscular back, pulling him closer and molding their bodies together. He turned loose of her other hand and caressed the side of her neck. She heard voices nearby but gave them no mind. As far as she was concerned, no one else existed.
Nick ended the kiss and smiled down at her. "You're going to make it awfully hard for me to sleep tonight."
Hope smiled back, glad that her body wasn't the only one experiencing such emotions. "I think maybe we should go eat now."
*****
With twelve-foot-high blast walls surrounding their trailer homes, a person could only see up, which was fine with Nick. The night sky in Iraq was amazing. He spotted Orion's belt and sword so clearly it appeared the mythical warrior could step out of the sky and right onto the base.
"This is why I love to fly at night."
He peered down at Hope. Her smile spoke a thousand words. That was what he loved most about her -- her passion. It was disturbing how much they were alike. It was like he'd found his kindred spirit. A part of him he never knew existed.
Flying wasn't the only thing Hope was passionate about. She also liked to kiss, and they had done plenty of that tonight. The revelation that she was interested in him proved bittersweet, though. Earlier in the day, he'd received orders to deploy on a mission that would separate them for weeks.
Nick felt horrible he'd waited until now to tell her, but he couldn't put it off any longer. He took her hands into his and looked down at her. "Hope. There's something I need to tell you."
"If you have a girlfriend back home, I'm going to pull out my gun and shoot you."
He laughed. "No. There's no girlfriend...Well... at least there wasn't until tonight."
She smiled at him.
"I should have said something sooner, but I--"
"You're being transferred." She was no longer smiling.
"No. Deployed on a mission. We leave tomorrow."
She let go of his hands and wrapped her arms around him. "Be safe, okay."
"We will." He lifted his hands to her shoulders and pushed her back gently. "We should be back by Christmas. Will you spend it with me?"
With a sigh, she answered, "I can't. I'll be in Kuwait."
"For how long?"
"I think just for the day. I'm not sure."
"A mission?"
She nodded.
He wrapped his arms around her and she rested her head on his chest. "I sure am glad you were the one flying that bird last week."
Hope chuckled. "Yea
h, I never will forget the look on your face when you realized who I was."
He leaned his head back and out of the corner of his eye he saw a falling star. "Quick, make a wish."
She laughed at him.
"Fine, I'll make one." He closed his eyes. "I wish for Hope to spend Christmas with me."
She elbowed him in his stomach. "The wish won't come true now, silly."
"Well, I guess that leaves New Years Eve."
"It's a date," she said and met his lips.
Chapter Seven
The next three weeks dragged by. Hope had little trouble keeping her mind occupied most of the time. Missions kept her in the air on an almost daily basis. A transition was taking place in the operating theater. Troops were being reassigned, and many were leaving Iraq for the states. Transporting these men and women to the plane that would be taking them home was the type of missions Hope loved most. Soon they would be reunited with loved ones.
She thought of her own family back home. Since her home base was in Germany, it'd been two years since she last saw her parents. Although she talked to them often on the phone or corresponded by email several times a week, it wasn't the same. If things went according to plan, her tour would be up in eight to twelve weeks, and her parents were going to spend their vacation in Germany with her. She couldn't wait. She had lots to tell them.
Hope looked at the picture of Nick and her taped to the wall next to the bed. Kylie had taken it without her knowledge the night of the cookout. Nick had one too. She thought of that night often -- had even dreamed about it.
God, she missed him.
The door of the trailer opened and Kylie came bouncing in with Brody. "You decent?"
Hope glanced up from her laptop screen. Fortunately, she was underneath the covers. "Thanks for asking beforehand. Hi, Brody."
"Are you ready for tomorrow's mission?"
"Yeah," she answered soberly. Tomorrow was Christmas Eve. Nick should have been back by now. Had something gone wrong? She forced herself not to think about that. Surely if something had happened, someone on the base would know.
"I can't believe we'll be spending Christmas in Kuwait," Brody said. "Any word on what we'll be doing yet?"
"We'll be delivering equipment and supplies to four areas in the northern and eastern providences, with an estimated flight time of eight hours, then into Kuwait. We fly back here the day after Christmas with some VIP's."
"Cool." He took Kylie's hand. "You ready to go, babe?"
Hope smiled at the happy couple. They were almost inseparable now days. She noticed Kylie had put on a jacket. "Where are you off to?"
"We're going to Green Beans for lattes," Kylie answered. "You wanna come?"
The last latte Hope drank was the one Nick bought her the night they did laundry together. "No thanks. One of us should get some sleep tonight."
"Show Time isn't until fourteen-hundred hours. We've plenty of time to sleep," Kylie argued. "Sure you don't want to come with us?"
"Nah. I'm going to call home here in a little bit."
"See you tomorrow," Brody said.
"All right. You guys have fun."
After they'd gone, Hope looked at the picture of Nick. With her index finger, she caressed his handsome face. Please let them be safe, Lord.
*****
Nick watched the sun slide slowly toward the horizon. It was Christmas Eve, and they were still hours away from Camp Adder. Their mission in Al Kut was a huge success. More than four dozen Iranian-backed Shiite insurgents, including two high-ranking officials, had been captured or eliminated and a large cache of weapons confiscated. Just as important, none of his men had been killed or injured.
He wondered if Hope had already taken off on her mission. He hoped not. He didn't want to go another day without seeing her. The photograph he had tucked in his pocket, next to his heart, had sustained him through many sleep-deprived nights. But he longed to hear her voice, hold her in his arms again, and kiss those luscious lips of hers.
"You ready to head out?" Jim asked from the driver's side of the Humvee.
"Let's go. I'd like to make it to camp before Hope leaves for Kuwait."
Jim chuckled. "You're in deep trouble, my friend."
"Just shut up and drive."
*****
Hope shifted her gaze from the instrument panel in front of her to the terrain below. It was a dark night, with not much of a moon, so night vision goggles were a must. They'd made their last drop off and soon they'd be in Kuwait. She listened to Eric's plan to find a hot babe and Taylor's teasing that he wouldn't know what to do with her once he found her.
Hope and Brody looked at one another and shook their heads. "Kids," he said.
"What are your plans, Captain?" Taylor asked.
"I plan to catch up on my sleep and then I'm going to pay my respects to KFC and Baskin Robbins."
The guys laughed.
"What about you, Sir?" Eric asked of Brody.
"Baskin Robbins sounds pretty good. I might just take my hot babe and buy her a banana split," Brody answered back.
Hope heard the familiar thump of a counter active flare launched from the aircraft's automatic threat-detection system. She glanced over at Brody, and they both looked out the windshield just as a bright ball of fire flashed in front of them on her left. "Enemy fire. Breaking right." She pushed down on the right pedal, moving the control stick at the same time. The chopper rolled to the right, then straightened out.
Another flare launched. Hope felt another midair explosion.
"I've got tracer fire coming from the hillside. Multiple sources," Eric reported. He pounded away at the ground below them.
"Twilight thirty-seven to command, we're under fire. I repeat we're under fire from multiple sources. RPG's and small-arms fire from the east. We're engaging."
"Twilight thirty-seven, this is command. What is your location?"
She gave their coordinates as she continued to fly in a southerly direction.
"Roger that, thirty-seven."
"We're hit!" Kylie's voice came over the radio.
Hope's adrenaline soared. "Twilight thirty-seven to thirty-six; how bad is it?"
"I'm getting a lot of vibration in the pedals. I think they clipped my tail rotor. Over."
Not good. Out of all the things to go wrong on a chopper, that was one of the worst.
"Affirmative strike," Taylor said. "There's smoke coming from the tail."
Hope scanned the terrain below. Aside from a few trees, it was mostly flat and uninhabited. She didn't like the thought of putting down with the enemy so close, though. "Twilight thirty-seven to thirty-six; are you able to fly out of the hot zone?"
"I'm working on it," Kylie answered.
"Are we clear to circle around?" Hope asked of her crew chiefs.
"Affirmative," Taylor answered.
Kylie's chopper came into view. It rocked back and forth in front of them on the left, and it was losing altitude. The rotor was still moving, but it looked like it could come off at any time. If they were going to land they needed to do it now.
Another RPG fired from the hillside, behind Kylie's aircraft. Its white streak narrowly missed its target, engaging the decoy flare instead.
"I'm losing control," Kylie reported. "We're going down."
Hope flew past the crippled chopper and Brody fired two hellfire missiles at a truck parked along an embankment to the east. Taylor and Eric blanketed the hillside with rounds from their door-mounted machine guns.
Hope saw another truck rolling toward the first one. "Eleven o'clock," she advised.
Brody fired two more missiles. Pieces of both trucks littered the terrain. She scanned the area around the debris and toward the downed chopper for any further threats and saw no movement. Smoke billowed from the crippled bird, hindering Hope's vision of the cockpit doors.
Eric gave her confirmation. "Targets eliminated to the east."
Was there any more on the other side of the hill? Hope looked
at the downed chopper again. There was still no movement. She had no choice. She had to get them out of there. "Command, this is Twilight thirty-seven. Thirty-six is down. We're moving in for recovery."
"Roger that, thirty-seven. Advise if you need medevac."
Hope moved in position near the aircraft and started her descent. Eric and Taylor kept her abreast of any obstacles in the path of the blades or tail rotor. The terrain where she'd chosen to sit down was mostly flat.
As soon as the wheels reached the ground, Brody opened the cockpit door. "Eric, with me. Taylor, cover us."
Hope looked out her window and saw the gunners were out. They, along with the co-pilot, were trying to extricate Kylie. Since the chopper was tilted on its side, they'd probably have to remove the window.
"Command to Twilight thirty-seven. What is your situation?"
"We're on the ground. Thirty-six is intact on its side. Request additional air support and medevac." She knew you could never be too careful, and the chopper would have to be destroyed once they cleared out of there.
"Roger that thirty-seven. Air support and medevac in route."
While Taylor stood guard outside the aircraft, Hope searched the hillside in front of her for further threats. The seconds that slipped by seemed like hours. She had no idea if her best friend was alive or dead.
A flash of light on the hillside caught Hope's attention. "Taylor, where are the infrared binoculars."
Taylor scrambled backside and handed them to her. She flipped up her night vision goggles and peered through the binoculars. Another truck sped toward them on the hill from the north. Before she could say anything Taylor started firing his weapon toward the south.
"We've got small arm fire coming from the tree line."
"Never mind that, we've got a much bigger problem." She reached up and shut off the engines. "We need to get the hell out of here, now!"
"Ma'am?"
"Grab your pack and let's go!" She disconnected her headset cord, unlatched her harness, and scrambled out of the cockpit.
Taylor moved toward her, still firing. "I've got your back."
With her 9mm in hand, Hope ran as fast as she could toward the crash site. She heard a loud swoosh. "Incoming," she screamed, diving to the ground.