A Soldier's Secret Read online

  “I know, I really do, Serena.” Natalia took a deep breath. “Now let me see that dress.”

  Serena went over, picked up the gown and held it up. “If it doesn’t fit, we can get a quick alteration as long as it isn’t too involved.”

  The bell on the door jingled and Sheriff Masterson peeked in. “Am I interrupting?”

  They both turned. “Nope,” Serena said. “C’mon in.”

  “I’ll catch you later,” Natalia said, her thoughts still jumbled as, gown in hand, she went to her car and laid it carefully onto the backseat. Then she got inside, clicked on the ignition, gave the car some juice and roared down Main Street to the edge of town, where she hit the highway toward Love Field.

  Once there, she saw no one around but the volunteer receptionist. “What’s going on, Shari?” she asked. “Where’s Ben and the rest of the crew?”

  Ben Womack was the pilot who took the alternate shift.

  “He broke his leg playing with his dog this morning. Dispatch tried to call you to fill in, but couldn’t get in touch.”

  “That’s odd.” She pulled out her phone. It was turned off. Drat. Joey had been fascinated with it and she’d let him look at it earlier. He’d probably monkeyed with the buttons. “Is Ben okay?”

  “He’s got a cast on it, and yes, he’s okay. I’ll let dispatch know you’re here.”

  “Great. But I can stay until only three o’clock or so. Are they calling for a replacement?”

  Sheri nodded. “They’ll let me know.”

  “Good. I’ll go check things over.”

  As she was walking out to the hangar, the red line shrieked. Her adrenaline surged. She answered. The Yavapai Sheriff’s Office needed another eye in the air for a missing hiker in Kaibab National Forest on the north side of the San Francisco Mountains. Ground crews were already on it.

  She glanced at her watch. She had a few hours. Didn’t need a crew. No problem.

  WHERE THE HELL WAS SHE? Mac glanced at his watch. Okay, settle down. There’s still an hour before Sharpton comes. No big deal. Natalia said she’d be here and she’s always good as her word.

  The last time they’d spoken, he’d promised not to call her every five minutes, and he’d been very good about it. But he didn’t know how much longer he could hold out. If she’d told him where she was going, he might not feel so antsy.

  He took out his phone. She and Serena had been talking about wedding stuff before, so maybe Serena knew and had told Cole? He punched Cole’s button.

  “Hey, buddy,” Mac said when he answered. “What’s up?”

  “Same as always. I’m taking three lovely ladies from Washington state on a tour of the vortex sites. Is it something important or can I give you a call later?”

  “Oh, yeah. No, go ahead, call me later. I’m just…well, I was trying to locate Natalia and thought maybe Serena might’ve told you where she was.”

  “Sorry, can’t help. I left at dawn this morning.”

  They signed off and Mac paced. It wasn’t the first time she’d disappeared without a word, but knowing how important this was to him, he’d thought she would check in once in a while. He walked to the sliding doors off the family room and out on the deck. A chill air swept over him and his gut clenched. He had the oddest feeling that something wasn’t right. He jumped when a squirrel scurried across the deck. Man, he was a mess. He needed to chill. Really chill. Still, it would help to know where the hell she was.

  She was probably at the hangar, but why didn’t she answer her phone? He hit the number for Mountain Air. “Hi, Sheri. I’m trying to track down Natalia. Any chance she’s there?”

  “She went up a couple hours ago. Ben broke his leg and they needed a fill in for a while.”

  Mac couldn’t breathe. “She…she went up?”

  “Yes, but not a rescue. Just a locate for a missing hiker. She’s only up for a little while. She said she had an appointment she had to keep later.”

  He breathed a little easier. “Okay. Thanks, Sheri.” He didn’t like that she’d gone up. Anything could happen to delay even a simple flyover. But she was paying attention to the time, and he needed to go do something himself to keep from going crazy.

  NATALIA SAW THE STORM too late to avoid it, and quickly calculated her critical point and point of nonreturn. Realizing she’d already reached PNR, she had no choice but to continue the flight, regardless of the conditions. She couldn’t turn back. She had about an hour of flying time left to plow through the storm and make it to Pulliam Field in Flagstaff. She drew in a deep breath.

  Having flown in the midst of surface-to-air missiles, antiaircraft guns and M120 mortar rounds in Iraq, a thunderstorm was a piece of cake.

  She’d radioed the tower in Flagstaff to let them know she’d run into some weather, and had asked for a report, but now got only static. There had been no storm predictions when she’d gone up, but then she knew better than anyone how uncertain weather could be. Sudden storms were usually short-lived, though, and she could be out of it in no time.

  As she stayed her course, a fine spray of rain washed across the glass, thunder rolled in the distance, and then what seemed like eons later, lightning split the gray sky far in front of her. She could tell by the length of time between the thunder and the strike how far away the lightning was, and heaved a sigh of relief.

  She tried the radio again and got nothing. The sky darkened quickly and she had to squint to maintain visual contact with her surroundings.

  More static on the radio, but she tried again. “Pulliam tower, this is Mountain Air Search and Rescue, Hotel Romeo One. Do you read me?” Nothing. She repeated the call. “Pulliam tower, come in. This is Mountain Air, Hotel Romeo One. Come in.”

  Thunder and more lightning, closer this time. High winds challenged her aircraft and she fought to maintain control—and prayed the storm didn’t get any worse before she came out the other side.

  “I’M SORRY, MRS. SHARPTON. It was unavoidable.” Mac pulled Joey to his side at the door as the woman left. Even as he was smiling, his nerves felt about to snap and his gut burned with anger.

  The meeting may have been a formality to close the file, but that didn’t excuse Natalia from blowing it off in favor of one more flight. She wasn’t even critical to the rescue. They had multiple agencies on it, as they usually did. One more eye in the sky wasn’t going to be that big of a deal.

  Granted, Natalia had received some acclaim for being able to locate missing persons when others had given up, and he knew how hard it was not to jump in when needed. But today was different. He’d needed her here. That was the agreement.

  “Can we go to the tree house?” Joey asked.

  Mac did a double take. His son was actually asking him to do something with him! Mac’s chest just about burst, and all of a sudden he wasn’t so mad anymore. If Natalia had been there, Joey would have asked her.

  “Sure, kiddo. But only for a short time. We’ll have to get dinner ready soon.”

  Joey’s head bobbed up and down, but that was the only evidence that he was excited. No smiles for Mac, though. Not yet. He waited for that day.

  “Go ahead and go out there. I’ll get a few tools to finish up a couple of things.”

  He didn’t know what had caused the sudden change in the boy, but it was a gift he was going to accept gladly. Joey scooted out the door and Mac went to the garage. Most of the work on the tree house was done, except for a few finishing touches. He was just closing the toolbox when his phone rang.

  His pulse jumped. If it was Natalia, he wasn’t going to answer. It was too late to make excuses.

  But it wasn’t Natalia, it was the Mountain Air receptionist.

  “Sheri, what’s up?”

  “I don’t know, but I thought I should phone. Natalia called in reporting some unexpected bad weather, and they haven’t heard anything since. They tried several times to reach her, but no luck there, either.”

  His stomach dropped. “What time?” he asked, his E.R. t
raining kicking in. Stay calm. Get the information.

  “About three o’clock.”

  It was five now. “What’s the weather report?” Mountain flying could be tricky with all the updrafts and downdrafts, but Natalia was the most experienced pilot he knew. If she could land a chopper in the middle of a combat zone in Iraq, she could handle just about anything. During their rescues, they’d hit rain enough times that he knew she could handle that, too. But all the self-reassurances in the world didn’t ease the raw fear churning inside him.

  “Never mind,” he said. “I’m coming over.” He hung up and went outside, climbed the steps to the tree house and peeked inside. “Joey. How would you like to go see some helicopters and airplanes?”

  THE HELO SLAMMED INTO the wall of rain with such force it felt as if Natalia was breaking through a black hole into another dimension. The rain hissed and spit, sounding like eggs sizzling on a too-hot griddle as it hit the aircraft. This wasn’t the first time she’d encountered rain unexpectedly and it wouldn’t be the last. Again she tried the channel for the Flagstaff airport. “Pulliam tower—this is Mountain Air Search and Rescue, Hotel Romeo One. Do you read me? Over.” She waited…and waited, and still nothing.

  She searched for Mountain Air dispatch, hoping someone was out there who could give her weather reports and coordinates in case she had to land somewhere. “Come in, Mountain Air dispatch—this is Mountain Air, Hotel Romeo One. Do you read me. Over.”

  The rain clouds thickened around her, and it was getting so dark she could barely see. Sweat dampened her hair under her flight helmet. She gripped the stick tighter, keeping an eye on the controls, her feet on the pedals.

  A loud drumroll of thunder sent a mainline shot of adrenaline rushing through her veins, and an instant later, lightning cracked near the window, so close the helo buffeted from side to side like a Ping-Pong ball.

  A river of rain washed across her windshield, obscuring what little vision she had. Natalia’s heart jammed in her throat, and blood pounded in her ears. Hands shaking, she fumbled with the radio. “Pulliam tower—this is Mountain Air Search and Rescue, Hotel Romeo One. Do you read me? I’m in heavy weather and losing visual contact. I need assistance. Pulliam tower, do you read me? Do you read me? Mayday. Mayday.” She repeated the request over and over.

  Even if they didn’t respond, someone might hear her and maybe see her on their radar. Or they could triangulate the transmission and find her. “Pulliam tower, this is Mountain Air…”

  Her breath came in shallow, short spurts. Thunder and lightning rocked the helo again and again and, nerves stretched to the limit, she struggled to maintain control. Oh, God. She couldn’t wait. She had to go down. Somewhere. Somewhere in the mountains.

  As she decreased her altitude, more blinding rain obscured her vision until she could barely see the faint outline of mountains. She bit her lip as the aircraft bounced around like an ice cube in a cocktail shaker. As she descended lower, a dark blanket of trees came up to meet her. An opening! She had to find an opening. She skimmed the top of the trees, and that’s when she saw them—the enemy—like ants running through the woods, darting in and out. Her heart stopped. Fear stabbed her chest.

  Oh, God. She shook her head. No! Don’t do this. Arizona. This is Arizona. Focus, dammit! Focus!

  Only it was night, and while the enemy could hear her, they couldn’t see her. Darkness meant safety. Then a missile lit the sky. They were firing on her. Her nerves burned under her skin. She gritted her teeth, tightened her grip. It was her job to bring the wounded to safety, and that’s what she was going to do.

  Then she saw an opening. A stream. A very small stream, but wide enough for her to land easily.

  Thunder boomed. Lightning cracked twice in succession, strobes of light igniting the sky. Images flashed in front of her and she alternated between reality and the past, knowing what was happening, but unable to bring herself back. Another Black Hawk Medevac helo roared up from below, directly in her path.

  Natalia screamed and jerked back on the stick to avoid a crash. But it wasn’t real. She knew it wasn’t real. The rain was. The thunder. The stream. Oh, God. Please, no. Don’t do this to me now. Let me get down.

  As the ground came up to meet her, she clenched her teeth, braced herself for impact, and using every ounce of strength in her, eased the aircraft downward. Just below, buildings gutted by bombs smoldered among the tall pines, charred bodies lay splayed in grotesque positions on the rocks in the stream. She heard a baby crying and crying. No! Not real. Not real.

  The chopper crashed into the ground with a thud, snapping her head back with such force she bit her tongue. She cut the engine and heard the rumbling of gunfire in the distance.

  “Boze,” she yelled. “Boze, where are you?”

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  “I DON’T CARE WHEN the last contact was made,” Mac told Nick at the Mountain Air office. “I don’t care about anything but finding her. I need a plane with a pilot.”

  “Even if you had one, it’s so dark you can’t see a thing out there. You’re going to have to wait until morning. The Yavapai Search and Rescue team will be on it then and they can probably use another guy.”

  Mac smacked his hand against Natalia’s desk. Adrenaline coursed through his bloodstream. “She’s a good pilot. I know she’s okay. I know it.”

  “So why don’t you go home and get some sleep? You’re not going to be any good to anyone in the morning if you’re all strung out.”

  Nick was right. But how could Mac sleep? He’d taken Joey home earlier and had asked Mrs. Anderson to come over, but couldn’t leave him with her forever. And Mac didn’t want Joey to start feeling abandoned.

  The boy had asked why Natalia hadn’t come home, and Mac didn’t know what to tell him. Yeah, getting some shut-eye was a good idea, but he doubted he’d be able to do it.

  He felt as if he’d been abandoned himself—like when his dad died. One minute his father was there and the next he was gone. The feeling had never left Mac, and it made him wary of getting too close to anyone. But Natalia had sneaked into his heart, and he hadn’t realized it until it was too late. If anything happened to her…

  He sucked in a lungful of air, but still couldn’t seem to breathe. His gut felt as if he’d swallowed acid. Tears welled behind his eyes.

  “Yeah,” he said, his voice cracking. “I better get home and take care of Joey.” He waved at Nick without looking at him. “Thanks for hanging with me, buddy.”

  “I’ll be back in the morning, too,” Nick said. “As soon as it’s light. I’m joining one of the ground crews.”

  Mac raised a fist as he left the building, a signal they used for “good flyin’.”

  On the way home, he thought about who to call. He had to give Cole an update. He’d already told his friend what had happened, and most likely Cole would tell the people who needed to know. Mac’s mother had called earlier, too. She’d seen it on the news and feared he might’ve been in the missing helicopter. When she heard it was Natalia, Catherine had asked if he’d contacted Natalia’s parents.

  The thought hadn’t even entered his head. He believed Natalia would be okay. He would continue to believe it. But should he tell her parents? It was only seven, which meant it was ten on the East Coast, or nine, depending on whether they were on Daylight Savings Time. He never paid attention to that stuff, since Arizona was one of the few states that didn’t participate.

  By the time he got home, his mind had quit functioning. When he came in, Joey was sitting on one of the stools at the counter, a glass of milk and a couple of cookies in front of him. Mrs. Anderson sat next to him.

  “Is Mommy okay?” Joey asked immediately. “Is she coming home?”

  Mac’s mouth began to form words, but his brain didn’t know what they were. Finally he said, “Of course she is.” All he’d told Joey was that she’d gone to help someone, and had to stop for a while because of bad weather. “But not till later. It’s going to be jus
t the two of us tonight.”

  “Would you like me to do anything else?” Mrs. Anderson said. “I can come back early in the morning to help out if you need me.”

  He thought for a second. It didn’t get light until just before Joey got ready for school, and Mac couldn’t search until it was light. “Thank you, but I think we’ll be okay. I’ll get Joey ready for school and then go back.”

  He didn’t want to ask the woman to come back when Joey was done with school because the thought that Natalia might still be missing that late was too awful to think about. If they hadn’t found her by then, the outlook wouldn’t be good. “I’ll keep you posted,” he said. “I can’t thank you enough for coming over.”

  “Don’t thank me. I enjoy every minute with Joey.” She gave him a little squeeze, and then she left.

  It was quiet then and Joey looked at him as if Mac had done something wrong. As if maybe he was responsible for Natalia being gone.

  Then Joey said, “What’s going to happen if Mommy doesn’t come back?”

  Mac’s stomach bottomed out. “She’ll be back. Don’t think any more about it.”

  Joey picked at his cookie, then said sadly, “My other mommy didn’t come back.”

  Mac’s breath caught. A lump closed off his throat and it took a moment before he could speak. He placed his hands over Joey’s. “She’ll be back, son. I promise. And I promise I will be here with you. I will never go away.”

  RAIN AND HAIL PELTED the Plexiglas shell protecting her. Natalia sank into the seat and pulled the emergency thermal blanket over her. It was midnight-black outside, and whatever her mental state, she knew enough not to leave the aircraft. She hovered between the present and the past, aware, but unable to control where the images took her.

  She consoled herself with the fact that it wouldn’t be long until someone found her. When the rain stopped, dispatch would send a ground crew, and an SAR flight from another agency would be sent out, too. It was just a matter of time.