Today’s
excerpt is from Devil’s Brew, Book #8 of the nine-book Janitors Series. Needing a second C-130 for the pending
mission into Syria, they also need a crew for the second plane and Tim already
has that solved. Enjoy and have a wonderful day.
m.j.
By the time
those calls were completed, Air Force Colonel Timothy Scalley and Air Force
Lieutenant Colonel Wendy Austin, pilot and co-pilot respectively of the C-130
the Janitors routinely used, had arrived.
Jim explained fully what the coming operation would entail. He also told them of the second C-130. When finished, he asked, “Any problems with
filling out crews for the second plane?”
Tim shook his
head. “No, Jim. Wendy can pilot the second plane and have one
of our two loadmasters, our engineer and navigator. I can take care of the other crewmembers,
except a co-pilot for Wendy. Wendy?”
“Know just the
guy. Who’re you usin’?”
“A retired
two-star—Goose Kovarik.”
Wendy tilted her
head to one side. “Come again? Goose?”
General Bradley
laughed. “Picked up the nickname when a
damn goose crashed his party, as it were.
A goose came through the windscreen of his 130. Should have killed him. Fate was on his side. He’d dropped something—don’t remember what
just now—but anyhow he was having difficulty reaching it and told his co-pilot
to take the controls while he bent way over to pick up whatever it was. Saved his life. Damned goose hit the windscreen and went off
like a hand grenade. They were,
fortunately, already in the traffic pattern, and went ahead and landed without
further incident. Seems some geese had
decided to use the base as their new home.
After he landed, covered in blood and goop from the damned goose, he
walked toward a hanger, saw a goose, and saw a baseball bat one of the guys had
left near the hanger door. Picked up the
bat and smacked the goose in the head.
He had a cook prepare the stupid bird, and then he and his crew ate it. Know him well, by the way, Tim. Flew some 130 missions for CIA during the
build-up to Desert Storm. Did a real
nice job. You don’t know this, Jim, but
he dropped you and your Fox teams in.”
Jim nodded. “Didn’t know who the pilot was, but he did a
great job. I take it he’s still a viable
pilot.”
Tim nodded. “Sure is.
Has his own plane and flies all the time. Met him after he had retired, but understand
he was one helluva 130 pilot in his day.
He was doing some consulting work over at the Pentagon when General
Bradley got me parked there.”
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