Today’s
excerpt is from Back To China, a stand alone book featuring Jim Scott and
friends. Jim, Hector, Billy, and Dan get
ready to get in the bomb bay of the B-2 that will take them to China. Enjoy and have a wonderful day.
m.j.
The Wing
Commander cleared his throat. “I noticed
you brought chutes. We have some for
you, if you’d like to use them.”
Jim shook his
head. “No, thanks. I packed mine. My wife, Holly, packed the other three.”
Hector muttered,
“Nice, Jimbo. One of us flares, she gets
the blame. Bet Bear packed ‘em all.”
The “chit-chat”
ended as everyone watched Bob’s transformation.
When the makeup artist finished, he stood back to look at his work. “As I told the other gentlemen, Mr. Becker, it’ll
take you about ten minutes to dry thoroughly.
Try to keep from rubbing anything against your face until it’s
completely dry. Once dry, not much will
damage the job…which includes rain, et cetera.
You’ll have to peel it off when the time comes.”
“Will do. Thanks.
If I look like these other three guys, I’m not real sure I want to look
in a mirror anytime soon. But, on second
thought, a picture of the four of us might be fun to have.”
With that, the
staff sergeant, who was female, took out her cell phone and asked, “May I?”
The Wing Commander
shook his head. “You may not.”
Jim nodded. “I agree…not with your camera. Use mine.
I’ll see everyone here gets copies of the picture…after we get back.”
After the
picture was taken and Jim had his phone back, the group stood around “waiting
for paint to dry” as Hector joked. When
the makeup artist gave the go ahead, the four to fly in the bomb bay started
putting on their protective gear, then their parachutes.
As they did, Jim
looked at the Wing Commander. “Do you
have our communications taken care of?”
“Yes. You will be in contact with the cockpit, and
we have a feed for your laptop and phone.”
On the flight to
the base, Jim had called the Wing Commander back and asked for the hook-ups for
the laptop and phone. He nodded
thanks. “Appreciate it, though I’m not
sure I’ll need the laptop now.”
Then he glanced
at the pilot. “You have the coordinates
of our target?”
“I do. Where do you want to land?”
“Ideal would be
about a quarter mile shy of the target.
Are you able to factor in wind, et cetera?”
“Yes…just like
we were dropping a bomb. Only in this
case it’ll be four bombs—human bombs.
May you all cause much damage.
Now that you mention wind, I may as well give you the bad news. With the weather reports I’ve been able to
get, you can expect to drop into some heavy rain. Not storms, but rain nonetheless. Will be able to give you a better estimate as
we close in on the target. Sorry about
that.”
“Don’t be. While it’ll be a bit uncomfortable on us, any
sentries out will hopefully be more concerned with staying dry than doing a
good job. Heavy rain added to our black
chutes and rigging will give us a better chance to land without being spotted.”
Hector spoke up
as he asked, “Don’t suppose you’ve figured out a way to pump heat into the bomb
bay, have you?”
Both the Wing
Commander and pilot shook their heads.
The pilot answered, “Sorry.”
When the four
were fully outfitted, except for the headgear they would wear, Jim asked,
“Anyone got a pen they would like to donate to the mission? With these thick gloves, I’ll need it to use
the laptop.”
The staff
sergeant whipped out her pen and handed it to Jim. He took it and grinned. “Thanks—I’ll see you
get it back. Of course the ink will
probably be shot, due to freezing.”
She smiled. “It’ll be a nice keepsake either way.”
The Wing
Commander saluted as the group boarded the vehicles for the ride to the
plane. When they got to the B-2, Billy
expressed what the other three “human bombs” were also thinking. “Wow.
Never thought I’d be this close to one of these babies.”
Jim muttered,
“Never mind, Colonel. Marines have no
need to be around ‘em—but on occasion they like having them overhead!”
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