Deployed

Chapter Three

Competition for Affections

Myron had arrived at 14:45 intending to find a nice table, but also close enough to the door, so he could see when she walked in. As the 15:00 hour approached, he made sure to be keeping a careful eye on the door, so he would not miss her when she came in.

He was just about to walk over to the door, take a peek around, and see if she might be waiting outside for him, when a series of wolf whistles. As Myron glanced towards the door, he noticed a rush of men as they headed straight for the door. That afternoon it would have been hard to imagine she would turn out to be this stunning. Green and beige camo, hair up hidden under her beret, definitely did not lead to any inkling; this red headed beauty would be his companion that evening.

By the time he reached her, men were diligently trying to persuade her, to join them, surrounding her like a bunch of wolves on a lamb.

“Sonja, it’s about time you came to find out what the Royal Quarters offers. I’ll make sure you leave fully satisfied,” one of the soldiers said, with his arm extended towards her.

“Ignore him, Sonja, I’ll take care of you,” another said.

Through the throng of men she quickly spotted Myron and said, “Sorry boys, my date is already here,” and she stepped out of their midst to take, Myron’s hand.

Myron had already determined this wasn’t a date, but who was he to correct this beautiful woman who had come to join him for a drink or two.

The comments “Lucky dog, how’d he get her acceptance, and what’s he got that I don’t,” came, as they walked toward the table Myron had chosen for them.

“We can find another table if you’d like. I thought this one would be close enough to the door to see you when you came in. From how quickly you were surrounded though, obviously I was wrong.”

She smiled and said, “This one is good. It gives a shorter distance to the door, should one of us need to leave, suddenly.”

She must have caught the puzzled expression on his face, because she lifted her pager and said, “I’m on call for the infirmary tonight.”

Relief flooded his face as he had started to think she might run away in fear at some point during the evening. “If you’re, on call that means no alcoholic, type beverage?”

“Right you are, but I don’t drink, anyway.”

“What can I order you to drink then?”

“A virgin Pina Colada would be good, thank you.”

“Do you mind if I have a beer?”

“Are you on call, for anything?”

“Other than being your bodyguard and protector for this evening, I don’t think so. However, I have to be alert for the start of my assignment at 06:00.”

“Then have your beer. I’m your date, not your Mom.” She smiled.

There was that word again, but again, he chose not to correct her.

As he came back with their drinks in hand, she took hers, took a sip, set it down on the table and asked, “Do you dance?”

“After a little false courage, I certainly do.”

“No need for false courage tonight.”

She grabbed his left hand with her right, intertwining her fingers with his. While walking backwards, facing him she made a come here movement with the index finger of her left hand. The swing of her hips as she stepped back towards the dance floor was all it took to entice Myron to follow. As they moved closer to the dance floor, his hips swinging too, matching her movements.

They came to the dance floor, slowed and stepped into each others arms as the waltz began. Whistles came, from the men who had been trying to gain Sonja’s attention and affections since she or they got to base. They caught view of her swinging hips, flowing skirt and the tossing of red hair swaying across the back of her shoulders. She twirled full circle around and as she spun it looked as though she were moving in a strong wind. She only had eyes for one man though, which brought more questions from the others. Myron, had only just arrived that morning, and as far as they knew, he was only passing through.

Head office had informed him, he was only here to find and retrieve the missing dignitaries. After that, he would to be on the first flight back home.

The music changed to faster tempo and though it wasn’t a 60s era song, she began making the moves of the jive. Whoever, was playing the music must have been watching because the music changed to a song made for jiving. Myron enjoyed the way her hips moved and her eyes sparkled as she swung and swayed while she danced toward and away from him.

“You really know how to rock it on the jive.” Myron stated as they took their seats.

“You’re no slouch either,” she replied with a smile.

He lifted his beer to his lips and took a long slug off it while Sonja took a slow sip from her virgin Pina Colada. Without really thinking before asking, he asked, “What brought you to Kuwait?”

“An aircraft carrier via the army brought me to Kuwait.”

“Yeah, I guess that’s how we all got here, right?”

“Right. Will you be heading back to Canada once you find the officials?”

“That’s the plan, yes. Do you know how long you’re to be stationed here?”

“I’ve been stationed in Kuwait for six months and I have another six months here, but who knows how long we’ll be here for sure.”

“Have you thought about what you’ll do after your tour of duty?”

“You mean in regards to re-enlisting?”

“Yeah.”

“I hadn’t thought about it. How many tours of duty have you done?”

“For me it’s been a career. I enlisted the first time 10-years ago.”

“You must have been a kid.”

Myron laughed. “I guess to some, 20 could be classified as a kid.”

Myron peered down at his watch. Brass expected he be up and on the ball for an early start, so he didn’t want to be out too late, even though he was enjoying himself. At that very moment Sonja’s pager went off, which he figured could be his cue, as time to go.

“I fly out in a few hours and I don’t have a clue, when I’ll be back, but I’d like to see you again when I do.”

Sonja curtsied and said, “It was a pleasure getting to know you, kind sir. I look forward to meeting again. Perhaps the result will be date two?” She blew a kiss towards him as she was walking away. Myron watched as she disappeared through the door.

“Now that’s a woman I will make sure I see again.” He whispered to himself, finished his beer and rose to leave.

Time to Fly

Morning came quick for Myron, but to him the ramifications of meeting Sonja at the Royal Quarters were minor. As far as he was concerned, Sonja was worth the lack of a good night’s sleep. Even though they actually left Royal Quarters before 23:00, he was not able to sleep. The swirl and flow of her skirt, the sparkle of her eyes and smile, and the way she swung her hips in the jive came to his vision, every time he closed his eyes.

This morning would be a more watchful and careful take off than it had been the day before. Now that Myron knew the enemy would be watching and since he was able to destroy trick the two missiles into colliding with each other yesterday. Myron figured the enemy would be more careful today in deploying additional missiles.

Myron climbed into cockpit and powered up the chopper, hitting all the pertinent switches to get the blades fired up and moving as well as pushing the appropriate buttons. Making sure all the gauges were working and operating properly he continued to go through the ignition startup process. He did not want to engage the side rail missiles or armory. Nonetheless, knowing they were ready to deploy at the flick of a switch, would be key to keeping him and his passengers alive.

As far as pilots go, Myron was the best, but he was not the only soldier, going out into the desert for this expedition. Altogether, there would be five on this little excursion, but since he was on a need to know basis, he had no clue who the other four would be.

He felt the chopper move as the others climbed into the passenger section, but had not turned to see whom they were. However, when he did turn and look, he blinked his eyes. One of the passengers and the only female of the group was a pretty, little redhead. He had not expected to see her for a few days, perhaps even a week. He turned in his seat as far as possible, considering he was already buckled in, and almost ready to fly.

“You appear surprised to see me, Captain Skoryk.”

He laughed, “That would be, because, I am, surprised. I thought you were on call at the infirmary all night?”

“I was and when they called me in, my patient, a woman having Braxton Hicks Contractions, resulted in both of us going home about 30 minutes after I got there.”

“Did you know you were coming on this assignment?”

“When we met, yesterday? When we went on our date, last night?”

“Yeah.”

“No. I didn’t find out until I got home from the hospital last night. The medic, assigned to this mission, came down with the flu which is why, I’m here.”

“Well, now, isn’t that convenient?”

A Generals Ego

“Corporal Langdon, you need to take your seat and get buckled up, so we can get this show on the road.” One of the higher-ranking soldiers barked.

“Yes sir, General Scally.” Without another word to Myron or the General, Sonja took her seat and buckled in.

General Scally added, “You two can carry on your romance on your own time. Right now, you’re on military time, so keep that in mind, the next time you want to flap your gums, or dilly-dally. Captain Skoryk, I think you have your coordinates, so let’s get going.”

Though he wanted to say more, Myron simply said, “Yes, sir!”

Within a matter of seconds, the helicopter lifted off the ground, and after carefully rising into the air, she nosed her way forward.

Myron heard the murmurings of chatter coming from behind him, but was not able to make out full sentences of what they were saying. He hoped to be able to find out more about this assignment before take-off, but that obviously wasn’t going to happen.

Even though there were miles and miles of desert as they rose higher into the sky, Myron also spotted smatterings of green and blue here and there. Myron diligently scanned the sky for missiles that might be heading their way.

It took about twenty minutes, to reach the coordinate destination.

“We’ve arrived at the coordinate site. There are the remnants of the caravan, but there doesn’t seem to be any further activity. I’m going to fly around and circle the area before landing.”

General Scally agreed, “Sounds good to us Skoryk.”

Myron made a wide circle over the target area they would be landing and exploring. He spotted a suspicious sighting and reported, “That appears to be camouflage of some sort. It doesn’t look right. Shall I get in closer?”

“No. I’ll report it to one of the helicopters coming up behind us. They can check it out. Just keep doing your circle of exploration.”

“Yes sir. There are more helicopters, behind us?”

With no response to his question, Myron continued his exploration of the area. Myron assumed General Scally was typing the coordinates of the site, into the electronic gadget he had in his hands.

To the right of the attack site, Myron spotted a peaked ridge of mountain sized, sand dunes. He flew over the ridge to get a better look. As they flew over Myron realized it was an actual mountain ridge, not sand. To his eyes, the dirt, sand, hillside or mountain all seemed the same. There didn’t seem to be anything out of place or suspicious within the confines of this circle of mountains. However, Myron did notice an opening in the circle of mountains. That opening was actually only a few short yards, about the distance of a football field, away from the last known coordinates of the missing dignitaries. The other thing Myron saw of interest, only a few feet from the opening, inside the mountain range, stood a clump of trees, which he could easily hide the chopper.

“I’m going to fly in lower and perhaps even land inside this circle of mountains in or near that clump of trees.” He informed his passengers. Myron pointed to the opening and clump of trees he had been referring to as a good hiding spot.

“Go in closer for a better peek, but don’t land. At least not until I give the go ahead.”

Myron was beginning not to like, General Scally, but because of ranking, again only responded with, “Yes sir.”

He flew down into the center of the mountain range, close enough to get a clear visual on the area. He spotted five rectangular shaped, flat table-like, boulders set up in a circle. The boulders appeared to be approximately waist high. Also visible on the boulders were reddish coloured blotches. Myron figured the red blotches might be blood. He tried to convince himself, “Perhaps this is a hunting ground.” The flat boulders seemed to be strategically, placed end to end, and far enough apart for a person to walk or stand between them. Due to Major Scally’s orders not to land, Myron made sure they were hovering distance over boulders. All his passengers had unbuckled and scanning the area, peering out the chopper door, windows. It seemed they were trying to make head or tail out of what the red blotches on the boulders might be. Again, the sounds of mumbling, a word here and a word there, red, stone, altars, came from behind him, to land on Myron’s ears, but no clear communication.

“Myron, how close can you get to those trees?” Sonja asked.

“I should be able to get pretty close. I may even be able to get into the trees, depending on spacing between them.”

“Go ahead and land. Try to get as close to the trees as you can.” One of the other male passengers said.

“Only, if you can do it without damaging the chopper.” General Scally barked.

“Yes sir.”

Myron carefully put the chopper down on the ground in a way that as it touched the ground, it would move forward into the trees. He was able to move and hide fairly close to the trees. With the way General Scally had been barking out orders, Myron did not want, to completely shut everything down so he asked, “Do I shut everything down?”

No verbal response came, but the expression on General Scally’s face told him, he had just asked a dumb question. Myron shut everything, except the blades down, but then decided to go ahead and shut them down too. His reasoning behind his decision to shut everything off came about because of the possibility of the Mujahedeen having raiding parties out. If the Mujahedeen noticed the reverberation of the gyrating blades, their little rescue party would be in danger of discovery.