Chapter 10


The last impact made Amy wonder if they were not going to soon be in need of rescue. The hull of their boat was only fiberglass and, despite the fact that Cal had told them that jumping thirty foot waves was well within their capabilities, Amy had a couple of growing concerns. The first of those concerns being that the swells they were hitting might be more than thirty feet high. The second was not so much a question of energy as one of duration. Even if the choppy seas, and that was an understatement, was well within their crafts specifications then there was still the little nagging question of how many hits could they take.

Amy had tried to ride this out, with Cal and Garcia, up in the pilot house. The shock of going up a giant swell and then quickly coming back down it were easier to take up there, at least, from a physics point of view. The real problem that Amy had was more psychological. She could see it coming and it did not help. It was like watching them drop from a three story building and then rise back up again, every minute or so. From the lower deck it might feel like a sledge hammer every time you hit but, at least, you did not have to see it coming. That of course meant that Amy was starting to learn something about herself. She now knew that if she ever faced a firing squad, she was going to beg for a blindfold. 

Unfortunately, that did not seem to be Johnson’s problem. He did not even have his little helmet on no matter how much Amy nagged him about it. The guy did not seem to even notice the quick falls, hard landings, and sudden rises. Soon it became apparent as to why. The guy was now as green a leaf. He kept grabbing for any bag that he could find and, had already filled up three. The smell was worse than the sight of it and, now, Amy was learning something else about herself. In this case, maybe it was even life in general. While only some disasters were better unseen there was nothing all that great about smelling any of them.

Garcia finally came down from the pilot house. He was very careful when climbing the ladder. He stopped before actually reaching the deck and called out to Amy, “get on the radio. Find out where Tony is.”

Amy knew all too well where Tony should be. He should be right beside her! That would mean she was in the chopper instead of Kent and, by extension, she could miss out on all the great chop. She didn’t bother to tell that to anyone. Johnson was not paying much attention to anything but the puke bag and Garcia wasted no time in climbing back up to rejoin Cal. Amy just carefully made her way, from one hand hold to the next, and finally reached the radio. She slid on the headset and punched up the little computer screen. Cal had the exact same set up in the pilot house only, Amy figured, he was a little too busy right now.

“Arch Station,” Amy called and then repeated it. “This is S-A-R surface, do you copy?”

A choppy sounding voice replied, “go ahead Sar-one.” Amy recognized the voice as Shannon. Of course, Johnson had mentioned the fourteen year old was running the ops center but, Amy really did not believe it until now. Amy repeated the question from Cal and all Shannon had to say in response to that was, “they’re working on it.”
Several miles away, back on the beach, Shannon finally located the switch that she knew had been there all along. It was a switch that everyone else seemed to have forgotten about. After all, who expected to find windshield wipers on a building window? The Ops center had them and they were plainly visible but completely ignored. Shannon had most of them on and working again. Now she could look out, past the rain splattered windows, and view the rough weather and seas for herself.
After the call form Amy she picked up the phone and rang the heliport. Chuck answered soon enough and Shannon barked at him, “move your ass! They can’t find the target without you.”

“Look here squirt,” Chuck replied with an obvious bit of agitation in his voice. “If you don’t like…” Shannon hung up on him.

The fourteen year old was still snickering at that when she noticed Danni who was standing just at the top of the stairs. Now Shannon’s amusement changed to a frown when she noticed Danni’s almost blank look. Then Shannon suddenly realized something, “I thought you went with them? Why aren’t you out there?”

“I can’t,” Danni glumly replied. The only other explanation she offered was, “I’m grounded.”

Shannon knew exactly what that meant. She did offer a solution though, “Tony’s having trouble getting the bird off the ground. If you still want to go, just run out to the heliport. I’m sure he’ll take you with him.”

“No thanks kid,” Danni replied. The girl looked almost like a blank slate.

As Danni turned to walk back down the stairs, Shannon pulled off her headset and ran up to the girl, almost demanding, “what is wrong with you?”

“Who says anything is wrong,” Danni replied without even looking back. She just went right on stomping down the stairs. Danni’s words might have said one thing but, Shannon was hearing something else in an altogether different tone. Shannon let her know it too. All that it managed to do was stop Danni at the bottom the stairs where she finally looked back up and said, “it’s just a job Shannon. I’m not on that job anymore. If you want to find out about that then just ask your mother.”

“Hey,” Shannon yelled down with anger as Danni tried to walk off. It stopped the girl but, Shannon could not help but notice how Danni was acting almost like she was a, ghost maybe? She was showing no emotions, concerns, devoid of any expression at all. Shannon knew that was not a problem she was currently having, “what is your problem Danni? Our friends are out there in a dangerous situation right now. I can’t believe you don’t want to help. I can’t believe you’ll just roll over to Mom. Since when have you done everything she told you, huh?”

“Time’s change Shannon,” Danni replied. She still sounded distant. “I used to do that but, I guess, I was wrong. I know that now. I have a couple of pretty big scars to prove it now, don’t I?”

This time, Danni did not stop walking off even after Shannon called her a few choice names from the top of the stairs. The teen was still spewing them as she stomped back to her station. She was getting ready to call Amy on the radio, just to do the regular check in, when the phone rang. Shannon popped the icon on the computer screen and answered it instead.
It was very surprising to hear her mother on the other end. What was even more surprising was how up beat her mother was sounding, “are you ok, Shannon?”

“Um,” Shannon wondered if maybe she should hang up and go check herself for some kind dementia, “yeah? Mom, does this have something to do with this morning? Look, I’m really sorry about that but…”

“It’s all right sweetheart,” her Mom said. “I need you Shannon.”

“Yeah, um,” Shannon was now looking at her headset like it was diseased. Now she knew it was not her that needed to be checked for dementia. Shannon had always heard that it happened to old people first. Shannon asked her mother point blank, “are you ok? You don’t sound all right.”

“I’m perfectly fine Shannon,” her mother replied sympathetically. That alone made Shannon think that something was not all right. Her mother did not even sound that sympathetic when Shannon was stung by that Sea Snark. In fact, as Shannon recalled, her mother got about as sympathetic as saying, “what did I tell you about playing with strange animals, young lady?” Those were basically her words when the doctor was in the middle of sticking a big needle in Shannon’s behind.

That was certainly not the tone the woman had now and, Shannon put that to her before asking another question, “where did you go?”

Instead of answering, Barbara asked her child, “can you come to me Shannon? I need your help. It’s complicated and I can’t explain now.”

“Mom,” Shannon told her, “I’m manning the com watch.” Suddenly Shannon realized that might not be the best thing to say. It only occurred to her afterwards that her mother was not aware of that little fact. Then Shannon remembered that her mother’s last words, about being in the ops in general was, “don’t touch anything.” Suddenly Shannon began to back pedal and say, “um, I mean, I… Well, oh fuck it. Mom we got two Sar’s out right now and somebody has to be here so unless you’re in a whole lot of trouble right now, I can’t go anywhere.”

Shannon braced for the tirade that would follow but, surprisingly, her mother stayed sympathetic and said, “oh you’re just growing up so much. I’m so proud of you dear. I just hope you have someone there to look after you while I’m gone. Is there anybody else there?”

Shannon’s eyes drifted towards the stairs and she thought about Danni. Right now, Danni was the only other person in the station. Shannon thought about that and then, considering what happened earlier today, Shannon figured it was probably best not to mention that little fact. She only replied to her mother, “um, no? I’m all alone?”

Barbara’s words sounded so reassuring and motherly, “that’s so good to hear darling.”

Now Shannon was being very sarcastic and unbelieving, “who are you and what did you do with my mother?”

The phone line went dead. Shannon sat there for a moment and listened to the humming open line before the computer was actually the one to disconnect. Shannon was now officially creeped out. She put down the headset and walked back over to the old looking phone thing that only rang the heliport. When Chuck finally picked up he was cranky, “look kiddo! I’m busy, ok? Bugging me isn’t going to get Tony in the air any faster.” He paused for a second and Shannon listened to the wind and rain through the line as Chuck was talking to somebody else in the distance. Then he came back on and told her, “and Tony told me to pass a message along. Tell Amy to stop whining!”

Shannon deflated in relief, “oh thank god.” She hung up the phone.

On the other end, Chuck was looking at his handset like it was insane and not the kid on the other end. He was still doing it when Tony finally slapped him on the shoulder, “you still with us dude?”

“Uh,” Chuck finally hung up the phone and replied, “totally.”

Kent Gold was doing his best to shield his phone from the rain. He had one of those disposable slickers on and, as far as Chuck could see, protecting his phone was about the only purpose it served. Underneath the cheap, transparent, plastic, the guy was wearing a full divers wet suit. Why did he need anything else? For that matter, his phone was water proof up to two atmospheres, like most phones. Why did it need any protection either?

Chuck did not bother to ask the guy. Chuck already knew that the only answer he was liable to get was a stinking pile of manure. That seemed to be Kent’s way. Kent also seemed have a fascination with things like the weather. As it turned out, he was watching the feeds from the little weather stations they had set up along the beach. Chuck knew this because the guy announced, “I think we’ve got a break coming. The wind speeds have dropped to a more tolerable level. We can take off now.”

Tony was not so convinced when he replied, “I’m the pilot and you’re the doctor, doctor. So unless you want to fly that crate then I’d suggest you let me make that call.”

Kent smiled from under the plastic, “I’d be more than happy too, boy. I was flying choppers when you were probably still in grade school.”

Once again, Tony remained unconvinced, “you can fly a helicopter?”

“Why is that so surprising Mister Tippet?” It looked as if Kent, underneath his multi layered protection from the weather, was eager to prove his words. In fact, Tony thought the guy looked a little too eager and that kind of made him nervous. Kent had a way of doing that to just about everybody.

After grabbing the guys phone and looking at the data, Tony made a command decision, “I think we can take off now.” He and Gold rushed to the chopper as Chuck began removing the blocks and supports that had been keeping the wind from blowing the chopper over for the past half hour. When they were clear, and Chuck was safely out of range of the rotors, Tony fired up the engine. Chuck lifted his light wands and waved Tony clear for take off. On a normal day he might use the headset but, this was only a normal day for the wet season. The wind and rotors would drown the microphone out and the rain would not be of much help either.

When the chopper made it into the air, Chuck actually sighed in relief. He then thought about calling Shannon back to tell her they were airborne but, Chuck figured why bother. The phone for the ops center was on a support post for the hangar and currently getting sloshed by rain. Chuck just figured that the first thing Tony would do, and probably already had as he flew out to sea, was radio in. Why should Chuck have to endure any more weather to tell Shannon something that she probably already knew? He ran back to his bunker instead.

Chuck climbed down into it the depression in the dunes and then wrestled with huge rusting door. He stepped out of the rain and the little lake that was always his doormat on days like this. He sighed in relief as he reached for the knob that turned up the lights. He kept twisting and twisting when nothing happened.

All that Chuck could think, as he searched his coveralls for his flashlight, was that his generator had blown another breaker. It was certainly not unheard of in weather like this. The bunker, that he live in, certainly had a quaint charm that spelled out unique. It had an atmosphere about it but, the downside was that sometimes it had a little too much atmosphere. That was normally when it leaked. A lot of electronics did not mix very well with water.

Chuck forgot all about that when he realized he was not alone. He only knew that much when he found his right arm pinned behind his back and his face was slamming into the concrete floor. His rotator cuff was crying out in pain and the knee in his back was not helping matters either. Chuck screamed out to remedy the only thing that he could figure might be going wrong, “honest dude! I didn’t know she was married!”
It did not work.