Chapter 2 - The Call Nobody Was Supposed to Hear
Sixteen hours earlier, Rachel had been drinking coffee alone in the operations room at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base.
The first transmission lasted less than four seconds.
Broken signal.
Heavy gunfire.
Then a voice beneath static.
“Talon Actual pinned in Blackthorn Canyon. Multiple casualties.”
The channel went dead.
Rachel searched the operations board.
No rescue request appeared.
No aircraft had been assigned.
When she asked the duty controller, he lowered his voice.
“Command classified the mission unrecoverable.”
“Twelve men are still inside.”
“We don’t know how many are alive.”
“That is why we go.”
The controller looked toward the closed command-office door.
“We were ordered not to acknowledge the transmission.”
Rachel knew Blackthorn Canyon.
She had flown training routes over the region and studied its narrow red sandstone walls. Helicopters could enter through the southern opening, but hostile forces controlling both ridges would turn any extraction into a shooting gallery.
An A-10 could change that.
Colonel Shaw was away inspecting another unit. The officer temporarily controlling flight operations refused Rachel’s request to launch.
Then a second transmission reached her headset.
“We’re so dead.”
Rachel stopped asking.
She took Banshee One into the air under an emergency-support authorization intended for immediate threats to American personnel.
By the time command realized she had launched, she was already crossing into New Mexico.
Lieutenant General Kessler contacted her directly.
“Return to base.”
“American personnel are under attack.”
“The mission is compromised.”
“Then they need support.”
“That is not your decision.”
Rachel looked toward the storm gathering over the mountains.
May you like
“It became my decision when everyone else chose not to answer.”
She shut off the command channel and descended toward Blackthorn Canyon.
