Nightwatch

Chapter 20

They had been in the air a little less than thirty minutes when Thomas noted a sudden change in pitch of the Chinook’s twin 2,850hp engines. The throaty roar deepened, and he anxiously peered outside the helicopter’s forward hatchway. Since leaving Fort Leonard Wood behind, they had been flying over a seemingly solid expanse of rolling, tree-filled hills. This forest was still visible outside, and as the Chinook began to lose altitude, Thomas spotted a portion of a two-lane roadway down below, and the first of several single-story structures belonging to the small Ozark town of Winona.

Thomas looked to his right, and flashed Ted Callahan a thumbsup. Both of them were now dressed in BDUs, and except for a lack of unit insignias, they were attired identically to the eighteen soldiers who sat alongside them on the nylon-webbed bench.

Rucksacks, rifles, and other equipment were stored further aft, near the Chinook’s rear ramp. The giant twin-rotored helicopter could easily handle twice their number, and Thomas knew they were fortunate that this Wisconsin National Guard platform had been in the middle of summer exercises at Leonard Wood when their alert came down.

He felt his body pulled forward and to the right as the Chinook began a steeply banked turn. A fenced-in compound could be seen below, with an American flag flying alongside the largest structure, a one-story wooden building with a gabled forest green roof.

“I sure hope there’s enough room down there for this big lady,” shouted Ted Callahan, who had to practically scream to be heard over the clattering engines.

They descended rapidly but touched down with barely a jolt on an open portion of driveway in the compound’s rear. With rotors grinding away unabated, the rear ramp was lowered, and Thomas followed Ted Callahan, Captain Jay Christian, and Sergeant Sam Reed outside onto the asphalt parking lot.

A group of Forest Service personnel waved them over to the nearest structure. Here they were greeted by a pert brunette, decked out in a light green U.S. Forest Service blouse and brown slacks.

“Hi, I’m Jody Glickman, the district naturalist, and I’ll be your guide down the Eleven Point. How many are in your party?”

“There are twenty of us,” replied Ted Callahan, who went on to introduce his associates.

“I’m afraid I was only able to get five jet boats down to the Greer access site,” she added.

“I don’t suppose we’d be able to squeeze a couple more inside your helicopter.”

“Ranger Glickman,” said Sam Reed, “we could probably fit a full dozen of ‘em inside that monster and still have room to stretch our legs.”

“Then we’ll pull a couple of boats off our lot and take them with us,” she offered.

“Per General Atwater, the river downstream from Greer remains closed to the public. And by the way, we still haven’t heard from the members of our team who were sent along to accompany the Vice President’s party.”

“Any luck getting your communications back. Ranger?”

asked Jay Christian.

Glickman somberly shook her head.

“The entire grid’s still down, and from the reports that are starting to come in, it looks like someone went and intentionally destroyed our network of repeater towers.”

Thomas looked at Ted Callahan. With this shocking revelation, their Search and Rescue mission suddenly took on an additional sense of urgency.