by Lynn Ames
“You have to be the luckiest card player ever,” Janie complained. She shoved her chair back from the table. “I’m going to get another pop. Anyone want one?”
A chorus of “no thank yous” greeted her offer.
“She drew Achison,” Jessie said, picking up the thread of the conversation.
“Man, that’s bad luck.”
“The pits.”
“Yeah.”
Jessie bit her lower lip as the girls’ sympathetic comments washed over her. She had a sinking feeling in her gut, and her gut was seldom wrong.
“Why don’t you play a hand, Jess?”
“No thanks. I’m terrible at cards.” Remind me to play poker with you. Isn’t that what Claudia was always saying to her? That train of thought made Jessie’s stomach clench anew.
Rebecca shuffled the deck. “Guess I’ll just have to clean Annabelle’s clock myself, then.”
As Rebecca dealt the hand, a horrible noise pierced the air. All of them jumped up and ran outside. Janie, who already had been standing, was first through the door. Jessie was right on her heels.
In the distance, they could see showers of sparks. The unmistakable sound of metal screeching on pavement tore through Jessie’s body like shrapnel. A siren sounded. She doubled her pace.
As she rounded a corner, the runway came into sharp focus. The landing lights cast an eerie glow on a macabre scene. A mangled engine sat by itself off to the side. The plane, sheered in two, erupted in flames in front of Jessie’s eyes.
“Claude!” Jessie closed the last twenty feet separating her from the cockpit. Flames shot up in the air. Jessie ripped off her bomber jacket and threw it over her head. She scrambled up on the twisted metal. She could see the outline of a pilot still strapped into the seat. The canopy was hot to the touch, and Jessie recoiled as the metal seared the flesh on her hands.
She looked around wildly. “Give me that,” she yelled, as she spied a mechanic spraying the fuselage with a fire extinguisher. When he didn’t immediately respond, she jumped down and grabbed it from him. She climbed back up, the flames licking at her boots, and rammed the canister hard into the canopy. On the third strike, it shattered, showering fragments everywhere. Covering her hands with her sleeves, she reached inside and released the catch, then shoved the canopy back.
She felt intense heat on her legs and looked down to see her pant legs on fire. She aimed the extinguisher and sprayed herself, then the area all around Claudia’s unmoving form. She dropped the canister and used both hands to unfasten the straps that held Claudia hostage. Hands joined hers as she struggled to lift her lover out of the cockpit.
“We’ve got her. You can let go now.”
Jessie heard the words, but her body and heart refused to obey. She cradled Claudia’s head and shoulders.
“Dave, take her legs.”
Jessie glanced up to see the instructor she had flown with that morning shouting instructions to one of the other instructors. The man lifted Claudia’s legs and together, he and Jessie lowered her to the ground.
Gently, Jessie removed Claudia’s leather cap and goggles and disengaged her parachute, peeling it off her back. “Ah, Claude. I’m right here, baby. Don’t you go anywhere on me. Don’t you dare.” Jessie’s tears mingled with the ash that smudged Claudia’s face. Gently, she stroked Claudia’s cheek with trembling fingers.
“Excuse me, miss. We need to take her now.” A medic hovered over them.
Jessie blinked up at him but did not move.
“Get her out of the way, we’ve got work to do,” a man with a stethoscope instructed gruffly.
“Please, miss. We need to assess her condition.”
Jessie felt herself shoved aside, and she lost contact with Claudia. “No!” She fought against the arms that came around her to restrain her.
“It’s okay, miss. You have to let us get her to the hospital.”
“I’m going with her.”
The man ignored her, and Jessie screamed it again. “I’m going with her!”
A stretcher arrived and Claudia was loaded onto it. Jessie thrashed wildly in an effort to break free. “Let me go. I have to go with her.”
“If you don’t let her go, she’ll likely tear your arms off,” a voice said weakly from the stretcher, as two men lifted it off the ground to carry it toward a waiting ambulance.
“Claude? Oh, God. Claude.” Jessie stomped down on the man’s foot and he loosened his grip, cursing her roundly. She ducked under two other men and reached Claudia’s side.
“Fancy…meeting…you here,” Claudia managed, coughing between words.
“Don’t try to talk, Claude.” Jessie grasped for Claudia’s hand, and cried out.
“Wh—what is it?” Claudia asked.
Jessie looked down at the seared flesh. “It’s nothing.”
One of the medics who was accompanying the stretcher grabbed Jessie’s wrist and shined a flashlight on her hand. “Bad burns you’ve got there, miss. We’ll have to treat those.”
“Just worry about her,” Jessie indicated Claudia with a nod of the head.
“Guess we’d better take you with us, after all,” the medic said.
Jessie could have sworn she felt fingers combing through her hair. She opened first one eye, and then the other. After a moment’s disorientation, she remembered where she was. She lifted her head off the edge of Claudia’s hospital bed.
“About time you woke up, sleepyhead.”
Jessie straightened up gingerly. Falling asleep slumped over in a chair left her feeling stiff and sore. She moved to rub her eyes, only to realize that both of her hands were swathed in bandages. Claudia was propped up against some pillows, smiling at her. “What time is it?”
“0500.”
“Oh.” She stood up and hovered over Claudia. “How are you feeling?”
“Right as rain, thanks in large part, I understand, to you.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“This cute little medic kept going on and on about how you risked life and limb to get me out of that cockpit. He said you even ignored your pants being on fire.”
“Did not.” Jessie blushed. “I put that fire out.”
“Oh, that’s much better.” Claudia laughed, which set off a coughing jag. Her voice was raspy from having inhaled smoke.
“What happened up there, Claude?”
“The damn engine failed. Probably the wrong octane in the tank, and it was that bird’s seventh flight of the day. Poor thing must’ve been tuckered out.”
“Why didn’t you bail out?”
“Achison insisted that we could pull off a belly landing. By the time we finished arguing about it, we were too close to the ground to use the parachutes.”
If Jessie could’ve gotten to the asshole, she would’ve strangled him with her bandaged hands.
“Where is he, anyway? What happened to him?” Claudia asked.
“Don’t know, don’t care,” Jessie responded.
“That’s not very charitable of you.”
Jessie’s nostrils flared. “That idiot nearly killed you.”
“I’m tough to kill, sugar.”
“Not funny, Claude. I’m not laughing.”
“So I see.”
Before Jessie could respond, the doctor walked in. “Oh, hello. I didn’t know you still had company.”
Jessie shuffled from foot to foot but made no move to leave. The memory of being separated from Claudia hours earlier was too vivid.
“You really ought to go get some sleep, miss. Miss Sherwood is in good hands.”
“What’s wrong with her?”
“Just some smoke inhalation and a few bumps and bruises. Nothing a little bed rest won’t cure. Now, if you’ll excuse us, I really need to examine the patient.”
Although she didn’t want to, Jessie knew that she had no good reason to object.
“Go ahead, Jess. You can come by and see me later.”
Jessie reluctantl
y parted the curtain surrounding the bed and left.
When she arrived back at the barracks, she was surprised to find all the girls already awake.
“How is she?” Rebecca asked, before Jessie even had a chance to close the door.
“Doctor says she’ll be fine. Lungful of smoke and she got banged around pretty good.”
“God, Jessie, you were a force of nature out there,” Shirley said.
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Annabelle agreed. “You were like a mama bear with her cub. You weren’t going to let anything or anyone get in your way.”
“I thought you were going to deck that one instructor,” Janie said.
Not knowing what to say, Jessie simply shrugged.
“I don’t think anybody’s crying over Achison,” Rebecca said.
“What do you mean?” Jessie asked.
“Didn’t you know? He’s a crispy critter.”
“Shirley!”
“What? It’s true. They couldn’t get his canopy to release in time. He burned to death.”
Jessie remembered standing on the fuselage, unable to open Claudia’s canopy—those desperate seconds when she feared she’d lose her love. She looked down at her bandaged hands, and tears sprang to her eyes.
“Jessie? Earth to Jessie, come in, please,” Annabelle said. “Hey? Where are you? Don’t tell me you’re shedding tears for that jerk.”
“Huh? Who? Achison? Not a chance,” Jessie said, recovering her equilibrium.
“Did you stay by Claudia’s side all night? Or did they keep you for observation too?”
“Hmm? Oh. It was really late when they finished with my hands. I decided to sit with Claudia for a bit to make sure she was okay, and I must’ve fallen asleep.” Jessie marveled at how easily the explanation tripped off her tongue. She decided Claudia must be rubbing off on her after all.
Jackie Cochran, herself, investigated the accident. In the end, she concluded that the plane was suffering from metal fatigue, was cobbled together with worn parts, had the wrong octane fuel in the tanks, and shouldn’t have been flown that night. In addition, she found fault with the instructor’s decision-making. If he had chosen to deploy parachutes instead of attempting a difficult belly landing in the dark, he likely would still be alive.
All of which was well and good, Jessie thought when she read the report, but it didn’t change the fact that she almost lost her beloved Claudia. Every time she passed the charred wreckage, as she just had done, she experienced the horror all over again—the smells, the sounds, the sight of Claudia, motionless in the cockpit, looking completely defenseless, the shattered canopy, the arms restraining her, keeping her away from her lover…
Jessie entered the administration building, stopped in front of a partially open door, and knocked.
“Keaton, you’re late.”
Jessie snapped to attention in front of Lucinda Hutchins, Cochran’s handpicked pit bull. “Yes, ma’am. I’m sorry ma’am.” Jessie wanted to sneak a peek at her watch. She was positive she was on time and this overblown windbag was just jerking her chain.
Hutchins didn’t acknowledge the apology. In fact, she didn’t look up at Jessie at all. She was reviewing paperwork on her desk. Jessie stood stock-still and waited. She recognized this as one of Hutchins tricks to throw her prey off balance.
A full five minutes after Jessie had entered, Hutchins raised her eyes. “You’ve been a busy girl.”
“Ma’am?”
“Putting out fires, rescuing damsels in distress, running back and forth to the base hospital for visits… Anything you want to share with me?”
“I’m sorry, ma’am, I’m not sure what you’re getting at.” Jessie resisted the urge to fidget.
“I hear the scuttlebutt around the base, you know. Folks are raising questions about the nature of your relationship with Miss Sherwood. Care to comment?”
The intimation didn’t come as a complete surprise to Jessie, but hearing it spoken out loud brought the peril she and Claudia faced into sharp focus. “No, ma’am.”
“No? No?” Hutchins shoved her chair back as she rose and slammed her palms down on the desk.
Jessie narrowed her eyes and stood up a little straighter. If Hutchins’s aim was to intimidate her, she would have to do better than that. Jessie was a good six inches taller. She held her silence.
“Sure as hell something is going on, and I’m going to get to the bottom of it.”
“Respectfully, ma’am, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“I’m talking about something unsavory, that’s what I’m talking about.” Spittle formed at the corners of Hutchins’s mouth, and Jessie tried not to stare.
“Miss Sherwood is my best friend. We started in the program together, and we enjoy each other’s company. Do you have a best friend, ma’am?”
“What does that have to do with anything?” Hutchins thundered.
Jessie started to bite her lower lip but stopped herself. “Best friends stick together. They protect and defend each other. They spend lots of free time together. That’s just what best friends do.”
Hutchins sat down again and shuffled through the papers on her desk. “There’s a report here from someone at the scene of the crash that swears he heard you call Miss Sherwood by a term of endearment generally reserved for a sweetheart.”
Although Jessie didn’t react outwardly, inwardly she frantically reviewed what she might have said to Claudia as she pulled her from the wreckage. Nothing was coming to her, but she’d been out of her mind with fear that night. She hadn’t cared about being judicious with her words. Under the circumstances, it hadn’t mattered. All she cared about was Claudia. Then she focused on what Hutchins said. She used the pronoun “he.” So, it wasn’t one of the girls who was ratting them out, it was an instructor, or a doctor. Well, screw them.
“I have no idea what I might’ve said that night, ma’am. I was only focused on saving lives.”
“One life, Keaton. You were only interested in saving one life. Sherwood’s.”
“With all due respect, ma’am, I am only one person, and I could only reasonably be expected to help one victim at a time.”
“Cute, Keaton. Very cute. And the sleeping with your head on Sherwood’s hospital bed? I suppose you have an explanation for that too?”
“As I said, ma’am, Miss Sherwood is my best friend. It was a traumatic event for both of us. I just wanted to be sure she was okay.”
“And you didn’t trust the doctors to see to that?”
“Would you, if it was your best friend?”
“Don’t sass me, Keaton.” Hutchins looked as though she would explode.
Several minutes of silence ensued, and Jessie prudently decided to wait Hutchins out.
“I’m putting you on notice. You are on very thin ice, Keaton. If you so much as blink wrong, I’ll have your can on the next train out to whatever hole you crawled out of. Now get out of my sight.”
Jessie turned on her heel and marched out without looking back. She hustled behind an empty hangar and slumped against the building. Her hands were shaking badly, and she thought she might be sick.
She and Claudia hadn’t been caught, but they might as well have been. Claudia would be getting out of the hospital in less than an hour. All Jessie wanted was to take her in her arms and hold her close. Now even looking at Claudia wrong might get her thrown out of the program. What was she going to do? Giving up Claudia would be like giving up breathing. But they couldn’t go on as they were.
Jessie clutched her stomach. What would Claudia want to do? Would she take the threat seriously, or just dismiss it? Jessie was afraid of the answer. Oh, Claude. What are we going to do now?
CHAPTER EIGHT
“Hey, look who’s back,” Shirley said, as Claudia entered the bay. All the girls gathered around her, except for one.
Jessie looked up from her bunk, where she was mending a tear in her flight suit. She fought desperately against the urge to
run to Claudia and take her in her arms. “Welcome back, Claude,” she managed, around the lump in her throat. “Ouch! Damn it!”
“What’s the matter, Jess?” Rebecca asked.
“Poked myself with the damn needle.”
Claudia shooed the girls away and came to stand directly in front of Jessie. “You never were any good with that thing.” She sat down next to Jessie on the bed. “Give me that.” She took the needle and thread and pulled the flight suit onto her lap. “Your hands are shaking, sugar,” she said under her breath.
Jessie made eye contact briefly, then, unable to maintain it, looked away.
“You’re upset. What’s the matter, Jess?” Claudia rested her hand on Jessie’s thigh.
Jessie felt the touch all the way to her toes—it only made her more miserable. “I’ll be right back.” She jumped up and hustled the few feet to the bathroom, closed the door behind her, stood over the sink, and wept. A knock on the door startled her. “Be out in a sec.”
“Honey, it’s just me,” Claudia’s muffled voice carried through the wood. “Everyone’s gone. They went to get milkshakes at the canteen.”
“Oh.”
“Please, Jess. Come out?”
Jessie ran her sleeve across her eyes and opened the door to find Claudia leaning against the wall. “Hi.”
“Hi yourself.” Claudia captured an errant tear as it dropped from Jessie’s lashes. “Want to tell me what this is all about?”
Jessie wanted to speak, but the words wouldn’t come, so she nodded.
Claudia took her by the hand and led her back to the bed. “I thought you’d be there to pick me up at the hospital and walk me back here.”
“I meant to,” Jessie whispered. “I wanted to.”
“Look at me, sugar.” Claudia lifted Jessie’s chin with two fingers. “Your eyes are all red, and you look like someone just killed your sister, except we both know you don’t have one of those. What on earth is going on?”
“Oh, Claude.” The thought of having to distance herself from her lover was too much to bear. It was as if a dam broke, and Jessie couldn’t stop the flood of tears. She fell into Claudia’s open arms.