The Christmas Wild Bunch

by Lindsay McKenna

  “You got that right. There isn’t a woman at BJS who isn’t air combat aggressive, and from my experience around here, that’s needed in spades. Those drug smugglers in Sonora are the worst bunch I’ve ever run into. And I believe Nike can help us make a difference.”

  “What about a copilot for her? You got one yet?”

  Dallas shook her head. “No. I’ve got some pull in the Pentagon, and I’m working that angle right now. With the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, pilots are rare as hen’s teeth. But I’ve got a lead on one, and I believe we can get him.”

  Rubbing his hands, Mike said, “You’re an accomplished, crafty woman, you know that?” He was proud of her abilities. The more he knew about Dallas, the more he admired her.

  “That’s the X.O.’s job,” she parried, putting a number of items on her desk away. It was time to get going on their morning mission. “I like what I do. All the chess moves to get what we need around here. The C.O.’s thrilled pink we have Nike assigned to us.”

  “I’m sure he is. Jake and Bob are gonna be jumping up and down over this change, too. They’d like to have some time off with their families.”

  “I know,” Dallas said, frowning. “This work is demanding. We can’t be fresh and alert when we’re working 24-7, either, so that’s another reason to get a third flight team in here.”

  Giving her an intent look, Murdoch said, “You know, I got a funny feeling about you. Why do I think you aren’t going to be around here forever?”

  She smiled slightly as she put Nike Alexander’s orders in a personnel folder, which she tucked in the file drawer on the left side of her desk. Her heart twinged at the thought of leaving Mike, and that was new for her.

  Normally, Dallas considered herself a tumbleweed, moving from one assignment to another, no strings attached. But after learning of his heartbreaking marriage, she had begun to see him in a new light. A better one. And a part of her wanted to stay here and not move when the new orders came in shortly from the Pentagon. Looking up, she said, “There’s that word again—forever. Mike, you know in our business change is guaranteed. You might not be military, but even the ATF will switch you to another spot eventually. I’m aligned with the U.S. Army, so about every two years I’ll be rotated to another base or mission.”

  Frowning, Murdoch took the orders for the day, which lay near his elbow, but didn’t look at them. “Yet you believe in forever marriages.” The idea that Dallas might leave sooner rather than later knotted his stomach. A grim feeling snaked through him, twisting his gut. For once, he wished his intuition was wrong. There was so much about Dallas that was secret or off-limits to him, even now. She had learned to trust him in the last month, and Mike couldn’t fathom going up against the drug smugglers without her. She was a damn fine pilot, fierce in combat and someone he could trust to cover his back when things heated up. But it was more than that, and he tried to wrestle with the shock of her possibly walking out of his life—forever.

  “Yes, but that’s not a job, that’s a way of life.”

  “I agree.” Murdoch grinned. Dallas didn’t seem to realize how affected he was by the thought of her leaving. But then, he’d never kissed her or really told her how he felt about her. When had there been time? Opportunity? For once, Murdoch was unhappy about the seven-day-a-week job. He wished for a day off with Dallas.

  She grinned back. “Marriage should be something great to build on. That doesn’t mean there won’t be problems to surmount, but at least they’re tackled as a team.”

  “On that, there’s no argument.” He held her gaze. “You didn’t answer me. Do you know something we don’t? Are you gonna pull a disappearing act on me?” That was the last thing Mike wanted, and when he saw her hesitate, his heart squeezed. She did know something.

  How he wanted a relationship with this enigmatic, powerful woman. Mike knew he could be her equal. But did she?

  Dallas shrugged. She knew she couldn’t divulge the black ops orders that would be issued by the Pentagon. “Does it look like I’m going anywhere?” She pointed to the stack of tactical assignments on her desk. “There are all our December missions. That should tell you I’m hanging around.”

  “Humph.” He pointed at their current mission. “Speaking of that, I see we’re going back to Hermosillo.”

  “Yeah, our favorite place,” Dallas said wryly. Getting up, she smoothed out her flight suit, picked up her helmet bag and knee board, and gave him a smile. “Ready, Cowboy?”

  A prickling heat of pleasure moved through Murdoch. He liked the way she said his nickname. Throwing her a mock salute, because he was a civilian and didn’t have to salute any military person, he said, “Ready, ready now….”

  * * *

  Murdoch was commander for the flight that day. As they snaked among the Sierra Madres looking for smugglers, Dallas scanned the terrain below. The Sonoran state, with its steep, rugged valleys, was a perfect place for low-flying drug planes to hide. They would pop up to cross a shrubby shoulder of mountain, then dive back undercover of another one. The smugglers rarely crossed into U.S. space. Instead, they’d fly to a dirt strip twenty or thirty miles south of the border and off-load their cocaine or marijuana to awaiting men, who would go by truck, horseback or foot into the USA.

  Mike and Dallas had been flying for six hours by the time they neared Hermosillo. Murdoch figured they’d find something there. They always did.

  “Got one,” Dallas crowed, binoculars fixed on a yellow-and-white Cessna crossing a steep canyon below them. “Don’t need to verify this one with authorities,” she murmured, watching the plane. “The dude has the numbers on the fuselage covered over with duct tape.” The Sierra Madres made an ideal place to grow marijuana, cut it, package it and then stow it on board a smuggler’s plane.

  “A dead giveaway he’s in the trade.” Tipping the wing a little, Mike spotted the plane. “Let’s watch where he goes. He’s heading northwest. Call los federales. They can get one of their twin-engine Cessnas up in the air to follow him, too.” Their ATF unit frequently worked with Mexican authorities, who were learning how to hunt and capture the air smugglers, too. The U.S. had given their southern neighbor a fleet of Cessnas, twenty-six Schweizer 333 helicopters and ten refurbished Huey helicopters to aid in stopping the drug trade.

  “Chances are he isn’t going to one of the ninety official airports in Sonora,” Dallas joked, following the smuggler’s progress.

  Murdoch ratcheted up the throttle to 160 miles per hour to keep up with the hedge-hopping druggie below them. “No,” he drawled, “he’s probably headed for one of the thousand illegal landing strips we’ve thus far identified.” Mike smirked evilly. “Or maybe he’ll show us yet another airstrip we didn’t know about.”

  Of course, the Mexican government sent in troops to destroy the airstrips as soon as they were located. The soldiers would dig horizontal ditches across them, so planes couldn’t land without crashing and tipping over on their noses.

  “Nothing surprises me anymore, given their constant creativity,” Dallas agreed grimly. Setting the binoculars aside, she radioed the Mexican authorities, giving a description of the smuggler’s aircraft, plus latitude and longitude. After signing off, she said, “They’re putting a Cessna Citation on this one.”

  Murdoch nodded. The U.S. had armed the Citation jet with radar.

  He looked around. The day was sunny and clear, with no clouds to hamper their view. He wondered if the pilot knew they were on his six, two thousand feet above. Probably not. Often, they orbited a smuggler and let him land, and then took him on. Because they never knew where the plane would put down, it wasn’t often that the federales could be there when they captured a smuggler.

  It was dangerous work, and of late, Mike was becoming very protective of Dallas, who was just as gutsy and assertive in capturing the pilots as he was. She would blow him off if he tried to run interference for her. Still, the danger ate at him. He’d just found her; he didn’t want to lose her.

&nb
sp; “Uh-oh…” she was watching the other plane through the binoculars. “He’s got a strip picked out, I think.”

  Frowning, Murdoch pushed the yoke forward and aimed their plane downward. “He must have spotted us. Going to land and run.”

  “Maybe,” Dallas said. “There’s a lot of sagebrush and shrubby trees in that canyon. He’s got to know of a strip, but I can’t see it…not yet.” Her fingers tightened around the binoculars.

  “I’ve got a bad feeling about this one,” Murdoch growled. He brought the Cessna down to a thousand feet. The sides of the canyon were covered with thick brush and short green trees that could withstand the summer heat. “Where the hell is he going?”

  “There it is…yeah, there’s a short—very short—dirt strip at eleven o’clock on the side of the canyon. Very clever. You see it, Mike?”

  Craning his neck, he squinted and finally found it. “Yeah, I do. And a couple of buildings painted desert camouflage colors next to it. This must be a major drop-off, pick-up point. A new one for us.”

  “I like finding the new ones,” Dallas said, grinning. “Gives the Mexican Army something to do and eradicates one more loading zone for those smugglers.”

  Moving his hand to his left side, toward his holster, Mike muttered, “He’s landing. Hang on, we’re going to be on his ass shortly. Watch those buildings. There might be gunmen waiting for him. Do you see any vehicles?”

  Scanning, Dallas felt the mild pull of gravity as Murdoch pushed the Cessna downward. “No…none.”

  “Might be hidden inside. Call los federales again. Let them know where we are. We may need help, but they won’t get here soon enough to give it to us.” Murdoch knew that it would take an hour at least to mount a troop effort into these mountains.

  “Roger,” she said, “we’re on our own.” Making a quick call, Dallas confirmed their position. By the time she got off the radio, Murdoch was bringing their Cessna in for a landing. Just ahead of them, perhaps three hundred feet away, the drug plane kicked up dust as it braked to a stop. Turning, she grabbed the two M16s. With swift efficiency, before Murdoch had even stopped their plane, she had them locked and loaded.

  “Hey,” he said, “be careful. Damn careful, Dallas.”

  She grinned. “Count on it. I’m not being taken out by a druggie.”

  They knew the drill and worked like a well-oiled team. Dallas opened the door and was out of it in a heartbeat, heading toward the other aircraft. Weapon raised, finger on the trigger, she ran forward, trying to keep in the pilot’s blind spot until the last moment.

  Murdoch was hot on her heels as they raced across the soft dirt of the recently made strip. He kept an eye on the two painted structures. Were there men inside they couldn’t see? The back of his neck crawled with warning. Huffing in the higher altitude, he caught up with Dallas as they sneaked up on the tail of the other Cessna. Each wore their helmet and Kevlar flak jacket, and had plenty of weapons.

  Dallas moved up one side of the fuselage, toward an emerging figure. “Halt!” she snarled in Spanish and trained her M16 on the startled copilot, who couldn’t have been more than fifteen years old.

  The pilot bailed when he heard Dallas’s voice, pulling out a revolver as he did so. Seeing it, Murdoch leaped away from the fuselage. “Stand where you are, hombre,” he shouted to the middle-aged man in sunglasses.

  Gunfire suddenly erupted; the dirt spat up all around where Mike stood. Cursing, he leaped back against the plane. The pilot snarled a curse of his own and whirled toward him, aiming his revolver.

  At once, Mike squeezed the trigger. The semiautomatic barked and jerked against his shoulder. The pilot fell, wounded.

  More gunfire! Diving beneath the plane, Murdoch saw that Dallas had the youth on the ground, with plastic cuffs on his wrists. “We got company in those buildings,” he shouted to her.

  “I see,” Dallas panted, grabbing her rifle. The only protection they had was the aircraft. Bullets flew, striking metal. The windshield shattered, sending shards of Plexiglas in all directions like shrapnel. Dallas felt some cut into her upper arm and neck.

  She and Mike flattened themselves on the ground, peering from beneath the Cessna’s fuselage. They trained their rifles on the buildings. Dallas gasped as she saw five men come bounding out of the doors, weapons blazing.

  The smell of the rounds, the harsh bark of M16s, filled the air. The drug smugglers were running straight at them, disregarding their own safety. Dallas hugged the ground, firing short bursts and choosing her targets without letting the sudden attack rattle her. Bullets bit into the ground around her. One hit so close that dirt exploded in her face, but the dark shield of her helmet kept it out of her eyes, and she kept on shooting.

  Shouts in Spanish rang out. Bullets sang like bees. Two of the smugglers fell, wounded. Three others kept charging toward them, their rifles spitting gunfire. Dallas felt everything slow down, as if she were watching a movie. And then a burning sensation flared in her left shoulder—a bullet strike. With her adrenaline pumping, it felt like the sting of an insect. She took a bead on the lead man, who was screaming angrily. He was a tall, gaunt Mexican in his early twenties, dressed in a white T-shirt, jeans and sandals. The rage in his dark brown eyes was palpable. At the same time Dallas aimed at him, he skidded to a halt, raised his rifle and aimed directly at her.

  Dallas fired. And then something hit the side of her helmet. She slumped, unconscious, the rifle dropping from her hands….

  CHAPTER 5

  “Hey, Mike!” Jake called from behind the ops counter, “the Nogales hospital just called. Dallas is awake!”

  Murdoch had just come in from a mission. The late afternoon sun slanted through the west window of the shack. He’d just entered the door, helmet bag in hand, and now his heart took off at a gallop. “Yeah? How is she?”

  It had been two days since she’d been wounded. Two of the worst days of his life. And yet he had to fly, despite not wanting to leave her side.

  Laughing, Jake put down the phone. “Awake and bitching. She wants out of there, pronto! Like yesterday. That’s our X.O.”

  Grinning lopsidedly, Murdoch deposited his bag on the shelf. “She’s okay? Talking? Her old self?”

  “Sounded fine to me,” Jake said, grinning widely.

  “You sure?”

  “Yep, no brain damage. That’s good news.”

  “I’ll get right over there. My report can wait.”

  Waving his hand toward the door, Jake said, “Gotcha, boss. Oh, the nurse at the desk said Dallas was asking specifically for you.”

  Pleasure thrummed through Murdoch. “You aren’t jiving me, are you?”

  “Me?” his buddy crowed. “Hell no! I swear it.” He held up his fingers in the Boy Scout salute.

  “You had better be telling the truth….” Murdoch growled.

  Chortling, Jake said, “Take off, Mike. She wants to see you. I’ll tell our C.O. what’s going down and let him know Dallas is back to the land of the living. I’m sure he’ll be relieved to hear that.”

  So was Murdoch. Lifting his hand in farewell to his friend, he exited the shack, mentally jumping up and down for joy over the good news. The day was cloudy, with rain predicted, and he found his flight suit wasn’t enough to protect him from the damp chill in the air or the erratic winds. The desert could be brutally cold in winter.

  Even so, Mike decided not to go back to his apartment and change into civilian clothes. He’d been on an eight-hour mission in Sonora with Bob. Since Dallas had been wounded, they were down to a three-man team once more. Nike Alexander was slated to arrive in two weeks. At least that would give them two teams in the air while Dallas was sidelined.

  As Murdoch headed for his black Toyota Forerunner, his whole focus centered on Dallas. How was she? Aching to kiss her, to hold her, he felt his eyes suddenly and unexpectedly mist up with tears. He fought them back and quickly strode to his car. More than anything, he needed to see Dallas. To make sure she was whole and all right
, despite the fact her helmet had taken a direct hit from a bullet. Would she be glad to see him?

  * * *

  “Mike!” Dallas called. She struggled to sit up in her bed in the private hospital room. “Am I ever glad to see you!”

  Murdoch grinned unevenly as he closed the door to her small room. The sinking sun slanted through the venetian blinds to the left of her bed. Dallas was dressed in a formless blue cotton gown, with a small white square of gauze bandaged to her left temple. She was pale, but he saw the gold fire in her eyes.

  “You’re the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen,” he told her, moving to her side. Grabbing a nearby chair, he pulled it over and sat down.

  Dallas smiled wanly as he bent closer and adjusted two pillows so she could lean against them. “Thanks. It’s great to see you, too.”

  “You took a bullet to your helmet,” he told her, reaching out to grasp her hand. Mike didn’t care; he needed to touch her, to be reassured she was really all right. Her eyes went soft as he gripped her fingers and gave them a tender squeeze. His heart pounded briefly when she returned the gesture.

  “The last thing I remember is this big dude charging me, his rifle blazing away on automatic,” she murmured.

  “Well,” Murdoch said, “you nailed the bastard. He’s dead. In fact, three of the five met their maker out there. When you went down, I finished the rest off. The federales got there about ten minutes later, by Huey helicopter. They cleaned up the mess.” Giving her a concerned look, he added, “I didn’t know if you were alive or dead, Dallas. Your helmet was cracked and blood was leaking out from beneath it. You scared me to death.”

  Holding his hand felt like the most wonderful thing in the world. “I’m sorry I scared you, Mike.”

  “You didn’t do it on purpose, sweetheart.” Gulping, Murdoch realized belatedly the endearment had escaped his lips. Dallas’s cheeks colored briefly.