0 comments/ 5464 views/ 1 favorites The Fury By: Taharial for Martin...I still remember I looked out the window at the sky growing dark with storm clouds, and uneasily wondered why my husband wasn't home yet. I love storms, but this one had been called dangerous more than once on the weather forecasts, and the scenes of devastation it had left behind in the areas it had already gone through were frightening. The wind whistled through the trees next to the house, growing louder and louder every minute, starting to become almost a muted roar. I paced, watchful and worried, in front of the big picture window in the living room, chanting, "Come on, come on," like a mantra to to bring him home safely. Finally, I saw headlights turn into our driveway at the far end. Relief washed over me, almost leaving me limp, and I went out on the back porch as he pulled his truck around to the back of the house. He came bounding up on the porch, soaking wet, and shaking the rain out of his hair. "I'm glad you're home, I was beginning to get worried! We've got to get the horses in the barn before it gets any worse." I was almost having to shout over the wind howling through the massive oak trees behind the house. "Okay, babe, give me just a second, and we'll go round them up." I ducked back into the house, grabbing my oilskin, and then whistled up the dogs to help get the horses towards the barn. Our horses have never liked being cooped up, and I knew that with the weather as bad as it was they would be skittish, and hard to handle. I looked down at my australian shepherd, Taz, and pointed out towards the pasture, "Go get 'em!" He took off like a shot, ears laid back against his head in the driving rain, and tail up like a flag behind him. Trixie, his female counterpart, took off after him, and I knew it was just a matter of time before I saw the horses topping the rise at the end of the pasture, relentlessly being driven towards the barn by the dogs. Martin rejoined me on the back porch after grabbing his own oilskin, and we tugged the collars up around our necks as we ventured out into the forty-mile-an-hour winds, and the rain that was coming down so hard it stung when it hit my cheek. The huge pine trees behind the barn seemed to bend almost parallel to the ground, and I started to worry about one of them coming down on top of the old barn. I wordlessly pointed them out to Martin, knowing that my voice would be lost in the roar of the weather around us, and he nodded, but knew, like I did, that there was little we could do to prevent any damage this storm chose to inflict on us. At the barn, the storm seemed to conspire against me as I struggled to open the small side door, and once I had it open, it was snatched from my grasp by a gust, and slammed back into the side of the structure. It was a little quieter in the barn, but it only served to highlight the creaks and groans wrung from the old building by the storm. While Martin struggled to pull the door closed behind us, I made my way down the aisle of the barn to the sliding doors, intending on getting them open so the horses could easily come inside once the dogs had them headed this way. I slid the door to the side just in time to see the horses top the hill to the side of the barn at a gallop, head high, nostrils flared, and the two dogs nipping at their heels. I stepped to the side as Taz and Trixie herded them inside, and turned to see that Martin had the stall doors open, and each horse had headed to it's own stall, snorting and blowing. "They feel it, don't they?" I almost yelled at Martin as I watched my gelding, Striker, paw at the stall gate, tense muscles highlighted in his chesnut neck. "I haven't seen it this bad in years!" he yelled back, busy throwing hay into each horse's stall, and checking to see that they all had water. "Are you sure they'll be okay in here? What if one of those pines comes down on the barn?" Martin looked out the door of the barn, and nodded his head at a lightning strike that arced out of a sky that had turned a sickly greenish-yellow, and struck the ground perilously close to us. "They need to be in here. Out there, they'll be under the trees, and may get hit. They may not be happy, but they'll be safer here." I helped him check the last couple of stalls, and then resigned myself to the trek back to the house in the rain. Even though the air was relatively warm, the rain was icy cold, and managed to find it's way under any coat to drench you in seconds. I motioned to the dogs to stay, and nodded to Martin that I was ready. We ducked out of the side door and it took two of us this time to get it to close. Martin swung the latch closed, and I turned to head back to the house. We both took off at a trot, holding our oilskins closed, and hunching our shoulders against the rain. We made it about halfway to the house when thunder roared right above us, and the crackle of lightning made the hair stand up on my arms. A deafening crack sounded, and I looked up to see half of one of our massive oak trees leaning impossibly. Martin dived for me, and pulled me to the side as half the oak came crashing down where I had stood seconds before. He yelled in my ear, "Tornado!" and forcibly turned my head to make sure I saw. I looked towards the pasture and saw a dark finger reaching out of the strange sky towards the ground. It didn't seem real, and I probably would have stayed frozen there to the ground, but Martin grabbed me, and pushed me towards the creek. "We have to get to lower ground!" I stumbled towards the creek, almost unable to see where I was going through the downpour, and still deafened by the thunder seconds before. Martin pushed me, forcing me to keep up with him, until I reached the short bank above the creek, and fell about three and a half feet to the creekbed below. Martin was right behind me, and he pulled me up against him as we huddled against the small overhang that seemed to be our only shelter for the moment. I was shaking, not because I was cold, but because I had seen the damage tornados can do in a split second, and we now had one bearing down on us quickly. A rumble started getting louder, vibrating through my body, sounding like a freight train was flying through the air above us, and again I noticed the sickly color of the sky that I could see between ominous, dark clouds. "Put your head down!" Martin yelled in my ear, and I ducked my head down against his chest, and his arms went around me, squeezing me almost uncomfortably tight. I felt him put his head down next to mine, pulling us both against the steep bank, and the meager shelter it offered. The crackle of almost constant lightning strikes had left negative images on my retinas, and not being able to make sense of the chaos around me, I shut my eyes, and prepared for the worst. For a moment, it almost seemed that the wind died a little, and I thought for a split-second that we had dodged a bullet. I was wrong. The fury had only taken a short breather, and when it resumed it was worse that before. The noise seemed inside me, making my whole body resonate with the chaos. I could feel Martin's arms tight around me, my anchor to the earth. The rest of me was consumed by the storm. Time dragged. The scream of the wind seemed about to burst my eardrums, and then it got just a degree quieter. I thought that I had to be mistaken, but after a moment I realized that I was right, the chaos in the air was almost imperceptibly slowing. I finally dared to raise my head and open my eyes, and was greeted with a landscape that was vastly different than it had been when I had last seen it. The oak that had cracked in front of us looked like something from a war zone. Half of it was still standing exactly like it had been, the other half had been twisted from it, turned upside down, and slammed back into the ground. It had taken part of the barbed wire fence with it, and wire stuck out a weird angles from the tree itself. There were pine trees down in the pasture, looking almost like dominos in the uniform way they had fallen, one right after the other, and the shed where we had kept the riding lawn mower, and yard tools was completely gone. The wood from it was probably two counties away. The rain had faded to a slow drizzle now that the wind wasn't flinging it this way and that. Martin was gazing around at our reconfigured yard, amazed we had escaped with just a few scratches. He finally looked at me, and asked, "Are you okay?" I nodded, my mouth too dry from the terror-fueled adrenaline rush I was coming down from. He brushed my hair back from my face, and looked directly into my eyes, "You sure?" I coughed, and found my voice, finally, "Yeah, I'm okay, just scared, that's all." He pulled me roughly to him, leaned his chin on my shoulder, and I heard him say, very quietly, "I was scared, too, babe." Martin kissed my cheek, then moved his lips to mine. He kissed me very gently, as if afraid I would bruise, and then his kiss deepened, and I kissed him back with a passion and urgency that surprised me. The adrenaline in my body came surging back, not in reaction to danger this time, but riding tandem with an overwhelming urge to feel his body over mine. I leaned back onto the mud of the creek bank, pulling him with me. His lips never lost contact with mine, and he groaned into my mouth with a need that matched my own. I could feel his cock even through all the clothing, hard against my belly. Martin raised up long enough to undo my jeans, and then my hands were with his on my hips, pushing my jeans down my legs, and then off. The mud underneath me was infinitely more welcome than my soaking clothes had been. Then, my hands met his again at the waist of his jeans, fumbling with the button, and then the zipper, in our hurry to be able to reassure ourselves we were alive. Again, he was on me, his weight a blessing, and his lips on mine. Martin pushed my t-shirt up, and fastened his lips around my nipple, the contrast of the chill drizzle of rain, and the heat of his mouth bringing chill bumps up on my skin. I reached between us, and held his cock in my hand, heavy and familiar, and then guided him to me. It was my turn to groan when I felt him push into me. He pulled back briefly, and whispered, "Babe, I don't think I can go slow ..." I hushed him with a finger over his lips, and whispered back, "I don't want you to go slow." I arched my back, trying to draw his cock deeper into me, and his body answered mine. He sat back and hooked his arms under my knees, lifting my ass up to him, and started driving his cock into me, hard. I held on to his upper arms, trying to find leverage to fuck him back, needing him so badly it was frightening. He released my legs, and brought one of his hands around to my pussy, seeking, and then finding, my clit. His touch was all it took to send me sliding over the edge of an orgasm, screaming my pleasure to the clouds. He fucked me through my orgasm, and I could feel my pussy clenching tight around his cock. I heard him groan, "Oh, damn....babe...." and then he put his arms back in place behind my legs and lifted me up to meet his thrusts. "C'mon, baby," I gasped, "fuck me. Give it to me." The sound of our wet bodies meeting, hard and fast, was a charm against danger. Martin threw back his head, letting the rain wash his face, and I felt him get larger inside me. He slammed his cock into me, over and over, until he felt me start to tighten around him again in another impending climax. With a shout, he came deep inside me, and I went with him, a sweet release. I pulled him back down to me, and kissed him, slowly and sweetly, and then wrapped my arms around him, his weight familiar and comforting on me. He put his head next to mine on the ground, and said, "I love you, baby." "I love you, too." I answered. Then I felt the gentle benediction of the rain on my face, and knew the chaos had been pushed back, and kept away from me, once again. The Fury Four Hank Murphy scanned the sky for the hundredth time in the last fifteen minutes. The sky was clear except for the four North American FJ-4 Fury jets far below and in front of his plane. He scanned the sky again, then concentrated his search to the north. That is where any playmates were likely to come from. He saw a slight glimmer out to the north, low. He clicked his mike button twice for the clock position where he saw the flash, then after a pause, he clicked again three times to indicate the bogie was low. The flight of Marine jets below him started a slow turn to the left. They were in the condensation level at thirty two thousand feet and were leaving a beautiful vapor trail behind them. Then the four jets climbed a few hundred feet and were out of the condensation level and the contrails stopped. They flew above the condensation level for a few minutes then eased back down and left a trail for a few seconds before climbing above it again. Hank caught sight of the "enemy" flight climbing up behind his four jets. He was in the sun from the Japanese Self Defense Force F-86F Sabres climbing up behind his decoy flight. He clicked his mike button six times then paused and clicked twice telling his guys that the enemy was behind them at, or close to, their altitude. Murphy rolled his aircraft inverted, pulled back on the throttle and extended the speed brakes. He dropped the nose and let his speed bleed off until he was just a bit above cruise speed then added power as he retracted the brakes and rolled back upright. He set up for the gun camera and double checked his cannon on SAFE. A closed rapidly on the last F-86 and squeezed the trigger to activate his gun camera for a perfect shot, then slipped behind the section leader and got a line up on him and squeezed the trigger again. He dropped lower and eased in behind the flight leader's wingman. After he got film of the flight leaders wingman then moved over and took the shot at the lead plane it snapped off to the right in a tight turn. Hank followed him and keyed his mike, "Blue Flight, Break left and engage." The North American F86 continued his turn into a barrel roll trying to get behind Hank. When Hank saw his intention he yanked the throttle back, hitting the brakes, then retracting them and going to full power as he rolled to follow the other jet. He managed to stay behind the other plane but was now a bit slower. The F86 ahead of him went in to a hard left turn. The Jap was about thirty degrees ahead of him in the turn and if the F-86 could out turn him it would eventually get behind him. Hank smiled softly, that wouldn't happen. He had never seen an 86F he couldn't out turn in the Fury 4. The pilot ahead of him was very good as were most of the JSDF pilots he had played war games with. Many were WWII Japanese Navy pilots. Lots of them were aces. Hank had never fired his guns in anger. They continued their turns then suddenly the Sabre reversed his turn. Hank smoothly followed, slightly closing the gap. Hank's G-suit was fully inflated and he grunted hard to keep his vision from going gray. The Jap plane snapped back in another reversal. Hank gained a few more degrees on the plane in front of him as the dogfight continued. He knew that they were losing altitude and took a quick glance at the altimeter. 19,000 feet. He could feel the slight vibration of the airframe that told him he was on the edge of a high speed stall. He could pull the turn just a hair tighter. His nose was on the plane ahead of him but he couldn't get enough of a lead ahead of the 'enemy' to take a shot. Suddenly the F86 ahead of him snapped out of the turn to the outside and Hank knew he had stalled. Hank slowed and drifted off to the side and watched as the JSDF plane went straight down. He saw it's speed brakes were extended and he pulled a tight turn away then reversed back and dropped in behind the other plane and pulled the trigger. It looked like his sights were perfectly aligned and it was a clean kill. He saw they were at only 5000 feet and were still in a pretty steep dive. The other plane was a bit faster than he was now because the speed brakes on the FJ-4 were larger and more effective. As he followed the other plane he wasn't positive the other plane could pull out in time. It was well ahead of Hank by now. Hank went to full throttle and closed on the 86 as it pulled level just above the tops of the buildings below. As the other plane climbed straight ahead he tucked in on it's wing and flew formation on it. He wrote the side number of the F-86F on his kneepad. The other pilot turned and looked at him. The Japanese pilot pulled hisoxygen mask off and turned and smiled at Hank. Hank gave him a thumbs up and turned away while he checked his fuel state and his position on the TACAN device in the plane. The TACAN was the only navigational device installed in the FJ-4. The only TACAN stations in the Far East were aboard U.S. Navy aircraft carriers. He was tuned to the station aboard the carrier docked in Yokahama. He flipped to the chart on his kneepad and plotted his position and plotted a heading back to his home base at Atsugi. When there were no carriers in port at Yokohama, the FJ-4 had no useable navigation equipment aboard. Under those conditions they had to rely on a radar controller on the ground. He was in good shape. He called the Marine Air Control Squadron 10 controller and was identified and given a vector home. The vector matched the heading he was already on. The rest of his flight was already on the ground and he joined them in the squadron ready room. They all gathered around him grinning. "Did we ever sucker that guy in." They laughed. "It looked like you got all of them!" Hank grinned back, "Yeah, I think I got pictures of all of them. You guys set them up perfectly. I couldn't miss." "Bull shit! Hank, that last guy gave you fits, did you ever get a shot?" "You're right about that, he was damned good. In equal planes I never would have got him." He was damned good, the best I have run across." The Squadron First Sergeant entered the ready room. "Lieutenant Murphy, the Colonel would like to see you in his office as soon as you have changed clothes, Sir." "Be there in five, Sergeant." Murphy knocked on the door to the Colonel's office." "Come in please Hank. Have a seat. I would like you to meet General Suhiro Sakajima. General this is Lieutenant Henry Murphy. We call him Hank." The general held his hand out and took Hanks hand and shook it. "I am very pleased to meet you again Lieutenant." "Have we met before sir?" "Yes, an hour or so ago at about thirty two thousand feet above Tokyo." "Were you the flight leader Sir?" "Yes, I was. You are a very good pilot young man and I just had to meet you. I have never been bested in the air before. I want to congratulate you. And I heard that your general is on his way here to chew you out for flying too low over Tokyo. There were many complaints." "We were pretty damned low, Sir." "I couldn't believe you had wiped out my whole flight. I was very angry at myself and just had to try to get a reversal on you but I couldn't shake you no matter what I did." Hank smiled at him, "You fell for the oldest trick in the book, Sir. If the flight had been three instead of four planes you would have been suspicious and not jumped on them so fast." "You are right young man, I have never heard of you Americans flying a flight of five." "I haven't either, Sir. That's why I thought it might work." There was a knock on the door. The Colonel went to the door and opened it. An U.S. Air Force Major General entered the room and looked around. He looked at General Sakajima, "Suhiro! What are you doing here?" "Waiting for you, Bob, I knew you were on your way." The Air Force officer grinned, "Your intelligence people are way better than ours." "No, we got the same complaints as you did and I knew you would be down here looking for some ass to chew. I guess you are looking for Lieutenant Murphy here." "Is he the guilty party?" "Not really, he just got the blame for it." The General grinned, "How did that happen?" "Well, Bob, he was chasing the plane that flew so low. By the time anyone heard it and looked up, he was who they saw. The actual culprit is here also." "Who?" "Me." "How in the hell can I ground you?" "Before you get into this too far I want you to know that for the first time in all my years of flying fighters I lost to a better pilot and tactician in the air. That was Lieutenant Murphy." "Really?" "Yes, I was outwitted and out flown." The Colonel and the two Generals stared at the Lieutenant. After a moment or two the Air Force General asked the Lieutenant if he knew who General Sakajima was." "No Sir." "The General is the Commander of the Japanese Self Defense Air Force. He is the highest ranked active ace from WWII. He had 54 kills on American Aircraft. He flies as much as you do. If you really beat him you did a hell of a feat. I wish I could have been able to see that." General Sakajima smiled at the Marine First Lieutenant, "Lieutenant Murphy, would you do me the honor of spending the weekend at my country home north of Tokyo this weekend. I want to get to know you better. I know you Marines are not permitted to have your families with you here in our country while all of the rest of your services do have their families with them. I guess that is what makes the Marines so mean." He smiled. "Sir I would be delighted. Thank you." "Then my driver will pick you up Friday afternoon about five at your BOQ if that suits you." "That will be fine Sir." The Air Force General held out his hand and shook hands with the Lieutenant and the Japanese General, "This is going to require a great deal of study. Did you get gun camera film?" "I believe so, Sir." "Have copies made for General Sakajima and I, please." He looked at the Colonel, "Send them by courier please." "Yes Sir!" The Colonel looked at the Generals and said, "If you gentlemen have nothing further for Lieutenant Murphy I will dismiss him so he can make Happy Hour at the Club. The Generals looked at each other. They shook their heads and both smiled at Hank as he left. When he was out side he leaned against the door and closed his eyes. "Sumbitch! that was a close one." Friday afternoon the Japanese staff car, with the rank flags covered, drove up the long drive to the General's country estate. The grounds were beautiful and immaculate. The house was huge and appeared to be English Tudor in style. Hank was surprised to see the General standing waiting for him to arrive. General Sakajima smiled as he opened the car door for Hank. Hank climbed out and turned to get his bag when the general said, "Just leave it, it will be taken to your rooms. Please come with me to meet my wife and my daughters." Hank followed the shorter man and was ready to remove his shoes, as per Japanese custom, when the general smiled at him, "Please leave your shoes on young man, we observe Western Customs in this house, we are more comfortable that way." Hank was led to a lovely enclosed porch where he was introduced to a beautiful woman, who stood to greet him. "Darling, this is Lieutenant Henry Murphy, Lieutenant, my wife Betty." The woman smiled broadly and shook his hand. Her smile was dazzling. She grinned and said, "We may be related, my maiden name was Murphy. Please be seated, our girls will be along in a moment." She looked in his eyes and said, "Where is your family from young man?" "Ma'am, I was born and raised in north Florida, my family has been there since 1820, they migrated there from Virginia." "Oh! What a shame, we are not related then. My Great grand father came from County Cork, Ireland in 1861. It would have been fun to be distant cousins." "Ma'am, forgive me, but we must be distant cousins, we just have to go further back, maybe to Adam and Eve, but some where in-between, we both come from the same blood." He smiled as she clapped her hands and said, "Yes, you are right. We are cousins." The General stood grinning at both of them. "My wife and I met in Washington, D.C., when I was there attending classes at Georgetown University in 1934. We were married a year later. Then we lived in the States for four years at Dayton, Ohio while I was at test pilot school and doing development work on the F-86F. So you can see we are very westernized. We still observe Japanese customs from time to time when we are in town, here we live completely western." Hank smiled at them and they talked for a long while. They asked about Hank, if he were married and things like that. He was not married, he had been engaged when he first was ordered to Japan. He had only been in country a few months when he got a 'Dear John' letter. He laughed and said he was really happy he hadn't married the girl. He said he was not really religious but that he believed in the Catholic views on marriage. Hank heard laughing and giggling as two young girls entered the room. He stood and was introduced to the daughters, Elsie and Joan. Joan appeared to be about eighteen and Elsie was a few years older. They were both very lovely. He shook their little hands and smiled delightedly. Dinner was announced shortly there after and they all went to a large dinning room. During dinner he learned that Elsie was attending the Duke University School of Medicine. He was very impressed and told everyone so. Joan asked if he had a degree. He said he had a BS in Electrical Engineering. And he was working on his Masters in correspondence and extension courses, he just needed to write his thesis. Elsie smiled at him and said if he was ever anywhere near her in the states she would love to help him, she said she had a minor degree in Creative Writing. He grinned at her. "Beautiful lady, You may be very sorry you volunteered. My next duty station is at Cherry Point Marine Corps Air Station. About one hundred and fifty miles from Durham." "That is something to think about." she smiled. He couldn't help staring at her. She was a very beautiful girl. She wore a Emerald green Mandarin style dress with a high collar, short sleeves and the skirt was split midway on her thigh. She wore hose and high heels. Both sisters were about five feet tall. Neither of them was near a hundred pounds. Their mix of Japanese and American blood was exotic. Hank had to force himself to tear his eyes away from Elsie. Whenever he looked at her he found her watching him. The general asked him if he would care to go flying in the morning. He said he kept several light planes on a grass strip behind the main house. Hank smiled and asked if the two girls were pilots too. They both were. He smiled and asked what planes they flew. The General told him they both flew his Piper Cub Aircraft and were current in the Beechcraft Bonanza. "You own a Bonanza, Sir? I have one too. I love mine. I had to put her in storage while I am over here." General Sakajima smiled, "I am impressed, not many young Marine officers can afford a Bonanza." Hank laughed, "Sir, I couldn't either except that not being married gives me the money and time to care for a plane. And a trust fund I inherited from my Grand parents helps a lot." Elsie smiled at him, "Can you cuddle up to a plane on a cold night?" "I have never tried that. I live in the Bachelor Officer's Quarters and have a small one room apartment with a shared bath. They keep the rooms toasty warm. I thought I would be living in the Married Officer's Quarters when I got back but my girl found a guy she liked better. She married another fellow a few months ago. It made both of us very happy." He laughed. "Me too!" said Elsie, blushing. "ELSIE!" Said her mother, with a smile. Elsie smiled sweetly at her mother, then turned to Hank. "When do you return to North Carolina?" "In August, two months from now." "Wonderful, me too." "Are you home for the summer?" "Yes. I try to come home every other year. I miss Mom, Daddy, and Joanie. I am in the States on a student visa and it helps if you go home every now and then." "Have you chosen a specialty in medicine as yet?" "Yes, I want to be a Pediatrician. I love children." "Do you want to have a lot of children when we get married?" Elsie looked wide eyed at him and covered her mouth and giggled. Joan giggled too. The General and his wife looked shocked. "What? What did I say?" "You asked me how many children I wanted when we got married." "OH NO!" That's not what I meant to say. Please forgive me, Please. I am so embarrassed, I meant to ask how many children you wanted when we get married. Oh My God! I did it again." Hank covered his mouth with both hands and closed his eyes. He opened them wide and looked at four gently smiling faces. "I am unable to explain what has just happened. I am really not that way. I just met you. I have never felt this way before. Please forgive me. I promise I will behave." Elsie stood and walked to Hank. He stood and she reached out and took his hands, they looked into each others eyes. He was trembling. She smiled softly at him. "Will you please kiss me." Hank looked quickly at her mother and father. Their faces were expressionless. He leaned forward and slightly parted his lips as he pressed them to hers. He felt her arms move around his neck pulling him closer. His hands were on her hips. She stepped back. His legs went weak and he dropped to his chair. He looked and felt dazed. He watched as she returned to her chair. She smiled at him and a shiver went down his spine. She turned and looked at her mother. She smiled, nodded, and said, "He is the one." Her mother smiled, "Are you sure?" "Positive." She turned back to Hank, "Hank, would you like to take a walk with me and see the gardens, they are quite lovely at dusk like this?" "Er, uh, yes, oh yes, I would love to see the gardens." He followed her out the French doors and took the little hand she offered as they slowly walked down the gravel path. She looked up at him and smiled, he knew he had never in his life seen anything as lovely as her smile. They turned a corner in the path and saw a pond with ducks and geese. She led him to a white bench and told him to sit for a moment. She stepped a few feet away and opened a bin and removed a cup of pellets and returned to set beside him. She threw a handful to the quacking ducks then handed the cup to him. He threw some feed to the birds and looked at her. "Throw them the rest in the water and they will leave us alone." She slid closer to him and felt him tremble. "Are you cold?" she asked. "No, are you?" "A little bit." He stood and slipped his blazer off and put it around her shoulders then sat back beside her and put his arm around her. "Is that better?" "Yes, much better." She reached over and loosened his tie and unbuttoned his collar. She grinned at him, "Now you look more comfortable. Relax a bit." "I can't. I am too excited. I am afraid I will do something to scare you away. May I kiss you again?" "Yes, please do." She turned towards him and they pressed their lips together. He felt her lips part and the tip of her little tongue brush his lips. His tongue met hers and rubbed around it. A little hand went behind his head and pulled him tighter. He pulled back a bit and looked in her big brown eyes, "Elsie, I think I .." Her small finger pressed against his lips. "I know just how you feel. Don't say it until you are sure." Her eyes searched his. "I have never felt like this before." She stood. "We better go back before Daddy comes looking for us with his shotgun." The Fury Four He looked startled, "Oh no! You are perfectly safe with me. I would never take advantage of you." "I am not worried about you, sweet Hank, I am worried I may assault you." she giggled. "What?" Grinning up at him she grabbed his hand in both of hers and pulled him back. "I might drag you into the pushes and have my way with you." He looked over her shoulder. "Here comes your Dad." She spun around and looked. "Where?" His laugh and grin tingled right to her toes. She reached up with both hands and pulled his head down for a kiss. He pulled her small body against his and held her tightly. She sighed, "Hank, I have never believed any person could make me feel how I feel about you. And in just a heartbeat too! Damn, what are you doing to me?" "I have to tell you sweet little girl, I never dreamed I could just look at someone and instantly feel something this powerful. No one has ever made me unable to even talk right." "I think you said what your heart was saying Hank, I really do." "I know that now, so?" "Two for sure, maybe three." "Great, me too." "Shall we go tell everyone?" "Not yet girl, they won't believe us. They'll think we are crazy." "We need to learn everything about each other. I want to know all about you. All your likes and dislikes. What kind of books and music you like. Are you going to be a Marine all your life?" "Well until a couple of hours ago my answer would have been that I am a career Marine. Your Daddy being a military man has had to let you learn that being married to a Marine Officer is not a bed of roses. Marines are worse than the others because when we go to a foreign country we are sent 'Combat Ready'. We cannot take our families with us. That is no life for a man in love with his wife. It would take a very special kind of woman to live like that. So my answer would have to be that I don't know what I will do. It will depend on if I marry or stay single. I have enough money to live comfortably if I don't want to work, but I would have to have something to do. I can't give you a good answer to your question. Too many variables. How about you, when you graduate do you want to practice in the U.S. or in Japan?" "Hank, I don't know. I am like you. I love both countries, I have lived over half my life in America and I love it there. I love warm climates." "You would love my home state, Florida." "Oh yes, I have been there several times, I do love it there." "I think we need to go inside so they don't worry." "Yes we can sit and talk with them for a bit. How did you meet Daddy?" "We met while flying. He is a super pilot." "Yes, I know. He is the best. No one has ever beaten him in a dogfight. It must be a great challenge to compete on his level." "You are right about that. I have never flown in actual combat. It is one game where you do not want to come in second. I admire his skills very much." "I love to fly with him, he is so smooth and precise in every move he makes. All my instructors are in awe of him." "Me too! What ratings do you have?" "Just single engine, private and instrument, you?" "Single and multi engine, land and sea, commercial, instrument, hot air balloon, and instructor." "Wow! You are so young to have all those." "Not really, I love flying and was commercial rated before I went to Navy Flight Training." "Hot air balloon?" "Yes, a completely different sit of skills are needed there." "I'll bet they are. You are funny. You tease so gently." "I haven't teased you yet, I try to not be hurtful to anyone." "I believe that. You are a very sweet man. I bet you are one of those people who just can't lie too." "My father could not stand a liar or a cheat, I learned early on not to fib at all. It always leads to trouble. I don't remember ever even thinking of telling a lie, it just normally wouldn't occur to me." Elsie smiled softly at him. "That is nice to know." "I don't want you to think I am some kind of saint, I am certainly not. If you asked me if I thought you are the most beautiful girl in the whole world, I would say yes, even knowing you are not really. I wouldn't be lying because I do think you are." "I think you are very, very handsome too. Maybe not the most in the whole world, but maybe in the top ten." "Now that is pure bullshit, little girl, I know you don't believe that, but I appreciate the effort." They entered the house laughing. The general and his wife smiled as they joined them in a family room. Elsie handed his jacket and said she was going to get a sweater and left the room. The general asked if he had seen his gun camera film as yet. He replied that he had not seen it. "I have a projector set up over here and we will take look when Elsie gets back." "I'm back Daddy, what are we going to look at, I missed that part?" Her mother answered, "Honey, we are going to see Hank's gun camera film from when he had a dogfight with your Daddy the other day." Elsie looked at Hank. "You got film of Daddy in a dogfight?" "I don't know, I haven't seen it." "Well let's take a look." said her father. The film was a little grainy but quite clear. The first picture was of a F-86F at close range. The gun sight was steady on the Sabre jet when the firing indicator came on. "A clean kill on my second section wingman." remarked the general as the sight moved to the next plane in the flight. "Another clean kill." A second later the third jet was in the sights and the firing indicator showed again. The final fighter was in the sights and the indicator came on again. "All four of us shot down. Fine job, son. Really good flying. Look you are moving up on my wing now and there I go trying to get away from you. Damn you are locked on my tail. Look at me twist and turn trying to throw you off. Then I reverse again and now I am trying to out turn you, I can't do it. I am in a high speed stall now. You slide out, then you are back on my tail. I go into a split-S trying to get away. You drop back and I am pulling away. Damn I am real low. Way too low! Here you close back in on me and I am back in your sights. I have been thoroughly whipped. Outsmarted and out flown. Damn, you are better than I thought." He turned and grinned at hank and extended his hand. Hank took it in both of his and said, "Thank you so much Sir, that means a lot to me." "Hank Murphy, I don't believe you! Daddy, we were just out side talking about flying and I was telling Hank how my Daddy was the best and had never been beaten and he never said a word about this. Not a word. Why didn't you say something." "Well I happened to agree with your statement. What I did was probably a fluke. It was only a play fight. I have never even fired a shot in anger. If it had been a real fight I would have been too terrified to do anything." "Hank, I have another piece of film your Squadron Commander told me you had never seen." "What? Oh! That has to be from the time we intercepted a Tu-16'Badger' Russian multi-sensor reconnaissance and electronic intelligence aircraft. Yeah! There he is. Following orders from Air Defense Command I made a run on him to take pictures with my gun camera. We are over Japan and he is violating Japanese airspace. Here I am coming right up behind him. Those flashes are tracers from his 23-mm cannon. Somebody forgot to tell him I was just taking pictures. The little jiggle in the camera is probably from the three hits I took. As you can see I fled the scene. I was terrified." "Hank, I don't believe that. Not at all. What do you think Daddy?" "I think Hank is a very smart young man. I don't think anything would scare him. But he is far too smart to tell you he beat your Daddy at anything. I don't think I would want to tell you I had beaten Hank at anything either, the way you look at him." "DADDY!" Mrs. Sakajima looked at everyone. "I think Daddy and I are going to bed now. You can stay up and talk for a while if you want, I want to kiss Lieutenant Murphy good night and say that I am very happy that the fight the other day was just a 'play' fight. I pray that neither of you fights for real, ever." Elsie and Hank sat and talked for hours. It was well after midnight when they kissed good night. The next morning after a light breakfast Elsie and her mother and father took Hank out to their grass flight strip, There was a large aircraft hanger hidden in a grove of trees. The general explained that the field had been base for Zero Fighters during WWII. Small bases had been scattered all around Tokyo. Several men appeared and rolled open the massive doors. Inside were two Piper Cub training planes and a sleek modern Beechcraft Bonanza four place aircraft. After looking the Bonanza over they decided they would fly the Pipers. The general and his wife were in one plane and Hank and Elsie were in the other. After both planes were running they both taxied to the end of the grass strip. The general pulled out and lined up on one side of the strip. Hank followed him out and moved up to the side and slightly behind the general. The first plane started down the strip and Elsie was surprised that Hank stayed right with him. The position of the little plane never changed in relation to the first plane. The wingtip of Hank's plane was only about three feet from the plane in front of him. It was as if the two ships were chained together. The General climbed and turned and flew around the area pointing out things to all of them. They were never over a few miles from home and Elsie was very quiet. When they finally landed and climbed out of the planes in front of the hangar Elsie dragged Hank to her father. "Momma, Daddy, did you see him fly. I have never been in that close a formation before. I was a little bit scared at first, then I got to like it. It was fun." The general grinned at Hank, "You are as smooth as silk in an airplane. Elsie why don't you and Hank take the car and driver and you show him Tokyo. I am sure he has never seen it like you can show it to him. Mom says dinner will be at seven, cocktails at five thirty." Elsie and Hank spent the day tightly holding each other's hands as she showed him old Tokyo. She delighted in amazing him with the things they saw. He spent most of his time looking for places he could pull her out of sight and kiss her willing lips. On the way home they cuddled close in the back seat of the car. After a nice dinner Elsie asked Hank if he would like to go to movie. Hank asked if she had something special she wanted to see. She got the paper and found a movie they thought they would both like. Her father offered the car and driver again. When they were on their way she pulled him close and whispered in his ear that she wanted to make love to him. He was startled. She looked in his eyes, "Hank I am 25 years old, I am not a virgin. I need to know if we are sexually compatible. I am a very small girl, men who have large penises hurt me badly. I need to see if we fit together well." Hank was dumbfounded. He had suspected she was not a virgin but hadn't expected her to be so bold and frank. "I am not real large except in girth. Hopefully we will fit well, I will be gentle." "Hank, I know you will. I want us to fit together so much. I pray we will." The were dropped off at the theater in the Ginza and the driver was told to pick them up there in two hours. Elsie grabbed his hand and led him around a corner to a small hotel. She negotiated for a room and they were taken to a nice room by a porter. When they were alone she threw her arms around his neck and kissed him hard. She pulled back and said, "Undress quickly, I need you now." He stripped as he watched her undress. She kicked off her heels and pulled the straps to the little summer dress off her shoulders. She smiled as she reached behind her and unfastened her bra. Her small pointy breasts were revealed when it was pulled free. "Perfect" he thought. She kicked off her shoes and pulled down her panties. Her pubic hair was sparse and not thick. Her body was very beautiful, She was tiny but well proportioned, lovely hips, small waist and long legs. She jumped on the large futon and smiled up at him. He quickly joined her. He kissed her lips as his hands gently cupped her breasts. He caressed them and traced his finger tips over her little erect nipples. She moaned softly and let her eyes drift closed. His hand slowly moved over her tight tummy and over her mound. Her eyes popped open as a finger slipped up and between her nether lips. She was wet and slippery. He softly told her how beautiful she was and how much he wanted her. "Now, Sweetheart, I want you inside me now." she murmured, "Now." He moved over and between her wide spread legs. Her small hand guided his cock into her vagina. She sucked in her breath as he filled her. She was braced for the pain of him hitting her cervix. He pulled slowly out and then she felt him move slowly back inside her. It was wonderful. He thrust as deep as he could until their pubes were pressed tightly together. She felt no pain only extreme pleasure. She whispered for him to go faster and harder. He increased the speed and power of his thrusts and she felt his pelvis slam into hers and then grind into it. Her clitoris reacted with a spasm of joy that flooded her body. He knew he would not last long like that so he slowed and pulled back until just the very tip of his cock was in contact with her pussy. He thrusted slowly back in to her hot wet love channel. He raised up and lowered his lips to a turgid nipple and sucked it into his mouth. He flipped his tongue over and around it then moved to the other breast and loved the whole mound with his tongue. His strokes were faltering as he neared a climax. Too soon he thought, he pulled out of her and slipped down between her legs, burying his face between her thighs. His mouth found her little wet pussy and just sucked the whole thing into his mouth. He pulsed his suction and was rewarded by a gush of her honey. He ran his tongue over the little crinkled lips of her pussy, feeling and savoring every spot he touched. His tongue moved up and down her slit as she urged him on by pulling him harder against her sex. Hank was in pure heaven as the scent of her arousal mixed with the intoxicating smell of her perfume. His tongue slipped deeply into her vagina. He touched and explored every little fold and wrinkle in her love canal that his questing tongue could reach. He felt her jerk and quiver as he worshiped her pussy with his lips and tongue. She was trembling continuously now so he slid his cock back inside her and began to hump her furiously. Waves of joy and ecstasy surged through her. She was having a continuous orgasm now. "Cum with me now Dearest Hank. Now! Yes, yes, yes!" She vaguely felt his body stiffen and shudder as pulse after pulse of his sperm entered her body. She squeezed her vaginal muscles and stripped every drop of semen from him. He gave a last shudder and started to move off of her. "No! Don't move." She said, "I love to feel your body pressing against mine." Her arms held him tightly to her. After a few minutes she whispered for him to move beside her. She rained kisses on his face. She mewed softly and ran her tongue into his mouth. "Perfect, Darling, we are perfect together. That was fantastic! Not the first speck of pain, just the most pleasure of my whole life. God, you are a wonderful lover. Let me up, I want to look at you and feel him in my hands and mouth. Oh! He is just right for me. He fills me to the top, but doesn't hurt a bit. Mmmmm! We taste good together too! He stretches my mouth but I can get him in. Oh! I do love him. I really do." "Elsie I hope I please you some. I desperately want to please you and not hurt you any at all. I am worried though, I was so excited I forgot to use a condom." "I didn't want you to use one. I have my diaphragm in." "Wow! Thank goodness, I would love to make a baby with you but not right yet." "If I ever want a baby I will let you know. I think you would be a perfect daddy." "Just say the word. I think we need to practice some more before we try though." "You want to do it again? Are you ready? Oh! Yes! You really are. Boy, you recover fast, that is nice." "Hey, you do it to me, I don't remember being that quick ever before." "Would you like to take a bath, ofuro, with me first? It is ready and we might have it to ourselves." They put on the kimonos and tabi and walked down the hall to the large tiled bathroom. They hung their robes on the pegs in the wall for them. Elsie seated hank on a small wooden stool and took a wooden bucket and scooped water from the hot tub and mixed it with cold water from a faucet. She poured half of it over him Then poured the balance over her self. Then she led him to the huge tub. They slowly eased them selves into the water. It was very hot. They sat on underwater benches and were careful not to move until they adjusted to the heat. Hank moved close to Elsie and held her hand. She smiled at him and asked if he was ready to be washed now. He nodded and they got out of the tub. About that time another couple entered the room. They were both Japanese and they both bowed and greeted them. "Konban wa! Elsie and Hank bowed in return and Elsie said, "O genki desu ka?' Elsie pushed him down on the stool he used before. Hank kept his eyes on Elsie's eyes as the other couple removed their robes and the girl prepared rinse water for them. Elsie got another bucket of hot water, a sponge and some soap. She got the sponge full of soap and started washing him. She washed his back and his chest, then pulled his legs apart and washed his genitalia very carefully and giggled as his penis became aroused. She leaned forward and kissed his cheek. She washed his feet and legs then had him stand as she washed his ass. He turned bright red as the other couple looked at them. Elsie laughed and talked to the other couple in Japanese. The only word he recognized was his name. They laughed. The other girl smiled at Hank. "Hank San, please forgive our poor English. Please relax and pay no attention to us. Your beautiful woman says she loves you very much. She very proud of you. You love her too? She say she do not know if you love her too." He turned and hooked into Elsie's brown slightly slanted eyes. "I love her with all my heart and soul and I will love her forever." Tears ran from Elsie's eyes and she smiled softly at Hank. She rinsed him and he sat her on the stool and carefully washed every inch of her delightful body. He rinsed her off and they held hands as they eased back in the tub. They sat and relaxed as the other couple got out and scrubbed each other. After a while Elsie and Hank got out and dried each other carefully and put on their robes, they bowed to the other couple and said, "Sayounara." They returned to their room. Hank pulled her into his arms and kissed her deeply. He pulled back and asked, "Do we have time to make love again?" "No my Love, I think we need to dress and get ready to go home." "I want to tell you that this has been the most wonderful day of my life. I hate to leave you tomorrow." "I know, I know, but we must part for a while. I know it will hurt but we each need to think about what we want to do." "I don't have to think, I know I want to be with you." When they entered the General's house he was waiting at the door for them in his uniform. "Hank, you had a call, there has been an immediate recall of your unit. You are to stand by for deployment." "Yes Sir, I'll get my things." He ran up the stairs to his room. Elsie was crying against her father's chest as he returned. The car was waiting. He dropped his bag and took her hands. He looked in her eyes, "Elsie, I hate to leave you. I have no choice. May I kiss you goodbye?" The Fury Four "Oh! Yes. Please kiss me." Hank took her in his arms and tenderly kissed her. He Turned and picked up his things, he leaned back and whispered in her ear, "I love you." Then he hurried out the door. The General was already in the rear seat and motioned for hank to join him. Hank glanced back to see Elsie's tear filled face as the car moved away. "Do you have any idea of what is going on Sir?" "Not really, I do know what is happening in general but I can't tell you specifically what your unit will be doing. I assume it will be in connection with a general alert because the North Koreans and the Chinese have just started large scale troop movements along and just north of the 39th parallel." They rode in silence for a long time. Hank turned toward the older man, "Sir, I need to tell you that I have fallen deeply in love with Elsie. I will never do anything to hurt her in any way." "Son, I appreciate you telling me that, it eases my mind, I know you are a brave and totally honorable man. I think she could find no better man than you. I am not completely sure Elsie knows what she wants at this stage of her life. She just graduated from Duke Medical School. She is a Doctor now and she must return for her Residency. We will have to wait and see." "Wow! I thought she was still in med school." The general dropped Hank off at the BOQ. Hank changed into his uniform and rushed to the Squadron office and reported in. He was told to put his Ready Deployment Gear aboard the R4-Q transport in the aircraft parking area. His Deployment Gear was a duffle bag packed and ready at all times. It contained all the uniforms and things he would need to survive for two weeks at a forward base. Then he was to report to the ready room for instructions. There were several briefings going on as he entered the ready room. The squadron ops office waved him over as he walked between groups of pilots. "Hank, sit down boy, I am sure glad to see you. We have a hot mission for you, the skipper requested you lead the flight. You will be launching for an as yet undisclosed advanced strip in South Korea. You will take off from there at first light in the morning and escort two F3D-2E electronic countermeasures aircraft at tree top level to just south of the 39th parallel. You will hold there at loiter speed until they return from a visit to the north. When they return you will escort them back to your base. You will be in contact with MACS-10 radar controllers at all times. They hope to have an advanced site in operation before you arrive. You will carry a full war load of twenty mike mike and four sidewinder missiles, plus two external fuel tanks. You will get a final briefing in about ten minutes. Every thing you need to know is in your mission package. Hank made his way to a private outside phone. He dialed Elsie's private number. She answered instantly. "Mushi Mushi! (Hello!)" "Hi! It's just me. I wanted to thank you for the most wonderful time of my life." "OH! Hank I have been sitting here praying you would call. What is going on? Are you leaving Japan?" "Yes, in the morning. That is more than I should tell you. I just had to hear your sweet voice one more time. I love you. I hate to leave you. This is killing me." "Me too! I love you too. Please take care of yourself. I want you back in one piece. Promise?" "Yeah, I promise, I will do my best. I'll call you when I can. I love you, Goodbye for now." "Please come back to me soon, I need you." An hour later the planes for Hank's flight of four were ready and armed and tied down. The plan was changed, the flight would leave early in the morning and land and refuel at dawn then depart on the mission with the F3D-2E Douglas Skynights. The final briefing was I the morning at four. All phone lines were shut off, no calls out were allowed. It was still pitch dark when they climbed into their planes and strapped in. In five minutes a green light flashed briefly. The softly idling Auxiliary Power Units roared to life as they supplied the electrical power to start the jet engines. Soon all the aircraft were running and the scream of the eight jet engines shattered the blackness. The two twin engined F3D-2Es taxied out first closely followed by the four single engined FJ-4s. An amber light flashed from the tower and the engines all increased to full power. Then a green light flashed and the planes moved down the runway. Hank had to reduce power to keep from overtaking the larger twin engine jets. He felt the plane lift off the runway and he paused and then retracted his landing gear. All he could see of the larger ECM aircraft was the formation lights softly glowing on their 'low' setting. The six aircraft leveled at five hundred feet and slowed to the cruise speed of the F3Ds, about 400 knots. They made several turns but basically flew westward. They climbed and descended now and then. Hank knew the lead aircraft was navigating through the mountains using the big radar in the nose of the Douglas jet. Hank thought he saw Mount Fuji slip past soon after takeoff. In about half an hour the flight eased down to a height of fifty feet above the Sea of Japan. He knew the navigator in the lead plan was glued to the radar so they wouldn't run into any ships. Even the larger fishing vessels stuck up that high. As his eyes became more adjusted to the darkness Hank stole quick glances at his part of the flight and verified they were all there. The light gray Furies were easier to see than the midnight blue Skyknights. After what seemed a whole night, the flight climbed a bit and they could see lights here and there as they moved over the land. Hank noticed the sky behind them was lighter. Just as he could see pretty well they climbed a little more and Hank saw the runway ahead of them. The first Douglas pitched out in a hard turn to the left. The rest of the flight continued straight ahead. Then the second F3D made the hard left turn while Hank' flight continued on. When Hank thought he had the spacing he needed behind the slower plane he broke hard left followed in rapid secession by the rest of his flight. They all rolled out on the down wind leg perfectly spaced for landing. After landing the six jets followed a Jeep 'Follow Me' to a refueling area. Crew men signaled each was to park, then climbed on each airplane and told the pilots they had fifteen minutes for a piss break while the planes were refueled with JP-4 fuel. Six fuel trucks rumbled into place and Hank removed his oxygen mask and helmet and climbed from the plane. He walked off a ways and turned away from the activity and relieved himself. The fuel trucks moved off and the pilots climbed back in their planes. The starting procedure was followed again and they were soon taxiing again. They paused at an weapons arming area and the safety wires were removed from the Sidewinder missiles before they taxied out for takeoff. This time Hank let the Douglas jets get halfway down the strip before he started his take off roll. He remained further behind them this time and signaled his flight to spread into a finger tip formation. The Skyknights remained at an altitude of fifty feet above the terrain. They flew for a while and Hank saw the leader wag his wings. Hank started a slow turn to the right and kept turning until he was heading back to the east. He looked at his wing man and pointed to his own ear and then held up two fingers. He switched his UHF radio to the preprogrammed number two position. He keyed his mike, "Mike Alpha Charlie Sierra this is Red Flight checking in." "Roger Red one, squawk ident and turn right heading 270. Roger Red one, confirming your IFF and your turn. We have you in radar contact. Slow to loiter speed and turn your IFF off. Hold east, five minute legs." "Roger MACS, Red flight holding East five minute legs. Red flight transfer fuel." Hank and his flight were now flying a racetrack pattern at fifty feet above the ground, well below the range of the Russian made and operated radars from North Korea. Not having any navigation gear, Hank looked for some reference points on the ground but the ground was barren with nothing different to be seen anywhere. He flew his pattern by dead reckoning. He knew he wasn't too far off or the radar controller would call him. He wanted to call and see how Green flight, the F3Ds, was doing but he knew they were busy and would never give their location away by answering. They had split up and were each gathering and recording intelligence information on radars and radio transmissions over a wide area. Much valuable information was gathered about any force maneuvering in the area. From the number of calls on various frequencies they could find the type of units and determine the size and make up of the units. Various radars indicated different types of missile and antiaircraft units. Hank's flight droned around in the pattern for several hours then Hank was startled by a transmission, "Mayday, mayday, this is green two on guard channel. We are lost and are under attack by MIG-17 aircraft. Mayday, Mayday." "Green two squawk ident. Roger Green Two I have you radar contact. You are forty miles north west. Work your way southeast if possible." "Roger radar, we have ten or twelve MIGs after us. I don't think they have hit us yet but they are getting close. We are dodging heat seekers. We can break their locks on us but there are so many we are afraid we'll miss one." As he listened Hank went to full throttle and started a climb turning to the west. He wanted as much altitude advantage as possible if he had to engage the MIGs. "Red flight jettison external fuel tanks now." "Red one, MACS one, turn left heading 300 degrees. Over" "Red one, roger." "Red one, Max one, Vector three one zero, climb to flight level two zero zero, buster." "Red one, roger." "Red one, Max one, twenty Bogies, ten o'clock, 23 miles, all altitudes, up to one eight zero." "Roger Max one. Red one out. Red three and four do you have the explosions at eleven o'clock in sight?" "Roger Red one, Red three has them in sight. Over." "Red three , I want you to head right at the fight, buster, and when you get there fly right through the fight, then go vertical and try to break them off the F3D. Kay?" "Roger Hank here we go." "Three, remember don't shoot until Max says you are legal, south of the line." "Roger, Red One, Red three out." "Red flight, Max one, eight more MIGs are inbound from the north and another flight from the west." Hank and his wingman continued their climbing turn watching for the F3D fleeing toward them. He keyed his mike, "Max one, give red one a vector to Green two." "Roger, Red one, Green two is at your ten, 12 miles. Low. He will cross the parallel in thirty seconds." "Red one has a tallyho on Green two. Out." Hank pushed over in a speed building dive. He was in a sweeping turn designed to being him around behind Green two and it's pursuers. He saw three or four MIGs following the twisting and turning F3D. Several more MIGs were closing in on each side trying to box the F3D in. His G-suit pressed him tightly as he turned hard in behind the MIGs. He flipped the Armament switch to the missile position and heard the tone for a lock-on. He keyed his mike, "Green one, Red one, Break left, now! I am going to shoot one of your playmates off your ass." "Green one in the break, Wow! Somebody just blew up behind me." Hank saw another MIG behind the F3D but he was too close to use a sidewinder. He flipped to GUNS and got the sight picture he wanted and squeezed off a burst of twenty millimeter cannon fire. The MIG17 exploded in a ball of fire. "Red one break right, NOW!" Hank slapped the control stick to the right and pulled back hard. He saw tracer rounds from behind him just miss his plane. He looked back and saw a MIG17 on his tail trying to turn to get a lead on Hank's plane so he could shoot. He saw a gray Fury turn in behind the MIG and saw the enemy plane turn into a ball of flame. "Good shooting, Red two, thanks." "Green two is clear now, Red flight, have you heard from Green one?" "This is Green one! We are here guys, I see MIGS falling from the sky ahead of me. Keep them off of my back." "Roger Green one, Red one is reversing to engage. Red three, what is your position. Over." "Red three is about two miles behind you now and joining on you, Red one." "Red three stay high and be ready to protect Green one. Red one is turning to get a lock-on with a MIG behind Green One. Red one is firing now." "Jesus! Hank, you blew his wing right off him. Watch out, one is on your tail." "Can you get a shot Two?" "Negative, I can't get a lock-on. I'm going Guns. Shit I'm hit Hank. I'm losing power. I'm breaking left." Hank heard a couple of hammer blows to his plane. He quickly rolled the Fury back to the left but instead of pulling back on the stick he pressed forward for a few seconds as he yanked the throttle back and hit the brakes on, then off, and went back to full power. A MIG appeared directly in front of him. Close. Too close. He fired anyway. He flew through a ball of fire and debris. He heard and felt a few more hits on his plane. He saw a Fury trailing a thin line of vapor. A MIG was behind it. Both planes were in a hard turn in front of him. He took a snap shot at the MIG and grinned as the silver jet flew into his tracers. The MIG faltered and the pilot ejected. He felt a slap on his left leg and his right hand was knocked from the throttle lever. He found the throttle again and looked back as he racked around in a hard turn. He saw another MIG behind him followed by two Furies. As he watched the MIG disintegrated. He rolled out of his turn and looked around. He keyed his mike. "Max one, Red one here, do you have anymore bogies for me?" "Negative Red one, Both Greenies are safe and headed home. The MIGs have fled the scene. Red two is at your twelve about twelve miles. He is squawking Emergency. Your other two birds are right with you. You guys did great. Max one out." "Roger Max one, You did a heck of a job yourself. I'm declaring an emergency at this time. I am losing hydraulic pressure and am wounded. Request vector to nearest landing strip." "Roger Red one. Head one seven zero." "Roger on the one seven zero." "Red one this is Red three I will look you over. I can see a thin vapor trail from your tailpipe. There are some small holes in your belly. I am going to check the left side of your bird now. Wow! You have a large hunk of skin missing from just behind and below the cockpit. There are several holes through the flaps on this side. Wait there is a very small vapor trail from a small rip near the bottom of the wing tip, has to be fuel. I see blood on the inside of your canopy, Are you OK?" "No Charlie I'm feeling a little weak right now I need a nap. I can't keep my eyes open." "Hank, WAKE UP! Go to 100 percent on your oxygen. Talk to me." "I'm on 100 percent on the oh two. How far do we have to go?" "This is Max one, Red one you are twenty minutes from a landing strip. I have alerted everyone. Emergency personnel and equipment are standing by. Can you make it?" "Max one, Red one, Yeah, I'll make it. I just remembered I promised the most beautiful girl in the world I would comeback to her, she is already gonna be pissed because I let myself get hurt. God! I need to close my eyes for just a minute." "No! Hank you open those eyes, what is the girls name?" "Her name is Elsie. Cutest girl you ever saw. Tiny, beautiful, sweet. Perfect." "Hank there is a chopper headed your way as fast as it can. If you feel you can't make it, it might be better if you eject." "I may have to do that, I'll hang on as long as I can. I can't see too good. I have to wipe blood off the instruments so I can read them. I can't see out the left side of he canopy." "Hank, drop your nose a bit and loose some altitude. Keep talkin' to me Hank." "Right, I only have a few minutes left. What is our altitude now?" "Eight thousand. You are doing good." Suddenly Hanks plane rolled sharply to the left then slowly rolled level. "Red one, what happened Hank?" "I tried the flaps. I guess only the right one went down. I think it is bleeding back up. I'm going to have to make a no flap and probably a gear up landing. I'm slowing down to see if I can open the canopy. No, it won't open. Damn! No use waiting. I am fading fast. Mayday, Mayday, Red one ejecting now." "Hank, are you alright?" "Yeah! That doesn't work either. Is that a road at our twelve?" "Yeah, it looks like a long straight dirt road." "Red one is going for it. Talk me through it please Charlie." "Right Hank. Slow her down some more, back on the throttle a bit. That's good. We are at four hundred now Hank. Ease it down. Slow it some more. You are at one sixty now. Slow it some more. You are about twenty feet over the road now. Go to idle cut-off with the throttle now. Hold her off Hank. Good, one forty now, hold her off, one ten, Ease her down. Down a bit more, raise your nose a bit and let her settle in. You are about five feet up now, your tail is dragging." "Bye Charlie, tell her I lov..." A huge ball of dust obscured the plane as it slid down the dirt road and Red two pulled up and turned to watch. Dust covered the Fury Four as is slid to a stop in the ditch beside the road. "Max one, this is Red three, Red one is down, no fire, no signs of life. I will fly a cap until help gets here. Is anyone on the way?" "Red three, Help is on the way, a chopper is about ten minutes out." "Tell them to hurry, He seemed to be loosing blood pretty fast." "Red three, This is Rescue Six. We are balls to the wall now. Max one, do you have us on the radar?" "Roger Rescue Six, Max one has you radar contact. Vector . three five zero and you should intersect a north south dirt road. It should lead you right to him. Over." Elsie picked up the ringing phone in her room. "Mushi mushi (Hello). Oh! Hi Daddy, What is going on? What, yes Mom just walked in the door. She's crying, what's going on?" She heard her father's voice in a solemn tone, "Elsie, it's Hank. We just got a report. He was shot down near the 39th parallel. He was badly wounded and loosing consciousness when he crash landed on a dirt road, no signs of life in the wreckage. They haven't gotten to him yet. I have to go now, Pray girl, pray hard." Elsie dropped to sit on the bed. Tears coursed down her cheeks. Her lips worked but nothing came out. Her mother sat beside her and held her. She looked at her mother. "Momma, please help me pray. Please let him be alright, please. I thought I was falling in love with him. Now I know. I feel like I am dieing too! I won't let him go, I know he is a fighter, I know he will not quit while he has a breath. He promised to come back to me. I need him. God how I need him. Help me Momma." They cried together, trying to comfort each other. The phone rang. Elsie grabbed it, "Yes!" She heard her father's voice as if she were in a dream. "Elsie, he is alive! They just got to him. He has lost a tremendous amount of blood. He has a bad wound in his left lower leg and anther bad wound in his left biceps. They are rushing him to the nearest field hospital by helicopter. Keep praying, it's working. I'll call when I know any more." Hank felt strange, he felt as if he was in a torture chamber, he was strapped to a table and was struggling to get free. He had to get to Elsie, he just had to get to her. He called her name. "Yes, Dear, I am here. Relax, easy, I am with you Darling. You are alright now. I love you." His eyes struggled open and his struggles stopped as if by magic when he saw her face. He smiled, "I love you too!" He looked around, "Where am I. Is this heaven? OH! It's a hospital. Oh! The crash. I thought I did good, was I hurt?"