Interim Ep2 - Bird's Eye

[Clara Lys Wright]

He watched her run, and not for the first time either. He wasn’t a creep but he was an observer. The first time he had seen her had been back at the beginning of the summer, the Canadian had been running with her then. Then both of them fell off his radar, but she had stuck in the back of his mind and when she showed up, alone, on the trail again last week after a two-month absence he took note.
She was a good runner, spare movements, good foot placement on the uneven ground, good situational awareness. It was when he recognized that he noted the change from then to now. She was alert. She didn’t just watch the trail ahead; she kept a total look out as is she were waiting for something. And he recognized that sort of wait. The girl was waiting for an attack. He watched her run two more times that week, she was pushing herself, but toward what? There was something about this kid. He snapped some photos the last time he watched her run. He wanted to know her story, luckily this was Shelly Montana, she wouldn’t be hard to find.

Clara had never even known she was being watched.

Monday Morning, the first week of August

Clara was amending the Plan when her computer notified her of an email. She clicked the mouse and saw the little Air Force Icon and smiled. It was from Major Angelas:

Good Afternoon Clara, 
I hope this message finds you well. I am going to be in Shelly this afternoon and was wondering if you would care to join me for a late lunch on the base?
Major Virgil Angelas

There was no pause; Clara clicked the reply and answered in the affirmative. Major Angelas replied soon after with instructions for meet up at the base.

She had been to the base several times but never on it. Ever since it had been converted to a Special Forces Training Base for the ParaRescue no civilians without security clearances were allowed on the base. Even the few families of the troops stationed lived in housing off the base built specifically for them. This was special. It must have something to do with the inquires she had sent about preparatory training that she had sent to the Major.

She made sure she was early to the base. She'd gone to a space camp for a few years as a kid and remembered one of the guest astronauts saying "In life, you have to show up. If you want to be the person picked for things, you have to show up better than everyone else. On time is too late; fifteen minutes early is barely on time. Thirty minutes early is how you come out on first and on top." Ever since she'd put the Plan together and seen just how much she had to do to have what she wanted, she'd never been less than fifteen minutes early any time she was given a deadline, and was always more than that to anywhere important. 

Even that early, Major Angelas was still waiting for her at the gate, smiling warmly in amusement at her obsessive punctuality. He gave her a Visitor's Badge with colored bars on it that she assumed let the base personnel know where she was allowed to be, and led her through the grounds to the Officer's Club. Clara watched everything, taking in as much of the base as she could lay eyes on during their walk. 

After the waiter had brought them drinks and taken their lunch order, Clara finally ventured a curious, "Thank you for meeting with me, Major. I wasn't expecting to get to see the base." 

Virgil took a sip from his iced water, "Normally you wouldn't, but in light of your questions about training and sudden interest in the combat specialties offered by the Air Force," he set his water down and held his hands up palms towards her asking a silent question before voicing it. "Why the change in emphasis? Did something occur?"

"I had a close call out running one night. Not an attack by a person," she assured Angelas to forestall any suggestions of filing a police report. "An animal. I froze and one of my running buddies nearly got mauled getting it to leave us alone. I don't want that to happen again. I want to be ready and capable of keeping myself and those around me safe. That could wait until after graduation, but why wait when I can be learning now?"  

She wasn't a skilled liar, she knew, so she was fitting a story that was true enough for what she was asking for from the recruiter.

Angelas looked thoughtful. "OK. The reason I'm in town today is you. Another officer has expressed interest in your recruitment and would like to meet with you. This is highly unusual but I thought I would let you decide."

Clara raised her brow in surprise, clearly pleased have been noticed by someone. "Another officer? What do you know about them? About why they're interested in me?"

Virgil shook his head, "Other than his name and that he is stationed here at Bulwark, both of which he told me and I did verify before even considering informing you, I don't know anything. I haven't even met him beyond talking on the telephone. Apparently he was researching you and came across your USAFA pre-submissions which led him to me. He called and asked if I would introduce you."

 As he was finishing the waiter delivered their food. Virgil seasoned his burger with salt after removing the pickles and then , still holding the bun and salt shaker, leaned forward toward her, "I thought pretty hard before texting you. But those questions you were asking last week and then this Major calling out of the blue. as unusual as all this is to me, I have to admit I am curious." He puts the burger back together, picks it up, "I wasn't scheduled to come up until the week after your school starts, to give the yearly recruitment speech. But a little voice in the back of my head kept saying don't wait. So here we are. Do you want to meet him?" He took a bite of his hamburger and waited.

She tucked into her own sandwich, brows now drawn together in concern. She used the food as an excuse to think, mulling over what Major Angelas had said, the weirdness over the summer, and how it might intersect. She managed to finish off two thirds of the meal before finally asking, "Major, why was he researching me before he knew I was looking to join?"

Virgil wiped his mouth with a napkin, "I really don't know, Clara, I got the impression that he had maybe encountered you somewhere. Shelly is a pretty small place after all. He went through channels to make his request and when my boss called and told me he was going to call me about one of my prospects, my boss told me to cooperate fully.” He took a sip of water to let that sink in.

"When he called he was straight forward; it was obvious he had the pertinent information from our system about you because you are a prospective academy recruit. That kind of information, while not classified per se, is confidential and need to know. But while he was seeking information he wasn't really handing any out. He did say that his interest was professional, if that helps. His name is John Taggert and he is a Major in the PJs, that is the ParaRescue.

Why don't we finish lunch and you think on it. After we finish, I'll take you one a little tour of the base here - at least the parts I'm allowed too. After that if you want to meet with him I'll call him, if you want to wait we can do that, and if you don't want anything to do with him that is alright too. What do you say?"

She took a drink and pushed her plate back, showing she was done with the meal. "Oh, I want to meet him," she said with only a slightly forced smile, "I was just a little startled that someone was looking into me. It's odd. A tour would be interesting, too." 

Her mind was still ticking through what little information she had, memorizing the name and sticking a mental post-it note to dig back, while also acknowledging that she likely wasn't going to come up with more than pretty banal public information on Major Taggert. Still, ParaRescue. The special forces unit on the base that made it off-limits to anyone without a security clearance. Interesting. 'Curiouser and curiouser', as Alice would say. Hrm. If we're in Wonderland, maybe we should start calling the disappearing creatures Jabberwocky. It certainly fits.

"Shall we?" she asked, once the Major had made his way through his own lunch. They finished up and while Clara excused herself and visited the ladies room Maj. Angelas made a phone call.

The tour was short but still Clara saw a lot that none of her peers had had a chance to see except for maybe Lilly and few other kids from school whose parents were active duty. And that was not many at all. They ended up on the west side of the base where the small airfield was located. The airfield was fenced off and consisted of a small tower with adjacent administration buildings, two large hangers which could house large aircraft such as a C-130, and five aircraft bunkers where two small helicopters where parked. The field had a single short runway and accompanying taxiways. It was only rated for short take-off and landings and aside from a single C-12, the only fixed wing aircraft assigned to the base, there were three rotor craft assigned - two UH-72s and one HH-60 Pavehawk.

As they pulled up to the airfield gate and Maj. Angelas showed IDs, Clara looked around at the aircraft and the personnel that she could see. With only a few exceptions, the vast number of airmen she saw were male in their twenties. Most were either going about the duties in a quick manner or were do PT. A lot were doing PT. On the drive through the base she had seen groups of six men and the occasional woman running carrying what looked like very large logs. When asked Virgil laughed. “It’s a weird tradition the PJs have, and not the weirdest, by far.”

The gate guard asked them to park in a nearby lot and as Angelas did as instructed Clara saw an open topped HUMVEE pull up to the Gate. Major John Taggart was every inch the American soldier and after introductions were made he turned to Maj Angels, “Major we are likely to awhile. If it’s alright with Ms. Wright, I’ll make sure she gets back to her car and home safe when we are done.”

It was an obvious dismissal and it was just as obvious that it was up to Clara how it was taken, as both men fixed their gaze upon her. Clara nodded, her body language at ease even if she was having to do that by conscious effort. She turned to her recruiter and offered a handshake in goodbye. "Thank you for the lunch, Major."

Once Angelas actually left, Clara turned to Major Taggart, standing in a half ‘at ease’ posture without really meaning to. "You asked to meet with me, Major Taggert?" She was hoping he would take the opening to explain why he'd been looking into her the way he had, but either way, it should get him talking about his interest in her.

As he led her inside the fenced in area he talked. "You run in an area we do a lot of training in as well. It's not easy to find good wooded terrain up here. I saw you running regularly with a young man. Then you both stopped." He shrugged as they climbed into the  HUMVEE, "When I saw you again a couple weeks ago you were alone and something had changed. That piqued my interest.

I know this may come across as creepy and stalkerish, but observing you was also training for me. Anyway, I watched you run a few time by yourself. You were a good runner before, consistent even over non ideal terrain, but now you were also alert, cautious, aware of your surroundings.  Some of my people don't have the situational awareness I was seeing when I watched you run. So I figured out who you were. It's a small town, not that hard to do. And then I saw that you were looking at the Academy. Decided I wanted to meet you. So here we are."

As he said that the HUMVEE came to a stop about twenty yards from the big Pavehawk helicopter. Clara could see several men and one woman working on the aircraft and what she guessed was a fuel truck from the hoses connecting it to the helicopter. Taggart’s explanation eased some of her worry and she was even grinning by the end of it; she did love to run. She pinked a little at the mention of Etienne - there were other reasons they'd run there as well. "I like that area. It makes you pay attention to where you're putting your feet and to not run yourself into a tree branch. Tracks are fine if you're just looking for a quick workout or trying to break a time count, but cross-country is what challenges you." 

She glanced at the 'copter, curious about the work being done but more focused on the conversation. "And for your people, jump out at them a few times or paintball them while they're running. Arthur used to do that to me. It opens your eyes and keeps your head on a swivel." She muttered mostly to herself, "Or drop a cat on them." Louder, she continued with a devilish grin, "And the bruises keep reminding you for a few days after, too. Cold paintball balls hurt." 

The Major made no move to exit the vehicle, just watched the troops go about their work. He chuckled at the paintball remark. "You know Clara - I hope I can call you Clara - after reading up on your files and talking with Angelas, I'm really not sure what I was expecting. But I am pleased with what I am seeing. What is it your looking to get out of the Air Force?"

She didn't say anything anything for a moment, still watching the soldiers and mulling the thought over. That was a secret of her Plan - she'd hadn't actually figured out the whole job part of it. How to have the best transcript to get into the most exclusive schools? Sure. A multi-tax bracket budget for after college? Check. A social networking plan generic enough to fit any life and still provide meaningful signposting so she'd know she was on track? In the purple section towards the back. Which career she wanted? Still a blank page that had been mocking her for years. She was driven - she just had no idea where she was going. 

"Focus. Structure," she said finally, forcing the words out as she pushed past her reluctance to step anywhere near a vulnerability. She turned back to Taggart, a frown still tugging at her lips from her thoughts. "I'm good at a lot of things, for a teenager. I'm smart, athletic, musically proficient, but...." She frowned more deeply, then shrugged. "I'm not any one particular thing. I'm not a passionate artist or a nerd in need of a lab or a jock that's going to peak in high school and spend the rest of my life trying to get back my 'glory days'. I'm just....good at stuff and organized about it. I’m useful and I want to be useful in some meaningful way." 

Making no comment on what Clara had just said Taggart pointed out the window back toward the tower. "About every four weeks we get a new flight of trainees straight out of Lackland. These are kids, for the most part, not much older than you, fresh out of basic and initial PJ training. They come up here for three weeks for a basic survival course before going back to complete PJ school and get their badge. One of the first things we schedule for them is an orientation flight. Let them see the base form the air and the surrounding area."

As Clara listened and watched the young men and women the Major is pointing at, the group, nine of them, started jogging toward the big helicopter parked in front of them. She glanced at the ‘copter and notices that the hoses have been detached and the tanker truck is driving away, leaving just the birds flight crew and them. She looks at the major and finds him looking at her, "You ever been up in a helicopter, Clara?"

"Only over Versailles and Paris during a Christmas vacation," she said, grinning in anticipation. "Never in anything like this, though." The teen was fairly vibrating with anticipation, but hadn't moved on inch yet towards the 'copter. Self-control was not the issue with Clara that it usually was with the young, maybe to the point that it was a problem in the other direction. 

Taggart laughed and told her to leave her stuff in the truck. After introducing her to a Sgt Carmel Reyes and getting her a flight suit and Helmet, Clara was off on a, to her, harrowing helicopter ride. Taggart stayed behind and Reyes was the one in charge and gave the tour. They flew out over the base climbing to about 400 feet then headed northwest and climbed to 1200 feet. They flew a wide circle to the border where the Res touches the river then followed the river south actually flying almost over the ridge were the secret trailer lay hidden in the trees, then back around toward and past the town onto the east side. 

While the copter didn't do any acrobatics their altitude and orientation change a lot and with the doors off staring out into open space at the ground 500-1000 feet below was kinda scary. Reyes kept up a running dialog detailing points of interest just like a tour guide. All in all they were in the air for about an hour and a half and when they touched down Clara was the first one let off, Taggart was there waiting. After getting out of the flight suit they headed back toward the gate of the base and her car.

"I hope you enjoyed the flight and I hope you are serious about wanting to join up. We are doing something different this year as a trial. We are going to begin a Junior ROTC program at Shelly High. It will consist of some classroom teaching and basic drill and some filed training.  I would like you to sign up for it. It will only be open this year for 10th and 11th grades since it's a two year program for credit. Think you would be interested?"

Clara was a little unsteady on her feet after that long in a 'copter and constantly trying to keep her balance (and her lunch, honestly), but once the adrenaline had kicked several times, she was just buzzed. She was grinning like it was Christmas, New Years, and her birthday all rolled into one and it only got wider when Taggart told her that Shelly was finally getting the ROTC program it deserved. "Where do I sign up? At the school? Is there any summer part to the program?"

So, maybe she did have some typical teen impatience when it was something she really wanted. 

He put the HUMVEE in park after they pulled up at the gate. "No, it's too close to the start of school for this summer, if it works out maybe next summer. I'll have the proper forms delivered to you before school registration.
I'm very glad your taking this opportunity. I have a good feeling about this, and about you Clara."

"Thank you, Major," she said with sincerity. "I'm looking forward to it."

She left the base, her mind still buzzing from the experience of the day. Balancing ROTC among her other activities was going to be...well, frankly impossible. Especially with the mystery of the trailer thrown in and spending time with Etienne and....She sighed and started mentally rearranging her  schedule, trying to decide what would end up abandoned on the side of her life.