"Dad! Your turn!" Marian Marshall shouted at her father.
"Like hell-get going!"
The parajumper behind her looked like he was going to wet his pants. Major Caldwell nearly laughed aloud.
"Ms. Marshall," he said diplomatically, "No father is going to go before his offspring. Right that down and memorize it."
The Secret Service Agent hissed. "We need to be moving."
"Mom and Alice are on board. Go!" Marian urged.
"Mr. President," the PJ interrupted. "With your permission, sir?"
James Marshall had no idea what the man intended, but he wasn't standing close enough to him to be a threat. In fact the man was standing behind his elder daughter. "Go for it, son," he muttered with a sharp nod.
The air force officer acknowledged with a nod and yanked the girl around suddenly, snapping the carabineer in place, then holding both her wrists in the air while he secured it one-handedly. It earned him a couple of hard kicks, but he managed to bring his body around when she went after the pride and joy with her knee. He bore the bruise proudly.
"Go on, sweetheart," Major Caldwell shouted. "Your dad's right behind you."
"Sure thing," the president agreed.
She nodded, her face set and serious as the man behind her crossed his arms over her chest and spoke quick, terse instructions in her ear.
"Got it?" he finished.
She nodded. "I've got it. Let's go. The sooner we get over the sooner you send a team back for the others, yes?"
"You got it, ma'am." He felt her tense as they slipped into the slipstream. He admired greatly that she didn't fight him and didn't scream. Especially when they started slipping backwards halfway through. "Just hang on," he urged. "They'll get it sorted!"
She nodded. "What's your name?" she asked.
"Ramstead, ma'am. Taylor Ramstead. Tip to friends."
"Are we friends now?" she laughed over her shoulder at him. The planes were dead even now and they were hanging in the middle.
The young man smiled at her, his teeth white and even. "I have a lot of friends who wouldn't trust me to hold onto them like this," he told her.
"Well, Lt. Ramstead, you have a crazy job."
He nodded. "The hours are crazy. The pay scale's crazy. But you get to travel, meet interesting people, and the job itself is pretty okay, really."
Marian shook her head and let out a long breath. They were making progress now. She glanced back at the plane and caught the third engine smoking and sputtering. The only tell on her face was a slight tightening and the way she pressed her lips together. Tip turned around to check it out for himself.
Bad. This was bad.
And...getting worse the longer he watched. What the hell was going on back there?
"Shit. Listen-the second one of the boys has your arm I'm unclipping and going back. Grab hold of something and hang onto it, because I won't be there to catch you. Roger?"
"Roger, Lieutenant. Godspeed."
He would have shoved her forward and done just that had not the cable popped out of its mooring. His bud caught his harness just as he would have slipped backward on the line. Which was actually good, because the last thing whoever was hanging on that line needed was his 6'4", two-hundred pound frame slamming into him.
"Daddy!" Alice screamed. Grace caught Marion and hugged her to her side, all the while trying to keep Alice from straying too near the back of the plane.