Chapter Two
"Ah, c'mon doc, at least let us spend the night in our own cribs …." Guy Anders grouched as he watched Sara Sykes scribbling notes on his chart. "We feel fine."
"I'm sorry Majors, " Sara Sykes regarded both men as she spoke, noting that for two men who had so recently come close to death, they looked remarkably calm and in good spirits.
"You're staying in over night for observation," she told them, wrestling with a smile at the looks that both men were now aiming in her direction. They looked like a couple of kids who had been told they couldn't play out with their friends because they had a runny nose and might get a cold.
In the month since she had joined the Thunderbird Project, Sara Sykes had spent time with all the trainees, monitoring their training and exercise programmes on a daily basis, and she had come to know them all quite well.
Of the six trainees, these two were possibly the hardest to read, both quiet and conservative, keeping their heads down and concentrating on getting the job done. Neither of them were inclined to volunteer anything of a personal nature about themselves or indulge in social chit-chat, yet despite that, Sara Sykes had found Roger Dobbs to be a little more approachable than Anders.
And Roger Dobbs continued to be an enigma to her.
She felt drawn to him in ways she had never experienced before, and not merely because he was attractive, attentive and charming to boot, but there was something else, some underlying powerful force that both thrilled her and alarmed her at the same time.
Sometimes she would catch him watching her, and knew immediately that he felt drawn to her too, but the question that bothered her most was, why?
Sara knew that she wasn't unattractive, having a good figure and her hair and eye colouring giving her a somewhat unusual and exotic appearance, but she knew that she still had a long way to go to measure up to some of the stunningly attractive girls that were posted here on the base, so she had a hard time accepting that he might be interested in her as a woman.
So what else could it be?
That was what bothered her most, because she couldn't actually dismiss the idea that his purpose here at Thunderbird was entirely honourable.
Maybe he sensed that, sensed that she was suspicious of him, she reasoned, because he did appear to be more sensitive than other men she had known.
She had teased him about being a mind reader on the very first day he arrived, but now she was beginning to wonder if there wasn't some small grain of truth in it.
And maybe he sensed that her purpose here was not entirely as it seemed and was as suspicious about her as she was about him, a little voice nagged away at the back of her mind, as she turned to bestow a benign smile on Roger Dobbs too now.
There was no denying that there had been some kind of connection between them when they had first met, and it seemed that although neither of them was brave enough to pursue it, neither of them could actually get away from it either.
Sara Sykes could not get away from the fact that being around Roger Dobbs made her uneasy, on so many levels.
And this latest development made her even more determined to find out what exactly it was about him that threw her out of her usual calm equilibrium.
Was he merely the innocent victim of an accident, or was it more than that?
Darn.
Now she had no option but to try to get to know him a little better.
She had to be sure of him, one way or another.
Was he friend, or foe?
Could she trust him?
Should she trust him?
So much depended on her placing her trust in the right people ….
And she was getting mixed signals from Roger Dobbs that made it impossible to be certain if he was what he seemed.
Why couldn't life be simple?
"We need to be sure that neither of you have concussion, and that you don't have a delayed reaction and go into shock," Sara Sykes reined in her thoughts and explained matter of factly, as she replaced Guy Anders chart on the foot of the bed before moving to pick up Roger Dobbs chart and cast her eye over it quickly.
Dobbs had insisted that he hadn't lost consciousness during the incident, but external aerodynamic forces at work up there had caused the shoulder restraints to tighten and cause some extensive bruising to his ribs and shoulders. The X-rays showed no sign of a break or fracture, so the damage was only superficial, but it wouldn't hurt for him to cool his heels in the observation ward just for one night, to be on the safe side.
"Do we look like we're going into shock?" Anders demanded now.
"No, actually Majors, you look remarkably good, for two guys who just buried the nose of a jet into the runway, but …."
"Ah man!" Anders snarled.
"What's your problem Major?" Sara Sykes diverted her full attention to the USAF officer now, wondering why he was making so much fuss when he must surely know that it was purely a routine procedure.
"It's not like you have somewhere else to be," she smiled softly at Anders now, hoping to take some of the heat out of him. "One night in here isn't going to kill you, Major, I promise. Besides, the top brass just sent down word to tell you both that they have scheduled a weekend of R'n'R for the whole unit."
Now both men turned sharply to look at each other
"They grounded us," Guy Anders gave Roger Dobbs a knowing look, but the other man was frowning now as he pondered on what Sara Sykes had just said. "Told you so," Anders sighed deeply.
"Not just us, Anders. All of us," Dobbs sighed too, thinking that he knew what lay behind the commanding officers' decision.
It had been a serious incident that bore further investigation, and they would not want to risk the lives of any more men until they knew more about what had caused the accident this evening.
"Word is, gentlemen, that after your little escapade, the feeling is that no-one else should fly until they find out what exactly happened up there," Dr Sykes confirmed what Dobbs had been thinking now. "The joint commanders have already set the ball rolling to get replacement aircraft shipped out to us, but it's going to take a few days."
Both men were silent, and then Roger Dobbs lay back against his pillows and let out a deep sigh of resignation, sliding his right arm under his head as he glowered menacingly up at the ceiling.
"Correct me if I'm wrong, Majors, but didn't the Colonel give you an order?"
"Ma'am, yes Ma'am," Both men grunted and Sara Sykes found herself smiling gently at the pair of them. "Then feel free to carry it out, ASAP. Goodnight gentlemen. Relax and get a good night's sleep."
"Aren't you going to tuck us in?" Anders sniggered as he saw the look on her face as she turned on her flat heels and walked silently out of the room.
"Not even in your dreams, Majors, not even in your dreams …."