Road Trip!

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Chapman went back to her quarters and grabbed her personal cellphone, she found the number she was looking for and called it. (See The Last Gasp of the Defeated?)

"Hi, Clint, it's Beth, Beth Chapman ..." she blushed almost immediately, Master Gunnery Sergeant Clint Azarian always seemed to be able to come up with something to have that effect on her. She had known him for a long time, theirs was a father-daughter relationship, she respected the man and, more importantly, trusted him.

"Don't you wish, old man." she fired back at Azarian.

Choe and Jackson shared a look, both wished they could hear the other end of the conversation. Chapman set her phone down.

"Clint, I've got you on speakerphone, I'm with Captain Alex Choe, I think you might know him, and Captain Leroy Jackson of the Maryland State Police. Anything you can share with me, you can share with them. You okay with that?"

"Sure, Cuddles."

Chapman blushed again, she should have known that Azarian would remember her first callsign, given to her during rescue training in Chesapeake Bay as a Midshipman. The Middies had been taken out, by boat, late in the evening, then left in the bay. The scenario postulated that they were downed aviators awaiting a morning rescue. Fortunately it was high summer, nevertheless that night had been a struggle.

When they had been picked up by a helicopter, again simulating a combat rescue, Azarian had been aboard, he had been a Staff Sergeant at the time. When Chapman was handed a blanket to warm herself up, she immediately rolled herself into the fetal position and hugged that blanket to herself as if her life depended on it.

When they had landed, she handed the blanket back to Azarian.

"Thank you, Staff Sergeant!" she had barked in the appropriate military manner.

Azarian had grinned and said, "No problem ... Cuddles."

The nickname had stuck and had been her callsign all throughout flight training.

She quickly explained what was going on, how she and Choe had come to be where they were, she started to tell Azarian where they were, he quickly told her that that was a bad idea. She understood immediately, talking to Azarian, she quickly regained her equilibrium and started to behave like the professional she was, not some frightened schoolgirl.

'Listen Ma'am, I'm at 8th and I, no secret about that."

Chapman realized things were about to get serious when Azarian called her "ma'am."

"We shot old Iron Butt¹, had to, the dumb sumbitch thought to use U.S. Marines as revolutionaries. We don't do that, not any more at any rate. Our battalion commander held a quick drumhead court martial, then we took the old goat out onto the parade ground and shot him. F**ker shit his pants on the way to the wall." Azarian sounded disgusted.

"Master Guns, this is Captain Jackson, Maryland State Police, word has it that you have an Admiral Washington in custody, Thomas Washington. Have you talked to ..."

"The Admiral passed away last night," Azarian said in a flat voice, "but yeah, we talked to him, he spilled his guts before he, uh, passed."

"I see." was all Jackson could manage.

Azarian stopped for a bit, the Cumberland end of the conversation heard papers rustling in the background then the keys of a computer keyboard clicking.

"Ma'am, the guy with you, is that Captain Alexander NMI² Choe? Works out of the Pentagon? Can't be too many Choes over there." Azarian pronounced it "Choy."

"There's one other, Master Gunny, a Colonel Samantha Choe, she's on the Army side of the house. I am the Choe your looking for."

"Alright, Cap'n Jackson, you guys got an email address? I've got some paperwork for Cap'n Choe," he pronounced it correctly this time, "and Sir, you ain't a captain no more."

Choe looked crestfallen, Jackson gave Azarian the email address, then they broke the connection. Jackson went to one of the computer terminals in the office, typed in a few commands, then a nearby printer began to whir.

Before ringing off, Chapman asked Azarian if the former SecDef was in control of any Air Force units.

"Ma'am, he's in charge of the three guys that fled Raven Rock with him, sumbitch isn't the SecDef any more. He's on the run somewhere in Pennsylvania, the President put a price on his head, three million bucks, dead or alive. It's open season on traitors in the Keystone State!"

Chapman laughed, severed the connection then turned to Choe, her heart nearly broke at the look on her old captain's face.

Choe was wondering what would happen next. Should he run? Should he surrender himself to Fate? He looked up when he heard Jackson sing out, "Well, hot damn!"

Jackson crossed the room and handed Choe a two page document. Choe looked at it and relief surged through him.

"What is it, Sir?" Chapman asked, her voice soft and tentative.

"Master Guns was right, the man's not a captain anymore, President Nakagawa pushed his promotion date up."

Thrusting his hand out to Choe, Jackson said, "Congratulations, Rear Admiral Choe. I've got orders to get you to Martinsburg, ASAP."

Picking up a phone nearby, Jackson turned his back on Choe and Chapman, who were in the process of hugging, and made the necessary arrangements.

Choe was almost speechless, but he managed to say, "How am I supposed to get to Martinsburg, Cap'n Jackson?"

"I've got one of my guys putting that together now, fortunately we have five armored vehicles, I suppose in case the Chinese invade Pennsylvania, but we've got 'em. My email said to take every precaution as there are rumored to be militia-type units wandering the backwoods, nobody knows whose side they're on. So it's an armored convoy."

After checking things on Jackson's computer, there were really three main routes to Martinsburg -

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Chapman was looking at the map, "Lots of rugged terrain out there with damned few north-south connecting roads. Going by 68 would be the fastest ..."

Jackson chimed in, "And the most obvious."

Choe leaned in, "This route to the south, the terrain looks nasty, like Beth said," he paused, "Do you guys have an organic helo?"

Jackson looked puzzled for a moment, then he realized what Choe was asking, "Yes Sir, Admiral. Barracks C has it's own chopper, it's over the river at the regional airport. We have an aircrew for it as well, two pilots."

"What's the aircraft type?" Chapman asked.

Jackson answered quickly, "AgustaWestland AW-139. Dang near new."

Chapman nodded and looked at Choe, "Admiral, I propose we put the convoy together and take this route," she pointed at the southerly route, "if it's okay with the Captain here," she nodded at Jackson, "I'd like to be up in that helo, I'll be your scout."

"Why don't we just take the helo to Martinsburg?" Choe asked.

Jackson answered the question, "Some of those militia units have Stingers, Admiral."

He turned to Chapman, "I can't vouch for your safety up there, Ma'am, but you've been in combat, my guys have not. Can you still fly?"

"Yes Sir, I'm checked out in a number of helicopters, the AW-139 is one of them."

"Care to fly left seat?³ You know, just in case?"

Chapman grinned, "I thought you'd never ask."

¹ The former Marine Commandant's nickname, not meant to be flattering.

² No Middle Initial, a very military way of accounting for not having a middle name, most military paperwork expects people to have three names, so, "NMI" so that no blanks would be left on the form. As most do have three names, or did back in the day, it's fairly rare to see "NMI" but not unusual.

³ In a helicopter the copilot flies in the left seat, unlike fixed wing aircraft where the copilot sits in the right seat.