Always Interrupted | Bradley Bradshaw

Chapter 8

The next day the pilots were back to starting early with training, having to be in the classroom by 9:30. It took Anne a few minutes to remember what had happened the previous night but when she did, she couldn't stop smiling. But before she walked out of the bathroom to greet all of her teammates, she got herself under control and put on her usual cool and calm face.

Most of the group was ready, they were just waiting on Fanyboy. Anne walked over and sat down on her bed, lacing her shoes up but she felt someone watching her. She looked up and met her eyes with Bradleys. Her face broke into a smile but she bit her lip and brought her gaze back to her shoes to keep herself from giving them away. Eventually, the group started walking down to the classroom, talking about their training from the day before.

"So, Free-bird," Phoenix said quietly so only Anne could hear. "What went down after we left you and Rooster at the beach?" It took everything inside Anne to not smile and flush at the thought of the kiss.

"Nothing much. I mean, we eventually got tired and then came straight back. No funny business I promise," Anne said with a smile.

"Mm, yeah, I bet," Natasha said as they walked into the room and sat in their usual seats. Free-bird looked at Rooster as she sat down and couldn't contain her smile.

"What's got you smiling?" he asked, already knowing the answer.

"There was just a really nice sunset last night," she replied.

-

The next few days were filled with running the course over and over. The parameters for their practice course weren't changed and they were still practicing the "easy" version of the mission, slowly but surely getting better. Most of the pilots were consistently completing the course but they were still at a reduced speed.

Today was going to be another day of running the course, the pilots trying desperately to successfully complete it. The group talked like usual until Warlock stepped up to the podium.

"Good morning," he started. "The uranium enrichment plan that is your target will be operational earlier than expected. Raw uranium will be delivered to the plant in ten days' time. As a result, your mission has been moved up one week in order to avoid contaminating the target valley with radiation." Everyone exchanged worried glances at the Admirals words.

"Sir, no one here had successfully flown a low level course," Coyote said.

"Nevertheless, you've been ordered to move on." There were more worried looks and exasperated sighs as Maverick took the podium.

"We have one week left to focus on phase two. It's the most difficult stage of the mission. It's a pop up strike with a steep dive requiring nothing less than two consecutive miracles." Maverick went on to explain the details of their attack and the more he spoke, the more impossible it seemed. They still had three minutes, but now instead of just going through the course they also had to hit their target and get out.

"Sir, is this even achievable?" Phoenix asked.

"The answer to that question will come down to the pilot in the box." Maverick responded while looking at Rooster. They shared a moment of intense eye contact before Maverick dismissed everyone to go prepare to fly.

Free-bird was set to fly with Phoenix and Bob. They were the last group to go in the rotation so they got to watch everyone fly first. Only three people threw up on the climb out so this were looking good!

The three aviators started out fine but if they wanted to complete the mission on time they needed to speed up.

"Free-bird we are 10 seconds behind and falling." Bob reported.