2
Captain Marley Mitchell clutched the satellite phone tighter, as if by pressing it harder against her ear she could somehow close the distance between her daughter, Maddie, and herself. "I love you, sweet pea, be good for Nana and Grandpa while I'm gone."
Maddie's sweet, soft voice filtered through the phone. "Are you going to fight the bad guys again, Mommy?"
As a captain in the Air Force with ten years of service under her belt, Marley had done her fair share of missions. She'd flown in and out of hot zones delivering supplies to troops in need and sometimes transporting the wounded when the Army's helicopters weren't enough. She'd seen death and hope, and every day she left her daughter at home, she did it out of love for her country.
"No fighting this time, sweetheart, just transporting some men so they can fight the bad guys. I'll be home before you know it."
Maddie giggled and the sound was music. "Don't hurry too fast, Grandpa promised to make me chocolate milkshakes every night for my bedtime snack."
Marley chuckled in response, not the least bit surprised. Her father, the now-retired Colonel Mitchell, had once given new meaning to the word taskmaster. He'd set a routine for Marley as far back as she could remember-out of bed at five, bed made, room clean, breakfast, and the list went on. Not one single person in the Mitchell household had dared step out of line, but along with all that military precision her father had always maintained his compassion and loving kindness. Marley's parents had supported her through every single challenge in her life, including when her husband had died in combat and left her alone with a two-year-old child.
A child who had turned the stodgy colonel into an overgrown teddy bear. "Tell your grandpa he's in trouble with your Mom when she gets home."
Maddie giggled and then clicked something on the phone. Her father's voice came through from the background. "This child doesn't get enough spoiling."
"Dad, spoiling is one thing, pumping her full of sugar right before bedtime is an entirely different matter."
"You're starving my grandbaby aren't you? She's all but skin and bones," the colonel teased, and Marley's lips curled in response. If there was one thing her child was not, it was a picky eater. She consumed food like a vacuum, refueling the endless energy that kept her bouncing forward.
"Okay, it's your funeral. When she's up at midnight wanting to play hide-and-seek, don't come grumbling to me."
"Maddie, you'd never do that to your dear old grandpa, now would you?"
Maddie giggled again. "Can we play monster hide-and-seek in the dark, Grandpa?"
Marley knew what her father's answer would be before he'd even opened his mouth. Of course he would play monster hide-and-seek with his one and only granddaughter. Maddie had wrapped an invisible chain around his neck, and every time she tugged, Grandpa followed.
"If you want to, cuddlebug."
Maddie squealed and Marley yanked the phone away from her ear, but it was too late for her eardrum, which was now ringing loud enough to drown out the constant chirp of insects from the jungle surrounding her.
She stood at the nose of her C-130, ignoring the insane heat beating down from the sun overhead in the small carved-out airport they were about to take off from. The special forces team had already loaded, and her copilot was in the cockpit doing the first round of checks by himself. Marley let out a long sigh and held the phone back up to her ear. "All right, sweet pea, Mom has to go for now. I'll call you as soon as I get back from my flight, okay?"
"I love you, Mommy."
Marley's heart clenched like it always did when she was talking to her daughter from anywhere but home. More and more, she longed to be home with Maddie. Each mission seemed to take a little bit longer than the last. She had another year left before her contract was up for reenlistment, and although Marley hadn't talked to anyone else about it yet, she'd already decided she was getting out of the military and going back to civilian life.
But as long as she was still in the Air Force flying soldiers, they deserved her full attention. She'd never given less than 100 percent to a single thing and she didn't intend to start now in the homeward stretch of her military career.
There was some shuffling on the other end of the line, and then her father's voice came on, louder this time, signaling he'd taken her off speakerphone. "What's the mission?"
"Transport only, Dad. You don't have anything to worry about."
He scoffed, "As if I wouldn't worry about my daughter."