Angel Flight
Mark Randall
Angel Flight
by Mark Randall
Copyright© 2023 by Mark Randall
A Mountain Man Story (7)
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Chapter 1
The announcement was brief.
“It is with great sorrow that the family of Pete Rogers announces his passing. Our patriarch was a multifaceted person. Son, Soldier, Savior. He will be sorely missed. And all of our lives are enriched by having known him.”
The Chapel was standing room only. When the preacher nodded at me, I stood and walked to the podium. I did not notice the tears clouding my eyes. Suzy described it to me later.
Standing at the podium, I paused as I looked down at Pete’s casket. I cleared my throat, and then I began.
“I met Pete later in life. At the time, I was a directionless drifter seeking meaning to my life. He gave me an anchor to grab onto and plant roots. Those were the roots of our friendship. I sometimes look at where I was at and where I was going. And I sink to my knees in gratitude for having met and befriended Pete. My life was at a cusp, and Pete provided me a map.”
“I once heard that the measure of a man wasn’t the medals, ribbons, and awards that grateful people bestow. The yardstick the Almighty uses are the scars and wounds on his soul. That the creator, whatever their name, looks at the depth and length of those scars. And most importantly, how have those wounds have healed. Has hate and anger festered the damage? Or has time, compassion, and forgiveness cleanly healed the wound? Making its bearer stronger and more compassionate.”
“Pete carried wounds and scars, but he lived his life without anger or hate. His scars are proud symbols of a life honorably lived and a dignified passing.”
“While his passing is painful for us who are waiting our turn, for Pete, this is a reunion with the lives and loves that have preceded him. His parents, wife, and a child tragically taken much too early. They have all joyously welcomed Pete home. For Pete, it will be a mere moment before we, the rest of his family, will cross over and join our friend.”
I looked out over the assembly hall. Philip and Jackie Taggart, the owners of the Bar T, sat towards the rear of the hall. Ms. Taggart was gently dabbing at the moisture in her eyes. Her husband sat ramrod straight, his face a frozen mask. But his emotions were betrayed by a drop easing down his cheek. His son Bruce and family sat in the front row, With Pete’s Daughter and her family. The tears flowed freely among this group.
Agnes and her new protege, Chuck, were seated directly behind Bruce and Marsha. After our adventure looking for mountain boogiemen, Chuck took our advice and started a blue-collar life. Agnes, after bitching and whining about it, accepted the young man. I was shocked and worried about Agnes. She looked frail and worn. Pete’s passing may have taken more out of her.
Also seated was an assemblage of the hands that have worked at the Bar T. Also included was a contingent from the local VFW. Pete had served his country in the hellhole of Vietnam. Surviving when so many others did not. His burial was with full military honors. On his casket was the pillow with his awards and medals. I was shocked to see that the Distinguished Service Cross, Silver Star, and Bronze Star with V device were among them. Pete had never spoken of his service.
For so many of our brothers from Vietnam, society had painted them with evil brushes. Calling them baby killers, spitting on them when they returned. And then they continued with the image of the drug-addled, trigger-happy, anti-social misfits. Most veterans from that era did what was easiest, they shut up and denied their service, their sacrifice. Then, they went on with their life, trying to forget but not always successfully.
Seated next to Agnes and Chuck was my own, my sweet Suzy. As the services closed, the various groups started heading either to the graveside or the wake.
After the rifle salute and as the last trumpet notes echoed, Suzy asked what I wanted. My voice breaking, I replied. “Our mountain, please. Life is weighing just a bit heavy on me right now.”
The drive back from Boise was quiet. Suzy seemed to know that my thoughts were a million miles away, and she gave me the space I needed.
Chapter 2
By the time we returned to the cabin, my mood had brightened considerably. I realized that my funk was not Suzy’s fault, and she did not deserve to feel the brunt of it.
I put a good face on things for the next month or so. I plunged into my chores list. I was in a semi-frenzy of repair, replace, fix, and build for four weeks. Suzy stood back and let me work it out, but she knew I was still grieving. She knew that something had to break this cycle.
She decided the best thing for us was a good old-fashioned camping trip. We would head up to the high country, breathe fresh, clean air, eat good mountain trout cooked over a wood fire, and let the rest of the world disappear for a week or two.
At first, I was less than enthusiastic. But I changed my mind when she grabbed me by the collar and informed me IN NO UNCERTAIN TERMS that we were going camping PERIOD.
As usual, Suzy was right. I started feeling better the second I put that first hook in the water. There is something about fishing that calms a man’s soul. Suzy insisted that I take care of the fishing and she would manage the campsite.
One of the things about those high-mountain lakes is that they get little pressure from anglers, so fishing tends to be extremely easy. However, the fish also grow to a smaller size. Even so, I had a respectable mess of trout in no time at all.
After dinner, we sat at the fire and watched the shooting stars. I thanked Suzy for her suggestion that we go camping. We talked about ourselves, our friends, hopes, and dreams until the fire had died down to slowly cooling embers.
I jolted awake when Shadow jumped up and alerted me. I checked my watch and saw that it was slightly after 4 in the morning. I then reached for my 1911. Suzy also woke up.
In the high country, intruders were animals and not humans. But the smart person expected the unexpected. That is when we heard the plane engine.
It was obvious that a low-flying plane was in trouble. You could hear the engine sputtering and spitting from the southeast, which was not a good sign. As we climbed out of the tent, the engine cut out completely. That’s when I knew that whoever it was, they were not having a good evening. I scanned the sky, looking for running lights. I could not see anything. I am not a pilot, but I knew that all planes had to have running and anti-collusion lights on at all times.
As I was desperately looking, we heard the impact. At least now we had a direction. Running for the horses, I told Suzy to gather all the first aid supplies, field rations, and water bottles. While she was doing that, I started getting the horses saddled and ready to go. We finished at about the same time. Mounting up, we rode hard to the crash site.
We found the plane, a single-engine Cessna, just inside the tree line. It had come in nose first, one wing was sheared off, and the fuselage broke just behind the passenger cabin. Fortunately, there was no fire or even smoke. I moved in close to the front of the cabin and checked the pilot. He was dead. There was massive trauma.
Suzy had moved over to the co-pilot, and when I looked at her, she shook her head. It looked like the control yoke was buried in his chest.
We pulled their IDs and checked them. The pilot’s ID showed him to be a contract pilot for the Department of Justice. The Co-pilot, however, was a US Marshal with the witness protection program. That is when we heard a groan from the passenger cabin.
Suzy was first in the compartment. Inside was a woman about 23 or 24. A tree branch had penetrated the bulkhead and was buried in her lower side. She was gasping for air, and a pink foam was forming on her lips. She had an obvious penetrated lung. She was conscious and fixated on Suzy.
“My baby, take care of my baby,” She gasped.
Suzy was holding her hand and trying to comfort her. “Don’t worry honey, everything will be alright. We’ll get some help up here and get you all fixed up.”
I was standing outside on the other side. Suzy looked up and shook her head when her eyes met mine. She continued to hold the lady’s hand and tried to keep her calm.
While she was doing that, I climbed in and checked on the little girl. She was secured in a standard car seat. Her breathing was steady and strong. I could not see any bleeding or serious bruising. I disconnected the car seat and carried both the seat and the kid out of the plane.
I had just sat the car seat down when Suzy joined me. “She’s gone, Matt. There was nothing anybody could do for her. Even a trained EMT or doctor couldn’t have saved her.”
“I know, honey. Sometimes, things are out of our hands. We need to worry about getting this girl down to the camp for the rest of the night. There’s likely to be some search and rescue folks in the area early on.
I sent Suzy and the girl back down to our camp on Gunnar with Shadow for security. Then, I spent an hour or so trying to critter-proof that plane. I was sure that someone would be looking for these folks and that a closed-casket funeral because of scavenger abuse was something I wanted to prevent.
When I got back to camp, Suzy had a fire going and a pot of water on. She is holding the girl close to her chest. I could tell the girl was crying, and there were tears in Suzy’s eyes as well. “Matt,” she said. “She said her name was Kathy, and she’s four years old. She knows about her momma.” This set off some more quiet weeping from Suzy. “Matt, what are we going to do?” she asked.
“Well, right now, Let’s get her cleaned up and comfortable. Tomorrow, some search and rescue folks should be looking for that plane. We’ll flag them down when they show up, and then little Kathy can be reunited with her family.”
Chapter 3
I was the first one up in the morning. As I built a fire and set up a pot of coffee, A small voice behind me said, “Can I pet your doggy, mister?”
I looked over my shoulder and found a little rag-a-muffin girl child. Her black hair was tussled from sleep, and her brown eyes were red from crying. She was wearing one of my long-john shirts. It hung past her knees, the arms bunched up at her elbows.
“Well, I don’t know, sweety. I think Shadow would like to be introduced first.” Shadow did not need any introductions. His tail was going ninety, and his doggy grin could have lit up the moon’s dark side.
The girl slowly edged up to him and whispered, “Hi, Mr. Shadow. I’m Kathy.” Shadow took a delicate sniff at her fingertips as she slowly held her hand out. Then, he licked her hand. It was like a dam broke. She wrapped her arms around Shadow and turned on the waterworks again.
I was not sure what to do. Then a voice whispered in my ear. “Let her cry it out, Matt. She needs it right now.” Suzy had come up behind me and was watching the whole event.
After about ten minutes, the crying died down. Suzy gently pulled Kathy from Shadow and spoke. “C’mon honey, let’s get you cleaned up and into some clean clothes.” Then she told me, “Matt, why don’t you put some water on and get some hot chocolate for us.”
While warming up the water for the chocolate, I also started frying the bacon and setting up the eggs for breakfast. We had some leftover baked potatoes from last night, so I diced them up for hashbrowns. By the time Suzy and Kathy had finished their morning preparations, all I needed to do was start frying the eggs to order.
Kathy wanted scrambled eggs, which were my specialty. Suzy, knowing my abilities with eggs and with a mean grin, ordered sunny side up. I grinned back, “You got it, honey.” I set up a plate of scrambled eggs for her. As I handed her plate to her, I said, “Sunny side up, just as you asked.” I then set up my plate with some of the best sunny-side-up eggs I had ever made in my life.
I grinned at Suzy and said, “Wanna swap?”
She grinned at me, “You stinker.” and took a big bite of her eggs.
For the rest of the morning, Suzy kept Kathy busy with things that little kids liked. Things like looking for pretty rocks and flowers and skipping stones in the lake. At the same time, I kept my eye out for aircraft of any kind.
My original thinking was that wherever that plane had been headed, there had to have been a flight plan, and when they did not show up, people would start looking. I had also hoped that a mayday had been radioed out when they got into trouble. At the very least, an emergency beacon would have been activated.
By noon, I had not seen any indication of a search. I had a new problem now. Do I wait and see if somebody comes around, or do I head for home and use my radio to get ahold of Paul, Forestry, or somebody else?
I looked over to Suzy, who had just put Kathy down for an after-lunch nap. “Honey, I don’t think anybody’s coming. It looks like these folks haven’t been missed yet.”
I could see the concern in her eyes. “What do you think we should do, Matt?”
I sat for a moment, gathering my thoughts. “Well, we’ve got two choices. First, we stay here at least for tonight and hope someone shows up.”
Suzy said, “We’re a little short on groceries, honey. We can’t stick around too long with three mouths to feed.”
I smiled at her. “No faith in my fishing abilities, eh?” Before she could say anything, I continued. “Our other option is to head home and then radio this in. I figure Paul would be our best bet. But the Forestry folks might be a better choice.”
After I said that, Suzy thought for a moment. “Matt, I think we should head for home. At least Kathy will be comfortable in a real bed. We will be better able to care for a little girl there. Calling for help is a good idea, too. I don’t know or care who. But somewhere, her family will be worried sick about her.”
“OK, Suzy, that’s our plan. We’ll head back home today.”
While Kathy napped, Suzy and I broke down the campsite as best we could. Later, when she awoke, we told her we would take her to our home. While we took down the tent and packed everything onto Jughead, I gave a running description of the wonders to be found at our mountain mansion. Kathy helped as much as a 4-year-old could. She was mainly listening wide-eyed to me.
When we were ready, I put Kathy up on Gunnar with Suzy while I did a final campsite check.
As we rode back to the cabin, I kept an eye open for any search and rescue aircraft. We also entertained the little girl. We were teaching her old Western songs. She had a gay old time. She was laughing and giggling the entire way.
Chapter 4
When we got home, Suzy took Kathy into the house. I unloaded the packs and then turned the critters loose in the corral. Jughead wanted payment for all his hard work, and I obliged him with a bucket of grain. I also scrubbed and curried Margarite and Gunnar.
When I finally got to the house, I could smell something good cooking. Suzy had also got Kathy washed up and into a dress that she found in Kathy’s luggage.
I squatted down to her height so we were eye to eye. “Well, don’t we look pretty? If I didn’t know better, I’d think I was with royalty.” Kathy giggled and blushed bright red.
Suzy called out from the kitchen. “Dinner will be a couple more minutes, honey. In the meantime, why don’t you see if you can get Paul on the radio?”
“Good idea.” Stepping over to the radio, I checked the battery level and saw it was good for a few hours.
Keying the mike, I called “Mountain Man to Deputy Dawg. Come in, Deputy Dawg.” I had to repeat myself several times. I did not expect an immediate answer. While Elk City was an end-of-the-road small town, the sheriff had responsibilities that needed attention.
When I got a reply, I recognized Steve Ring’s voice. Steve was the deputy/dispatcher for Paul Thompson, the sheriff. “Mr. Reynolds, I wish you wouldn’t call me that. You never know who might be listening. They might get the wrong idea.”
Laughing, I replied, “Aw, Steve, a little touchy this morning? Is Tina giving you a rough time?”
Tina worked for Mable at the diner as a part-time waitress. She and Steve had become an item a year or two earlier. “No, not really. She keeps asking about getting married. She also wants me to quit the sheriff’s office. Get a safer job, she says.”
“Yeah, women are like that sometimes. Just smile, nod your head, and say yes, dear. Anything else will just get you into trouble.”
“I’ve tried that, but she still nags me.”
“That’s her job, son. Speaking of which, is the boss around? I need to let him know about something.”
“You’re in luck, he just stepped in.” There was a pause, and then Paul came on the air. “Matt, old boy, what’s going on?”
“Nothing much, Paul, at least as far as I’m concerned. I am letting you know that a small plane came down in my area two days ago. You’ll need to get ahold of the FAA and whoever else. I’m sure someone is looking for these folks.”
Now, Paul was all business. “What’s the condition? Are there any survivors? Do you need medical?”
“No medevac isn’t needed. There are 3 DOA and one unharmed. She’s about 4 or 5 years old and uninjured. The thing is Paul, the pilot, and copilot had DOJ ID’s. I hung around the crash site as long as possible, but when nobody showed up, I knew I needed to talk to somebody.”
“OK, Matt, I’ll get started on my end. Hang loose. They may need your help finding the crash site.”
“No problems, Paul. Here are the GPS coordinates and the plane’s tail numbers.” I then read off the numbers to him.
“Great, Matt, that’ll help. Keep your ears on. I’ll get back to you.”
It was not until the next day before Paul called back. I was mucking out the horse stalls when Suzy called me in.
“Yeah Paul, Matt here.”
“Matt, are you sure about this? Are you sure about that tail number? The FAA denies any maydays or missing flights.”
“I’m as sure as somebody can get Paul. I was in the plane and saw the bodies. You know me, Paul, I don’t joke about stuff like this.”
“OK, Matt, I’ll get back to you. I’m just waiting for something from the DOJ.”
Less than 30 minutes later, Paul called back. “Matt, I need you to come into town.”
“What’s up, Paul? What’s the problem.” Now, I was starting to get worried.
There was a long pause. Then Paul came back. “Not on the air, Matt, not on an unsecured channel. It’s important, Matt.”
“OK, Paul, we’ll be in tomorrow at the earliest.” Now, my alarm bells were screaming at me.
“That’ll have to do, Matt. But don’t take too long. This is important.”
Suzy was listening in, and I could see the concern on her face. “What does that mean, Matt?” She asked.
“I have no idea, but it’s got Paul spooked. So, I guess we’re taking a road trip tomorrow. We’d best start getting ready.”
Chapter 5
The following day, we set out early. I was surprised when a couple of Blackhawk helicopters were circling the area. I figured the Search and Rescue people had finally got off the dime.
We got into Elk City around noon. After we took care of the horses, Suzy announced that she would take Kathy to the diner for lunch. I could see the obvious government land yacht in front of Paul’s office.
“You go ahead and get something. I’ll see what’s going on with Paul and the Feds.”
As I stepped into the sheriff’s office, I saw that Steve was nervous. “They’re waiting for you in the conference room, Mr. Reynolds.” and waved towards the back of the building.
I was surprised at the greeting, but did not say anything.
As I came around the corner, I was surprised to see two large and painfully stereotypical federal bully boys. Black suits, skinny ties, and sunglasses. One of them held up his hand and said, “Please stop right there, Sir. May I see some identification.”
I thought for a moment about just turning around and leaving, but my curiosity got the better of me, and I dug out my retired military ID. “There you go, Cap’n. I believe I’m expected in there.”
The suit looked closely at the ID and then whispered into his wrist. After a moment, he handed my ID back and opened the door.
Inside, I found Paul and two more fed suits. These two were more uptight than the guards, but I could tell they were not too happy.
Paul and the others stood as I walked up to the table. “Matt,” Paul said. “Good to see you.” He pointed to the suits and said, “This is Agents Johnson and Culpepper. They are from the Department of Justice.”
Johnson, the older of the two, held out his hand. “Mr. Reynolds, it’s a pleasure to meet you. When we were notified of this situation, I took the time to look at your record. Very impressive.”
“I don’t know about that. Most times, I was doing what needed to be done. I’m guessing you want to talk about the crash? I checked the pilot and co-pilot’s IDs, so I know they are DOJ agents.”
“That’s correct, Mr. Reynolds. Specifically, they were US Marshalls working in the witness protection department. On behalf of the department and the agent’s families, I want to thank you for your efforts to preserve the bodies.” Johnson said.
“It’s the very least I could do. I hope that if I were in a similar situation, somebody would do the same for me and mine.”
“Normally, I wouldn’t go into any details of the mission of those agents, but circumstances force me to explain the events that led up to the crash.”
“I don’t need to know all the details. I’m sure there are security considerations involved.”
“As far as I can explain, these are the details. The agents were escorting Ms. Garcia and her daughter into an interim safe house until more permanent arrangements could be made. A drug cartel employed Ms. Garcia’s husband as an accountant and money launderer. It seems that he became greedy and started siphoning funds, stealing, from that cartel.”
“I’ll bet that pissed some folks off.”
“It did indeed. Mr. Garcia was murdered in quite a gruesome manner. Ms. Garcia and their daughter witnessed the murder but were able to escape.”
“And they testified against these people?”
“No, we hadn’t gotten to a trial yet. Unfortunately, that trial isn’t going to happen. With the death of Ms. Garcia, there are no credible witnesses.”
“And the little girl isn’t a credible witness?”
“Correct, the Attorney General feels that her testimony would be successfully challenged.”
“OK, that ends this. But I don’t know why I needed to hear all of this.”
“Well, it concerns the little girl, Kathy Garcia.”
Confused, I asked, “But you just said that she can’t testify.”
“Correct, but the cartels are pretty vicious when it comes to revenge. When they get mad, they go after entire families. Even if Young Ms. Garcia cannot testify, she can serve as an object lesson for the other cartel members. Believe me what I say that they can be quite hideous when they are instilling loyalty.”
“But she’s just a little girl.” I was starting to get angry. Not at Johnson, but that anybody would hurt a child.
“Doesn’t matter. They would see that as an enhancement to the lesson.”
“That means you will still take Kathy and put her into the protection program.”
“That’s the main reason I wanted to talk to you. What I would like to do with your permission is for you to become a foster parent for her. You are in an ideal situation for this. We will announce that the plane crashed and there were no survivors.”
“Then, after a year or so, when the furor has died down, we’ll move her into a more formal foster home.”
“Why go through all of that? Why not just put her into a secure foster home now? I’m sure someone is better qualified for the job.”
Johnson started shaking his head. “This is an area that I wanted to avoid talking about. I’m afraid that we might have a leak in our organization. There have been several cases of protected witnesses disappearing. I want to avoid that with this little girl. She’s gone through a lot and doesn’t need any more grief in her life.”
I knew that Suzy would have to get involved now. “This isn’t something that I can decide for myself. I’ll need to talk to Suzy about this.”
Paul spoke up. “Is she nearby?”
“She’s supposed to be at Mables having lunch. How about it, Agent Johnson? Are you on an expense account? You can use some of my tax dollars and buy us lunch.”
Paul, the two feds, and I trooped over to Mables. As we walked in, I saw Suzy and the little girl sitting in a booth. Suzy was facing me, and when she saw the parade, I could see the question in her eyes. When the Feds started to join Suzy and me, I stopped them. “Agent Johnson, this is a family conference. I’ll let you know our decision.”
Kathy was sitting next to Suzy, and I sat opposite them. For the next 15 minutes, I explained to Suzy and Kathy what the plan was. Kathy would live with us for a while, and after things had calmed down, we would figure out what to do then. I looked at Kathy and asked her if she understood what this meant.
In a quiet voice, she asked, “This means I either go with those scary men or stay with you and Mama Suzy?”
“That’s right, baby girl, it’s your life. You get a say in it.”
She sat there for a minute or two. Then, with her lower lip quivering, she wrapped her arms around Suzy. “I wanna stay with Mama Suzy.”
Chapter 6
Looking back on that first year, it seemed like the best year of my life. Do not get me wrong, there were bad times as well as good. But the good times outweighed the bad.
I guess that flatlanders think that mountain folk like us spent all our time just surviving. They could not be further from the truth. Life in the high mountains can be pretty fun, maybe not the amusement park or video game kind of fun. The fun we had was what we made for ourselves.
We hiked and fished. We played games like tag and hide and seek. Kathy had great fun with that one, but she cheated. She always had Shadow on her side. Suzy and I never had a chance when he was sniffing us out. What made it even worse was when Kathy was hiding. He would just look at us and wag his tail.
We went foraging for herbs and berries. I even taught Kathy how to make pine syrup. Suzy taught her about herbs and spices. I taught her tracking and reading sign.
We even showed her a beehive and taught her how to harvest the honey without getting stung.
She learned about the stars and constellations, how to read a map, make a fire, gut a fish, and skin a rabbit.
She was not big enough to help with the horses and Jughead, but Nanny goat and her kids were just the right height. And when there was enough milk, she was shown the mysteries of cheese making. She was not afraid of chickens, and the first time a hen pecked at her hand while she was hunting eggs, the hen got her head slapped. And then was invited to be the guest of honor at dinner.
Unsurprisingly, Kathy did not care for gardening. One of her chores was to weed the rows and to make things even worse for her. Little girls view dirt the same way vampires view garlic. I understood her feelings about weeding. When I was her age, I felt the same way. It was a tedious and dirty job. But her attitude quickly changed when the vegetables started coming in. Her favorites were the sweet peas fresh from the pod. The other big winner was corn, particularly corn on the cob. She was in heaven when we roasted the ears in the coals from a campfire.