maryeason
November 17th, 2009, 08:49 AM
Please join me in welcoming Last Chance Author Tracey Cramer-Kelly to my blog today! (http://maryeason.blogspot.com/2009/11/please-join-me-in-welcoming-last-chance.html)
Hint, hint, there's a chance to win big if you comment, so stop by and help me welcome Tracey today!
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_lVGD0snhtqA/SwAJW_vrdjI/AAAAAAAAAdQ/eQSBvkJ3EXI/s320/tracey%27s+qanda+photo.jpg (http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_lVGD0snhtqA/SwAJW_vrdjI/AAAAAAAAAdQ/eQSBvkJ3EXI/s1600-h/tracey%27s+qanda+photo.jpg)
Welcome, Tracey. Thanks for joining us today.
Okay, everyone is waiting impatiently to hear about your latest release: Tell us a bit about Last CHance Rescue.
Last Chance Rescue, a 2009 Indie Awards finalist, is about two people who must fight their own defenses to finally let down the walls that will allow them to rescue each other. It is a story about breath-taking search-and-rescue action and adventurous lives—and the heart that is behind it all.
Future sneak peek:
I’m currently working on my next novel, which is about an officer’s harrowing experience at the hand of terrorists, and his personal journey to learn what is truly worth fighting for, and what True Surrender means. In a fun twist, the main character in this novel is actually Last Chance heroine Jessie’s ex-husband!
Favorite reader comment
There are some great comments from some of the reviews of Last Chance Rescue, but the most fulfilling ones are when an ‘ordinary’ reader tells me a particular scene or character had special meaning to them. Here’s one:
“You got me at the Cindy/Chelsey rescue, not just a tear, my face was wet with tears reading it, I had to put the book down for a few minutes. (I cried one other time too, but forget where.)”
Why write romance
The overarching theme of "Last Chance Rescue" is how Brad is transformed over the course of the story. Yes, there is a relationship that turns into something more than friendship as the story progresses. And yes, Brad's changes are 'facilitated' by a remarkable woman...
Brad and Jessie start out as mere acquaintances, but by working on a search-and-rescue team, they are forced to learn to trust each other in ways that us 'ordinary folk' don't have to -- and they become fast friends. So you might say it's about how guys and girls can operate as friends, but it also brings into play the theme of being friends before lovers.
It’s romance but so much more: the Last Chance Rescue characters are multi-faceted, multi-challenged personalities, and the action is not only non-stop, but also true-to-life!
Personality and life experiences in writing?
I’ve had the fortune of meeting, working and playing with some very interesting people! I think everything I write is affected by what I’ve experienced. Yes, there’s a healthy dose of imagination and plenty of creative license, but a seed has to be sown somewhere, and for me it is often a ‘human’ interchange. I made the heroine of Last Chance Rescue (Jessie) an Iraq war veteran and gave her some of the qualities I saw in my fellow soldiers/medics (and perhaps myself).
My writing is heavily influenced by the time I spent in the military and by the medical training I received there. When I became a helicopter pilot, it opened new relationships with some amazing people—and Last Chance really came together after I did some ride-alongs with medevac and search-and-rescue.
Family interruptions:
My ‘writing time’ is from 9-11pm a couple times a week (after my kids are in bed) and a stolen hour at a café or coffee shop when I can swing it. I do my best work when it’s quiet and I have NO interruptions, but sometimes a change of scenery can help my level of inspiration. I prefer to be ‘in the zone’ (I don’t write for a living and don’t want to because I never want it to stop being fun).
Relaxation:
I ride my motorcycle whenever possible!
Ideas come from?
For me, it starts with one scene—often from a dream. It grows from there until I have the makings of a story or novel in my head. I’ve tried making an outline but find that my characters sometimes take me in a different direction. I’ve learned not to fight that, but it means I usually write more than I need and end up cutting (on the up side, I have several additional stories I could work on!).
Sex scenes
I try to write scenes with sexual tension rather than actual sex (usually) – which I find more difficult than an actual sex scene, but so much more powerful! I also like to place that tension in unexpected places or situations. Here is an example from Last Chance Rescue:
He sank to his bed when she went to the bathroom, not bothering to turn on the overhead light. He fumbled with the clasps on his leg brace for a few moments, then lay propped on his elbows—uncomfortable, exhausted and frustrated.
“You really don’t feel good, do you?” She was at his side.
He shook his head. He reached for the brace again, but she laid her hand on his.
“Let me,” she said softly.
Slowly he reclined.
One by one she released the clasps on his leg brace. She moved with slow deliberation, as if she were undressing him. When she’d removed the brace she let it fall to the floor, one hand still resting on his leg. She sat on the bed next to him and reached for the ankle zipper on his workout pants.
He couldn’t take his eyes from her as she unzipped his pants from his ankle to above his knee. He found himself wanting her touch…anticipating it…needing it.
She began a soft stoke from ankle to mid-calf.
Brad closed his eyes, allowing himself to fall into the sensation of her touch.
Unconsciously he tensed as she ran her hands up his leg toward his knee, but he made no attempt to move. Her feather-light strokes did not cause pain, as he had anticipated, but rather, a sensation like wind moving over his skin. He relaxed—falling into the deep exhaustion of the last few months…
Favorite dessert: anything with chocolate!
Favorite City: too many to choose one
Favorite Season: early fall
Type of hero/heroine: I love it when the girl gets to be the hero! But if it’s a guy, I like him to have a vulnerability about him.
Favorite authors
I like books with complex, more adult characters (Nicolas Sparks comes to mind); I am particularly fascinated by how a male character may change/be changed by events/situations (a major theme in Last Chance Rescue as well). I like unusual settings, but not to the point of unbelievability (which is why I did ride-alongs with a medevac team before I finished writing Last Chance Rescue). My ‘pet peeve’ is a book with too much ‘headhopping’ (constantly changing points of view).
Who has influenced my writing
So many people! And often without knowing they are doing it!
In five years…
Well, what the heck, if you’re going to dream, why not dream big? I would like my next novel to be picked up by an agent and publisher and become ridiculously popular—to the point there’s a bidding war for the movie rights (to BOTH novels) and I finally get to produce a musical (in which I would do the singing). :-)
How long writing/want to be a writer
I wrote during high school but never with any intention of publishing. In college, my creative outlet was music (I sang in several bands and show choirs). Later I got into the beaded jewelry craze, but that phased out after my son was born (beads and toddlers don’t mix well). In the meantime, I would write when the muse struck me, and eventually I had a half-dozen novels (or, more specifically, parts and pieces of). There were stories inside me that just had to be told.
How many books have you written/published
Last Chance Rescue is my first! More to come!
What was easiest to write / hardest to write?
The easiest scene to write in Last Chance Rescue was Brad’s fall down the mountain (and subsequent rescue). The most difficult scenes were those that Quinn (the ‘antagonist’) was in!
Which comes first: story, character, setting?
For me it’s usually character.
If you weren’t writing…
I would be what I already am: a wife and mother (my children are 2 and 6), a daughter and a sister. A business owner (my husband and I own a motorcycle accessories business, www.LeaderMotorcycle.com). A pilot, a skier, a singer, a taiko drummer … in short, I wouldn’t trade the fullness of my real life for what is admittedly a full ‘fantasy’ life!
Visit me at
Webs site: www.LastChanceRescue.com
Blog: http://www.lastchancerescuebook.com/media.htm
Facebook: http://www.new.facebook.com/pages/Tracey-Cramer-Kelly/83223116745?ref=ts (http://www.new.facebook.com/pages/Tracey-Cramer-Kelly/83223116745?ref=ts)
Thanks, Tracey, for joining us today. And let me remind everyone to follow the rest of the blog tour
and comment; the more you comment, the better your chances of winning. The tour dates and contest information can be found here: http://goddessfishpromotions.blogspot.com/2009/10/virtual-book-tour-last-chance-rescue.htm l.
Posted by Mary Eason at <A class=timestamp-link title="permanent link" href="http://maryeason.blogspot.com/2009/11/please-join-me-in-welcoming-last-chance.html" rel=bookmark><ABBR class=published title=2009-11-17T03:00:00-08:00>3:00 AM</ABBR> 0 comments (https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=10481516&postID=8419663653565411148) http://www.blogger.com/img/icon18_email.gif (http://www.blogger.com/email-post.g?blogID=10481516&postID=8419663653565411148)http://www.blogger.com/img/icon18_edit_allbkg.gif (http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10481516&postID=8419663653565411148)
Last Chance Rescue author Tracey Cramer-Kelly will be joining us today. (http://maryeason.blogspot.com/2009/11/last-chance-rescue-author-tracey-cramer.html)
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_lVGD0snhtqA/SwAKQK-29AI/AAAAAAAAAdY/AVg78hBy5ko/s320/tracey%27s+book+excerpt+photo.jpg (http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_lVGD0snhtqA/SwAKQK-29AI/AAAAAAAAAdY/AVg78hBy5ko/s1600-h/tracey%27s+book+excerpt+photo.jpg)
Tracey, can you give us an excerpt from the book:
Absolutely!Enjoy, Last Chance Rescue:
The helicopter shuddered and swayed as it lifted off the helipad. Instinctively Brad Sievers gripped the edge of the bench, willing his stomach to calm down.
The chopper was so full he could hardly move, and he felt overly warm and claustrophobic. Though he wore a headset, he could hear the Colorado air pulsing through the giant blades above.
Minutes ago he'd been terribly insistent about tagging along on this search-and-rescue mission; now he wasn't sure it was a good idea. What the hell am I doing? he thought. I'm in advertising, for Chrissakes!
"Okay, listen up," the team leader said.
The movement of the chopper was so foreign to Brad that he had difficulty paying attention. The team leader talked about the missing snowmobilers -- what they looked like, where they were last seen and probable scenarios. He threw out a lot of numbers -- coordinates, Brad realized later -- and assigned teams to what he kept calling quadrants. "And Jessie will take our ride-along in CHIPS," he finished.
Brad had known Jessie Van Dyke since kindergarten -- in fact, it was entirely possible he'd chased her around the playground in "kiss and tell" -- but they'd been only casual acquaintances through high school. He hadn't seen her in ten years -- until he showed up at their high school reunion in Minnesota just weeks ago, hoping to impress his old crush, Aimee Kinderbach -- who blew him off in the end.
He must have had a blank look on his face because Jessie said, "CHIPS is our medevac chopper. It's equipped with heat-seeking equipment, electronic mapping, medical equipment -- the whole nine yards. It's parked at our rendezvous helipad." She tugged on Brad's harness, adjusting the fit like another woman would adjust a tie.
They disembarked on a plateau that was in the middle of nowhere according to Jessie. Brad wouldn't have known it; the plateau was lit up like the Fourth of July, a line of snowmobiles idling to one side. A blast of cold air hit him, making him thankful for the jacket.
Jessie tapped his arm. "This way." She led him around the helicopter they'd just landed in. Behind it was the smaller helicopter, CHIPS. It, too, had its propellers going.
Jessie swung open the back door and plugged in her headset.
"Hey guys," she said. "We've got company tonight."
She indicated that Brad should take the rear-facing seat, and showed him where to plug in his headset. She introduced him to "Pilot Sam" and "Navigator Rick."
"Brad's been hanging out with us and couldn't resist sticking around for the real thing." Jessie settled herself into the seat across from Brad.
A pair of lit-up computer screens in front of Rick caught Brad's attention. "How does that work?"
As if in response to his inquiry, a voice came over the radio. "Checking all systems ... all teams power up."
Lights began blinking on the computer screen. "Every team has a transmitter as well as GPS on their radio," Rick explained. "We can track them from above and the mission coordinator can track them from the base site."
Brad found himself riveted to the lights on the screen as the teams responded one by one: "Ready on Alpha." "Ready on Bravo." "Ready on Charlie ..."
It took him several minutes to realize what the words meant. "Team names?"
Jessie nodded. "Based on the military alphabet. That was the team leader, Dan, calling for the ready-check."
Finally Rick spoke into his mouthpiece. "We have audio and visual on all teams. We are ready to rock and roll."
"Ditto on the ground," another voice said. "Move out!"
The helicopter began to rise as snowmobiles passed it on the right. Out the rear window panel, Brad watched as the launch pad and snowmobile lights disappeared from view. "How do you know where to look?" he asked.
"Sometimes we don't," Rick said. "But in this case, we have fairly reliable information about where they are."
"If we didn't, we may have been put on standby until the ground teams found them -- or first light," Jessie said.
"Or if the weather was really crappy," Rick added.
"Here. Make yourself useful." Jessie was holding something that looked like a cross between binoculars and 3-D glasses. "They're night-vision goggles."
Brad wasn't sure what he was looking for but it felt better to be contributing, so he strapped the goggles on and peered out the window at the ground below. His thoughts drifted to the woman across from him…
Their chance encounter at the reunion had stuck with him after he returned to his new job in Dallas. He tried to forget the way she touched his lapel when she said, "I never would have guessed you for advertising; I didn't think that would give you fulfillment." And the way her eyes searched his when she teased him about being shallow.
And then he lost his job.
And the self-doubt -- was he the reason they'd lost the account? -- started eating at him. He'd been drinking himself to devastation every night, but it hadn't made him feel any better. If anything, that brief conversation with Jessie came to mind more often. So, on a half-drunken whim, he'd driven from Dallas to her home state of Colorado, intending to put her "shallow" comment to rest.
But the conversation didn't go the way he'd envisioned it ...
"Team Foxtrot has a visual." The voice cut into Brad's thoughts, jarring him back to the present. He wasn't sure how long they'd been flying.
"Cannot confirm it's our target," the voice continued. "We'll check it out."
"Are we close enough?" Sam said.
Rick was studying a map on one of the computer screens. "That's southwest of us about 20 miles," he said. "If it's not legit, we can circle back easily and still cover prime terrain."
It was Sam's turn to radio. "CHIPS to back up Foxtrot." He swung the chopper around.
"Affirmative, Chips II."
"Who's on Foxtrot?" Rick asked.
"That would be Micah and Ryan," Jessie said. Brad had just had a long conversation about stock car racing with Ryan, a young Vietnamese-American who was full of jokes.
Fifteen minutes later Rick said, "We're coming up on Foxtrot."
"They look stationary," Jessie said. "I have a visual on their objective ... looks like a wreck, all right."
Check out more details from the book here:
http://www.lastchancerescuebook.com/index.htm
Hint, hint, there's a chance to win big if you comment, so stop by and help me welcome Tracey today!
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_lVGD0snhtqA/SwAJW_vrdjI/AAAAAAAAAdQ/eQSBvkJ3EXI/s320/tracey%27s+qanda+photo.jpg (http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_lVGD0snhtqA/SwAJW_vrdjI/AAAAAAAAAdQ/eQSBvkJ3EXI/s1600-h/tracey%27s+qanda+photo.jpg)
Welcome, Tracey. Thanks for joining us today.
Okay, everyone is waiting impatiently to hear about your latest release: Tell us a bit about Last CHance Rescue.
Last Chance Rescue, a 2009 Indie Awards finalist, is about two people who must fight their own defenses to finally let down the walls that will allow them to rescue each other. It is a story about breath-taking search-and-rescue action and adventurous lives—and the heart that is behind it all.
Future sneak peek:
I’m currently working on my next novel, which is about an officer’s harrowing experience at the hand of terrorists, and his personal journey to learn what is truly worth fighting for, and what True Surrender means. In a fun twist, the main character in this novel is actually Last Chance heroine Jessie’s ex-husband!
Favorite reader comment
There are some great comments from some of the reviews of Last Chance Rescue, but the most fulfilling ones are when an ‘ordinary’ reader tells me a particular scene or character had special meaning to them. Here’s one:
“You got me at the Cindy/Chelsey rescue, not just a tear, my face was wet with tears reading it, I had to put the book down for a few minutes. (I cried one other time too, but forget where.)”
Why write romance
The overarching theme of "Last Chance Rescue" is how Brad is transformed over the course of the story. Yes, there is a relationship that turns into something more than friendship as the story progresses. And yes, Brad's changes are 'facilitated' by a remarkable woman...
Brad and Jessie start out as mere acquaintances, but by working on a search-and-rescue team, they are forced to learn to trust each other in ways that us 'ordinary folk' don't have to -- and they become fast friends. So you might say it's about how guys and girls can operate as friends, but it also brings into play the theme of being friends before lovers.
It’s romance but so much more: the Last Chance Rescue characters are multi-faceted, multi-challenged personalities, and the action is not only non-stop, but also true-to-life!
Personality and life experiences in writing?
I’ve had the fortune of meeting, working and playing with some very interesting people! I think everything I write is affected by what I’ve experienced. Yes, there’s a healthy dose of imagination and plenty of creative license, but a seed has to be sown somewhere, and for me it is often a ‘human’ interchange. I made the heroine of Last Chance Rescue (Jessie) an Iraq war veteran and gave her some of the qualities I saw in my fellow soldiers/medics (and perhaps myself).
My writing is heavily influenced by the time I spent in the military and by the medical training I received there. When I became a helicopter pilot, it opened new relationships with some amazing people—and Last Chance really came together after I did some ride-alongs with medevac and search-and-rescue.
Family interruptions:
My ‘writing time’ is from 9-11pm a couple times a week (after my kids are in bed) and a stolen hour at a café or coffee shop when I can swing it. I do my best work when it’s quiet and I have NO interruptions, but sometimes a change of scenery can help my level of inspiration. I prefer to be ‘in the zone’ (I don’t write for a living and don’t want to because I never want it to stop being fun).
Relaxation:
I ride my motorcycle whenever possible!
Ideas come from?
For me, it starts with one scene—often from a dream. It grows from there until I have the makings of a story or novel in my head. I’ve tried making an outline but find that my characters sometimes take me in a different direction. I’ve learned not to fight that, but it means I usually write more than I need and end up cutting (on the up side, I have several additional stories I could work on!).
Sex scenes
I try to write scenes with sexual tension rather than actual sex (usually) – which I find more difficult than an actual sex scene, but so much more powerful! I also like to place that tension in unexpected places or situations. Here is an example from Last Chance Rescue:
He sank to his bed when she went to the bathroom, not bothering to turn on the overhead light. He fumbled with the clasps on his leg brace for a few moments, then lay propped on his elbows—uncomfortable, exhausted and frustrated.
“You really don’t feel good, do you?” She was at his side.
He shook his head. He reached for the brace again, but she laid her hand on his.
“Let me,” she said softly.
Slowly he reclined.
One by one she released the clasps on his leg brace. She moved with slow deliberation, as if she were undressing him. When she’d removed the brace she let it fall to the floor, one hand still resting on his leg. She sat on the bed next to him and reached for the ankle zipper on his workout pants.
He couldn’t take his eyes from her as she unzipped his pants from his ankle to above his knee. He found himself wanting her touch…anticipating it…needing it.
She began a soft stoke from ankle to mid-calf.
Brad closed his eyes, allowing himself to fall into the sensation of her touch.
Unconsciously he tensed as she ran her hands up his leg toward his knee, but he made no attempt to move. Her feather-light strokes did not cause pain, as he had anticipated, but rather, a sensation like wind moving over his skin. He relaxed—falling into the deep exhaustion of the last few months…
Favorite dessert: anything with chocolate!
Favorite City: too many to choose one
Favorite Season: early fall
Type of hero/heroine: I love it when the girl gets to be the hero! But if it’s a guy, I like him to have a vulnerability about him.
Favorite authors
I like books with complex, more adult characters (Nicolas Sparks comes to mind); I am particularly fascinated by how a male character may change/be changed by events/situations (a major theme in Last Chance Rescue as well). I like unusual settings, but not to the point of unbelievability (which is why I did ride-alongs with a medevac team before I finished writing Last Chance Rescue). My ‘pet peeve’ is a book with too much ‘headhopping’ (constantly changing points of view).
Who has influenced my writing
So many people! And often without knowing they are doing it!
In five years…
Well, what the heck, if you’re going to dream, why not dream big? I would like my next novel to be picked up by an agent and publisher and become ridiculously popular—to the point there’s a bidding war for the movie rights (to BOTH novels) and I finally get to produce a musical (in which I would do the singing). :-)
How long writing/want to be a writer
I wrote during high school but never with any intention of publishing. In college, my creative outlet was music (I sang in several bands and show choirs). Later I got into the beaded jewelry craze, but that phased out after my son was born (beads and toddlers don’t mix well). In the meantime, I would write when the muse struck me, and eventually I had a half-dozen novels (or, more specifically, parts and pieces of). There were stories inside me that just had to be told.
How many books have you written/published
Last Chance Rescue is my first! More to come!
What was easiest to write / hardest to write?
The easiest scene to write in Last Chance Rescue was Brad’s fall down the mountain (and subsequent rescue). The most difficult scenes were those that Quinn (the ‘antagonist’) was in!
Which comes first: story, character, setting?
For me it’s usually character.
If you weren’t writing…
I would be what I already am: a wife and mother (my children are 2 and 6), a daughter and a sister. A business owner (my husband and I own a motorcycle accessories business, www.LeaderMotorcycle.com). A pilot, a skier, a singer, a taiko drummer … in short, I wouldn’t trade the fullness of my real life for what is admittedly a full ‘fantasy’ life!
Visit me at
Webs site: www.LastChanceRescue.com
Blog: http://www.lastchancerescuebook.com/media.htm
Facebook: http://www.new.facebook.com/pages/Tracey-Cramer-Kelly/83223116745?ref=ts (http://www.new.facebook.com/pages/Tracey-Cramer-Kelly/83223116745?ref=ts)
Thanks, Tracey, for joining us today. And let me remind everyone to follow the rest of the blog tour
and comment; the more you comment, the better your chances of winning. The tour dates and contest information can be found here: http://goddessfishpromotions.blogspot.com/2009/10/virtual-book-tour-last-chance-rescue.htm l.
Posted by Mary Eason at <A class=timestamp-link title="permanent link" href="http://maryeason.blogspot.com/2009/11/please-join-me-in-welcoming-last-chance.html" rel=bookmark><ABBR class=published title=2009-11-17T03:00:00-08:00>3:00 AM</ABBR> 0 comments (https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=10481516&postID=8419663653565411148) http://www.blogger.com/img/icon18_email.gif (http://www.blogger.com/email-post.g?blogID=10481516&postID=8419663653565411148)http://www.blogger.com/img/icon18_edit_allbkg.gif (http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=10481516&postID=8419663653565411148)
Last Chance Rescue author Tracey Cramer-Kelly will be joining us today. (http://maryeason.blogspot.com/2009/11/last-chance-rescue-author-tracey-cramer.html)
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_lVGD0snhtqA/SwAKQK-29AI/AAAAAAAAAdY/AVg78hBy5ko/s320/tracey%27s+book+excerpt+photo.jpg (http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_lVGD0snhtqA/SwAKQK-29AI/AAAAAAAAAdY/AVg78hBy5ko/s1600-h/tracey%27s+book+excerpt+photo.jpg)
Tracey, can you give us an excerpt from the book:
Absolutely!Enjoy, Last Chance Rescue:
The helicopter shuddered and swayed as it lifted off the helipad. Instinctively Brad Sievers gripped the edge of the bench, willing his stomach to calm down.
The chopper was so full he could hardly move, and he felt overly warm and claustrophobic. Though he wore a headset, he could hear the Colorado air pulsing through the giant blades above.
Minutes ago he'd been terribly insistent about tagging along on this search-and-rescue mission; now he wasn't sure it was a good idea. What the hell am I doing? he thought. I'm in advertising, for Chrissakes!
"Okay, listen up," the team leader said.
The movement of the chopper was so foreign to Brad that he had difficulty paying attention. The team leader talked about the missing snowmobilers -- what they looked like, where they were last seen and probable scenarios. He threw out a lot of numbers -- coordinates, Brad realized later -- and assigned teams to what he kept calling quadrants. "And Jessie will take our ride-along in CHIPS," he finished.
Brad had known Jessie Van Dyke since kindergarten -- in fact, it was entirely possible he'd chased her around the playground in "kiss and tell" -- but they'd been only casual acquaintances through high school. He hadn't seen her in ten years -- until he showed up at their high school reunion in Minnesota just weeks ago, hoping to impress his old crush, Aimee Kinderbach -- who blew him off in the end.
He must have had a blank look on his face because Jessie said, "CHIPS is our medevac chopper. It's equipped with heat-seeking equipment, electronic mapping, medical equipment -- the whole nine yards. It's parked at our rendezvous helipad." She tugged on Brad's harness, adjusting the fit like another woman would adjust a tie.
They disembarked on a plateau that was in the middle of nowhere according to Jessie. Brad wouldn't have known it; the plateau was lit up like the Fourth of July, a line of snowmobiles idling to one side. A blast of cold air hit him, making him thankful for the jacket.
Jessie tapped his arm. "This way." She led him around the helicopter they'd just landed in. Behind it was the smaller helicopter, CHIPS. It, too, had its propellers going.
Jessie swung open the back door and plugged in her headset.
"Hey guys," she said. "We've got company tonight."
She indicated that Brad should take the rear-facing seat, and showed him where to plug in his headset. She introduced him to "Pilot Sam" and "Navigator Rick."
"Brad's been hanging out with us and couldn't resist sticking around for the real thing." Jessie settled herself into the seat across from Brad.
A pair of lit-up computer screens in front of Rick caught Brad's attention. "How does that work?"
As if in response to his inquiry, a voice came over the radio. "Checking all systems ... all teams power up."
Lights began blinking on the computer screen. "Every team has a transmitter as well as GPS on their radio," Rick explained. "We can track them from above and the mission coordinator can track them from the base site."
Brad found himself riveted to the lights on the screen as the teams responded one by one: "Ready on Alpha." "Ready on Bravo." "Ready on Charlie ..."
It took him several minutes to realize what the words meant. "Team names?"
Jessie nodded. "Based on the military alphabet. That was the team leader, Dan, calling for the ready-check."
Finally Rick spoke into his mouthpiece. "We have audio and visual on all teams. We are ready to rock and roll."
"Ditto on the ground," another voice said. "Move out!"
The helicopter began to rise as snowmobiles passed it on the right. Out the rear window panel, Brad watched as the launch pad and snowmobile lights disappeared from view. "How do you know where to look?" he asked.
"Sometimes we don't," Rick said. "But in this case, we have fairly reliable information about where they are."
"If we didn't, we may have been put on standby until the ground teams found them -- or first light," Jessie said.
"Or if the weather was really crappy," Rick added.
"Here. Make yourself useful." Jessie was holding something that looked like a cross between binoculars and 3-D glasses. "They're night-vision goggles."
Brad wasn't sure what he was looking for but it felt better to be contributing, so he strapped the goggles on and peered out the window at the ground below. His thoughts drifted to the woman across from him…
Their chance encounter at the reunion had stuck with him after he returned to his new job in Dallas. He tried to forget the way she touched his lapel when she said, "I never would have guessed you for advertising; I didn't think that would give you fulfillment." And the way her eyes searched his when she teased him about being shallow.
And then he lost his job.
And the self-doubt -- was he the reason they'd lost the account? -- started eating at him. He'd been drinking himself to devastation every night, but it hadn't made him feel any better. If anything, that brief conversation with Jessie came to mind more often. So, on a half-drunken whim, he'd driven from Dallas to her home state of Colorado, intending to put her "shallow" comment to rest.
But the conversation didn't go the way he'd envisioned it ...
"Team Foxtrot has a visual." The voice cut into Brad's thoughts, jarring him back to the present. He wasn't sure how long they'd been flying.
"Cannot confirm it's our target," the voice continued. "We'll check it out."
"Are we close enough?" Sam said.
Rick was studying a map on one of the computer screens. "That's southwest of us about 20 miles," he said. "If it's not legit, we can circle back easily and still cover prime terrain."
It was Sam's turn to radio. "CHIPS to back up Foxtrot." He swung the chopper around.
"Affirmative, Chips II."
"Who's on Foxtrot?" Rick asked.
"That would be Micah and Ryan," Jessie said. Brad had just had a long conversation about stock car racing with Ryan, a young Vietnamese-American who was full of jokes.
Fifteen minutes later Rick said, "We're coming up on Foxtrot."
"They look stationary," Jessie said. "I have a visual on their objective ... looks like a wreck, all right."
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