He was good at that, too. Running.
Gray called in a position report. In the homestretch, they only had three more hours before landing in Charleston. The children would be whisked away to their sponsor families. Lori would go home and find some great man, bake cookies for him, make babies with him.
The thought soured in Gray's brain, not at all comforting. As a matter of fact, it was damned depressing.
Gray reached to tighten his bandanna tied around his calf over the mortar nick. The bleeding was minimal, his need for a Band-Aid nothing compared to the other pilots' need for sleep. Air safety came first.
Forget the dull ache. Ditch the morose garbage. It had never been his style. He needed a few of those smiles for himself.
One thing he could always count on, crew dogs thrived on a good laugh, even in the middle of combat. Especially in combat.
Gray pivoted to Bronco. "Well, my friend, payback time."
"Payback?"
"Payback." Gray flipped a CD between his fingers and nodded to the makeshift CD player hookup he'd rigged into the interphone. Damn but he enjoyed flying with these guys. He would miss them when he transferred. "I feel like giving you boys a concert."
Bronco flinched. "Couldn't you limit your revenge to the physical?"
"Not a chance. You deserve my full retribution, and now that the squadron commander is snoozing away in the bunk… Well… Hey, Tag," he called into the headset. "Hear that, my traitorous crewmate? Time to pay up for your little scheduling stunt. What will it be? Eagles, Elvis, or Beatles?" Gray popped in the CD and depressed the interphone button on the stick. John, Paul, George and Ringo's crooning blasted through, Gray joining in two seconds later.
Tag and Bronco's groans flooded his headphones, followed by light chuckles. Gray gripped the stick, flew his plane, sang. Escaped.
Just behind Gray, Lori leaned her head against the bulk-head and stared at him silhouetted by panel lights. The children settled, she could afford a moment to go up front and talk with Gray. Numbing exhaustion from adrenaline letdown left her languid and mellow.
Vulnerable.
God, he was gorgeous. Mud-splattered boots braced on the pedals, he relaxed in his seat, stick in his hand, in control. But on his terms, growling out tunes as he flew. His jaw and shoulders kept the beat. Bronco drummed percussion on the panel. Gray flipped switches, sang, piloted the aircraft.
So competent. Never serious. Always gorgeous.
Not that she'd come to check out the view. She just thought he would appreciate an update on Magda.
At least that gave her enough reason to be there so she wouldn't have to dwell overlong on the need to see him and reassure herself he hadn't been injured in their sprint to the plane.
"Gray," she called once, twice, before he stopped singing and looked over his shoulder. His eyes glittered an emerald echo of the fluorescent cabin lights.
He flipped his headset mouthpiece to the side. His thumb popped off the button on the stick. "Hi. Problems with one of the kids?"
"No, I just—" Her gaze flickered to Bronco, then back to Gray.
Bronco disconnected his headset and shoved to his feet. "Think I'll step back to the head."
Lori twisted sideways as he squeezed his bulk past. Alone with Gray, she willed herself not to fidget.
He slid a CD free from a player and gestured to the vacated copilot's seat. "Go ahead and sit."
Lori sagged wearily. Her fingers twined in her lap to keep from touching the countless buttons and switches in front of her—and to keep from shaking.
"What's up?"
"I thought you'd like to know our little pal Magda just drifted off. Her fever's down. She quit tugging her ear an hour ago. Her cough's still pretty harsh, but at least she's comfortable."
"Good. Thanks for the update. I'll check on her again when I'm through here." He nodded, eyes trained on the small holographic display above the console. "Is she saying anything yet? Communicating at all?"
Lori grasped the safe topic with both hands, although not sure what she hoped to accomplish by talking with him, anyway. "I tried to teach her a couple of basics like yes and no before she goes to her sponsor family. Who knows if she understood me."
Silence and dark hummed around her.