farewell, Levant

1399 Words3 Pages

The following morning, the glittering-black, Mercedes-Benz 600, Embassy limousine turned off the main Vienna-Tulin highway and cruised down the side road that divided the twin villages of Langenlebarn-Oberaigen and Langenlebarn Unteraigen lying along the banks of the Danube, thirty kilometres northwest of Vienna. James Hirschell slowed and turned into the entrance road of the Brumowski Air Base. The Austrian Air Force guard stepped out into the road; then spotted the Diplomatic licence plates and stepped back; opening the barrier and saluting smartly as the Mercedes-Benz wafted through the check post. The Air base looked to be deserted, except for a solitary familiar shape on the wide concrete apron in front of the hangars. It was an Austrian Turbo Porter... the newer version of the type of airplanes Stacey and Alex had flown in Laos. James Hirschell stopped the Mercedes-Benz on the edge of the apron and switched off the motor. Lowering the powered window between the front and rear compartments, he glanced at his watch and said,
'Your ride should be here within the next ten minutes...'
He was about to say something else when one of the ugly little Steyr Puch Haflinger trucks, sounding like a demented Volkswagen, pulled up alongside the Mercedes-Benz. A Stabswachtmeister... a staff sergeant jumped out and came to Hirschell's driver's window. He said that the transport to pick up the five Embassy employees in Hirschell's charge had just made radio contact and was ten kilometres out. When it had landed; Hirschell was cleared to follow the taxiway out to the threshold of the active runway to deliver his passengers.
They were quietly chatting about the operation when a distant hum attracted their attention. Out to the south-west, an ai...

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...ield past the terminal, and operations building to the helicopter apron. Sitting there, with her rotors already rotating, was a large, assault helicopter that Stacey recognised as being from the same family of Sikorsky choppers as the Super Jolly Green Giants that were just beginning to appear when she left Laos. Rafael Navot stopped the Chevy and gave an expansive flourish with his hand in the direction of the chopper.
'There she is… a CH-53 "Yas'ur"... our Defence Force variant of the United States Marine Corps Sea Stallion assault helicopter. We've only had them since September; but, at least they don't have the webbing seats… they are still fold-down, but are canvas.'
He saw the look on Alex's face.
'It's not that bad. Your destination is only two hundred miles away. That's about three-quarters of an hour flying time… then it's luxury all the way to Washington!'

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