He Sent the Helicopter for Her Dog, So I Took Back My Wings novel · Chapter 18 of 24

Chapter 18: Hands Up

The Calabasas gym smelled of wet coats and old coffee.

Sixty people sat on folding chairs in a half circle, with the cots still stacked against the far wall.

I sat in the back row with my hands in my lap.

Bruce stood alone at the front by the free-throw line, in the brown flight jacket with no badge on it.

The old man with the white mustache had opened the meeting.

"This young man asked for five minutes," he said. "I told him he could have them. Don't make me regret it."

Bruce nodded and looked at the faces in front of him.

He did not read from anything.

"My name is Bruce Donovan," he said. "Sutton's books still say I'm its chief pilot, because the company never accepted my resignation."

A few people stirred at the word.

"On the morning of the fourteenth I flew Sentinel One."

The gym went still.

"Some of you saw it go over. Some of you watched it from your roof." He swallowed. "It didn't stop for you."

"Because you didn't see us?" a woman called.

"Because I was ordered to Malibu. I was told the ridge was clear. I believed the order, because I wanted to, and when I saw the glow I told myself it was a county backburn."

"You told yourself," the man from the back row said, in a flat voice.

"Yes."

"You told yourself, and my barn burned."

"Yes, sir."

A chair scraped.

"I can't give you your barn," Bruce said. "I can't give you the hour. I've thought about it every minute since, and there's no version where I don't carry it."

"So why are you here?" someone shouted.

"Because the woman who gave that order is lying to you on television, and I won't let her use me to do it."

Nobody spoke.

"There's a recording from my cockpit. Her voice is on it. She gave the order, and she knew the Santoro ranch line was open."

A murmur ran through the gym, rising.

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