“It wasn’t meant to be, Lieutenant Commander. How about this: I’ll pre-screen the vets on the line, ensuring they understand another person is in your vehicle who is not a volunteer with the VC hotline.”
“V-I-C,” he muttered, trying to reinforce the compromise the leadership committee had designated as the official abbreviation.
The initials were unfortunate. Vietnam vets often remarked on how it affected their trust. Purposely using a term that disturbed members of their already vulnerable community was a cheap shot.
Staff Sergeant Jackson said, “It’s a plan. I’ll pre-screen callers to ensure they understand the situation and gain their consent. Hold, please.”
Blaze parked the car well away from the other vehicles in the wide parking lot and reconned the area.
The rest stop had a large building with a food court and a gas station. He asked Sarah, “You want anything to eat?”
Sarah was already taking off her seatbelt and reaching for her door handle, and she grinned giddily at him. “I can’t believe I finally get to drive your car.”
“It’s just a car,” he called through the interior as her door slammed and she sprinted around the trunk. “Do you want food?”
She was already tugging at his door handle as he unlocked the door and pushed the door open.
“Get-out-get-out-get-out,” she chanted. “I can hardly wait to put this pony through its paces.”
Blaze walked around the back of the car and stepped into the passenger side, grumbling to her, “If you get us arrested for excessive speed, we’re not going to make it to your farm.”
“Duly noted,” she giggled as she zipped the car backward out of the parking spot, jammed it into gear, and floored it so hard that Blaze’s brain shifted backward in his skull.
Riding in a sports car with roller-coaster acceleration wasn’t nearly as exciting when one wasn’t holding the wheel and controlling the chance of imminent death. “You don’t have to go this fast.”
Sarah didn’t take her eyes off the road, and her arms were stiff-straight as if she’d been knocked back into her seat. “Yeah, I don’thaveto, but it will probably be the only chance in my life to drive a car like this. I’ll bet I can get us to Iowa in four hours.”
Sure, if she drove two hundred miles an hour, but the laws of engineering made that unlikely even for an Aston Martin. “Hey, I’m going to counsel traumatized veterans. Try not to turn me into one.”
Too late on that front, but she didn’t need to know that.
Her giggle as she reached eighty-five miles an hour was cute as hell.
Staff Sergeant Jackson’s voice emanated from the car’s speakers. “Lieutenant Commander Robinson, I have Warrant Officer Zhihao Fan here for you. She has been briefed and consented to another person being present during coaching. Do you understand and consent to this, Warrant Officer Fan?”
A woman’s voice with a soft Southern accent said, “I understand and agree.”
“Over to you, Lieutenant Commander Robinson.”
Blaze heard the click as the Staff Sergeant signed off. “How are you doing today, Warrant Officer Fan?”
A sigh filled the car. “I did three tours in the Persian Gulf.”
“I’m listening.”
And for an hour, he did. Blaze had been trained to ask gentle questions and allow the person to come to their own conclusions. His own therapist had used that technique with him in the years since he had mustered out. It was a cliché that therapists constantly asked, And how did that make you feel?Getting people out of their heads to defuse their emotions like bombs was the point of therapy and the type of coaching that Vets in Crisis offered.
Within five minutes, Sarah had slowed the car to a reasonable speed and was meticulously driving along with the speed of traffic, so Blaze stopped paying attention to her and concentrated on Warrant Officer Fan.
They were well into Pennsylvania by the time he finally hung up with Zhihao Fan and halfway through the state when Senior Airman Calvin Williams was stabilized enough until he saw his regular therapist on Monday.
Staff Sergeant Jackson came back on the phone. “Do you want to do another one? We have a few other coaches who have come online now. I think we’re going to be okay for the afternoon.”
“That last call expended a lot of energy,” Blaze admitted. “Plus, Sarah has been driving for nearly three hours. It’s time to switch.”
They hung up.
The rolling hills of the Poconos had risen around the road, the summer foliage enclosing the road in a dark green tunnel. As it was past noon, the sun was coasting down the sky, and the mountains cast torrents of shadow over the forest.
