Tailspin: A Top Gun Love Story

Chapter 4

You walk into the hangar near the end of the day. The sun hangs low in the sky, hovering just over the horizon where it paints the clouds in orange and rosy hues. You see Tom and Ron heading toward you after their last flight of the day and you wave at them.

Tom grins at you, lifting his helmet off his head and tucking it under his arm. His chute bag is hanging off his shoulder. His face shines with sweat and, as he approaches, you can see beads of it running down his neck and under the collar of his shirt.

Behind his head, you see two jets zoom across the desert. Then, suddenly, a resounding boom erupts from the field as one of the Tomcats pulls into a vertical climb.

Tom twists his body to look up at the plane. When he turns back to you, he's wearing a disgruntled expression on his face.

"Show-off," Ron mutters, grabbing a green apple from the bowl set out on the desk in front of the chalkboard. He gives it a few swipes across the front of his green flight suit and takes a bite.

You glance up at the F-14, still shooting straight up. The second fighter is in pursuit, but has noticeably fallen behind. Tom shakes his head, putting his arm around you and giving you a kiss.

"Missed you," he says.

You give him a smile. "Good day?" you ask.

Another roar rolls over the hills and you both look in the direction of the noise.

"That idiot's going to get himself killed one day," Tom grumbles under his breath.

You watch the plane tilt right, then left, then right again, rocketing through the air while the slower F-14 prepares for landing. Tom pulls on your hand but you're still watching Maverick swerve expertly through a range of mountains in the distance before coming back around. You smile to yourself; he'd told you that when he's up there, you would know. And he was right. The control with which he maneuvers his aircraft is unmatched.

"He's just wasting fuel now." Ron shakes his head. "He's in full afterburner for fuck's safe."

Tom sets his jaw, refusing to look back at the airfield. "Viper's going to ground his ass for good this time."

You watch as Maverick does another steep climb only, this time, instead of a graceful dive over the cliff, the plane slows to a near halt, and the rumble of the engines dies.

"Tom?" you say hesitantly, feeling your voice catch on something in your throat.

But Tom's already turned around, he's already let go of your hand and, with a perplexed look on his face, he's walking back toward the strip. "What the fuck?" he says slowly, the last of his words falling away into silence before all hell breaks lose.

Tom turns back to look at Ron and you blanch at the horror twisted into his features.

"They've stalled," he breathes.

"They what?" you start, but Tom flies past you toward the stairwell.

"They've stalled!" he cries, swinging the door to the staircase open and disappearing through it.

Ron bounds after him and you, taking one last look at Maverick's plane as it starts to descend with its nose still pointing upward, race after them, your heart pounding so hard you could feel it in your temples.

"Their engines died!" you hear Tom screaming as he blows into the tower.

"Ghost Rider, come in. Come in, Ghost Rider. Do you copy?" Jester yells into the radio when you rush into the room. "Who's up there?" he hollers at the three of you.

"Maverick and Goose, sir!" Tom responds.

"Get me Viper! I can't get a hold of them, their comms are down," Jester growls.