Three Strikes [✓]

Old Friends, New Allies

Chapter Six: Old Friends, New Allies

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Fort Grays Island, East of Usea
June 7th, 2019.
1300hrs.

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Clown picked up the receiver on the old rotary dial telephone, staring down at the numbers and going over his choices of who to call. Back in 2010, when he'd served during the last war, he'd met a young journalist fellow that was enthusiastic about his assignment to the Sand Island Air Force Base. More importantly, the man showed an interest in the Wardog Squadron. Clown kept track of him after the war and the two had remained good friends.

The thing about this journalist fellow, was that he was good at two very important things. One of them was keeping an important secret to himself or a close circle of friends. The second was that he took the investigative part of his job very seriously. If you needed something, chances are, he'd go as far as he could to find it for you without setting off a single alarm bell with the higher-ups. The kid had contacts and he knew how to use them.

What Clown needed right now was someone who could slip in and get him some information. He also needed someone with significant influence in the military, and his first thought for that were the former Wardog pilots. Now they were known as the 'Ghosts of Razgriz', but very few people knew who the people behind the emblem were. It was mostly questions that the public presented in regards to these pilots, questions that wouldn't be answered until 2020. However, there were a few in the military and government that Harling had granted the information to years ago, which meant that the former pilots received the utmost respect from the OADF and many of the government officials and staff at Bright Hill.

"Well, what's this grand idea you had, Clown?" Knocker asked impatiently. Clown blinked for a moment. He'd forgotten he brought Knocker with him, which could potentially complicate things. "In case you haven't noticed, we're running out of time. Trigger is running out of time. The calls you made earlier were dead ends, so what have you got planned now?"

Clown looked up at Knocker, setting the receiver down to give his hand a rest. "Just give me some time, Knocker," he said. "We haven't got a lot of it, but I know more than three people who can help us and who are easier to reach. They also have more to bring to the table, if you ask me."

"Really?" Knocker crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes. "Who are they, then?"

"You remember The Four Wings of Sand Island? The article written by this one reporter that followed the squadron throughout the Circum-Pacific War?" Clown asked. Knocker gave a nod in reply. "Well it just so happens that I'm good friends with him and...some other people related to the squadron. You see, Harling awarded this journalist and all involved with the squadron with a pretty sweet status in the government when the war was over. They have influence almost everywhere, including in the courts. And that's how we're going to help Trigger."

Knocker frowned, forever holding the title of a doubter. "I hope you're right. But what makes you think that they're willing to help you?"

"Just a hunch. They're always looking for a way to lend someone a hand these days." Clown grabbed the receiver again and began to dial the number. It rang a couple of times before someone picked up. He recognized the voice that said 'hello' instantly. "Blaze," was his greeting to the person on the other end. "Long time no see. I was wondering if we could talk about somethin'. It's important."

Naomi continued to toss her pocket knife at the ground, jealously and longingly watching her friends take off and fly above the island for training. She wished she could join them, but nobody would let her get anywhere close to the hangars. She wasn't even allowed to look over her plane, to see how badly it might have been damaged in the fight and the ground crew no longer trusted her. When she told her father about all of this early in the morning, he'd simply told her to hang in there and that he'd try and get some help from some friends of his as soon as he could.