Chapter Eight - part one

                 Chapter Eight

               Duty and Honor

    James arrived back on the Hill well ahead of his scheduled return. He wanted to have enough time to not only get things in order for the next year, but also adjust to things on the Hill again. There was also the issue of the NCAA national championships for track and field. James had earned a spot during the preliminaries just before graduation week. He had earned national ranking from his finishes during the regular season, but the finals were a whole new deal and the fact he was nationally ranked as a distance runner made no real difference in the finals. The coach hadn't been pleased when James had asked to leave before the finals, but since it was the only way he could get a break, the coach had agreed. It was always hard to get back into the routine on the Hill, but this year James knew it would be worse. First he would be competing in a national championship track meet for the first time. Second he would be making the transition from being almost nobody to being in a command position and responsible for helping to train the new class. He had earned the rank of Squadron 1st Sgt. as well as a spot at Jack's Valley helping get the Doolies ready for the run and obstacles. On top of all of that he would also be missing Sarah. He had a lot of stuff on his schedule and a lot of things to get adjusted to, including a new officer in place of Major Wilson.

   His first stop was to meet the new officer who would be AOC in Mach One this year. This time it was a woman. Major Karen Fouts wasn't a pilot. She was a computer and communications expert. Her normal duty was troubleshooting computer systems and setting up battlefield command and communications systems. She was among the best at her work. The only reason she was at the Academy was because she had been badly wounded on her last assignment. An extremely well planned and well executed attack had overrun positions and might well have succeeded in taking control of a major communications station along with all of its highly classified equipment, if not for her stepping up to take command of the battered forces still left after the first attack. She had held the position while coordinating both air and ground units for hours. That was after being wounded not once, but three separate times during the fighting. She had been awarded the Silver Star for her actions in the battle. She was still recovering from her injuries and undergoing physical therapy to regain full mobility. As a result she had been placed at the Academy to give her time to fully recover. She might not be up to full duty in the field, but James soon had little doubt of her ability at the Academy. He spent almost two hours getting to know her during that first meeting. He was both surprised and pleased to learn that she was very open about being a Christian. In fact she told him that was why she had been given Mach One. She had requested it because of what she had heard about the total lack of tolerance for religion and Christianity at the Academy, in particular inside Mach One.

   She had told James that she was already well aware of what he had done during his time at the Academy. She had spent a good deal of time talking with Lt. General McBride about him. James wasn't certain if putting an openly Christian officer in Mach One was a wise decision. It might possibly help the situation, but it was just as likely to cause even more problems. James had seen things changing at the Academy, but he knew that most of the changes were superficial. Nothing had really changed about the attitudes of those who were against religion. In fact he was fairly certain that some were even more hardened against Christians now than they had been before. The only real difference was that now they tried to hide the anger and sometimes even the hate they had for Christians. It was still there, but they were hiding it to gain advancement without conflict. James was very concerned that this might end up making things worse in the end. Major Fouts had been interested to hear his concerns, but she was confident that for better or worse it was time for Christians to stand up. It was time to defend their beliefs and even the beliefs of those who hated them. After all, freedom of religion had brought the first settlers to this land, and freedom was the very foundation upon which the nation had been built. James couldn't really argue with that.

   James spent the remainder of his extra time on the Hill training hard for the coming national meet. The days seemed to fly by. James tried to put his entire effort and focus into preparing for the coming meet. The coaches had been amazed at how well he had run immediately upon his return. As he began to do his final training they were even more impressed. James was running faster than he had ever run before over distance, but he still wasn't sure how he would do at the national finals. He had done well in the conference, but now the best in the entire nation would be there. The coaches seemed to believe he should do very well. Jeremy had earned a top spot in the finals as well. In fact he and James would be running a relay race together. It was a four man relay and one of the original four had been injured at the preliminary. James had stepped up to take his place. The result had been a third place finish that took them to the national finals. The Air Force team usually had several real competitors in the finals and did again this year. They seldom actually won much at the finals though. This year the coaches seemed to think they could place in the top three teams overall in several events and maybe even win a few of the individual events. James was going to give it all he had and see how it turned out.

   The team was ready and anxious for the competitions to begin when they arrived for the finals. They would have two days of practice and interviews before the finals began. James wasn't looking forward to the interviews, but he knew it was part of the requirements for athletes in the NCAA. The first day went pretty well, but the second day something unexpected happened. The entire USAFA team was doing interviews together. The press had been doing individual interviews all along, but the team interviews were scheduled for today. It was early in the interview when a young woman was called on for a question. When she stood up James immediately got nervous. It was the tall, beautiful, young, blonde that he and Jeremy had seen so long ago at the park. He knew her instantly when he saw her smile. What made him nervous was she was looking right at him and Jeremy, who were sitting together. Still smiling she spoke.

   "I have two questions. The first is for both Cadets Adams and Cooper. I don't know if either of you remember me, but I saw you running together at a local park just before you entered the Academy. I was impressed by the way you two ran together. While neither of you were running your best, the sprints I saw both of you running were fast enough to convince me that I would see you again. The last 400 meter sprint you two ran that day was within a few tenths of the best time at the nationals that year. That alone was impressive, but I saw you both let up at the very end. You didn't finish. My question is, now that you will be running together again in the relay races can we expect to see you finish your races? Cadet Cooper you can answer first since you aren't even considered to be a sprinter."

   James smiled and gave her a polite nod before he spoke. "Ma'am, I do remember you. Your smile and the tight shorts you were wearing that day would be hard to forget." That brought laughter from the other press and a smile to her face, along with just a bit of red. "Yes Ma'am we will finish our races. That day we were just running for fun. It was the first day we had ever run together. I am not known as a sprinter, because I am not a sprinter. I can sprint, but I prefer to run long distance. Sprinting requires complete focus. Those races are over in just seconds and even a small mistake can cost you the race. I make a lot of mistakes, so I prefer the long races where you have time to correct the mistakes you make." Jeremy laughed now. Then he spoke. "I want to say that I make mistakes too, I just like sprinting because I have less time to screw up." That brought more laughter. Then he focused his attention on the woman. "James is right. We will finish, because this is a real race. What you saw was just two friends getting to know each other. I don't know how well we will do in the relays, because we haven't been running together for very long, but I promise you this. We will do our absolute best." The other two who would complete the relay team nodded along with them. The woman had sat down, but she had a curious smile on her face. James was both relieved and troubled by that. Somehow he didn't really think this was over yet.

   James first distance event during the finals was the 5000 meter. He had run very well at the preliminaries, but he hadn't been very near the top of the runners. Today James would be running against some of the best in the country. He was ready for the run though. The coaches were concerned about him because he was also going to be running in the 4x1600 meter relay just a little over an hour later. James would hardly have time to recover from the long run before he was to run a 400 meter sprint. Still the coaches could do nothing about the schedules. Distance runners seldom ran in sprints or relays, so the schedule wouldn't have been a problem normally. James had paced the racers in the preliminary distance races and then finished strong. This time James started out strong, taking the lead. James had seen enough to know that today most of the best runners were very strong finishers. He planned to push them as hard as he could and see if they could finish better than him after that. That strategy proved to be a winning one. A few runners paced him from the start, but soon started to drop back. The others didn't bother to pace him at the start, but as the race progressed they began to try and catch him.  By the time they hit 3000 meters several were really stretching out in an effort to reduce his lead, but they gained very little. At 4000 meters James began to lengthen his own stride and push for the finish. He crossed the line still putting more distance between him and his closest competitor. James hadn't set any records, but his time was the best that had been run in several years.

   The coaches were ecstatic. They hadn't even dreamed that James could actually win the 5000. They had hopes for the longer 10000 meter, since James was better at longer distances, but they had just been hoping he would place in the 5000.  James tried to relax and get ready for the relay. They had decided to make him the anchor man. James was fast, but he didn't have a true sprinters speed. At 400 meters he could manage to stay close though. If Jeremy and the others could stay in the race, James should still be able to finish well for them. The normal member of the team had been one of the best sprinters on the entire team, but he had pulled a hamstring and was out for the remainder of the year. The biggest concern for the coaches was the actual baton relay. A drop would end it for them and James hadn't had a lot of time to practice. He had done well in the practice runs, but the pressure was on now. A mistake would ruin any chance they had.

    When the race started Jeremy showed his true speed. He actually was well ahead of the nearest competitor. Most of the teams had put one of their fastest, if not the fastest sprinter on the anchor leg though. That early lead might mean very little in the end. The other two relays went without incident and they managed to keep the race close. Only two runners were ahead when James took the baton. James might not be a sprinter, but he could sprint. He gave it everything he had and was still picking up speed as he crossed the line. He wasn't first, but he was only a few hundredths off in second place. It wasn't a record time for the winner, but once again the times were the best in years. The coaching staff was going wild over this. At the moment USAFA team was in fourth place overall. It was their best showing at the nationals in years. After the day was over there were a lot of interviews and a lot of questions about James suddenly showing not only great distance running, but also excellent sprinters speed. James saw the blonde, but she never asked any questions. She just watched and smiled.

   The next day James got to watch while Jeremy and the others were doing the events this time. The team did very well. Jeremy stunned some of the best sprinters in the nation that day. He not only beat them, but he did it easily. He was the star of the show for the day. That was fine with James. He was still bothered by that blonde. He had found out that her name was Candy Ackerman. She was a freelance sports writer. She was well known and her specialty was stories about unknown athletes who had a special story behind them. James had looked for her all day, but he hadn't seen a sign of her. That was what was really bothering him. Why wasn't she here, watching and looking for her next big storyline? Somehow James was afraid that she might have already found it. He had no idea of what or why, but he still worried about her not being around.

   Sarah had been thrilled to hear about how well he and the team had done. She had wanted to come and watch, but James had asked her not to do that. He didn't want any distractions and Sarah was a major distraction for him. He had another big day ahead of him. He was stuck in much the same situation as before. This time he had to run the 10000 meter and then go to the 4x400 relay in less than thirty minutes. They had actually delayed the event a bit to allow him to even compete. Nobody was really expecting much of a chance in the shorter relay, but now there was no expectation at all. The focus today was on the 10000. That was a race that James had a good chance of placing in and a good chance of winning after his earlier performance.

   James started the race with the same plan he had used in the 5000. This time he faced another runner who loved to start fast and finish strong. The entire race was a contest between them. Some of the other runners made a real effort to stay competitive, but by the time they reached the halfway mark it was really a two man race. There wasn't much drama or lead changing during the event. In fact they stayed side by side the majority of the race. At the end of the race it turned into a real contest. The last 2000 meters were practically an all out sprint by both runners. They had set a blistering pace for the entire race and now they were on pace to shatter the current record. The crowd and the coaches were all getting excited as they hit the stretch. James put on a burst and was out by four or five strides almost before anyone knew it. That last burst took him on to victory with a new national record time. James had crossed the line almost two full seconds ahead of his competition. Both of them were ready to drop. They had given this everything they had. The third place runner was just over a minute behind second place.

   The coaches tried to withdraw from the relay. They didn't believe there was any point in risking injury when they saw little chance that James could recover enough to compete. Several of the other teams asked that they delay the race so James could compete, but the officials refused. James also refused. He refused to forfeit. He had made a commitment to race and he was still able to run. James wouldn't let his teammates down. This time Jeremy would be the anchor man with James handing off the baton to him. Nobody expected the race to be close for them, even with Jeremy as anchor nobody thought they would be close enough to give his speed a chance to make up the difference. When the race started it stayed closer than many thought it would be. By the time James took the baton only two runners were ahead and only by a few strides. That was when everyone got a shock. James had made up his mind that he was going to at least give Jeremy a chance. He sprinted as hard as he had ever sprinted in his life. It was a very short 100 meter dash, but James caught one runner and gained on both. The baton passes made the difference at the end. James passed off to Jeremy perfectly, allowing Jeremy to get the fastest start possible. The other team made a good pass, but it wasn't perfect. Jeremy caught them before the pass was complete and he never looked back. It was a photo finish, but Jeremy was in front!

   That victory was enough to help push USAFA into third place. They had not only done very well in all the events, they had caused major upsets in the running events. They had won and placed in two events they weren't even expected to place in. They had won two more and shattered a long standing record in the distance races. It was a huge success. Today the entire relay team became the stars of the show, but James and Jeremy became the hero's of the day. James tried to play down his record run, but when he did that they would jump on his tremendous run in the relay. Jeremy didn't help either. He made a point of telling the reporters that James was also a great basketball player, but had chosen track instead. By the time they were done and on the way back to the Hill, James had seen all the press he ever wanted to see. His teammates were thrilled with the team trophy for third place. They were also excited to have a national record held by USAFA. The coaches were even more pleased. This showing might possibly help them with future recruiting. They arrived at the Academy to a huge victory celebration, well as big as could be expected during summer breaks. The next day that all suddenly changed for James.