Bend the Blue Sky

"There had been a radio transmission, and the report of a wingman who managed to survive the encounter with three, then six, then nine Russian MIGs along the Yalu River, and finally: silence. A vast sky void of evidence. Void of life. And no sign of Charlie or his plane. It had to happen all the time, Violet knew, and the officers seemed hopeful that he might be found. But her heart was like that sky, and though she sounded it again and again, she knew he was gone from her and would not return."