“So, in order to maintain the status quo, you’re willing to forego the use of a proven plan and continue to draw up plans that result in high casualties and destruction of Corps property?”
Marge held up her hands. “I don’t like it any more than you. However, the facts are the facts. This place is like a hardcore teamsters union. You do it their way or it doesn’t get done.”
“That’s unacceptable,” Logan said. “And anyone who keeps such an attitude will find themselves out of the Corps.”
Marge stood up. “Well, I can see I’m doing myself no favors trying to help you adjust to the ways things are done here. You know where to find me when these plans blow up in your face.” She sighed and walked out of the room.
That’s right, Colonel Williams. Go back to your office and wait ’til hell freezes over for me to “find you” for one of your second-rate plans.
He skimmed the thousands of emails in his inbox. He was looking for an email from Alisha. She hadn’t said she would write him, but he had expected she would. There were quite a few emails from the West Coast, mostly from Ryders wanting to transfer out. And he’d love to have them, but he needed to get this place a little safer before he brought in sane, rational Ryders.
He noticed Sandy’s email, titled “An interesting hypothermia case”. He needed a little humor in his life, so he opened it and read.
He was not amused by its content. Where the hell had Jack been when Alisha had lap-danced a whole damn squad of Ryders?
He sent off a missive to Jack asking him what the hell was going on. An automatic response returned, stating Jack was not accepting messages at present. All messages should go through General Powell.
Logan sent off a message to Powell.
The general had clearly prewritten his response, because it returned immediately.
It stated:
There is only one Ryder on the West Coast who is your concern. Captain Tucker is doing very well in his training. The extra “comfort” Alisha provides in the wind tunnel appears to be effective. While there have been a few disciplinary problems associated with the relaxed morals, as long as Alisha remains effective…I will let the process continue.
Logan closed the email without responding. He couldn’t believe it! Jack was one thing, but she couldn’t be screwing Tucker as well—and in the wind tunnel—how was it even possible? And lap-dancing an entire squad: had she gone completely mad or was it just a childish strike at him for leaving?
It doesn’t matter, he told himself. Whatever was between you was over the second you said goodbye. Let it go. You’ve got bigger problems to focus on.
Chapter 4
Logan soon discovered Marge wasn’t exaggerating when she said the troops would resist flying Sparkes’ battle plans. During the first battle after his arrival, his men ignored his entire battle plan. Instead of waiting out of radar range at high altitude until the Class Fives could remove the concussion launchers, the troops swept in and attacked. The mistake cost over fifty men their lives. Worse yet, the concussions launched at the troops put both his Class Fives in the hospital.
Afterward, the captains claimed they had misunderstood his confusing plan. He instigated the general’s excruciatingly detailed method of debriefing and wrote up every captain in the battle. MAC promptly dropped their ranks to private, which was harsher than Logan had expected, but he didn’t object. He hoped it would give his men a wakeup call.
After the second battle, in which the same thing occurred, Logan wondered how many men he would have to demote before he found someone who would obey his orders. It was Ginnie who told him the old captains still commanded the squads, still slept in the captains’ quarters and still acted as captains. They not only ignored his orders, they’d ignored MAC’s demotions as well.
Their audacity amazed him. These were men stationed at his fort. If he couldn’t control them, how the hell would he ever control the satellite forts?
He entered an office he’d thought he would never broach. He sat down across from Marge and looked her straight in the eye. “I want a plan the captains will follow. I want them out front and I want heavy casualties.”
Marge blinked twice. “Heavy casualties for the Cartel or for the captains?” she asked softly.
“If we kill a few Cartel, that will be nice,” Logan replied, and walked from the room.
An hour later, Marge returned with two plans. “I wasn’t sure exactly what you wanted to achieve here. This one will wipe out half our troops, but take the heaviest toll on the Cartel…and this one will devastate most of your captains, since they hold the highest rank of flying acknowledged on the East Coast.”
Marge ignored the skill of his transplanted West Coast fliers. The East Coast did not recognize the Class Five category of fliers. Nor did they wish to learn the skills.
Logan pointed to the plan with heavy casualty of captains. “This one. And I want to see the captains listed by name who should be on the mission.”
Marge sighed, then pulled out a piece of paper and handed it to him. “And if you’re wondering, you won’t have to figure out how to promote them back to captain. They’ll show without any prompting from you. They don’t think you’ve a clue who runs this fort.”
Logan watched Marge leave and shook his head. She was rude, caustic and a piss-poor strategist, yet she was the only one of his colonels he trusted an inch.
***
During the next battle, he grounded his Class Fives and used Marge’s plan. The plan was amazingly successful, at least in getting rid of captains. He lost eight captains clearing out the concussion launchers. The next day, during debriefing, he pointed out the cost of doing it the old way versus the new way.
“But as long as I have captains who feel strongly this is a better plan, I’ll let it stand.” It took one more battle for Logan to rid himself of captains who would rather die than change. He then returned to the use of Class Fives and this time the plan ran like clockwork. Without the old captains to poison the well, his fort quickly fell into line.
Recognizing Chicago was only one of many pimples on a large, ugly butt, he left Marge as acting commander and traveled from one fort to another using the same two battle plans to weed out the bad apples.
He hated sending men to their deaths, even stupid, recalcitrant ones, but he knew if the East Coast was to survive, he had to sacrifice these soldiers. If he couldn’t change his officers by reason or fear, then they had to go. And since demotions clearly did not work, and having them removed from the Corps would leave him buried in paperwork and probably fail anyway, his only alternative was to send them to death in glorious battle.
With the loss of so many captains, he promoted from the ranks more on intuition than proven leadership qualities. He had a few criteria to help. He had brought along his West Coast squad, and used them to teach the new skills to all who volunteered to learn. Any soldier, who did not volunteer in the first round to learn the maneuvers, he cut from consideration as captain. If they were so closed-minded as to refuse the opportunity to improve their flying, he didn’t want them. And regardless of their apparent willingness and good attitude, if they’d trained at Fort Brags, he wouldn’t touch them with a ten-foot pole, because he knew from painful experience all soldiers from Brags were psychopaths.
He was at the Florida camp when his physical mail finally caught up with him. Things had been going pretty well in Florida. The rumor mill had fully informed the fort what to expect before he’d arrived. If he had captains who wished to resist his new battle plan, they possessed the survival instincts to keep their mouths shut and follow orders. Florida was the first camp where the captains selected Jack’s plan from the beginning.
Thus, he was in good humor when he discovered two letters, one from Alisha and one from Jack. That was, until he opened them.
Alisha’s stated Tucker was doing well and she expected he’d be passing the Class Five next week. Then she admitted things were going very badly between her and Powell an
d she desperately needed safe haven. She asked him if she could transfer and travel to the East Coast with Tucker. She had attached her completed transfer papers in the letter. He read a certain segment several times:
Put me under someone else’s command if you don’t trust yourself to use me effectively, but don’t leave me here. Without your intervention, Powell and I have become fire and dynamite.
Jack’s was even more alarming.
It is imperative you remove Alisha from this environment at once, and I would greatly appreciate it if you would transfer me as well. Powell is determined to break Alisha from her “non-Corps” behaviors. The general is winning this battle, but last week the cost was nearly Alisha’s life. I cannot help her. I’ve been placed under house arrest for allegedly helping her in her latest rebellion.
Combining these two letters with his emails from the general and Sandy, Logan tried to piece together the actual story. Clearly Alisha and Powell had bumped heads, which had resulted in her demotion to a private and Jack’s house arrest. That indicated a major breach, bordering more on mutiny, rather than Alisha’s standard insubordination. She must have publicly gone against Powell on something she’d no doubt felt strongly about. Logan understood how General Powell would have had no choice but to come down hard. Unfortunately, Alisha had refused to back down and accept his command. The sexual misconducts were proof of that.
At least she hadn’t acted out to hurt him. If she had, she would have mentioned it in her letter. No, her fight was against her general. And General Powell had no choice but to stop the insubordination. Logan now understood the danger of insubordination better than ever.
Hell, at least she’s alive, Logan consoled himself. The general hadn’t killed either her or Jack. That was a great deal more generosity than he had shown his own rebellious captains.
He was very glad Alisha was not here on the East Coast. She would no doubt loathe him for the cold-blooded, calculated murder of his men. Logan wasn’t too happy about it himself, but it was effective and fast. And he had no viable alternative. Yet if Alisha were here, she would try to stop him.
He replied to Alisha by email. Since he would be sending the email through the general, he kept it professional and to the point:
Private Kane, if you and the general have become “fire and dynamite” then it must be you who changes to something less volatile. The chain of command is imperative for the Corps to function. This is true on both sides of the country. You would fare no better over here than with General Powell if you fail to obey orders. Your request for transfer is denied. I believe General Powell is the best person to drive this rebellious streak from your character.
General Logan
He sent the email before he had a chance to rethink his harsh wording.
Chapter 5
Alisha painfully watched as the last of her latest group completed the Class Five test. Clearly, the final cadet would not pass, but she patted him on the back and tried to rustle up encouragement. “It’s okay, Julian. You made a lot of progress. You just got nervous and lost focus during the test.”
“Private Kane!” The general bellowed as MAC printed the scores. “In my office now!”
It was the first time the general had spoken to her since she defied him. She had requested several meetings to apologize, but he denied her an audience. If privates had issues, they should be addressed to their captains. Chain of command…chain of command.
The moment the door closed behind her, her ears rang from his bellowing about her inability to teach his fliers Class Five skills.
“How many passed, sir?” The general had stormed off without reading the scores out loud.
“None!”
“Tucker didn’t pass?” she asked in disbelief. His run had been nearly perfect.
“I was talking about my soldiers!” the general raged. “None of my soldiers passed. But then you didn’t actually provide them any of your generous comfort, now did you?”
“I haven’t provided anyone with comfort.”
He was in her face, roaring just like the old lion at the zoo, except this time there were no bars protecting her. “You are addressing a general, Private Kane. You will address me as ‘sir’, and you will limit your answers to no more than is required to answer my questions. Is that understood?”
“Sir, yes, sir.”
“Now I want to know why all my men failed the exam?”
“They couldn’t have failed by much, sir. They have all the maneuvers down.”
“I don’t care how close they got. They didn’t pass the test. Do you understand?”
“Yes, sir!”
“I want them to pass. You do whatever you have to do to make them pass in three days. You give them whatever you gave Tucker. Am I clear?”
Alisha suddenly felt like a virgin mistress being scolded by her parents. Do whatever it takes, but keep him happy and get a baby in your womb.
Logan, get me out of here! she inwardly prayed as she replied to the general she understood.
“Good.” He returned to his desk and held up a sheet of paper. “I made a mistake with my handling of you. I’ll admit I gave you too much rein. Ironic, since that was the exact problem Logan had with you as well. You would think I would have learned from his mistake. Well, I didn’t, but I have learned now. Going forward, there will be zero tolerance in your behavior. You will be the model soldier.”
“Yes, sir,” Alisha said. “I will,” she promised. “I recognize what I did at the assembly was wrong, sir. It will never happen again.”
“Nice words, Private Kane. And they sound sincere. Would that be because you’re expecting General Logan to come and rescue you from having to fulfill them?”
A cold chill went down Alisha’s spine. Had her letter gone astray? Benson had told her she couldn’t communicate with anyone off base as part of her punishment for the “lap dance” episode. She had been amazed he could deliver the punishment with a straight face, but with Colonel Dryer standing beside him, he’d managed to look severe enough. Later, he had given her paper and pen and promised he would get her letter mailed.
The general handed her the piece of paper and nodded for her to read it.
The heading indicated it was from Logan. Please get me out of here, she begged as she began reading.
She stared at the message in horror. Not only had he refused to help her, but he’d sent the message through the general, alerting him to the fact Alisha had requested a transfer. She stared up at Powell, knowing whatever goodwill he might have held in reserve for her was gone. She was as good as dead unless she started proving her value and obedience.
His stare drilled into her. “Are we clear on what I want?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Tell me exactly what I want.”
“Class Five fliers, and total, absolute obedience to your command, sir.”
“Very good. And how soon will I see these outcomes?”
“Three days on the fliers, sir, and immediate improvement on my behavior.”
“Not good enough,” Powell snapped. “I don’t just want improvement on your behavior. I want total obedience. From this second on! Do you understand?”
“Yes, sir,” Alisha assured him.
“Good, because one more act of rebellion out of you, and Jack goes to the brig.”
“Sir, for the record, Jack advised against my actions at the assembly.”
“I know that. It’s why he’s only under house arrest. Are you contesting my right to punish Jack for your misdeeds?”
That’s exactly what she had been doing, but she realized she was now one response away from sending poor Jack to the brig. “No, sir. It is not my place to question any order you make, sir.”
“That’s right!” he exclaimed. “Keep up this new attitude and get me ten more Class Five fliers within the next two weeks, and I may decide to release him from house arrest.”
“Sir, yes, sir!” she barked, wondering how the hell she was going to get ten f
liers out of her current pool. She had completely exhausted the potentials. “Sir, could these fliers come from your other squads?”
“What are you suggesting?”
“With your permission, I could travel to the other sites and quickly teach them the vertical descent. There seems to be a high correlation between the vertical descent and the ability to dive. Every person who has shown any talent for diving was also able to hit their mark with at least one foot on their vertical descent.”
“Why haven’t you raised this issue before?”
Alisha flushed. “I hadn’t thought of it before.”
“And do you know why?” Powell countered. “Because I hadn’t pushed you hard enough. The only way you break a soldier out of their comfort zone is by pushing them beyond it. I have allowed you to grow comfortable that you were achieving the best you could, when in fact it is clear you could do more if properly pushed.”
“I understand, sir.”
“Do you, Alisha?”
“I think so. You were concerned the five successful battles would make the soldiers overconfident and sloppy. So you came down hard on the slightest flaw.”
“They weren’t slight, Alisha,” Powell countered. “The men were sloppy. They relied on Jack’s plan and the Class Five fliers to win the day.”
“I couldn’t see it then, but every one of them who has viewed their videos has seen their flaws. What I did that day was doubly wrong. Not only did I undermine your authority over the men, but I prevented the soldiers from recognizing and fixing their mistakes.”
“Again, pretty words. But how do I know you aren’t just saying what I want to hear so you can resume your rank of colonel?”
“I don’t think I deserve to be a colonel, sir,” she admitted. Clearly Logan didn’t think she even deserved to be in the Corps anymore. “I believe my current rank befits me.”
“I agree,” he said, his tone calmer but still leery. “Now get suited up and go find me ten more fliers.”
Chapter 6
Alisha watched with trepidation as her new batch of Ryders attempted the Class Five test. Her stomach twisted in knots. While the five who retested after failing yesterday’s test all passed, the ten new cadets she culled for the test today were falling apart. Three had clearly failed—one of them nearly died—and two were right on the borderline. She couldn’t afford another one screwing up the test so she gathered up the five remaining and pulled them into a huddle.
Scavenger Vanishes (The SkyRyders Book 3) Page 3
