Scavenger Vanishes (The SkyRyders Book 3)

by Liza O'Connor

  She explained all the problems she’d had in the three months since he’d last seen her. He listened without interruption and more importantly, without judgment. When she’d finally finished, he rose and fixed them both a shot of whiskey.

  “Gramps?” she said in surprise as he handed her the shot glass.

  “You’re not a child anymore, Alisha. You’re a true blue officer of the Corps. And I’m damn proud of you.” He held up his glass. “Salut!”

  Alisha felt her spirits rise as she raised her glass to the famous General Kane and swallowed the shot in one swift gulp. If she only had one one-hundredth of his qualities, she would survive the Corps.

  In the afternoon, when her gramps was taking his nap, Alisha slipped out and went to the prison camp to visit Carol. Seeing Carol so sad and haggard almost pushed her to tears again, but Carol stopped her with a threat.

  “Don’t you dare start crying. Just turn around and walk out if you aren’t planning to make me laugh.”

  Alisha forced her lips into a reluctant smile. “You’re still a bully.”

  Carol smiled in return. “In here, I’ve become a goddamn monster. Nobody messes with me, not the girls and not the guards. I own this place.”

  “Go, girl!” Alisha said, repeating a phrase Carol used to say to her.

  “So I hear you’re a captain of the SkyRyders.”

  “Colonel now,” Alisha murmured, and shrugged her shoulders. “It’s only ’cause I can fly.”

  “I’m glad for you,” Carol replied. “You deserve nice things to happen to you.”

  Alisha wasn’t yet convinced it was a nice thing. “It’s a little less fun than I thought,” she admitted, “but Gramps says everyone goes through a dip.”

  “Yeah, but he was never a woman in a man’s Corps,” Carol observed.

  Alisha shrugged. “It doesn’t really seem to matter what sex you are. The strong prey on the weak.”

  “Same here,” Carol admitted, then smiled. “It’s why I’m strong. When I first arrived, I was so heartbroken by them killing my baby I didn’t think I’d ever care what happened to me.” She shook her head at the memory. “I learned that pain can override misery real quick.”

  “You always were a survivor. I think I’ll come to you for guidance in the future. My own has been quite poor recently.” She told her how she’d gone against the general and got Jack put under house arrest and herself demoted to private. She also told her about the deal she’d made to get the fliers to hit their target.

  “Damn, girl, you do need my guidance!” Carol exclaimed. “Did I teach you nothing in the month you spent around me?”

  “Evidently, I’m a poor learner,” Alisha admitted. “I wouldn’t have made the deal if the general hadn’t planned to punish Jack as well as me.”

  “This colonel…sounds like you like him,” Carol teased.

  “I do. He’s the only friend I have in the Corps. The rest of the people I care for moved to the East Coast.”

  “Well, you still have a few outside the Corps.”

  “The only one of the gang I can find is you, and that’s only because your address is stable. Everyone else has moved.”

  “There’s an upside to my imprisonment,” Carol said. “I’m now the base station for all my mobile friends.”

  “Then you know where Denny is?” Alisha asked.

  “Denny’s dead,” Carol whispered. “And lower your voice.”

  “Dead! How?”

  “I expect it was the Cartel. They were relentless in their pursuit of any dealer who bought drugs that day. Since they didn’t know who betrayed them, they just killed them all.”

  “But no one betrayed them! They were spotted by a SkyRyder patrol when they were bringing the goods in!” Alisha said.

  “Well, they’ll never believed that. They were certain it was a dealer, and they decided to send a clear message never to betray the Cartel. And they did. Of course, they killed all their dealers, but others have filled in and taken over.”

  “Can I at least cry about Denny?” Alisha asked.

  “No!” Carol warned. “But I’ll cheer you up with a surprise. Betty came by to see me.”

  “Betty?” Alisha asked. Betty had been murdered long ago.

  “Yeah, she’s looking really good. You know how industrious she’s always been. Well, she’s started her own fabric business. She’s combined her techno skills with fashion and has come up with this cloth that changes color. It’s really cool! She usually comes to visit around noon. You might want to hang and connect up. I know she’d love to see you again.”

  Had Carol lost her mind? Beside the fact Betty was dead, she’d never had techno skills. The only one with techno skills had been Denny. She was about to point that out when she noticed Carol had her annoyed look of impatience she showed whenever someone was being dense. Finally, the light bulb turned on. To avoid the Cartel, Denny had devised his own death and taken Betty’s identity.

  “I will definitely wait for the chance to see her,” Alisha said. That Carol had not been able to tell her about Denny directly indicated something else as well. Their conversation was not private.

  Carol filled her in on the doings of the remainder of the gang until a quarter ’til noon. Then she cut their conversation short and sent Alisha out, explaining if Betty were to come and find Carol had another visitor, she’d probably just leave and try again tomorrow.

  Alisha remained outside the prison, leaning on the fence, studying each person who walked through the door. She searched for Denny disguised as a street girl. She never saw anyone who looked like her dear friend. At one, she gave up and headed back toward her Gramps’ house.

  Halfway home, she sensed someone was following her, but whenever she turned around, she couldn’t locate the person among the people going about their lives.

  Was it Denny? Or was it the Cartel, still looking for Denny? Or was it the Cartel looking for her? After all, she might be very high on their hit list. She wished she had carried her gun. Knowing she’d be strip-searched at the prison had caused her to leave it at home, but now she questioned her wisdom in doing so. It turned out as a colonel of the SkyRyders, she’d been allowed to enter without the invasive strip-search other visitors had to endure.

  That made her wonder about something else. How could Denny get through a strip search without them realizing he was a boy rather than a girl? They performed complete cavity searches to prevent drugs from being smuggled into the prison.

  She relaxed slightly as she turned onto her Gramps’ block. No one was following her. She was just being paranoid. Still, to be safe, she checked out the neighbor’s flowers for several minutes. Just as she was about to continue to her Gramps’ house, a little old woman came to the door of the house and called out to her. “Don’t go picking my flowers!”

  “I wouldn’t!” Alisha assured her. “I was just admiring them!”

  “That’s what they all say, but I turn my back for one second, and poof! They’re gone. You’re not from around here,” the old lady said with clear distrust.

  “I’m staying at my grandfather’s. He lives in the house beside yours.”

  “You’re Daniel’s Alisha!” the woman exclaimed, opening the door wide. “Come in! I’ve been dying to meet you.”

  “Well, I really should get back to Gramps.”

  “Nonsense. He’ll be sleeping for another two hours. You’ll just wake him up and make him cranky for the rest of the day. Come inside. I’ve just made fresh lemonade.”

  Alisha could tell the little old lady wasn’t going to let her off the hook, and she was right about Gramps. “Well, just for a minute,” she agreed, and followed her inside.

  The moment Alisha was in the house, the little old lady closed the door, flipped three dead bolts and activated her security system. Alisha stared in momentary confusion as she noticed the brand and make. It was a better system than her parents had on their house. Why would a little old lady in a middle-class neighborhood in Broadtown
require such a system?

  “You know, you could have made this meeting a lot easier,” Denny’s voice said from behind the sweet little woman’s face.

  Alisha shrieked and threw her arms around the elderly woman, who was all padding. It was like hugging a teddy bear when she was a child.

  “You’re crushing me!” Denny complained.

  “Liar,” Alisha laughed. “You’ve got so much stuffing around you, I could hit you with all my might and you’d not feel a thing. I can’t believe it’s you! Carol said you’d come to visit her, so I waited at the prison for almost an hour.”

  “That’s what Betty told me. She walked right by you, visited Carol, and came back here and told me all about it.”

  “You walked right by me?” Alisha exclaimed. “Why didn’t you say anything?”

  “I didn’t walk by you,” the old woman replied. “Betty walked by you. Aren’t you listening to a word I’m saying?”

  Evidently Denny didn’t think they were safe even with a top-of-the-line security system. “Sorry, I don’t think I got your name…”

  “I’m Judith Pratt. Betty’s my daughter. She’ll be really pleased to see you,” Mrs. Pratt assured her.

  “I’m looking forward to seeing Betty as well,” Alisha replied.

  “Well, I’m so pleased you two are friends, because we may become family. I’ve got my eye on your grandfather. He’s a handsome fellow, and with you gone so much of the time, I’ve taken it upon myself to go and visit every day.”

  “That’s very kind of you,” Alisha said.

  “Kindness has nothing to do with it. I’m looking for a husband. While all he talks about is you, I find I can endure it.”

  Despite Mrs. Pratt’s protests, Alisha inflicted another crushing hug on her.

  They talked for another two hours while Mrs. Pratt prepared a casserole for Daniel, then they carried it over, woke him up, and had a very pleasant visit.

  Later, after Mrs. Pratt returned home, her grandfather commented on how well she and Mrs. Pratt had hit it off. Alisha agreed and kissed her grandfather on the forehead. He seemed confused by her improved state of mind, but also pleased.

  Chapter 13

  With the new communication fibers laid, all the East Coast forts received their new telecommunication systems. Since Logan didn’t shift the security system to MAC, none of his colonels seemed alarmed by the change, and they liked the ability to download sex videos at the speed of light.

  What the colonels didn’t know was MAC didn’t need the old security system shut down. By tapping into the old wiring, plus utilizing the new system, it could access all the old security cameras, plus the hidden cameras located in every monitor issued in the last three years, which worked regardless of whether the monitor was on or off.

  A week after installing the new system, Logan was able to work the theft ring all the way up to Colonel Brandon. What made him sick over the matter was Brandon knew the equipment he was selling ended up in the Cartel’s hands and was used to attack and kill his own soldiers.

  Logan, Marge, and Tucker met to determine their next move.

  “Eliminate him,” Marge recommended.

  “We have plenty of evidence to bring charges.”

  “Which will put him in front of a firing squad, so the end result will be exactly the same. In either case, a bullet will pierce his skull.”

  “The difference is how we get there,” Logan said. He was tired of killing off his men. That wasn’t what he’d signed on to do.

  “Right. We go through proper channels, we will win and he will die, but to get a conviction, we’ll have to reveal our new level of security. This will be the one and only conviction we’ll get. The rest of your problems will go underground, and you won’t see them until it’s too late.”

  Logan looked at Tucker. He’d spent more time with the satellite colonels than either Marge or Logan. “What’s your recommendation?”

  “I agree with Colonel Williams,” Tucker replied. “We can’t afford to lose the advantage so soon.”

  “You don’t have a problem with the fact we’d technically be murdering a soldier of the Corps?” Logan asked, for he certainly had a problem with it.

  “Not only don’t I have a problem, sir, but I’d like to volunteer to do it. Colonel Brandon is responsible for the deaths of over three hundred soldiers. I have no problem doing this service for my country,” Tucker assured him.

  “Bravo,” Marge said.

  Logan gave in. “Next skirmish we have, I’ll make him field commander. Marge, do you have someone on your invisible staff who can handle this?” Logan asked. While technically no one reported to Marge, he knew certain soldiers took their orders from her, and were no doubt part of the secret service as well.

  “I’ll take care of it,” Marge assured him.

  “I’d rather do it myself, sir,” Tucker said, his voice betraying anger this time.

  Before Logan could reply, Marge jumped in. “As would I, Colonel Tucker. I’ve my own grievances with Brandon. But it’s important we aren’t anywhere near the colonel when he takes a dive. So you’re going to have to suck it up. I know it’s not easy, but there’s no choice.”

  Tucker wasn’t happy with his orders, but he accepted them and asked for permission to leave. Logan excused him, but noticed Marge looked worried.

  “You think he may disobey my order?” Logan asked.

  “It’s possible. Hate can make a person almost as stupid as love can.”

  “I take it Colonel Brandon was involved in Jersey’s rape?”

  Marge nodded and stared out the window.

  Logan noticed Marge’s eyes had turned glassy with moisture. It was the first time he’d ever seen her near crying. He was afraid he knew the reason. She didn’t even seem to notice him as he rose and walked over to stand behind her. When he placed his hands on her shoulders, she jumped, then squeezed the bridge of her nose, trying to stave off the tide of tears.

  “I’m sorry for your pain, Marge. If there’s anything I can do….” Logan offered.

  “There is.”

  “Tell me how I can help.”

  “Make love to me. Remind me what it’s like to partner with a real human being. I’ve been doing this damn job so long, I can’t even remember.”

  Chapter 14

  “Jack,” Alisha called out teasingly, as she peeked through the fabric. Jack turned around the room trying to figure out where she was. She couldn’t help but laugh.

  Jack looked up at the ceiling of the officers’ commons. “Alisha?”

  “I’m right here,” she insisted, and laughed again.

  Jack looked straight at her and then under the computer table. He walked toward her, looking very confused. “Exactly, where are you?”

  He had stopped just a foot in front of her. She reached out and poked him, causing him to leap a good yard backward. She laughed and lowered the cloth.

  “Isn’t it cool?” She stepped out from behind the bolt of fabric. “Mrs. Pratt’s daughter makes it. You can change it to any color you want. If I select the color of the wall, then poof! I disappear. It can do patterns as well. So let’s say you were lying in the grass taking surveillance shots, you could turn it into something even high-powered scopes wouldn’t catch.”

  “This is incredible.” Jack touched the fabric. “How do you get it to change colors?”

  “You press this device onto the color you want and then against the underside of the material. It sends a message to the atomic particles of the material to shift, causing a change in the color reflected. It’s basically a simple computer tied to complex nanotechnology.”

  “And Mrs. Pratt’s daughter designed this?”

  “Yes, and she’s even got a patent for it. She initially planned to become a billionaire selling the fabric to the rich,” Alisha explained.

  “It’s not the rich I’m worried about,” Jack said. “What happens if the Cartel buys this, disappears, and walks in the front door?”

&n
bsp; “It would be almost as devastating for us as our having our flight suits made out of this material would be for them.”

  “Alisha, this isn’t funny. This is a problem,” Jack assured her, and moved to the computer.

  “MAC already knows. I dropped off a swatch this morning for it to analyze. Betty doesn’t have the capital to start up a manufacturing facility. Nanotechnology is a bit pricey. She’s offered the Corps first opportunity to be her partner.”

  “Does she realize we can be her only customer?” Jack asked.

  “Yes, she knows that. She’s very smart, Jack, or she’d never had figured out how to do this,” Alisha assured him. “MAC seemed very pleased with her proposal.”

  “Exactly what was her proposal?”

  “The Corps would contribute the facility and security to ensure the technology remains safe from potential competitors, and she’d contribute the technology. The product would be sold exclusively to the Corps for perpetuity.”

  “Alisha, if this deal goes sour, you cannot side with your friend against MAC. MAC can punish you much worse than the general.”

  “It’s not going to go bad. Betty isn’t trying to be greedy. She only wants enough to live a comfortable life in relative safety. And there’s no reason for us not to use this. Do you realize we could make ourselves invisible to the human eye when we’re diving? Betty’s even working on a variation that will work for our catchers. This is a good thing, Jack. Stop looking so worried!” Alisha insisted.

  He caressed her face. “I just don’t want you to do something really stupid if it comes to a choice between MAC and your friend.”

  “I understand. And if Betty had attempted to blackmail MAC, that would be a real concern. But MAC likes Betty,” Alisha insisted.

  “MAC is a computer, Alisha. It doesn’t like or dislike. It simply acts in accordance with its parameters to protect and improve the Corps.”

  “Well, I think Betty falls safely within those parameters. So stop fretting. You’re dampening my good mood.”

  Jack gathered her hand and kissed it. “I’m sorry. It’s good to see you happy again. I can tell your weekend away was beneficial.”