Scavenger's Mission (The SkyRyders Book 1)

by Liza O'Connor

  “Give them a little time. Right now they don’t see the good points of the new way. They only see extra work.”

  Logan frowned as she hopped over to her catcher and gathered it in her arms. “Don’t you want to eat something before you head off?”

  “Not a good idea. I feel a bit nervous. I’d hate to upchuck on my tester.”

  Logan smiled. “They’re used to it—happens a lot.”

  “Really?”

  “Yep. Usually the big, burly, handsome guys who look as tough as nails.”

  Alisha narrowed her eyes. “That sounds like a description of you.”

  Logan smiled at the compliment hidden in her words. “Well, I’ve never lost my breakfast, but I’ve been close before.”

  “I have trouble believing that.”

  “How about a cup of coffee?”

  Alisha hopped over to him. “Is it fresh?” she asked, taking a sip of his coffee.

  “I almost brewed it myself.”

  “Almost?”

  “Well, I was just about to pour the water into the machine when Ginnie came to my rescue and suggested I might want to put a filter and coffee grounds in the bucket first.”

  Alisha laughed and took another sip. “I wish I could have seen that. It must have killed poor Ginnie to speak up and correct you. I mean, it’s like correcting God.”

  Logan stopped smiling. “Far from that.” He sighed.

  Alisha set the cup down and placed her hand on his chest. “I’m not going to tell you not to blame yourself, because you’re obviously going to ignore all good advice in that area. Just don’t let your guilt stop you from being the man you are. Treat it as you would a death of a friend. You mourn and get over it. You don’t let it ruin the rest of your life.”

  Logan smiled. “Finally, some useful advice.”

  “You should have come to me first.”

  “Why the hell would I think a twenty-one-year-old girl would have pearls of wisdom in her pretty head?”

  Alisha’s eyes narrowed. “I think I’d better save the rest of my wisdom for the test.”

  ***

  Alisha wanted to take off from within the compound wall, but Logan adamantly refused. He carried her and the catcher down to the landing field.

  To prove to him that she could have safely departed from the compound, she executed the most amazing vertical lift he had ever seen. With the new modification to her catcher, she climbed over two hundred yards upward without moving more than six inches downwind. She continued to climb until she reached a thousand feet, then shot off like a rocket.

  He waited until she had disappeared over the horizon before returning to the compound. He sent the squad, sans DC, out with Washington in command. Their orders were to patrol the west ridge today, but if they saw any activity they were to contact him first before engaging. He didn’t want an inexperienced leader getting the squad into a situation they couldn’t handle.

  He’d just seen them off when his clock chimed nine. By the time he returned to the compound, DC was suited and picking up his pack.

  “You missed our meeting, sir,” DC complained.

  “I am two minutes late for our meeting, Captain. Were you going somewhere?”

  “I’m going into town. This is my day off, sir.”

  “No, it’s not. I canceled your day off. Had you stepped a foot out of this compound, you’d be in the brig now. Put your gear down and get into my office.”

  “There’s no point, sir. I’ve retained an advocate, and he has advised me to decline the interview.”

  “And where did you get this advocate? From one of your porn sites? Because he isn’t a very good one. You don’t have the right to decline the interview, Captain.”

  “I’ll only plead the fifth if you persist in interviewing me.”

  Logan sighed. “Sometimes I feel like you’ve come from the past. There is no fifth anymore. MAC did away with it five years ago!”

  DC eye’s rounded at Logan’s proclamation. “That’s not true, sir—the fifth amendment is part of our constitution.”

  “Tell you what, then. You sit down and try pleading the fifth. See where it gets you.”

  ***

  Logan took his time setting up the bio measures. He sensed the delay worsened DC’s nerves and unsettled the bastard.

  When the computer indicated all was a go, he read DC the standard warning. “All questions must be answered truthfully. Failure to comply will result in the immediate loss of rank. Do you understand the ramifications of not telling the complete truth?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Logan decided to play hardball from the beginning. He wanted the bastard’s ranking stripped.

  “On the night of September eighteenth, did you enter the gear room and make small seam incisions in Trainee Kane’s windcatcher?”

  “That’s not relevant to this inquiry, sir.”

  “It’s not your call to decide what is relevant. The program has not rejected the question, so you are required to answer it truthfully.”

  “I plead the fifth, sir.”

  “That is not an answer.”

  “I plead the fifth, sir,” he repeated.

  Logan asked him several other questions, and again the fifth was taken. Finally, after the fourth question not answered, the program halted the interview. Logan smiled as he read MAC’s orders. He printed the document and cheerfully signed his name.

  “Donald Campbell, you are immediately stripped of your rank and demoted to private third class. An appointment has been scheduled for you at the MAC lab on October fifteenth. If you fail to present yourself at this time, you will be classified as AWOL/code red. Do you understand the penalty if you fail to present yourself on October fifteenth to the MAC lab for evaluation?”

  “I didn’t answer untruthfully.”

  “You were required to answer, and that answer was to be truthful.” Logan smiled at him. “Do you understand the penalty if you do not present yourself to the MAC lab for evaluation?”

  “Fuck you!”

  Logan’s smile widened. “That’s going to cost you a day in the brig, Private.”

  “I’m filing a protest. You told me to plead the fifth! Out there in the hall. You told me to plead the fifth.”

  Logan shook his head. “You’ll have to work that protest up the chain of command. If I see Sergeant Dyson—that’s Ginnie’s rank, if you’ve forgotten—I’ll let her know you’re in the brig.”

  Logan opened the door. Two MPs dutifully waited on the other side to escort him out.

  “I’ve been set up here. You set me up because I raised a stink about your lousy whore. And she is, you know—a whore. Before you took her in, she used to hang with the girls on D Street.” DC laughed. “You’re going to look like an ass when that bit of information comes out today during her test. You sent them a street whore!”

  One of the MPs tightened his grip on DC’s arm to shut him up.

  “Let go of me, you sorry piece of land shit,” DC yelled.

  Logan closed his door. That had been a stupid comment to make to the foot soldiers who protected their compound. Those men worked as hard as the Ryders, got half the pay and none of the glory. They didn’t need much of an excuse to take an attitude with an arrogant SkyRyder. DC had just ensured himself an unpleasant stay in the brig.

  ***

  Logan couldn’t get DC’s comments about Alisha’s past out of his head. He didn’t know if she’d ever tried whoring. From her fear of sex, he didn’t think she had, but the other possibility was that she had, only the experience had been rape. He hoped it wasn’t the latter, not just because it might cause a problem for him, but because he didn’t want her traumatized.

  When he held her in his arms at night, she seemed so incredibly innocent, as if she had no idea what her presence did to him. That innocence had kept him from reacting to her provocative closeness. He honestly didn’t think she understood the signals she sent.

  She’s twenty-one, he argued with himself.
She knows damn well what she’s doing! But he wasn’t sure. She was a very young twenty-one. In some ways, it seemed as if she’d been born only a month ago.

  Chapter 22

  Logan had just caught up with emails when Washington radioed in that they had spotted a group moving packages into the wind farm. “Give me a visual,” Logan requested, and pulled up the camera feed.

  The visual was blurred and unsteady. “Philly, keep the damn camera still,” he snapped.

  “I’ve got the camera, sir,” Washington said.

  Logan sighed. “Is there something wrong with your cameraman?”

  “No, sir.”

  “Then let him do his job.”

  After a bit of jostling, the quality improved both in clarity and stability.

  “Those look like medic boxes,” Jersey noted.

  “Shut up, Brown, no one asked for your input,” Washington snapped.

  “A good leader taps into his squad’s knowledge base, Washington. And that’s a good observation, Jersey. If those boxes are high-priced black-market drugs, then the site will be well protected.”

  Ginnie spoke up. “There are two laser rifles on the ridge, sir. They haven’t seen us yet, but we’re in range.”

  “Washington, where the hell do you have your squad?”

  “On the west ridge, sir.”

  “Front or back?”

  “Front, sir.”

  “Okay, the first thing to do is get your squad to the back side of the ridge. Then climb down until you can safely take off without a visual sighting and head straight back here.”

  “You don’t want us to arrest them, sir?” Washington asked in amazement.

  “I appreciate your enthusiasm, but a good leader has to recognize when he’s in over his head. If Ginnie can see two snipers on the ridge, then there are probably several more hidden from view. This is high-price cargo. If they’re taking the trouble to walk it into the farm, then they plan to keep it there for a while. Just get your people back unseen, and we can plan a better attack with the right manpower. And leave the channel open so I can follow your progress.”

  Logan spent the next hour pacing. He hoped to God MAC realized he needed a replacement captain, since DC and Ollie had lost their ranks. Washington might be the next in line for command, but under DC’s tutelage, he had learned nothing about leading a patrol.

  Chapter 23

  Alisha reminded herself she only had to pass a general test. She didn’t need to show off. Still, when she saw the distance from the landing field to the front door of the test center, she decided a little deviation might be prudent, or she’d kill herself hopping to the door.

  She came down over the landing circle and held herself a foot above the center target for a full minute. Then she tacked her catcher crosswind in a straight line from the circle to a position only ten feet from the door. She lowered her catcher until she felt the ground solid beneath her good foot. She tugged her toggles and held her breath as the catcher collapsed perfectly in front of her.

  “Wow!” a woman said.

  Alisha looked up at the most beautiful blonde with bombshell curves she had ever seen in her life. She was even prettier than the high-class hookers in Capital.

  “I’m Anna Riley.” The woman held her hand out to Alisha. “And you have to be Alisha Kane.”

  Alisha shook the woman’s hand even as her heart sank. This was the colonel’s friend Riley? She recalled Logan congratulating her on her marriage during his phone call last night. Married or not, how could she ever compete against this woman?

  “I hope it’s okay I landed closer to the door. The colonel made me promise to stay off my knee.”

  Anna laughed. “It was more than okay. Can I help you with your catcher?”

  Before Alisha could reply, Anna lifted a panel. “You’ve modified this beautifully,” she said as she stretched it for folding. “Are these slats what allowed it to tack so steadily?”

  “No, it’s the extra tethers on the backplane.”

  “What are these for?” Anna asked, looking at the holes in the backplane.

  “Vertical lift. I just put them in last night. They really improved my climb. The colonel wouldn’t let me take off from inside the compound this morning, because the last time I did, I barely made it over the wall. With the changes, I pulled a two-thousand-foot climb with only a six-inch drift.”

  Anna looked at her watch. “Damn. You’ll be tied up for most of the day in tests. Since there’s a mandatory downtime of twelve hours after the psych test, I’d really like you to have dinner with me and my husband.”

  As much as Alisha wanted to dislike her rival for Logan’s attention, she couldn’t. Anna was as enchanting as she was beautiful. And she knew her way around a catcher. “I’d like that.”

  “Then let’s get you to Riley. He’ll be running your test today.”

  “Who?”

  “Riley.”

  “I thought you were Riley.”

  “No…well, yes. I’m Anna Riley, but everyone calls me Anna and my husband Riley—even me.” Anna glanced at a Jeep driving toward them. “Here he is now.”

  Alisha smiled at the colonel’s friend Riley as he stepped out of the Jeep and approached her. Clearly Anna had married for character rather than looks. While broad shouldered, Riley was at least twice her age. Still, he walked like a man in charge of his world.

  Riley approached and shook her hand. “The last person who landed on the doorstep did so because they’d completely lost control of their catcher.”

  “I was afraid you might think that. That’s why I hung over the circle first.”

  “Hovering one foot above it and then tracking in a perfect line to the door. Yes, you convinced me you had control of your catcher.” He glanced at her equipment. “You’re aware that you cannot use modified gear for the basic flying test?”

  “Yes, sir.” Alisha tucked her catcher into its pack and smiled at Anna for her help.

  “I’ve got your gear out back. I’ll drive you over in the Jeep. I had planned to pick you up at the landing circle.” He turned to his wife and frowned. “You sticking around?”

  Anna laughed. “No. I can take a hint.” She shook Alisha’s hand. “Best of luck on your test.”

  Riley’s eyes rounded in surprise, then he shrugged and led Alisha to the Jeep.

  “This will be basic stuff. You’ll wear an ear bud. Just follow my directions, and we’ll be done in less than twenty minutes. And if you don’t understand my orders, just say so. If you need me to repeat anything, speak up.”

  Alisha smiled. Riley was making her feel so at ease, she wondered why anyone ever chucked their meal.

  “Any questions?” Riley asked as they came up to the gear waiting on the tarmac.

  “Just one. The colonel told me it was usually the brawny, handsome flyers who chucked their breakfast. Is that true?”

  “I won’t stand within six feet of any candidate fitting that description.” Riley studied her for a moment. “You don’t look nervous.”

  “How could I be when you and Anna have made me feel so at ease?”

  “It’s not my job to terrify the candidates.” Riley chuckled. “Although sometimes it’s a perk I can’t resist.”

  ***

  Because of her leg, setting up her gear took longer than normal, but she refused to worry about the time. Whatever she lost on the ground, she’d make up in the air.

  “Three minutes,” Riley warned her.

  Alisha hopped over to the harness and shuffled into it while remaining balanced on one leg. After clicking in, she checked the latches, tightening two of them. While inspecting her toggles, she discovered one was tangled.

  “Four minutes,” Riley called out.

  She ignored his tone, which warned her to rush, and continued to untangle the toggle. Only when she’d verified they were both clear and working did she call clear and set her catcher. As the catcher rose and she was about to take flight, Riley called out, “Abort flight!”


  Instantly, she yanked the toggles, collapsing the catcher.

  “False alarm—you may take off.”

  Riley might look friendly and fuzzy, but his test had a few tricks. She unlatched her harness and proceeded to straighten out the catcher. Unlike her catcher, this one had to be laid out perfectly to catch the wind. Once satisfied with the layout, she hopped back to the harness and again checked the latches and toggles.

  “Ready,” she called out. When Riley didn’t reply, she said, “Am I cleared for takeoff, sir?”

  “You are,” Riley said. “Climb to three hundred feet and remain there with as little drift as possible.”

  Alisha engaged the catcher and forced it to climb. By the time she reached three hundred feet, her arms ached. This maneuver would be so easy with her catcher.

  She forced herself to hold her position, despite the pain in her arms.

  Riley’s voice came through her ear bud. “Track down in a straight line to the tree at the corner of the field. Find a package in the limbs. Retrieve the package and return it to the circle.”

  “Straight line, my foot,” Alisha muttered. With this catcher and the current wind direction, a straight line was aerodynamically impossible. However, if the goal was to get the package, that she could do.

  “Is retrieving the package the key objective, sir?”

  “It is.”

  “Then I request permission to deviate from plan.”

  “Why?”

  “A straight line is not viable given the wind direction and this windcatcher’s capabilities, sir.”

  “Permission granted.”

  Alisha headed forty-five degrees away from the package in a tacking motion, similar to the way sailboats moved forward in a headwind, using the back panel as her rudder. Once she was past her target, she pulled hard on her left toggle and came in low behind the tree. She turned hard toward the tree, the wind now directly behind her. She sighted her package. Normally she would have used her feet to snag it, but she had no confidence that her knee would hold. Instead, she dropped her altitude a few feet lower, and holding both toggles in one hand, she reached down and snagged the box with her other hand. With package in one hand and both toggles in the other, she forced the catcher to rise sufficiently to prevent her from being tangled in the top of the tree.