Alisha ignored the outburst and continued with her comment. “Just follow my commands, and I promise you, I’ll bring you home safe.”
Unfortunately, the only one who seemed convinced was Ginnie.
As Logan dismissed them, DC declared, “We’re doomed.”
That’s two, Logan counted mentally.
***
Since the staging area was only two miles away, they arrived a half-hour early for the briefing. Upon landing, the squad split. Ollie and Washington joined a group of flyers from Capital. Jersey hooked up with some flyers she knew from squad 610. Philly found the other videographers to talk shop and compare equipment.
Logan felt bad that Alisha had no one to talk to except for Ginnie, but the expression on her face made it perfectly clear the last person she wanted for company was him. Just as well, since he needed to find the general.
When he located General Powell, his mood darkened at the sight of DC talking to him. Powell’s contemptuous glance, first at Alisha and then at him, left no doubt as to the topic of conversation.
Let’s see what you’ve got to say to my face, you little shit, he decided, and stormed straight to his commander.
Powell glared at him. “Logan, DC was telling me about your new girl…”
“If you want an accurate picture of my new captain, sir, you might do well to select a less prejudiced source than DC,” Logan suggested, and glared at DC. “You’ve wasted enough of the general’s time, Private.”
Neither of them said another word until DC had disappeared into the crowd.
“It’s a shame to waste talent, Logan. If you don’t want the boy, you can transfer him over to me.”
“Well, General, he’s been recalled for assessment by MAC. If he’s still in the Corps after being evaluated, I will gladly transfer him out.”
The general frowned. “He didn’t mention he was under assessment.”
“Doesn’t surprise me.”
“What’s he done?”
“Regulations forbid me to disclose any allegation until MAC determines its validity.”
Powell could not order him to disobey a regulation, but Logan could tell his refusal to voluntarily disclose the information pissed the old general off considerably.
That made the first bright spot in his day.
Chapter 32
Standing in the mass of Fort Capital’s Ryders, Alisha and Ginnie felt like two lost minnows in a pond of meat-eaters. The only Ryders who made any effort to talk to them were just looking for new girls to lay. So they remained together and talked flying. Alisha was explaining some of the modifications she had made when a drop-dead-gorgeous Ryder yelled over the crowd noise. “Quiet down! Can we get the captains up front? We’re about to start the briefing.”
Alisha didn’t move.
“You’re a captain…go on!” Ginnie whispered.
“I think they mean the other captains,” she said, looking for her colonel.
The moment she found him, she could tell by his annoyed look that she was supposed to go forward. She pushed her way through, but her late arrival brought her unwanted attention from the general.
The general looked up from the chart. “You must be Captain Kane. So glad you could make it,” he stated with clear sarcasm. “I’m General Powell, this is my strategist, Colonel Sparkes, and my captains, Re, Cannon, and Hardiman.”
Alisha gave them a brief nod. The three captains’ expressions made it clear they thought her beneath their acknowledgment. The only one who seemed civil was the drop-dead-gorgeous Colonel Sparkes. How could a man that young be a colonel? He looked to be only a few years older than her.
“I trust you are familiar with this region, Captain Kane?” the general asked, pointing to the map.
“Yes, sir,” she replied. Painfully familiar, since she’d crashed on the ridge several times, but she didn’t share that particular detail.
“Surveillance indicates the cartel began moving the drugs to a location approximately one half-mile from the edge of the wind farm. We believe this is in preparation to moving it out to a new location, which is why we’re hitting today.”
“Re, Hardiman, at my command you’re to bring your men over the ridge as Cannon brings his men down through the narrow aisle between the ridge and the farm. Keep a tight formation. I don’t want any Ryders caught in those turbines.”
The three captains nodded in unison.
“The objective is to take this supply without allowing a single dealer to escape. You are cleared for maximum force. Use a standard spray formation. I don’t care if there are survivors. In fact, I’m sure Captain Kane will be especially appreciative if she has nothing to do.”
The general looked up at her from his seat at the end of the table. “What’s the matter, Kane? You don’t look particularly happy.”
Her frown deepened as she glanced at Colonel Logan.
“Well speak up, Captain. If you’re confused, now is the time to ask questions.”
“I understand the responsibilities of cleanup, sir. But how do you plan to take out the guards who will be posted on this ridge?”
Colonel Sparkes smiled at her. “Good question, Captain. Surveillance tells us there are only two: here and here. We’ll assign a sniper to remove each before they know we’re there.”
Alisha frowned. “There will be at least ten guards on this ridge today.”
The general slammed his hand down on the chart. “Do you have a hearing impediment, Captain? Jack just told you there were only two!”
“That was yesterday. Today is Wednesday.”
“And what the hell does that have to do with anything?” General Powell demanded.
“Wednesday is market day. They didn’t move the supplies to the edge in order to hide them somewhere else, sir. They’re selling today, and they know that several of their customers prefer to take rather than buy, so they’ll be fully armed and ready for an invasion. At a minimum, I would expect ten guards with at least two concussion grenades ready to launch at any customer who deviates from their flight path or arrives with more men than allowed. If your soldiers attempt to come over that ridge, you’ll have heavy casualties.”
The general turned to his strategist for a reply.
Jack Sparkes seemed oblivious to the general’s glare. His attention remained solely on Alisha. “What makes you certain they aren’t just moving the supplies?”
“Two reasons. Wednesday is market day for drugs. The dealers have probably received their coded messages telling them where to go to pick up their drugs this morning. Which leads me to the second reason. This is an excellent marketplace. They’ll have the dealers fly into the narrow alley between the turbines and the ridge. And as long as the ridge is well guarded, there’s no room for a surprise attack.”
Alisha watched as Colonel Sparkes considered this.
“It’s sound logic. But we ran a thermal scan just twenty minutes ago, and there were only the two guards.”
“You just picked up the decoys. The guards will be in ColdWear. You can’t pick them up with thermal scans.”
“There’s nothing showing on video, either,” Sparkes countered.
“At what altitude?”
“Three thousand—”
“That’s too far away. You don’t live long as a guard if someone can spot you at three thousand feet.”
“Well?” the general demanded, glaring at his strategist.
Sparkes sighed. “Logic is good. If they’re planning to sell, it would make sense to have more guards on the ridge.”
“Our intel says there’s not!” the general reminded him.
“I think we need to get a closer look,” Sparkes said.
“Goddamn it. Jeffries, get your camera boy up here!”
While they waited for the Ryder, Alisha spoke up. “Sir, I would like to volunteer to perform this surveillance.”
The look the general gave her could have frozen water into ice. “Are you a video specialist?”
“No
, sir. My skill is flying.”
“Well, that’s very nice, but right now I need a camera boy.”
“Beg your pardon, sir, but this surveillance will have to be done at low altitude, and it’s critical that the flyer not be seen.”
“Your point, soldier?”
“That requires specialized flying, sir.”
“No, Captain. It requires a damn miracle. Anyone I send for this mission will almost certainly be seen and killed.” He studied her for a moment. “You still want to volunteer?”
“Yes, sir. I believe I can perform this surveillance without being seen.”
“And how do you plan to do that?”
“I’ll come in from the north, sir. The guards will all be facing southeast. They won’t see me, even at low altitude.”
The general shook with fury. “Captain, there’s a reason why the guards are not expecting anyone to come out of the north. You can’t fly into a hundred-mile-per-hour headwind, and if you don’t know that simple fact, then I’m wondering what the hell you’re doing in the Corps at all!” The general stood. “Colonel Logan, in my office now!”
***
Logan followed the general and Colonel Sparkes to the makeshift tent that constituted the general’s “office”.
“Let me be clear about something. What you and that girl do in the privacy of your bedroom is none of my business, but you will keep her in line when she’s part of my briefing.”
Logan was going to object to the implication that he was sleeping with her, except he knew it was pointless. The general believed what he wanted to believe. “Had I thought my captain was out of line, I would have ordered her to stand down. I thought her comments on the probability of more guards than we can see quite compelling. And if she’s right, those comments will have saved you from a disastrous battle.”
“And I’m willing to take the effort to prove or disprove her theory, knowing that if she’s wrong, then tipping our hand first will likely result in more casualties. What I won’t tolerate is listening to a girl claim her skill is flying when she doesn’t even know you can’t fly into a headwind.”
“To be clear, she never said you could fly into a headwind. She only said she could.”
“What’s the difference? It’s still impossible! Did she even take the captain’s test?”
“She passed the ‘box in the tree’ test.”
“Then she obviously knows you can’t fly straight into a headwind!”
“Not with government-issued gear, but she can with her own equipment.” Logan was certain it would be easier to convince the general she had special equipment than to explain there’d never been a flyer close to her skill before.
The general paused at this and looked at Sparkes. “Well?”
Sparkes studied his palm pilot. “I sent off a query to MAC. It says she can do it. I would have said it was impossible, but both sources that have seen her fly believe she can fly into the wind. We should let her try. They’ll spot anyone we send. If she can pinpoint the guards without them knowing of her presence, it will allow us the advantage of surprise and significantly reduce our casualties.”
Logan had to force himself not to smile. The general was not happy with Sparkes’ advice.
“All right,” the general growled at Logan. “We’ll send out your girl. If she’s seen before she gets us decent video, then the misery you suffer from the loss of a bedmate will be immaterial compared to the misery I rain down on your head.”
Logan let himself smile now. “I’m willing to accept that risk, sir.”
Chapter 33
The moment the general left the main tent, Alisha went in search of Philly. She found him with the other camera geeks.
“Damn, girl, you’ve got balls of steel taking on a general like that!” he said.
“Great, but you’ve got to show me how to use a camera,” she whispered.
Philly choked. “You just demanded the general let you fly surveillance, and you don’t know how to take video?”
“No…and my guess is, you’ve got less than two minutes to teach me!”
Philly didn’t waste any more time questioning her sanity. He just gave her the basics of the camera.
“That seems doable…”
“Yeah. Recording is easy enough. It’s holding the camera still that takes practice. And you don’t have time to practice, so I’m going to tell you my trade secret, but you can never tell anyone else.”
“Captain Kane, upfront!” the general bellowed.
Alisha ignored the general until she’d acquired Philly’s trade secret.
“Kane!” he bellowed a second time just as she broke through the crowd of Ryders.
“Sorry, sir, I was acquiring a camera.”
“Sure of yourself, aren’t you, girl?”
“With my flying, yes, sir.”
“Well, you’ve got your chance. Don’t screw it up!”
Alisha noticed a change in the crowd as she headed to get her gear. Instead of her having to push her way through, the Ryders stepped back, giving her room to pass. A few even touched her on the arm and wished her a safe journey.
They think I’m going to my death.
She glanced at DC standing at the door, looking very happy.
I definitely have to prove them wrong.
***
Logan watched with both pride and concern as the Ryders made a path of honor for Alisha as she left the tent. She was the only one who could do this. And if she succeeded, she’d probably save half of their lives. If she died trying, then the Corps would have paid too high a price to win this battle. And he had no idea how he’d survive the loss.
Powell had been wrong on one point. No amount of misery the general could bestow would come close to the pain her death would cause Logan.
He was about to follow her out when the general snared his arm. “Who’s going to lead your squad now?”
Powell was already assuming her death. Logan resisted the temptation to knock him across the room. “Captain Kane will lead her squad.”
“Yes, we all hope for the best, but a good leader plans for the worst. May I suggest you reinstate DC?”
“You may suggest anything you like, but I can assure you DC will never lead a squad under my command again. If my captain returns too exhausted to command the bag-and-tag, I’ll lead the squad myself.”
“As you wish, but I think you’re allowing your feelings for the girl to affect your good judgment. DC is an excellent captain.”
“I’ll take your advice in consideration, sir,” Logan snapped, and excused himself from the man’s presence. He could see Alisha already on the landing area, checking her catcher, and she wasn’t alone.
He frowned as he recognized her company. Colonel Jack Sparkes, the youngest colonel in the Corps and, by popular opinion, the best-looking soldier in the fleet. In Logan’s opinion, Sparkes was too good looking, and his meteoritic advancement made him cocky and too sure of himself.
Such as his strategy for today. He was based in Capital. Shouldn’t he have known Wednesday was market day for drugs and thus security would increase? This battle would have been a massacre had Alisha not spoken up.
His jaw clenched with fury as he watched Sparkes kneel down close to Alisha, already working his mojo. The girl was headed into a life-and-death flight, and he was trying to seduce her.
He wanted to order Sparkes to stay the hell away from his captain, but he couldn’t. As strategist to the general, Sparkes outranked him.
***
Alisha focused on her gear until she realized someone towered over her. She looked up at Colonel Sparkes. It was hard to take such a handsome man seriously, even if he was a colonel.
“Can you really do it?” he asked.
“Do what? Fly into a headwind, or not be seen?”
“Both,” Sparkes replied, kneeling down beside her, staring intently with his baby-blues.
“I can definitely move into a headwind; whether you call it flying is another
matter. Can I do it without being seen? That depends on luck. I’m not invisible. If one of them decides to stretch his neck as I’m flying by on his right, he’ll see me as clear as day.”
“Will you be in gun range?”
“Oh yeah!”
“You aren’t carrying a weapon.”
“It’s my first day as captain.”
Her explanation upset Sparkes. She feared he planned to call it off. “I can do this,” she promised him.
After what seemed an endless pause, he pulled out his gun and handed it to her. “Just in case you have an opportunity to shoot first.”
“Thanks, but you’ll need it.”
“Not me.” He smiled. “I only plan battles. I don’t fight them.”
Alisha didn’t return his smile. Her colonel would never sit on the sidelines. He intended to be out there with his squad.
Her colonel…
He’s not your colonel, she reminded herself, and stepped into her harness, double-checking the Velcro grips on the camera.
“So how do you plan to do it?” Sparkes asked.
“I’m going to fly in from the north end of the ridge at a high altitude, then drop down to a thousand feet and descend across the back side of the ridge, hopefully above the guards. When I get too low on the ridge, I’ll re-engage my catcher and gain back altitude.”
“Wait…when did you disengage your catcher?”
“It’s how I drop. I collapse my catcher.”
“That doesn’t make any sense.”
Alisha sighed. “Look I don’t have time to explain it. Just watch me with your binoculars.”
Just as she was about to take off, she saw the colonel walking toward her. If she left now, she could still claim she hadn’t seen him. But if she left now, she might never know what he wanted to say. What if he wanted to apologize for his cruel words that morning, and she went to her death without knowing he regretted saying them?
She studied him as he came closer. He looked dark and foreboding. Was he angry with her for taking the mission? Did he even care?
“You’ve got your flight plan worked out?” he asked as he doubled-checked her harness gear.
Scavenger's Mission (The SkyRyders Book 1) Page 18
