“I think he’s reaching for his rifle, sir,” Alisha said, feeling sick to her stomach. “The camera is attached to his arm.”
The image of the launcher returned. It was aimed right at the camera. Alisha gulped as she stared down the muzzle of a concussion launcher.
“Shoot, damn it,” the general whispered.
Alisha knew if Philly didn’t shoot soon, that launcher would take out her whole squad. The video jerked when he pulled the trigger and jerked again as he fired a second shot. For a moment nothing happened. Then the guard slumped to the ground, and the launcher exploded.
The camera bounced about from the resulting air concussions, but it was still recording. That gave Alisha hope. Normally a concussion bomb would black out the cameras, so the explosion had not been full force. Still, the video was aimed straight down, and the catcher appeared to be drifting uncontrolled down the east side of the ridge. If Philly wasn’t dead, he was certainly unconscious.
***
Logan thought Philly had taken the shot in time, but then the air shuddered with vibrations. Accepting Philly was gone, Logan concentrated on his troops. Wave One seemed intact….as well as the second wave. That’s impossible, he thought. A concussion should have knocked them all unconscious. As the smoke cleared around the launcher, Logan finally understood what had happened. The bomb had exploded inside the launcher, dampening the effects. Unfortunately, not enough for Philly to survive. He could see the catcher, caught in the ridge’s down-draft, falling lifelessly to the rocks.
After taking a grim moment to acknowledge the loss, Logan refocused on the battle. Not only had Wave One been spared the concussion, but they’d managed to take out both heat-seekers on the west side, leaving Wave Two unchallenged as they systematically swept the valley with their own heat-seeking guns.
“One, get on out,” he ordered over the com. “Two, the battle is yours.”
As Logan watched from above, he felt bittersweet satisfaction. The battle had been won the moment Philly had taken out the launcher. He only hoped if there was a Heaven, Philly was watching from above and took pride in his sacrifice.
Before his second wave tired and succumbed to careless errors, Logan relieved them with the third wave, which had just arrived fresh and ready for battle.
There was little left for them to do but bag-and-tag, but there could be danger in that as well. He reminded them of the precautions they needed to take before approaching a body, the dangers of caves, and of men hiding beneath the sand.
***
“Video from Wave Two shows Wave One successfully cleared the concussion. I’m counting five, ten, fifteen, sir. They all made it.”
Alisha had never felt such relief in her life. They must have already moved to the other side of the ridge when the concussion had gone off.
“Permission to suit up and retrieve my crew member, sir,” Alisha requested.
“You’ve been grounded, Captain,” Jack replied.
“I’m not requesting to enter battle, sir. I’m requesting to engage in retrieval.”
“It’s the same thing.”
“It is not the same thing. Reg 4.0365 clearly states exceptions to qualifications can be made under the emergency procedures of retrieval.”
“Both of you, shut up and stay focused on the battle,” the general bellowed.
“Sir, Philly could be alive.”
“He damn well better be, or the camera’s grown legs,” the general snapped, then returned his focus to the main battle.
Alisha almost cried with joy as Philly turned the camera to his own face and mouthed the word, “Ouch.”
“Get under cover, Philly,” she whispered. “Don’t stay out in the open.”
For the longest time, he didn’t seem to move, but then slowly he made his way down to the bottom of the ridge.
“Yes, the cave,” she said as he turned left and stumbled north. He had only taken two steps into the cave when the camera jerked and someone else’s hand came momentarily into focus. Alisha recognized the ring on the hand…and orders or not, she had to get out there before something terrible happened.
The general and Jack were so mesmerized by the battle that they didn’t notice when she eased away. She ran as hard as she could to the equipment tent, retrieved her catcher, and harnessed up in record time on the grass, not even bothering to depart from the landing strip. Even as she snapped on the harness, she could see Jack running like the wind toward her.
She was already at a thousand feet by the time he reached her mark. She held her hand out in a gesture of apology, then let the wind carry her toward the ridge at full speed.
To avoid the battle, she stayed north at five thousand feet until she was past the ridge. She pulled out her slats and carefully attached them while holding her spot. Once she had secured them both, she collapsed her catcher and aimed at the center section of the East Ridge wall. As she got closer, she could make out the wall, then the cave. She had only seconds to decide if she would engage her catcher and land safely but still a thousand feet from her mark, or release the harness and ski straight into the cave. A momentary flicker of a laser rifle beading her sleeve made the decision for her. She released the harness and came down hard on the skis, barreling straight into the cave.
Chapter 42
Alisha’s landing was softer than she expected, but only to the pain of her friend.
“Damn it, Alisha. What the hell are you doing here?” Denny demanded.
“Are you all right?” She patted his chest.
“Oh, just dandy,” he replied. “In case you haven’t noticed, we’re in the middle of a fucking war. And if that’s not bad enough, I’ve got a half-dead Ryder on my hands.”
Her eyes finally adjusted to the dark. She saw Philly lying on the floor of the cave.
“You didn’t…”
“I didn’t do anything but drag him out of the opening,” Denny muttered. “Fat lot chance anyone will believe that. He was already bleeding from his ears—must have got caught in the concussion bomb. I thought it was going to bring down the whole cave.”
Alisha kneeled beside Philly and checked his pulse. She could barely detect one, and Denny was right—blood was leaking from Philly’s ears.
“Denny, what should I do for him?”
“Leave him alone. You don’t touch a Ryder. They can pull your fingerprints,” Denny explained as he hurried back and started wiping down Philly’s wrists.
“We have to help him.”
“You can’t. You can’t touch a Ryder! I know it seems cruel. But they’ll think you did this. And once they pull your prints, they’ll hunt you down to the ends of the Earth for retribution.”
“Denny, he’s a member of my squad. I’m a Ryder now.”
Denny buried his face in his hands. “This day just keeps getting worse.” He sighed. With resignation, he held out his wrists to be cuffed.
“I’m not arresting you. I know you didn’t hurt him. You were right. He got caught in the concussion. I watched it on the video strapped to his arm. I came the moment I saw your ring. I’m here for you as much as I am for Philly.”
“Then I can go?” he asked in surprise.
“You can, but I’m asking you to stay and help me. You’re the closest thing to a medic I’ve got.”
He grabbed his catcher and headed outside. She couldn’t really blame him if he left. He was a survivor first and foremost. If he hadn’t been, he would have been dead long before she met him. To her surprise, he stopped at the opening.
“Damn it!” he cursed, and came back to her. “When I get sent to Doakstown Prison Farm, I expect you to visit every week and bring me boxes of cigarettes.”
Alisha smiled in appreciation. “You don’t smoke.”
“I’ll need them for barter,” he replied as he pulled out a small flashlight and pried open Philly’s eyes. “He’s definitely got a concussion, but I didn’t need to look at him to tell you that.” He reached into his backpack and pulled out a thin plas
tic bag. He struck it against the cave wall several times, then handed it to Alisha. It felt as cold as ice. “We need to elevate his head, but with something soft—your boobs will do.”
“What?”
“Calm down, girl. If I can suffer imprisonment, you can at least let him lean on your nice soft chest. Just sit there and I’ll drag him to you.”
Alisha did as he instructed, and soon Philly was leaning against her with his head resting on her chest. Denny handed her the ice pack. “Keep moving this around his head. You want to limit the swelling going on beneath his thick skull.”
He then gripped Philly’s groin and squeezed. Philly instantly cursed.
“Stay awake, Ryder. You’ve got a prisoner to watch,” Denny ordered.
“You hit me,” Philly said, trying to touch his head.
“You see?” Denny complained.
“He didn’t hit you, Philly. You were hurt when you took out the concussion bomb.”
“Captain?” Philly muttered, and reached back. His hand landed directly on her right breast.
Alisha removed it. “It’s me, Philly,” she assured him.
“Captain?” Denny repeated, his voice becoming hard and cynical. “Question: How does a runaway from Flatland become a captain of the Ryders? Answer: She’s an undercover cop busting up crime from inside. Must have caused you a real quandary when one of your own murdered Betty…or did you even care about Betty?”
“How can you even say that?” she cried. “I loved Betty, and I love you and Mary Jean and Carol. You’re the first friends I ever had.”
“Cut the crap!” Denny yelled. “You don’t become a captain overnight. You can’t even test for captain until you’ve been in the service for five years.”
“She did,” Philly replied. “She’s our rabbit one day and our captain the next. MAC did it. Promoted her right up. The rumor is she broke the scale.”
Alisha didn’t think Philly had given a very coherent explanation, so she gave it a try herself. “Five nights ago, I crashed on the Cully river. Almost took a dunk. I landed on one side and my catcher on the other. And standing over my catcher was a colonel of the SkyRyders. He offered me food, a shower, and a bed for the night.”
“An offer you couldn’t refuse.” Denny sighed. “Were you hurt?”
Alisha knew what he was thinking. “He didn’t touch me. He’s a good man.”
“I don’t believe in good men, or fairy godmothers. He wanted something from you.”
“Well, you’re right. I didn’t know it then, but he wanted to recruit me. Philly had captured my pre-crash flying on film, and it had impressed the colonel. Unfortunately, I thought he planned to fine and jail me in the morning, so I snuck out before dawn.”
“Wise decision,” Denny assured her.
“Except he tracked me down through my grandfather’s flysuit and got Gramps all upset about my job and the fact I bought his medicine on the black market.”
“There’s a good man for you,” Denny noted with sarcasm.
“I was really angry with him, but then he offered me a shot at being a Ryder.”
“Did he know your last profession?” Denny asked in amazement.
“Yeah. He called me a ‘retrieval specialist’.”
Denny laughed.
“So yesterday I arrived at the MAC lab to take my basic flight exam. Only MAC didn’t give me the basic test. It gave me the captain’s test. And I passed it, and today was my first day as captain. So naturally, my squad got called into this battle, and I’ve spent the rest of the day trying to keep them from getting killed. Why are you here? You should have come and gone this morning!”
“Carol had her baby this morning.”
“She did? Is she all right?”
Denny didn’t reply.
“Denny?”
“There were problems. I had no choice but to call an ambulance.”
“Is she all right?”
“She’s alive, but the baby hadn’t been born yet, so they terminated the birth.”
“Oh God!” Alisha cried. “What’s going to happen to her now?”
“You know the law. She’s to be sterilized and imprisoned. She didn’t care about being sterilized, or even put in prison, but to be charged with murdering her own child when she had tried so hard to bring him to term—that nearly killed her.”
“Is it raining in here?” Philly asked, touching his head. “Or am I bleeding?”
“Neither,” Alisha replied, and rubbed his head dry of her tears.
Denny reached out and touched her arm. “I’m sorry about accusing you of being an undercover cop. It’s just hard to believe you could instantly turn into a captain of the Ryders.” He suddenly laughed. “Who would ever think that I’d be friends with a SkyRyder?” He paused and looked up at her. “Well, was a friend…”
Her hand wrapped around his. “Always a friend,” she assured him.
“Cool.” He smiled at her, then glanced at Philly. “He’s looking pretty good now. The battle sounds mostly over. Mind if I disappear? Mary Jean and Carol are going to die when I tell them what became of our sweet debutante.”
“Go on,” she said. “And thank you, Denny.”
He stood and grabbed his pack. “Glad everything is working out for you. You deserve to have a good life.”
Chapter 43
Logan rolled his neck and tried to relax his muscles a bit. It had been a while since he’d spent four hours airborne in a battle. Maybe he was too old for field work. Yet despite his fatigue, he was glad MAC had made him field commander. His presence had saved Ryders’ lives. He was absolutely certain the general would never have trusted Philly with the shot. He would’ve thrown the second wave at the launcher, but by the time they could have gotten within distance of it, the guard would have launched the concussion bomb, probably killing most of the first and second squad and giving the west bank warning of their attack.
He saw a Ryder at high altitude coming toward him. Probably one of the general’s lackeys sending a message to stop dawdling and wrap it up. The general never had the patience for a good bag-and-tag. To him, it was nothing more than cleanup. Yet they now had fourteen prisoners who would have escaped capture under the general’s methodology.
As the Ryder approached, Logan groaned. It was worse than a lackey. It was Sparkes.
“Colonel, have you seen Alisha?”
Logan’s temper rose. “She was supposed to be with you and the general.” Can’t they even do one goddamn thing?
“She ran out when the concussion launcher knocked out Philly. She asked the general for permission to initiate a search and rescue. Powell told her no, but she headed out this way.”
“Goddamn it,” Logan cursed. “Take over here, Sparkes, and don’t let them quit until they’ve sonared every inch of that farm. They’re two-thirds done. It shouldn’t take more than another hour.”
Without giving Sparkes a chance to argue, Logan swept left and headed toward the ridge. If Alisha intended to rescue Philly, she’d have headed straight for the east side. Probably flew in on the north side and soared in on her slats. He studied the land far beneath him. Her catcher lay on the desert floor about two hundred yards from the ridge. He couldn’t see any tracks, but the wind would have removed them within seconds. Neither did he see Philly’s body anywhere. He hoped she was all right. Some of the men were shooting everything on the ground that moved.
When Logan spotted the cave at the base of the ridge, he landed his catcher, secured it, and entered the cave with his gun drawn. He had just moved to the edge when a young boy tried to run past him. In one fluid motion, Logan had him down and cuffed. Yanking him to his feet, he used the boy as a shield as he moved farther into the cave.
When he spotted Alisha with Philly leaning across her chest, he felt a surge of relief. She looked unharmed, and incredibly, Philly looked to be alive.
“Didn’t get very far,” the young boy said to Alisha.
Logan shoved the boy to the ground whi
le he assessed the cave for other dangers. “Alisha, are you all right?” he asked as he searched the crevices.
“We’re the only ones here, Colonel.”
Having secured the cave, he turned his attention to Philly. He couldn’t believe his crewman was alive. Logan handed Alisha his gun. “Keep it on the prisoner while I check out Philly,” he instructed as he shined a light into the boy’s eyes. He was amazed Philly was conscious.
All during the exam, Alisha chattered about something with great intensity. He didn’t really focus until she said, “I need you to uncuff him and let him go.”
Let who go? Logan wondered. And why isn’t she holding the gun on the prisoner as I told her? Then it clicked, and he finally understood the reason she’d adamantly fought to allow the black marketers to walk that morning. This dealer was her friend; the one who sold her the medicine for her grandfather. She’d been trying to save him.
And now she expects me to let the kid go. Well, let’s play by her own rules of right and wrong, he decided. She claims the boy only sells legal drugs. Let’s just see. Logan walked over to the boy and grabbed his backpack.
“Colonel, please…”
“No, Alisha, we’re going to play this by your rules. If he earns the right to be arrested, he’ll be arrested. Philly, did this man at any time hurt you or threaten to hurt you?” Assaulting a Ryder, even if simply trying to escape, was twenty years in prison.
“Uh…no sir,” Philly replied. “Actually, he was very kind. Got me a nice soft headrest,” Philly joked, alluding to Alisha’s chest.
“I get the picture, Philly,” Logan said. The dealer had not assaulted his Ryder; in fact, it appeared he had stayed and helped. Additionally, the drugs in his pack were all legal drugs for arthritis, diabetes, and blood pressure. The fact that poor people couldn’t get them through normal channels was a greater crime on the part of the government than the dealers who filled their desperate need.
He closed the pack and tossed it in front of the boy. Reaching down, he lifted Denny off the floor and uncuffed him. He turned his back on the boy while he focused on Philly. If the kid had any sense, he’d run without being told. A second later, Logan heard the scatter of rocks as the kid hightailed it out of the cave. He’d still have to avoid capture by the bag-and-tag team, but if he stayed on this side of the ridge, he stood a good chance of escape.
Scavenger's Mission (The SkyRyders Book 1) Page 24
