***
Logan stepped outside the cave to order a medevac unit. He could see a small speck on the northern horizon. Looks like the kid made it.
Logan sighed. He didn’t feel good about letting the kid go. Black marketing drugs was a crime. It wasn’t his place to pick and choose which laws needed to be enforced. He shouldn’t have done it. Only Alisha had asked him to, and without a second thought he’d thrown aside his code of ethics and reacted like some lovesick pup in heat.
Anger filled him. He’d been having a great day until Sparkes had showed up and told him Alisha had gone AWOL. All his problems seemed to center around their night of making love. She wouldn’t have dared disobey his order if he’d kept her at a professional distance. She would never have asked him to let a criminal go, and he certainly would never have done such a thing.
The medics arrived, and he led them to Philly. He helped them move his Ryder to their stretcher.
“I’m proud of you, Philly. You served the Corps well today,” he assured his cameraman.
As soon as the medics had taken him away, Logan turned back to Alisha. She looked so young and overwhelmed. He had no right to be angry with her. He was the one who’d crossed the line and begun this cycle of mistakes.
“And you…” He sighed. “I don’t know what to do with you. You were clearly grounded,” he said, kneeling beside her.
“You grounded me for battle. I didn’t engage in battle. I was here solely to rescue and retrieve.”
“Elevating his head and reducing the swelling with a cold pack probably saved his life,” the colonel admitted, then met her gaze. “Still, I can’t have my captain disobeying orders every time she feels the need.”
“You’re right, sir. And whatever punishment you decide on, I will accept it as just and fair.”
“Do I have your word on that?”
“On my honor as a Ryder, sir.”
“Then here it is. Going forward, you will obey my commands to the letter and never again disobey a direct order. You will not address me in a personal manner. You will make no personal advances, suggestions, innuendos, or behave in any way that might be construed as sexual enticements. Our relationship will remain solely on a professional basis: no friendship and absolutely no form of sexual entanglement. Likewise, you will not engage in any form of sexual activity with Jack Sparkes. And last but not least, you will never again ask me to put my career on the line to save one of your street friends from arrest.”
Chapter 44
The bag-and-tag finished just as Logan crossed the ridge. Sparkes spotted him at once. “You couldn’t find her?” His voice held concern.
“She’s fine. She just needs a little time alone to digest the consequences of her actions.”
Sparkes looked as if he wanted to know the consequences too, but had the good sense not to ask. Just as well. Logan would have told him it was none of his damn business.
“We need to finish here. The general hates having his post-assessment delayed,” Jack said.
“Well, maybe he’ll be less annoyed when he realizes the bag resulted in fourteen additional dealers due to thorough searching,” Logan snapped and gave Washington, whom he had put in charge of the bag-and-tag operation, the sign to wrap it up and return to base.
“Are we waiting for Alisha?” Sparkes asked.
“I think she’s proven she knows her way to and from the base, Sparkes. If the general is so goddamn antsy to start his assessment, then let’s not keep him waiting.” Logan set off for the base.
He worried Sparkes might decide to go in search of Alisha. If he tried, Logan would intervene. He wanted Alisha to have time to allow his words to sink in. He also didn’t want Sparkes offering her comfort.
The area was cleared of dealers. She would be fine on her own. He had left a comm unit with her catcher, so if she had a problem, she could always radio for help.
The truth was, he wanted her to stay in the cave a little longer and completely come to terms with and accept his new rules before he saw her again. If he went the rest of his life before ever again seeing the pain and loss her face had betrayed as he’d detailed her punishment, it would be a day too soon.
Sparkes evidently realized he was in no mood to talk, for the colonel didn’t say another word their entire way back to the base. They landed in unison, although technically Sparkes had the right to land first. Logan really didn’t care. He was tired to the bone and had no intention of waiting for Sparkes, who had been in the air less than thirty minutes, to take his sweet-ass time landing.
Powell stood at the edge of the landing field. He did not look pleased.
Well, join the club, Logan thought as he folded his catcher, noting Sparkes had left his catcher for Gunny to fold. Fool. Letting someone else take care of your equipment will eventually get you killed.
“Where’s your girl, Logan?” the general demanded. Logan wasn’t certain whether General Powell was concerned over her welfare or pissed that she wasn’t there so he could have her court-marshaled for disobeying an order.
“Bringing up the rear, sir,” Logan replied. “I felt she needed some time alone to think about the seriousness of her actions.”
“I spoke with the head medic. He says your cameraman would have died without the immediate first aid she provided.”
“I’m glad Philly’s alive, but there must still be ramifications for disobeying an order.”
As the three men made their way to the general’s tent, Powell pursued the matter further. “May I ask what punishment she received?”
“The nature of her punishment is not open for discussion. However, I’ll say I don’t expect a repeat of today’s events.”
“She was under my command today, Colonel! I have a right to know her punishment.”
“No, sir, you do not. You are within your rights to issue your own punishment, but how I’ve chosen to deal with my captain is my business.”
Logan could tell he’d pissed Powell off with his reply, but he really didn’t care. Nothing would make him tell what their agreement had been.
When they entered the tent, everything stood ready for their review. The technician stepped aside for Sparkes. Once Sparkes was satisfied the equipment was ready to go, he dismissed the tech. Powell preferred his combat post-mortems kept completely private. The only reason why Logan was participating was because MAC had made him the field commander.
The first thing they watched was Philly acting up with the camera.
“Damn it, Sanders!” Sparkes whispered, and forwarded the film.
“I knew he was a cut-up—could tell it from his eyes when I sized him up on the line.”
“He’s a good videographer and cool under fire,” Logan said, coming to Philly’s defense.
“I almost pulled him,” the general admitted, “but the two of you were so adamant he was the man for the job.” Powell watched the film. “And you were both right. Damn fine cameraman!”
“He’s always shown an excellent sense of what I wanted to see,” Logan admitted. “Without a word from me.”
“Look how he locates the hidden carts under the sand and zeroes in on them!” the general said as he wrote furiously on his pad. “And all the while performing a vertical drop.”
Sparkes froze the video seconds before Wave One fired on the targets. When the general stopped writing and looked up, he proceeded.
“Now let’s see what the hell happened here,” growled the general. “Who was assigned target six?”
“One of mine, sir,” Sparkes replied. “Mason Downing, sergeant major.”
Sparkes froze the wide shot Philly had provided directly after they fired and framed target six, then zoomed in until they had a close-up of the back of the guard.
“I’ll be damned!” the general said. “He didn’t miss. It was just an unlucky hit.”
Logan moved forward and stared at the screen. The general was right. Mason Downing had shot his target in the center of his back. Unfortunately, the guard
wore a comm unit, which now sported an ugly black hole in it.
“That explains why he didn’t alert the west side to the attack,” the general said. “I found it hard to believe he wouldn’t have the sense to raise the alarm if he had the presence of mind to turn the launcher.”
Logan gritted his teeth. Jesus, the man even critiques the enemy’s soldiers in his reviews!
Sparkes ran the video forward, stopping it at each target so that Powell could assess the effectiveness of each shot. He pointed to the heat-seeker, target nine. “Weren’t there two marksmen on this target?”
“Ollie and Tucker,” Logan replied.
“Then why do I see only one hole?”
Logan knew where this was going. Tucker was Jack’s flyer. If there was only one shot, he’d get the credit, and Ollie would be written up.
“I think they might have hit the same spot, sir,” Sparkes said as he played the video back several times.
“You’re stretching to make them all heroes, Jack. I’m not buying it. I’ve got two shooters and only one hole. Somebody screwed up.”
Sparkes moved the video back to the wide shot taken right before they fired. “They both have their target sighted. You can see two beads.”
“I only see one bead,” the general objected.
Sparkes framed the area and zoomed in. It clearly showed two beads, only a fraction of an inch apart.
“You’ve got the eyes of an eagle.” Powell laughed. “Okay, Jack. You win. We’ll call it two shots.” He wrote quickly as Jack forwarded to the next shot.
At this rate, they’d be here for hours, Logan realized. How the hell would he stay awake through this anal-retentive analysis of every movement in a three-hour battle?
Chapter 45
Alisha remained in the cave, shell-shocked by the realization of what she’d lost today. She’d taken advantage of the colonel’s feelings for her. She’d disobeyed his order, certain he would understand and forgive her. She’d pleaded for Denny’s release, certain he would do it if she asked, and he had, but with a cost to his own integrity, and now she would pay a terrible price as well.
Dusk had settled when she finally stopped crying and left the cave. She found her catcher carefully packed just inside the entrance. Logan might be angry as hell with her, but he remained a kind man.
She returned to the staging camp and landed near the officers’ gear tent. Music pulsated from the mess tent, assuring her the celebration party was in full force. She checked in with Gunny. He handed her the log sheet and asked her to sign in across from her sign-out.
Alisha stared at the sheet in confusion. While the signature resembled hers, she knew she hadn’t written it. “Gunny, do you know who signed me out?”
“That would be you, sir,” he assured her. “Reg 14.69.2 forbids anyone other than the flyer to sign out. I do believe Colonel Sparkes asked to see you when you returned,” he added with a smile.
“Was it an order?”
“Not that I could tell, sir.”
Alisha sighed and picked up the log and signed herself in. “Then I’ll talk to him some other time. I’m too tired to party.”
“You can’t leave, sir. The troops are expecting you. There were no casualties today—not one—and everyone here knows why. They’d be mighty disappointed if you didn’t at least have one beer with them.”
“I can’t do it, Gunny.”
“Sir, they aren’t asking you to fly in a headwind or teach a squad to do impossible maneuvers in a single hour. All they’re asking is for you to have a beer with them. I know you must be tired, but this is important to the men, sir.”
She just wanted to sleep away her misery. “Gunny, I’m exhausted, down-to-my-bones tired. I just want to go to bed.”
“Well, sir, then you might as well go to the party, because it’s my duty to deny you takeoff. By your own admission, you are clearly unfit to fly. I’ll see a tent is set up for you in the officers’ section. It’ll be ready in about an hour. In the meantime, may I suggest you step in and have a beer with the troops, sir?”
Alisha couldn’t believe how deftly he had outmaneuvered her. “Are you always this Machiavellian, Gunny?”
“Me, sir? Harmless as a kitten. Have a beer then get some sleep. In the morning, you’ll see old Gunny was just looking after you when you were too tired to think straight.”
Chapter 46
“We aren’t keeping you awake, are we, Logan?” the general barked.
“Sorry, sir,” Logan said as he pulled himself from sleep and refocused on the video.
“I asked why you didn’t send Wave Two to take out the launcher instead of leaving it to your videographer?”
“Three reasons, sir. First, Philly was right above the target within immediate firing range. Second, I knew he could make the shot while performing this maneuver. He’s as steady as a rock. Third, if I’d used Wave Two to take out the launcher, we would have lost the element of surprise in attacking the west side.”
“True, but if your boy had frozen under pressure and missed the shot, you would have lost at least twenty men in the concussion blast and lost the element of surprise, and we would still have had a concussion launcher to take out.”
“Did you consider using Wave One?” Sparkes asked. “They were still on the ridge.”
Logan didn’t appreciate being double-teamed.
“Wave One was too low and past the target. I felt they would be more effective if they continued their original plan. Eliminating the heat-seekers on the west side would have been vital if this battle turned ugly.” Logan grew tired of defending his decision. “It was a risk, I’ll grant you. But not as risky as you evidently think. I know Philly. He’s cool under fire. I was confident he would hit his target.”
“Bold decision, Colonel,” the general noted. “You risked the lives of twenty men or more to gain an advantage on the field.”
Logan threw his hands up. “If you have an issue with the decision I made, sir, then write me up, open an investigation, whatever you like. However, do not expect me to apologize. I felt it was the right decision then, and I believe it proved to be the right decision in retrospect.”
“At ease, Colonel!” the general bellowed. When Logan settled down, the man continued. “I wasn’t complaining about your actions. I was complimenting you.”
Logan was momentarily stupefied by his remark, but he was too damn tired to let Powel off the hook so easily. “Well, sir, if you gave a compliment in the last five minutes, you disguised it very well.”
Sparkes burst into laughter.
Both the general and Logan turned and looked at him as if he had lost his mind.
“I’m sorry, but Logan’s right, sir. That was a piss-poor excuse for a compliment.”
Has he gone insane? Logan wondered. Why would Sparkes invite Powell’s wrath on himself?
The general huffed. “Then let me be perfectly clear. I’ll admit I didn’t want you as field commander. In fact, I was pissed as hell when MAC forced me to bring you into this maneuver at all. And while I still stand by my belief that the damn computer is allowed to meddle far too much in the business of the Corps, in this case, I have to admit it was right. Your squad turned out to be far better than I had ever imagined, and your new captain, whom I was incorrectly led to believe was nothing more than some fluff in your bed, is the most extraordinary talent I’ve ever seen.”
“And the colonel himself, sir?” Sparkes prompted, letting the general know he still hadn’t actually given a compliment.
“I’ll get to his performance today,” the general snapped. “I first wanted to discuss your squad, because they reflect upon you. Well, maybe not the girl—she’s been with you for only a day, but already you have her complete loyalty and admiration. And let’s be frank, you found and recruited her. You put your neck out asking for an exemption to the pre-test requirements. You took risks, just like I saw on the battlefield today.”
The general stood and paced the small space of the t
ent. “I’ve always considered you softhearted and weak. I believed you had contaminated your squad with the same rot. I’d get emails from DC on a weekly basis about how you coddled them and undermined his discipline. It made me sick to my stomach to have you under my command.”
Sparkes groaned and buried his head in his hands.
“I’m getting to my point, Jack. I just need Logan to understand exactly how much my view has changed.” The general turned back to Logan. “Logan, you performed today as well as any field commander could have performed. Every action perfectly done. Do you understand me? I don’t have a single complaint with any decision you made through the entire day, including the extra time you took to bag-and-tag. That extra effort lost us no men and gained us fourteen prisoners to interrogate for good intel on future raids.”
“Finally!” Jack said.
“I’m not done yet!” the general snapped. “And one more word out of you and I’ll strip you down to a buck private.” He turned back to Logan. “Beyond my highest commendations for your performance today, I owe you an apology. I have unfairly judged you for several years now. You’re an excellent colonel and a better judge of people than I appear to be.”
Just then, a roar of cheering came from the mess tent.
Powell smiled. “Sounds like your girl just arrived.”
Chapter 47
To make certain Alisha didn’t lose her way, Gunny personally escorted her to the party. She hadn’t stepped a foot in the door before a deafening roar erupted from the troops. So much positive energy bearing down on her felt like a salve to her raw, injured heart. Gunny had spoken the truth. She would be thanking him in the morning.
Never in her entire life had she experienced anything like this. She’d risked her life to save theirs, but she’d never expected them to understand that. She’d certainly never expected gratitude.
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