Scavenger Falters (The SkyRyders Book 2)

by Liza O'Connor

  Logan could tell the general had finished talking and now expected him to say something. What could he say? He certainly wasn’t going to try to convince Powell he wasn’t gender-biased. “We never stop learning, sir,” he finally offered.

  Evidently, the general liked his reply, for the big bear paw slammed down on his shoulder affectionately. “Damn right!”

  Chapter 5

  Even with Jack’s calming presence and the knowledge that sometime in this cruel game of torture, the general was going to promote her, Alisha thought this debriefing the worst two hours of her life.

  It seemed as if nothing she did pleased him. “Why did you do that? Why did you think that? Did you consider doing this instead? Do you think that was really the best choice?”

  He especially grilled her on the dunk in the Cully River. “Why did you still have the explosive bag with you? How many bombs were left?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “You don’t know! You have to know!”

  “I’m sorry, sir, I don’t know.”

  Jack intervened. “Alisha, do you remember how many you first had?”

  “Twenty-two.” She understood why he asked. “I used ten on the launchers, three on the tank and three in the tent: so I had six in the bag.”

  Powell nodded at Jack in appreciation and then continued his grilling. “How deep had you gone under? How long had you remained under? Where had you first come up? When did you start toward the shore? Why did you chose the west bank? Did you see the presence of meat-eaters? How long had it taken you to swim to shore?”

  Even when she got on the shore, the general was not satisfied. He wanted to know everything she’d done or seen during her unaccounted four hours. Then he grilled her on exactly how the ground crew had found her and what had happened. Alisha was exhausted, but she tried to stay alert now, because the sergeant’s career could hang on her answers. The general seemed pleased that he’d kept the guns on her until he had verified her story. He was not as happy that she’d been neither handcuffed nor gagged as they waited.

  When Powell finally stopped the torture, he began a rather lengthy lecture about the attributes of a good soldier, none of which Alisha seemed to have. He especially dwelled on her past disobedience of an order and the ramifications it had had on other fine officers.

  The way he said it, “Other fine officers,” made her afraid that he knew she had talked Colonel Logan into letting her friend Denny escape arrest during the Ridge battle.

  At this point, she was thoroughly convinced Jack had misunderstood. General Powell wasn’t going to promote her. He intended to boot her from the Corps. The thought of leaving broke her heart. She loved everything about the Corps. It gave meaning to her life.

  “General, I know I’ve screwed up. And I know I’ve harmed others in the process. But I swear to you, I will learn those regs and never cause so much as a peep of trouble again. Please don’t boot me. If you’ll just give me another chance, I will do better.”

  She stopped talking because both Jack and the general stared at her in amused amazement. “Did I say something funny?”

  “Alisha, do you think I am displeased with you?” Powell asked.

  “For the last two hours, sir, we’ve discussed so many of my screw-ups that I fail to see how you wouldn’t be.”

  The general gave Jack a look as if he hadn’t a clue to what Alisha referred.

  Jack tried to repress a smile as he replied to the general, “I believe, sir, that the Captain has mistaken your debriefing for a dressing down.”

  “Did you think I was unhappy with your performance in battle?” Powell asked.

  “Well, maybe not overall, but in specifics, you seemed to hate everything I did.”

  The general shook his head. Finally, he spoke to Jack. “I trust you will explain the purpose and process of debriefings so she doesn’t start crying after every one of them?”

  “I’m not crying, sir,” Alisha objected.

  “Well, you look damned close to it!” he complained. “Is this going to happen regularly now that I have women in my troops?”

  “Won’t be that big of a change, sir—you’ve been making your troops cry since the beginning of time,” Jack assured him.

  “I suppose you’re going to claim I’ve made you cry as well?”

  “Many times. In fact, you’ve made all your colonels cry, except for Logan. I’ve always figured that was why you didn’t like him, because he’s too much for even you to break.”

  “You don’t like Colonel Logan?” Alisha asked in outrage.

  “I like him fine,” the general protested and gave Jack a severe glare. “There was a time I may have misjudged him, but now I’m thinking he’s the best colonel I’ve got on my staff!”

  “I think you’re right, sir. At least, until today,” Jack said pointedly.

  The general seemed to catch the point and retrieved a case from his desk. “Captain…Alisha,” he corrected himself as he allowed his voice to mellow. “A moment ago, you said that you needed the Corps. Well, that’s good, because the Corps needs you. In fact, it needs all its flyers to have your skills. So it is with great pleasure that I promote you to the rank of Colonel in charge of Advanced Flight Training for the SkyRyders Corps.”

  Alisha didn’t have to pretend to be surprised—she was stunned speechless.

  “Pin this on her, Jack, my fingers are too clumsy.” General Powell stood back so that Jack could pin the colonel wings on the lapel of her flight suit.

  “General, did MAC approve this?” Alisha asked.

  “Of course, MAC approved it!” the general roared. “Do you think I’d break regulations and not get MAC’s approval?”

  Alisha grimaced. Now she understood the difference between the general just being his difficult self and the general being pissed. “Sorry sir, I just wanted to make sure I wasn’t luring another fine officer into breaking a regulation for me.”

  Jack stepped away so the general wouldn’t see or hear the laughter he was fighting to control.

  General Powell noticed, but evidently decided to ignore it. Wagging his finger first at Jack and then her, he growled, “I can see that between the two of you, my life is never going to be peaceful again, but if that’s the price I have to pay, so be it. I expect great things from both of you, and you best not disappoint me!”

  ***

  With his hand pressed gently on the back of Alisha’s neck, Jack led her to their quarters. The moment they were alone in their room, he turned her so she faced him.

  “Tell me the truth. Are you really that good of an actress, or did you forget that you were going to be made a colonel?”

  “Well after that debriefing and then harping on every mistake I’ve made in my short time in the Corps, I thought he had changed his mind or you had misunderstood him.” Alisha laughed. “But you hadn’t told me that I’d be in charge of training for the whole Corps!” Suddenly the words sank in, and she realized this job was beyond her abilities. “Jack, what if I can’t do it? I don’t know what I’m expected to do.”

  “Teach all our flyers how to fly better,” Jack explained.

  “All at once?” she asked in a panic.

  Jack pulled her into his arms. “No. In whatever size you deem appropriate. But we had better figure it out in the next three hours, because the general has a dinner planned tonight to celebrate your promotion and introduce you to the other West Coast officers.”

  “That doesn’t sound fun.”

  “It’ll be interesting to see how they react. They were awful to me during my dinner. Very pointed in their observations that I hadn’t the experience or age to be a good colonel. It was hard. At that time, I didn’t have a single friend in the world. Even the general thought I’d been promoted too soon. His only consolation was that, as strategic officer, I was easy to contain. He didn’t have to place any squads under my command, and he wasn’t required to use my plans. He was only required to let me draw them up.”

 
Alisha reached up and stroked Jack’s handsome face. “I can’t imagine you being without friends. You are the kindest, nicest person I’ve ever met. And you’ve a wonderful sense of humor.”

  “Those qualities only annoyed the general,” Jack admitted. “But enough of that. Your bed is closest to the lavatory. You’ll find a size-two dress uniform in the closet, and two combat fatigues. Shoes are buffed and polished in the trunk, along with personal items befitting a female officer.”

  “How did you know my size?”

  “I didn’t. Had I ordered your clothes I would have guessed a size zero—you’re so tiny, but fortunately, between MAC and Gunny, things get done correctly. Now we’d best start working on your training plans for tomorrow. The general wants all resident Ryders to have passed or failed all eight maneuvers you and Logan had devised within the next two weeks. That’s three hundred and ninety-two of them.”

  “Jack, that’s not even possible!” Alisha objected.

  “Well, it better be possible, because by the end of the month MAC wants trained personnel in every major city in the country.”

  “I might as well resign my post now,” Alisha admitted, “Because I don’t see how I can do that.”

  “Lucky for you, your roommate is a logistics expert,” Jack said and sat down at the table and pulled out a notepad. “The general said they had to be tested, not that they had to pass, so what’s the most you can safely teach at one time?”

  “It depends on their level.”

  “Assume they are as good as the ones you taught in an hour. And remember, this time there’s no need to convince them. There’s not a flyer in this fort that isn’t dying to learn these new maneuvers.”

  “Yeah, well that’s what’s got me worried. I don’t want them dying, and that could easily happen when we get to Maneuver Three and beyond.”

  “Then we’ll start with the vertical lift. How many can you teach at a time?”

  “That’s pretty safe. Fifty?”

  “Okay, we’ll run fifty through, dropping out the ones who don’t pick it up first time.”

  “No, that’s inefficient. Since they’re suited, make it three runs and score them on accuracy. Top thirty move on, the bottom twenty get one more try before going to the back of the queue.”

  “Now you’re getting the hang of it. And you can handle thirty when teaching the descent?”

  “Yes, but Maneuver Three is where we come to a problem because it requires a skill entirely alien to a normal Ryder: control and comfort with falling out of the sky.”

  “Yeah, well I can’t say I’m looking forward to that, myself. You believe a vertical wind tunnel will help ease that discomfort?”

  “It’s the major difference between my training and the Corps. I spent my teen years in Flatland where the only wind was in the tunnel. I grew very comfortable with controlling my movements in the air before I ever donned my first wind-catcher.”

  “Well, we should have the first of three wind tunnels arriving tomorrow. By the time you are ready to move your first class onto Maneuver Three training, we’ll have a wind tunnel.”

  “MAC didn’t buy a new machine, did it?”

  “It bought exactly what you advised,” Jack assured her. “So how many can you train in the tunnels?”

  “Only one at a time, or they’ll be banging in to each other. But I can process them through pretty quickly. In an hour, six, but they need air time to practice.”

  “Which is why MAC ordered three,” Jack explained. “So of the thirty passing Man Two, only six can be moved on? How about we make it two hours and process twelve?”

  “Make it fifteen. Top half moves on, bottom half recycles Man Two.” Alisha sighed. “This isn’t going to work. Everybody will be hanging in queue along the way and they’ll forget what they already learned.”

  “Then we’ll put them to work training other cadets on what they’ve successfully learned. Now back to the twelve. How many can you teach Man Three?”

  “One,” she stated.

  “Alisha…”

  “Two if Colonel Logan is the first one I teach,” she amended and explained the reason. “I can teach the concepts to as many as there are in queue, but only the top tunnel jockey should be allowed in the sky. I’m serious, Jack. If someone panics in the air, they’ll not only kill themselves, but they’ll take me as well.”

  “One!” Jack said, clearly not wanting Alisha to die.

  “Two—don’t forget Logan,” she reminded him.

  “We colonels aren’t scheduled for training until after the whole troop gets their shot.”

  “Well, I need Colonel Logan,” Alisha insisted.

  She could tell by Jack’s silence that he didn’t think she’d be getting the colonel. Stupid rule: not letting the colonels train with the troops.

  With unrelenting exactness, Jack continued forward with each maneuver until they had completed the list. If all went well, the most they would graduate during the first two weeks would be twenty-five, even if Alisha spent six hours a day in training.

  “We need fifty,” Jack sighed. “Are you sure we can’t use trained flyers to teach the skills for Maneuvers Three to Eight?”

  “If the flyer is Colonel Logan, then yes,” Alisha replied. “There’s no one else I trust, Jack.”

  “Alisha, you don’t even know if Logan will be able to learn this, even if he’s given the opportunity.”

  “If Logan can’t learn it, then I’ve failed as a teacher.”

  Jack sighed. “All right, I’ll talk to the general. But you know, Logan is not going to appreciate this.”

  “Why?”

  “No colonel in his right mind will want to be tested with the troops. Even if he manages to pass each hurdle on the first try—a big if, I might add—there will still be flyers ranked above him. And if he fails, he’ll completely lose face with the soldiers. Trust me, Alisha. You’ll be better off not telling him this was your idea.”

  Chapter 6

  Just stay focused, Logan told himself. After his discussion with the general on his opportunities for his next assignment, he knew there were things far more important than Alisha’s budding relationship with Jack. Yet he still felt anger burn within him when the general told him they were to be quartered together.

  “But don’t worry, I’ll have them running so hard, that they won’t have time to let temptation take seed.”

  Logan knew from personal experience that it didn’t take much temptation with Alisha.

  “Logan, stop fretting over the girl like a mother hen!” the general commanded. “She’s my problem now. I’ll take good care of her, I promise you.”

  “I can quarter with Drake,” Logan suggested.

  “Now I know there are no limits you will not go to protect that girl!” the general laughed. “Logan, we’re going to be doubled up here for the foreseeable future. So either she’s going to share quarters with one fellow after another, or she can share quarters with a colonel she both likes and trusts. I know which of those alternatives I’ll prefer.”

  Logan sighed and changed the topic. The general wasn’t going to budge on the rooms, but maybe he’d throw Logan a bone in exchange.

  “Sir, I’d like to train with the first squad,” Logan said.

  “Why the hell would you put yourself in that position?”

  “For two reasons. First, I’ll be trained faster, and second, I believe the training will be more rigorous.”

  “Damned right it will be more rigorous, which is exactly why you aren’t going to do it. If you fail just one test, it will destroy your credibility as a leader.”

  “Then I’ll make sure I don’t fail,” Logan assured him.

  “Logan, you’re a middle-aged man. How in the hell do you think an old dog like you is going to learn these maneuvers at the same speed as a bunch of kids? You’ll have a lifetime of habits to break.”

  “Then I’ll break them. This isn’t a time for clinging to history. We’re in the middle of a new war
and being a good flyer is no longer going to do the trick. That was proven at the Broadtown battle.”

  “I appreciate your eagerness and courage, Logan, but you will train with the other colonels.”

  Powell moved on to the new information concerning the Czech drug cartel. The resounding defeat had not taught the cartel to fear the Corps as they had hoped. Instead, it had only escalated attacks across the country. Fortunately, due to the red alert the entire Corps was under, the Cartel did not have the opportunity to repeat a surprise attack like they had mounted at Broadtown and Doakstown, but all across the country there were serious excursions with significant casualties.

  In the last twenty-four hours, seventeen major battles had occurred and sixty-four Ryders were dead. While that wasn’t a bad ratio for seventeen engagements, Logan knew if they kept losing Ryders at a rate of sixty-four every day, the Corps would soon be in trouble. He almost asked again to train with the troops, but General Powell had already made his decision. Asking again would only piss him off.

  Once they finished reviewing the new intel, it was time for Alisha’s celebration party.

  “I’m surprised you didn’t have Jack sitting in on this meeting as well, sir,” Logan said as they walked down the hall to the officers’ commons.

  “I had expected him, but he must still be helping Alisha lay out her training sessions.”

  Logan hoped that was the only type of laying going on.

  When they entered the commons, all the invited colonels were present except for Jack and Alisha. Logan spied Riley and eased away from the general to greet his friend.

  Riley shook his head and laughed. “From rabbit to colonel in two days! I remember you telling me the girl could fly, but be honest, not even you could have seen this swift a move.”

  “No. She’d still be a cadet with a basic flying license on my timetable,” Logan admitted. “But, Riley, if you could have seen how she took out their entire attack and defense lines, plus the command center in one absolutely impossible maneuver. There’s no question she deserves the promotion.”

  “But is she hardened enough to be a colonel, to make life-and-death decisions?”