Scavenger Falters (The SkyRyders Book 2)

by Liza O'Connor

  When he reached for the bread a few minutes later, he was stunned to find her and Jack gone. He would have liked to followed them but the general would never allow his pet dog off the leash and bringing their absence to the general’s attention would only get Jack and Alisha in trouble.

  He had hoped to get a chance to put some muscle relaxant on his shoulder before his training began, but Powell held to his leash until it was time to leave. He was the last to arrive at the wind tunnels that somehow MAC had found the money to purchase. He gave Alisha an apologetic grin. He was relieved when she returned his smile. Whatever had upset her at lunch seemed to have passed now.

  “Colonel, you’ll find your suit over there. If you don’t mind, since Tucker is dressed and ready, I’m going to send him in first.”

  “I’m late, put me at the back of the line,” he insisted. Actually, he preferred the back. This way he could watch and learn from the fourteen before him. He saw very quickly that he would need a major supply of muscle gel after the training. When a flyer lost control in the wind tunnel, he’d get slammed into the walls with significant force.

  After two hard tumbles, Tucker managed to hold a level layout. However, the moment he attempted to lower himself into a descent, he crashed and burned. Alisha turned off the machine and helped him out. After making certain he was okay, she explained to the class why Tucker had lost control. Then she sent in Jason. He seemed a little nervous.

  “Don’t worry, Jason, we’ve got two medics in our group. You won’t die.”

  Jason hardly looked relieved at the observation, but he went in just the same. And despite his fear, he held a layout on the second try. But when he attempted a descent, he barreled hard into the padded wall.

  Logan checked him out and declared him fine, so he finished his time.

  “Do you think I should have them wear helmets?” Alisha asked.

  “They can’t afford to grow accustomed to gear they can’t wear when in the field.”

  “You might want to hold off on your response until after you crash into that wall,” she teased.

  As the session ended and Logan pulled his aching tired body out of the tunnel, he looked at Alisha as if she were insane. “You did this for fun?”

  Alisha laughed and almost reached out and touched his face, but at the last moment, she changed her mind and grabbed his head, turning it from one side to the other.

  “Easy!” he warned and pushed away her hands. “You’re not a medic.”

  “Should I call Jersey over? She’s getting out of her suit?”

  “I don’t need a medic. I’m just too old for this,” he grumbled.

  “It’s not your age. No one else had any fun in the tunnel either. I don’t get it. I had a blast from day one.” She stared at the panel on the side of the machine and then pushed a button.

  “Colonel, would you mind going back in the tunnel for a moment?”

  “Why? Have I done something to piss you off?” Maybe she wasn’t over whatever had upset her at lunch. Maybe she was suppressing—

  Alisha smiled. “No. But I may have found out why no one was having fun. Just go back in for a moment.”

  “I’m rethinking the helmet issue,” he said as he stepped back into the tunnel and waited for the wind to pummel him from beneath. He felt his body rise, but the wind didn’t seem nearly as fast now and his ability to control his movements was far better. He could lay out, dip forward, dip down, dip up, lean left and right. He did everything she had shown them today. Never once did he slam into the thinly padded walls. He was even starting to enjoy himself when she turned off the wind and called him out. The entire group was re-suited. They didn’t look happy.

  “Tell them it was more fun,” she insisted.

  “I was much more in control at the slower wind speed. Didn’t hit the wall once…and yes, by the end I was having a bit of fun.”

  “Yeah, but you’re Colonel 991,” Ginnie observed.

  “That score is now history, Ginnie. Here, I’m just an old man, and I promise you, you’re going to like this speed better.”

  And they did.

  Afterward a quick debriefing, she reminded them to sign up for practice time. “Take advantage that you are the only group using this today. Tomorrow, there will be another group and the day after that…”

  She handed the sign-up sheet to Logan. “You get first pick, since you’re the top rank.”

  Logan stared down at the empty schedule. If he planned it at dinner, he could miss being leashed to the general.

  “I think the Declaration of Independence was signed faster, Colonel,” Alisha teased. The entire group laughed as he marked himself down for six and thumped her on the head with the clipboard.

  As he walked out, he ran into Jack rushing in. “You guys are late, any trouble?”

  “Yeah, whoever set up the machines needs to be taken out and shot, but the problem’s fixed now. Alisha found the control to take it down from ‘tornado alley’ to ‘Windy City.’”

  “Well, if she isn’t out there to start her second class in two minutes, the world as we know it may end,” Jack warned.

  At that instant, they heard her curse the time, and a second later she had run past them headed full speed for the practice field.

  Jack laughed. “She’s not a bad runner…for such tiny little legs.”

  “Jack…”

  “Don’t say it. You keep warning me off, and frankly I’m tired of telling you I’m not out to jump her bones.”

  “That’s not what I was going to say,” Logan replied. “Although I don’t believe for a second that you don’t want to jump her bones. However, I do believe that I’ve been wrong about you. You’re not the reprehensible cad I thought you were. And I don’t think you are pursuing Alisha just for sport. I think you really care about her.”

  “And you’re okay with that?” Jack asked in amazement.

  “No,” Logan replied. “But there’s going to be somebody, and when I actually stopped to think, if not Jack, then who…well it wasn’t a pretty list.”

  “So I’m sort of like the best-smelling pig in the pen?”

  “No.” Logan shook his head. “You aren’t any type of pig, Jack. And if Alisha wasn’t between us, I would have liked us to be friends.”

  Jack was quiet for several moments. “I appreciate that Logan. It would have been a novel experience for me to have a friend among the colonels.” Before Logan could reply, Jack turned and headed toward the field.

  Logan sighed. Somehow, the conversation hadn’t gone as well as he hoped. Jack seemed more upset over their not being friends than being happy to receive his approval to pursue Alisha.

  He doesn’t need your approval! He’s already got Alisha, but he’s right about not having friends among the colonels. They all hate him. Well, I don’t hate him, Logan thought and then frowned. Well, sometimes I do, when he’s seducing Alisha in front of me.

  Professionally, he thought Jack exceptional, and personally, the man could take on a lot of shit and never lose his temper. He’s not a bad flier, and his battle plans are extraordinary. He’s never shown any resentment against Alisha, even when she smashed his battle plans for the wind farm. And he has done a great job looking out for her. He pulled DC and the general’s own top fliers from the line so she could get a group willing to learn. After the Broadtown battle, he took her personally to Daniel’s house. In some ways, Jack seemed to understand the limits of Alisha’s flying better than even she did. The Broadtown battle was a perfect example.

  By the time Logan made it back to the officer’s quarters and stepped into the Jacuzzi, he’d begun to question whether he really couldn’t be friends with Jack. But then the memory of Jack with his hand stroking the back of Alisha’s neck as he leaned in close to speak to her came to mind. No, he really hated Jack.

  Chapter 17

  The second group of flyers was comprised of thirty from the last test and twenty new flyers. Clearly, extra practice helped. All twenty flyers
came from the thirty from the prior test. The ten remaining from the first test had to return to the back of the queue, so that tomorrow’s morning session would begin with twenty second-time flyers and thirty newcomers.

  Colonel Logan had evidently told the general that some groundwork on retrieving and releasing their rifles would improve their control in descent. Alisha was glad for his input, but she would have been happier if Logan had shared his perspective with her as well as the general.

  Watching Logan manage the drilling of the lines waiting for their turn, she remembered his advice. Her self-worth could neither be diminished nor enhanced by others. Clearly, her colonel subscribed to this belief. General Powell had blatantly shown contempt for him for many years, yet Colonel Logan had more confidence than any man she knew. Part of it might have come with age, for she expected Jack would have that same strong character in another ten years. Logan’s self-confidence was strong because he knew who he was and was pleased with himself.

  She refocused as the flyers began to descend. She was stunned as one small flyer landed cleanly in his circle.

  “Don’t move!” she ordered and called over a videographer to take a clip. When the videographer told her she was on, she turned to the Ryder. “What’s your name, Ryder?”

  “Private Benjamin Abrams, sir,” the young cadet squeaked.

  “This your first attempt at flying a combined Man One and Two?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “You lifted vertically five thousand feet in…how many seconds, Gunny?” Getting Gunny’s reply, she continued. “In thirty-six seconds and then returned in a vertical drop, landing where, Private Benjamin?”

  “On my mark, sir?” he asked, uncertain to what answer she wanted.

  “Damn right on your mark!” Alisha exclaimed. “Precisely on your mark! Take a shot of those feet. He hasn’t moved them an inch since he touched ground.”

  “Do you shoot as well as you fly, Benjamin?”

  “No, sir.”

  “Well then, you need to fix that, because it’s the only thing that’s going to keep you from going all the way.”

  “Yes, sir!”

  Alisha would later discover that Private Benjamin wasn’t lying about not being able to shoot. Despite ranking higher than even the colonel on his flying, he ranked rock bottom on marksmanship. The combination resulted in a ranking of 25. He’d have one more shot tomorrow morning, and then he’d be sent back to the bottom of the queue.

  Alisha couldn’t allow that to happen. This boy wasn’t just promising; he was phenomenal. In time, she had no doubt he’d be better than her. She called Anna over and pointed out Benjamin. “He needs your help.”

  “He needs a miracle,” Anna replied.

  “Exactly. Anna, the miracle instructor.”

  Anna shook her head. “I don’t have time to waste on him.”

  “He needs you. He has to score a mid-rank in shooting by tomorrow morning.”

  “That’s not even possible!” Anna exclaimed.

  “Don’t tell me it’s impossible for you to teach that boy to shoot. I just watched him do something I can’t do with the catcher he’s using. If you care about this Corps, that boy is not a waste of your time. That boy could be more important than me.”

  Anna stopped. “Are you saying I have an opportunity to save the Corps now?”

  Alisha thought it was odd way to phrase the question, but the answer to it was clear. “Yes, Anna, this is your moment.”

  Anna sent out a screeching whistle and called Benjamin over. He looked terrified as he approached her, no doubt expecting to be dressed down for his miserable performance with a rifle.

  “How long you’ve been enlisted, Private?” she demanded.

  “Just started yesterday, sir.”

  Anna rolled her eyes and complained. “What? Are they dropping out of the sky now?”

  Private Benjamin quickly looked up.

  “Colonel Alisha is new as well. How long have you been in the Corps, Colonel?”

  “Three days,” Alisha replied.

  “So you two need some kick-ass weapon instruction. Be at the firing range at 5 a.m. Do not be late, Private, or I’ll string you up for my own personal target practice.”

  “No, sir!” Benjamin replied.

  “No sir, who? Do you even know who I am?”

  “Yes, sir, I have heard of you, Colonel Riley!”

  “And what have you heard?”

  “You are the best damn rifleman and instructor in the whole country, sir.”

  Anna smiled. “Well for two days, you’ve got your intel right. Five o’clock, Private.” She turned and headed toward Riley.

  “Colonel Kane, sir,” the boy addressed Alisha once Anna was gone.

  “At ease, Benjamin. All that yelling and ‘sir’ing is about to give me a headache. Just talk normally.”

  Benjamin looked surprised and then relaxed. “I really do appreciate this, sir. I’ve been flying since I was a small child. All I’ve ever wanted to be was a SkyRyder.”

  As far as Alisha could tell, he was still a small child. “How old are you, Benjamin?”

  “Sixteen, sir. The Corps won’t let you enlist before that.”

  “That’s awfully young to be going into battle. You might die before you ever experience life.”

  “Being a Ryder is all the living I want to do.” He looked a little disappointed. “Don’t you feel the same way?”

  Alisha laughed and put her arm around his shoulder as they headed off the field. “I do, Benjamin, but that doesn’t mean it’s a sensible way to think.”

  “Then I think being sensible is overrated.”

  “Have you made any friends yet?”

  Benjamin was quiet for so long that Alisha thought he hadn’t heard her. But then he finally replied, “Dogs don’t have friends, sir.”

  Alisha stopped walking. “They made you a dog?” she asked, her voice clearly betraying her anger. She spotted the odd bruises on his neck.

  “Please, sir, it’ll just go worse on me if they know I said anything.”

  “No!” she exclaimed. “This will not happen again! I want the name of your captain.”

  “Don’t push this, sir,” Benjamin begged.

  “Now, Private!” she ordered.

  “Captain James Tucker,” he squeaked.

  Just then, Jack appeared at her side. “Something wrong?”

  “No, sir,” Private Benjamin stammered, looking absolutely terrified.

  “They made him their dog!” she exclaimed, her anger so intense that she was literally shaking.

  “Calm down, Alisha,” Jack ordered and then dismissed Benjamin.

  “No! Benjamin, come back here!” she demanded.

  Terrified, Benjamin returned.

  “Do you know who Colonel Logan is?”

  “Yes, sir,” he replied.

  “I want you to find him and tell him that Colonel Kane said you are to stay with him until she comes to retrieve you, is that understood?”

  “Yes, sir.” His misery cried out in his short response.

  “Benjamin, I know you think I’m making things worse for you, but trust me. Things are going to get better now, not worse. I promise you.”

  He nodded and ran off toward the officers’ compound.

  “Alisha, he’s right. You’re not helping him.”

  “Reg 3.354 forbids the making of dogs.”

  “I know it does, but the practice won’t die.”

  Alisha turned on him. “How dare you say that!” she yelled. “You drill into my head that I have to obey every reg regardless of how stupid it might be, and then you throw your hands up when a young boy is beaten and abused by his own squad.”

  “Alisha, you don’t know he’s been abused.”

  “Did you see the bruises on his neck?”

  “It’s the Corps. Every cadet has bruises.”

  “Those were finger bruises from being choked. So unless you can tell me that in the last two days Benjamin has bee
n in a hand-to-hand combat class while we fought the Broadtown battle, then I’m telling you he was abused on his first day in the Corps.”

  “All right.” Jack sighed. “We’ll open an inquiry. But you’re just making it worse for him.”

  “I don’t want to open a damn inquiry, Jack. I want to stop the practice of making dogs.” She stormed off toward the commissary.

  Alisha pushed her way through the crowded mess hall and climbed up on a table. Standing taller than the men for once, she had little trouble getting the troops’ attention and silence. “It has come to my attention that this fort still keeps dogs.”

  A few snickers in the far corner got her quick attention. “I will remind each of you that reg 3.354 forbids the practice. But then you all know that. So I will tell you something else. It. Is. Wrong!” She displayed her anger in each separate word. “The Corps is not just a job. It is your family. And what type a family takes their new additions, their children, and beats, rapes and sodomizes them for the first year of their lives?”

  The room was deathly quiet as she continued. “On my first day as a Ryder I was the dog, and I was nearly killed when I was purposely stalled out at three hundred feet over the Wind Farms Ridge. And before you say ‘so what’, think about how many of you would be standing here today if I had died before the Ridge and Broadtown battles?

  “All of you have probably been a dog. That’s what makes the continuance of this behavior so horrible. You personally know how hurtful it is. Nobody will admit it, but you know the violence can go too far. You know Ryders who have died. So I’m telling you now. The practice of making dogs stops today! And captains, I hold you personally responsible for the health and well-being of every member of your squad. If I even suspect that someone under your care is being abused, I will come down on you so hard, you will long for the anger of the general. Is that understood?” she asked softly.

  The dead silence gave no reply.

  “The colonel is waiting for a reply, captains,” General Powell said from the door.