Scavenger Falters (The SkyRyders Book 2)

by Liza O'Connor

  “But you just said the troop wanted him to retake the test,” the general countered.

  “They did, but it was too late. The decision had been made.”

  “By whom?” General Powell demanded. “Certainly not by me! I’m taking the blame for a lot of shit these days, but this is definitely not my doing!”

  “By me, sir! It became very clear that Colonel Kane was unprepared to make a hard decision when it came to Private Abrams. She’s too personally involved to have perspective. So I made the decision.”

  Powell was silent for a moment. “Let me understand the facts. The private’s first run was marred by the fact that someone was about to kill him with a laser rifle. On the second and third runs, where did he rank?”

  “He ranked first,” Anna replied. “But it wasn’t enough to make up for the first run.”

  “So he was going to be sent down?” Powell clarified.

  “Yes, sir. And Colonel Kane clearly did not want this to happen. So I made the call.”

  “And then she took a survey of the troop?”

  “No, sir, one of the trainees took the role as their spokesman and requested that we allow the private to retake his first run.”

  “Was it a demanding request? Or was it respectful?”

  “It was respectful enough, at least until I turned him down. And then he pretended to sprain his leg so he’d be disqualified and we’d be forced to let the private pass.”

  “Was Alisha, by chance, unconscious during this time?” Logan asked in sarcasm. He couldn’t believe Alisha would allow another colonel, not even Anna, to ride so roughshod over her trainees.

  “No, Logan, she was not. It would have been better if she had been. Instead, she jumps in before I can kick the kid’s sorry ass and she gives him some piddly amount of demerits for bad acting. Bad Acting! There is no reg against bad acting. And then she gives him a hundred merits for putting the Corps before himself or some such shit. Do you know what that’s going to do? Every time that soldier wants to force his way, he’s going to claim it’s for the Corps. I swear to God, Logan, she did more harm to the Corps in fifteen minutes than I’ve seen the general here do in a lifetime! And that’s an impressive achievement.”

  Powell was not pleased with her comparison. “I will remind you, Colonel, that I outrank you, and even if you don’t report to me—a fact that I have thanked God for every day—you are still required to show me the respect due my rank.”

  Anna stiffened. “If I said something you misunderstood as disrespectful, then I apologize.”

  “Your apology is accepted with the same sincerity it was given. Now let me ask one more question. What was Private Abram’s score on his last run?”

  Anna paused. “It was a thousand, but that is irrelevant to the issue.”

  “Irrelevant? We are in the middle of a goddamn war and you tell me I’ve got a two-day cadet that can score a perfect thousand and you think moving this cadet on to learn more skills is less important than protecting your inflated ego from having to rescind an order so unfair that even the cadets felt compelled to intercede? I’m beginning to see why MAC never let you out on a battlefield.”

  Anna looked at Logan to come to her side.

  “Sorry, Anna, but I think Alisha made the right call,” Logan replied.

  “Fine. Stick up for her! You know what? I’ve got better things to do with my time,” Anna announced and stormed off.

  Powell shook his head. “I wish to hell Jack were here so I could remind him to cross that woman back off all invitation lists. I thought perhaps I had misjudged her, but this one I got right. She is as horrible as I remember.”

  Chapter 27

  Alisha was late for her wind tunnel training session with class one because she had shuffled people to replace the three open spaces. She chose to move up the top performer in each class and then let the new additions know they had made the cut. By the time she arrived, Colonel Logan had wisely suited up and begun his time.

  Since Benjamin was the only one who had not gone through orientation, she talked him through the process. She planned to train with him one-on-one as she had Logan. It seemed to help move matters along.

  She led Benjamin to the panel on the wind tunnel. “These are the controls. Before you get in, set the timer and make sure the dial is set on Windy City.” She looked down in horror at the dial, clearly set on Tornado Alley.

  Why hadn’t anyone said anything? Colonel Logan must be getting the shit kicked out of him. She pushed her way to the window and stared in.

  “When did he’d learn to do all that?” asked Ginnie, who watched from the window as well.

  “I have no idea,” Alisha admitted. She watched him a bit longer and reached over and returned to the controls, hitting the stop and switching the level back to Windy City. Logan looked pissed as hell when he came out. “I still have two more minutes,” he objected.

  “You don’t need them,” she laughed and looked at Tucker. “Get on in there, Tucker.” She smiled at her colonel. “Have Gunny fit you out with slats and book two hours straight. You just graduated to the next level of training. If you know what got you from where you were yesterday to where you are today, bottle it and share with the troops, because I have never seen anyone take to a wind tunnel so fast.”

  “Sheer will of mind,” Logan said, his voice betraying some hint of emotion, but Alisha wasn’t certain whether it was anger or determination. Right now, he was impossible to read.

  “Well, it worked amazingly well.”

  She looked to Benjamin. “You’re going to have a time keeping up with the colonel, Benjamin, but I expect you to be right there with him.”

  Logan added his own expectations on the matter, saying he expected Benjamin to be in front of him. The young cadet grinned and nodded.

  While the remainder of the class had improved, the only one ready to move on at this time was the colonel. But at least now they had seen the level they needed to achieve. She decided to add to that pressure the reminder that by tomorrow, the number of students would reach the max the three wind tunnels could handle, and she would have to start culling the weaker flyers in order to make room for new trainees.

  “It’s going to be a judgment call on my part. I promise I will try to be as fair as possible, but what I’m looking for cannot be measured in metrics. I’m looking not just for the skills, but for a sense of confidence and control. If I see any hint of panic or caution, I can’t pass you on. But as the first class, you by default will have had the most air time before I have to start culling. So take advantage of that. I noticed that there were open slots at dinnertime on two of the tunnels. Those are two hours you’ll never get back.”

  After most of the class left, Tucker approached her. “Colonel Kane, sir,” Tucker said. “May I have a moment to speak with you in private?”

  Alisha sighed. She really wanted to walk back with Logan. She hadn’t seen him all day. But she could tell the captain needed to talk. She sent her colonel on and walked farther away from the remainder of the class.

  Tucker took a deep breath and asked if he still had a chance to pass.

  “You’re not there yet, Tucker. I saw good improvement, but I need you flying more at Colonel Logan’s level before you can move forward.”

  “I understand that, sir. That’s not what I’m asking. I’m asking if my being unable to protect Private Abrams has made it impossible for me to move up. I know you promised to be fair, but there’s only so much fairness that anyone can offer…and truthfully, if I can’t be passed no matter how much I try, then I’ll step down now so another cadet will have more air time.”

  “Tucker.” Alisha placed her hand on his shoulder. “I know I said I hold the captains responsible for the care of their squads, but your case was different. Colonel Sparkes filled me in on your impossible position. I was placed in a similar position myself. MAC made me captain after DC was demoted for refusing to answer questions during an official inquiry.”

  He
breathed out in relief. “You do understand then.”

  “The question you have to ask yourself is, did you try to protect Benjamin.”

  “I did try!” he insisted. “I put his bunk between the wall and my bed, so they couldn’t get to him at night, and I tried to keep an eye on him. But that wasn’t always possible. I was in a debriefing when he was attacked.”

  Alisha felt tears rising to her eyes, and she wasn’t even certain why. Maybe it was the pain in his voice, the futility of trying his hardest and still failing to such a degree that he hated himself.

  “I believe you did try your best, Tucker and that’s all you can do. So put it behind you and focus on learning to fly. There’s nothing between us that will keep you from passing to the next level.”

  Chapter 28

  When Logan arrived at the officers’ commons, he was not happy to see the general seated by himself.

  Great! Just the general and his new lap dog, Logan…

  Fortunately, Colonel Dryer and Wilson arrived soon after him.

  Gunny somehow managed to delay the serving of lunch until Alisha arrived. The old devil must be in love with her. Logan had never seen him break his schedule for anyone. Officers who were late missed the first course, no exceptions. Instead of making an exception, Gunny had just delayed their meal by finding fault with everything on the table.

  Logan had expected Powell to complain. However, the general was deep in clearly unpleasant thoughts. As Alisha sat down and lunch was served, Powell finally returned to the living. Glaring about the table, he clearly was not pleased with what he had returned to find.

  “Where the hell is Jack?” he demanded.

  “Colonel Sparkes requested a light lunch in his quarters,” Gunny said.

  “The hell he will!” Powell bellowed. “You tell him that I expect him at this table in five minutes or he’ll be eating with the cadets as the oldest damn private in the Corps.”

  Gunny clearly intended to finish serving the meal before telling Colonel Sparkes anything, so Alisha offered to retrieve him instead. A few moments later, both she and Jack returned.

  “You’ve had enough time off, Jack. We’re in a damn war. I need you back in service!” Powell snapped.

  Jack had been on leave? Suddenly Logan went from being angry at him for shirking his duties to feeling sorry for him for having the worst excuse for a day off that Logan had ever seen. The only thing he’d had off was a morning free of the general.

  On second thought…that might be sufficient to qualify as a holiday, Logan decided.

  “Logan, what were you suppose to remind Jack to do?” Powell demanded.

  Come back to work, so I’m not pulled in as a substitute lackey? Logan mentally answered. “I’m not certain to which time you are referring: The making of coffee, the filing of the morning report, the handling of the three snipers’ paperwork, the decommissioning of Captain Tucker, which I have refused to sign off on, the removal of Colonel Anna Riley from all future invitations…”

  “That’s it. That’s the one I was talking about. I don’t want the female Colonel Riley back here ever again,” Powell said.

  “I’ll do that one,” Jack replied.

  “General, I need you to reconsider,” Alisha immediately protested, but the general cut her off.

  “Alisha, I’m sorry, but this is non-negotiable. Logan will take over your weapon training.”

  “Sir, I really don’t have the time,” Logan said.

  “Fine, then Jack can do it. He’s got plenty of time on his hands,” Powell snapped.

  “I don’t think Jack has the skill level to be teaching weaponry,” Logan protested.

  “Dryer, do you have time to teach Alisha weaponry?” Powell asked.

  Before he could answer, Logan found himself saying he’d make time and do it himself.

  “Thank you, colonel,” Alisha replied but then looked back at the general. “That wasn’t what I was objecting to, sir. I don’t think Captain Tucker should lose his rank.”

  “He completely failed as a leader and captain of his men.”

  “Because he was put in an impossible position. We failed him, sir, as much as he failed being a captain.”

  The room went deadly silent. Her statement was almost up there to the level of Anna’s blatant attack on the general’s competency. The only problem was, Alisha did report to the general and his response could be very hard on her.

  Powell looked around the room. “Is that how the rest of you feel as well?” the general asked.

  Jack spoke. “Except for Alisha using the term ‘we’ which makes her and Logan seem a part of the failure, I’d agree with her statement. The rest of us at this table are complicit in guilt. All of us knew Tucker could not take command of the squad away from Jason. Hell, as colonels we struggled on a daily basis trying to even keep up the illusion that we were in control of that bastard.”

  Dryer jumped on that remark. “That’s the truth. I’ve got five hundred and thirty-three protests filed against me to prove it.” He looked the general in the eye. “And he knew every time I got one, you’d jump all over me for failing to let my captains take responsibility.”

  “So this is all my fault?” Powell asked, his words soft and angry.

  “No,” Jack said. “It’s not all your fault. We could have done more to help Captain Tucker. Instead we wrote it off as a cruel twist of fate and left him out there on his own. If you’re going to decommission Captain Tucker, you should demote us as well, including yourself, General.”

  “Logan, what’s your perspective?” Powell demanded, clearly not liking Jack’s view.

  “We’re in a war and I don’t think we have the luxury of demoting any good soldiers. However, there is a coincidence that disturbs me. Tucker mentioned that DC, Jason and the other two all came from the same training base.”

  “Add Lyle to that list as well,” Dryer said. “He was the worst of them.”

  “So, here’s my concern,” Logan said. “What if this isn’t a case of five psychopaths getting past MAC’s old psyche test? What if we got a bad colonel training these boys to be animals?”

  “Your terminology is appropriate, Logan. I always likened them to Alpha males in a wolf pack,” Dryer admitted.

  Jack nodded in agreement. “I know you’re busy, Logan. I’ll run some queries through MAC, discover who trained them, and see if the other cadets who trained with them look like a problem as well.”

  God, he was a hard fellow to dislike. “Thank you. That would be very helpful. I’d like to know if there are any more of them here.”

  “There aren’t,” Jack replied. “They’re the only cadets we have from Fort Brags. It’s an East Coast training facility. Most of its cadets join East Coast forts.”

  That news concerned Logan greatly. “I’ll want to know where every one of those cadets landed,” he warned Jack, wondering if he’d regret offering his help now.

  “No problem,” Jack assured him. “I’ll have it for you by tonight.”

  Logan caught the worried expression on the general’s face as he stared at Jack. Suddenly he wondered if there was something wrong with Jack, if he were sick? Clearly, he wasn’t his normal cheerful self, which struck Logan as odd, now that he considered the matter. He was partnering with Alisha. How could he not be deliriously happy under those conditions?

  Surely, he wouldn’t begin a romance with Alisha if he had a terminal disease. He couldn’t be that selfish! Logan noticed Alisha’s sympathetic glance toward Jack. Whatever was wrong, she seemed to know what it was. At least she wouldn’t be blindsided.

  “You’re being very generous with your time, Jack,” Powell snapped.

  Jack returned the general’s steely glare with one of his own. “As Logan noted, sir, we’re in a war, not just with the Cartel, but with our own rigid past. The sooner we modernize, the better it will be for everyone.”

  Chapter 29

  As Alisha approached the field in early dawn, she saw Logan suited and
ready for his first Man 3 flight lesson. She had hoped that he might drop his barriers and let her know he still loved her as he had done before the prior two battles. This held the same danger as those battles. If he lost control, they would both die. Wouldn’t he want to make things right between them before taking that chance?

  One look at him before he harnessed up told her that wasn’t going to happen. He looked more formidable than ever. He didn’t need to make it right between them because there was no way he was going to lose control. She could see it in his angry black eyes.

  Evidently, so could the general, because he didn’t even bother warning Colonel Logan not to fail. He just gave the colonel a stiff salute and walked back to the platform.

  Harnessed onto his back, Alisha focused on the catcher’s performance rather than the stiff cold colonel as they soared straight up to five thousand feet. She was amazed at how tight her colonel held his panels. It was perfection. He couldn’t get another pound of lift from the catcher as it was currently made. But what if there were an additional panel? If he could control it, it would certainly bring more lift.

  The buzzer went off in her ear, alerting her they had reached five thousand feet. “The moment after collapsing your catcher, stiffen your body and become one with those slats. When you hear the alarm for four thousand feet, reengage the catcher.” They had been through this on the ground and in the wind tunnel, but she repeated the words again so she could pretend the hard, cold Ryder was actually human and needed steadying before his first attempt.

  Without any hesitation, Logan stalled and collapsed the catcher. They began a free fall downward. Their descent startled her. This had never happened before. Probably due to the fact she had never carried a hundred pounds on her back. “Lean forward a bit,” she yelled through the rushing wind.

  Logan shifted his weight forward and their vertical descent shifted to a horizontal decline.

  “Good. We’ll continue to three thousand,” she said, knowing that Colonel Logan wouldn’t have any airtime if they stopped at four thousand. Not after that initial drop. “Lean just a little more forward,” she suggested. The slope of decline lengthened. “That’s good. See how you can lengthen or shorten your slope by just small degrees of movement?”