by Anna Hackett
“Once we’ve finished making the amplifier, I’ll let you know.” Noah shrugged. “We’re still working on the prototype, and I’m hoping we’ll be able to devise a way for it to travel itself. That way we can drop it offshore and let it do its thing.”
Lia didn’t think the man looked particularly hopeful.
“Well, if we keep drowning in pteros, we won’t be able to get even one kilometer offshore to drop this thing,” Finn said.
The general nodded. “Let’s find out where the aliens are manufacturing their vehicles. Make that a priority.”
There was a flash of movement, and Lia saw a handsome man in dark trousers and a crisp white shirt step forward. She knew Devlin Gray was a key part of the intelligence team. “Santha and I will make it our team’s priority.” He glanced at the head of the intel team.
Santha Kade nodded.
“Okay, everyone.” Niko shoved his hands in his pockets. Lia noticed a streak of blue paint on his jeans. “Remember, enjoy your downtime. We don’t want anyone to get burned out.”
The meeting was over. As everyone started to move out of the Command Center, Sakura—one of Lia’s best drone pilots—fell into step beside her.
“Enjoy your downtime. You know why he says that?” the tiny woman asked with a smile.
“Because we’re in the middle of a stressful fight for survival? Because it’s important to stay sane and find some pleasure where you can?”
Sakura shook her dark head. “The man is snuggled up with Mac from Squad Nine.” The woman waggled her eyebrows. “I can only imagine what kinds of things a sexy man like that gets up to in his downtime.”
Lia shook her head with a smile. She pictured Mackenna “Mac” Carides. The second-in-command of Squad Nine was a tough, no-nonsense soldier. “I’m not sure Mac snuggles.”
Sakura watched Niko stride out of the room. “I bet she does with him.”
Lia had to admit, his jeans did great things for his ass. And walking right behind Niko was Finn. He was dressed in black cargo pants, and they did equally good things for the pilot’s ass.
She felt a traitorous curl of heat in her belly. Finn might be overconfident and arrogant, but he was good-looking arrogant. He had tousled blond hair, painfully blue eyes, and a body he honed to muscled precision. Hawk flying could be demanding, and Finn made sure he was in peak condition for his job.
Lia blew out a short breath. She wasn’t supposed to be thinking about Finn Erickson. She stomped down on her desire. Getting attached to people in this crazy world of theirs made no sense. She’d already had a vital part of her ripped open, broken, and smashed. She would never, ever risk caring for, or loving someone, again.
She looked at her watch. Besides, she had a date to train potential new pilots. That’s all she could care about.
Chapter Two
Finn stood at the back of the room, watching the flight simulations. He leaned back against the wall, crossing his arms over his chest. When he’d entered, Lia had given him one long look, then she’d ignored him.
He listened as she talked the two potential pilot trainees through the simulations. Two Hawk seats had been rigged up in front of large comp screens, and several trainees had flown through various sims. Lia was giving them suggestions and constructive criticism, and praise when they deserved it. She was good with them.
A few of the trainees had promise, and the pair in the simulator now were really good.
Finn watched the screen and it was eerie how good the sim was. It was like they were really piloting a drone through the ruins of Sydney. The slim man on the left with some Asian heritage was doing outstandingly well.
“Good, Leon.” Lia leaned over to talk to the man, and it gave Finn a perfect view of her ass.
Shit. Finn told himself to look away, but he couldn’t. Her khaki slacks pulled tight over her sweet curves.
He did not need complications. He had no interest in getting tangled up with a woman.
Finally, Lia straightened, and the screens went blank as the simulation ended. “Okay, let’s try the Hawk sim now.”
A second later, the screens flickered to life. Now, Finn could see a view of mountains covered in trees. He could also see the raptor ptero ahead on the horizon.
“Evasive maneuvers,” Lia said. “Do not engage, and get out of there safely.”
The two trainees hunched forward over their comp controls. The knuckles of the woman on the right had gone white.
Finn knew, from lots of experience, that flying a Hawk was a different skill set from flying a drone. For the Hawk, you needed bigger moves and needed to take in more of your surroundings, plus, you needed offensive capabilities when the situation called for it.
The woman on the right looked like she was maybe in her mid-forties, with brown hair pulled back in a tight bun. She had good control and was killing the sim, breaking away and avoiding the ptero.
The mountains gave way to green rolling hills and the sim ended.
“Well done, Marie.” Lia lifted her head and green eyes looked Finn’s way. She lifted one of her russet brows in silent question.
Finn cleared his throat. “Not bad.” He pushed away from the wall. “Marie, if you’d like, I can organize a Hawk flight for you.” He smiled. “I mean the real thing. Strapped in the bird, and going fast.”
Lia sniffed. “Despite the flyboy’s views, flying is flying—whether you’re strapped into the aircraft or not. Leon and Marie, I’d love for you to spend some time with my drone pilots.”
The two Enclave members jumped up, their faces alight, thanking Lia profusely. Soon, they filed out, and Lia started tidying up the room and going through the steps for shutting the simulator down.
Finn found himself inexplicably reluctant to leave.
“Must be good knowing that the drone killer is gone and the drones are safe,” he said.
For once, he hit on the right thing to say to this woman. Her pretty face lit up. “Absolutely. It was hard losing the few we lost, but the tech team has scrounged up enough parts to replace most of them.”
“I wish we could do that when we lose a Hawk.” It was a hell of a lot harder to replace the larger quadcopters. If they lost the Hawks…well, it would severely limit their combat capabilities. They needed the aliens gone sooner rather than later.
“You’ll just have to fly better,” Lia said with a half-smile.
He thrust a thumb against his chest. “I’m damn good. As you saw for yourself, when I saved your butt on that alien battleship.”
Her eyes fired. “I was doing fine recovering my drone and saving myself.”
Now Finn pretended to polish his nails on his shirt. “Uh-huh.”
She thrust her hands on her hips. Finn tried not to notice how the movement pulled her shirt tight across her breasts.
“I was fine. And your flying was…okay.”
“Okay?” He took a step closer. “I seem to recall that your ‘thank you’ was a lot more than okay.”
A faint flash of pink appeared on her cheeks. Yeah, they both remembered that kiss. The damn thing was sitting between them, bigger than the bloody alien mothership.
“I told you never to bring that up.” Lia stepped closer until they were toe to toe. “Ever. And you’re a good pilot. We have a few around here.”
He felt something hot flood his system. “You think you can fly better than me?”
She lifted her chin. “Any day, flyboy.”
“All right then.” He stabbed a finger toward the simulator. “Pull up a sim. You and I are having a fly-off.”
Her brow creased. “A fly-off?”
“Yep. One flight in a drone sim. One flight in a Hawk sim. Winner can claim a prize from the loser.”
Her eyes narrowed. “A prize? Like what?”
“Winner’s choice. Loser can’t say no.”
She swallowed, staring at his face. “Okay, Erickson. You’re on. And when I win, I get both those trainees, Leon and Marie, for my drone team.”
“Done.”
She tilted her head. “What do you want?”
Finn didn’t let himself think or hesitate. “You. In my bed for one night.”
***
“What?” Lia’s skin flushed hot, and her heart started doing some sort of crazy dance in her chest. She must have heard him wrong.
“One night,” he said again. “In my bed.”
He wasn’t joking. Although, from the look on his handsome face, he was a little surprised, himself.
“That’s ridiculous,” she said. “If you think—”
The cocky, confident look reappeared on his face. He shrugged his shoulders. “Guess you’re afraid you’ll lose.”
Lia stiffened her spine. She’d worked damn hard to achieve everything in her career. She’d always believed in herself and her ability to fly. Flying was her love, and had given her freedom. Not once had she let herself be afraid or stopped by a challenge.
“Okay, flyboy. I accept.”
The smile that crossed his face made her blink. Damn, the man was lethal.
They both settled into the seats in front of the comp screens. Lia tapped the controls and keyed up the drone sim.
“The comp scores the sims, right?” he asked.
“That’s right. The scores from each sim are added for a total score. The pilot with the highest total wins.” Her hands flexed on the controls. She had to win. “I’m pulling up the drone sim first.”
Images flashed up on the screen. Lia was really proud of the work she’d done on the simulations. The graphics looked like a real drone feed.
The drones went vertical, and a computer voice intoned the parameters of the mission. Soon Lia forgot all about the bet and focused on flying.
They both zoomed off over the ruined capital city. The shattered ruins of Sydney’s once-bustling city center lay ahead.
Lia almost felt like she was at her station in the drone room on a real mission, with her team around her. She felt her muscles relax. This was familiar. She had this. This was what she was good at.
Soon she was whizzing through the broken buildings to reach the area that the comp had outlined. Whoever got there first, won. She glanced over at Finn. He might be annoying, but the man was a damn good pilot. Even when he was flying a drone.
He was doing some fancy flying. He sent his drone ducking and weaving through a ruined skyscraper. He was laughing.
Lia looked back at her screen. She had pulled ahead, but Finn wasn’t far behind her drone. She flew out across the broken arch of the Sydney Harbor Bridge. It had been blown up in the center, the two sides of it reaching out across the harbor, like two lost lovers trying to reach each other.
She zoomed below it, flying just inches above the water. Once, the harbor had been covered in ferries and boats zipping back and forth between all parts of the city. Now it was silent, the waters dark and still.
Ahead, she saw Cockatoo Island. The large island contained historic shipyards, and had been a popular tourist attraction. From the air, she could see the two long marinas, and the huge industrial dockyard buildings. Then she saw a large, red circle marked on the island.
Bingo. The drone target area was on Cockatoo Island.
Adrenaline surging, she sent her drone into a dive. Then, she noticed another drone pull up beside hers. Finn had caught up.
They were neck-and-neck. Lia smiled, keeping her hands relaxed on the controls, even as her heart raced.
As they sped over the top of the island’s landmarks, she executed a fancy turn, dropping down through one of the old industrial buildings.
“Hey!” Finn exclaimed.
Lia raced her drone through the huge, empty warehouse, and then popped up through a hole in the roof…right inside the target zone.
Simulation One Winner.
The words flashed up on Lia’s screen. A second later, Finn’s drone arrived in the target zone.
He shook his head. “Nice move.”
She smiled at him. “Those pilots are mine, Erickson.”
His blue gaze traced over her face. “Still one sim to go, Murphy. So we’ll see. And it’s the Hawk sim.” He cracked his fingers. “My domain.”
Lia felt a skitter of something through her belly. She looked back at the comp and pulled up the next simulation.
He was right. This was his domain, so it wouldn’t be nearly as easy. She lifted her chin. She could do this. She ran these sims frequently, to keep herself rated to fly the Hawks.
On both the screens, a Hawk cockpit appeared. Beside her, she listened to Finn settling his lean body into his seat.
For a second, she let herself think about what a night in his bed would be like… No. She didn’t want a man. She did quite fine without sex and the messy emotions that came with it.
She’d lost her heart in the invasion. Lost the person who’d been a piece of her. She had no interest in getting close to anyone else.
But for a split second, Lia really wasn’t sure if she wanted to win or lose.
***
Finn put all his focus on the simulation.
As his Hawk took off, he could hear Lia’s quiet breathing, but other than that, she was silent.
Most Hawk pilots he worked with were skilled and confident, and not afraid to let people know about it. They were good at flying, coped daily with heading into combat zones, and were also very good at blowing off steam in their downtime.
As their Hawks skimmed out over the simulation of trees, he glanced Lia’s way. Her entire concentration was on the screen. Her face was tense, but her hands were relaxed on the controls. There was a sense of control about Lia. Like she was ruthlessly holding things inside, things she never let out.
As he watched her fingers move over the controls in the complicated dance he knew so well, he felt a punch of desire.
He’d kept telling himself to stay away from her, but now that he’d made this crazy bet, it was almost as though he’d struck a match to the tinder inside of him. Now, he wanted her more than anything. It was like a fire licking at his insides.
For almost two years, everything Finn had done was to survive. He flew into combat zones, over and over. Hell, he’d crashed in alien territory. He’d made it back to base by the skin of his teeth more times than he could count.
In the early days of the invasion, he’d shared his bunk a few times. Nothing more than hurried couplings, though. Two people looking for a way to not be so alone in the chaos. To hold on to someone, just for a few hours.
Yet, every encounter had left him empty. Every encounter had been a sad echo of the close relationships he’d had before. He’d been single when the aliens invaded, but he’d had a big, strong, loving family.
And he’d lost them. An empty, hollow feeling opened up inside. He’d lost the people he’d loved most.
He looked at Lia and swallowed. He didn’t want to feel empty anymore.
Something clipped his Hawk, the computer blaring at him. Beneath his hands, the controls vibrated.
Shit. Pay attention, Erickson.
“I’m going to beat you, Finn.” Lia glanced his way, a delicate pink flush on her creamy cheeks.
Hell, no. He wanted his prize. Finn put all his intense focus on the simulation.
They continued to fly over the dense forest, but now, in the distance, he could see the silver of a river. Then a bridge appeared.
They were on track to go over it, but at the last minute, Finn maneuvered his Hawk down and shot under the bridge.
“Showoff,” she muttered.
He’d just pulled back up to the right altitude, when he saw the pteros appear.
There were five of them. They rained down on his and Lia’s Hawks, bombarding them with their poison fire.
Finn didn’t let himself think. For him, so much of flying was instinct and trusting his gut. He zipped through the sky, dodging around the pteros, and taking one down with his lasers.
Beside him, Lia was holding her own. Her evasive maneuvers were impressive. She
took one of the pteros down herself.
Finn circled around and fired again. He saw another ptero explode, but there was another one coming right up on his ass. He pulled up hard, and saw another alien ship chasing Lia. He ducked past close to the ptero, luring it away from her.
Next, he did a hard drop, then he spun his bird, lined up, and took the shot. The lead ptero exploded, and the second one was too late to avoid it. It hit the debris, and its wing disintegrated. The ptero plunged wildly toward the ground.
Suddenly, the sim was over.
Simulation Two Winner flashed up on his screen.
Finn blinked. Usually for him, the fight wasn’t over so quickly. Usually, he still had to haul ass to get himself and his squad out of the combat zone safely.
Lia ran her palms down her trousers. “Good flying. We just have to wait a second while it calculates the overall winner.”
Mouth dry, Finn waited for the final winner to be calculated. Unable to keep still, he bounced his heel on the floor.
Both the screens went blank. A new line flashed up.
Overall Winner.
The words were on Finn’s screen.
Elation flooded him, but it was followed by a strange feeling. He wanted Lia more than he could breathe…but not like this. He didn’t want to coerce her into his bed. He wanted her there by choice.
He turned, and he saw that her face was curiously blank.
“I’ve changed my mind.” He tried to get the words out before the part of him that was screaming at him to snatch her into his arms won out. “I’ll take the pilots as my prize.” Shit, saying that almost killed him. He curled his hands around the armrests of his chair. He swore he could hear the plastic groan under the force of it.
Lia stared at him for a long moment. He knew she picked out details for a living, staring at drone feed and analyzing every little thing she saw.
“I’m not a coward,” she said. “And I don’t renege on a bet.” She stood. “I’ll see you at your place, Erickson. Half an hour.”
She walked out, and Finn found himself staring after her, dumbfounded and mesmerized by the swing of her hips.
