Scavenger Vanishes (The SkyRyders Book 3)

by Liza O'Connor

  Alisha nodded.

  “Well, you pushed his boundaries beyond his comfort level that day. And while he believes sex and war do not mix, in this case, you convinced him that used properly, it could be a useful tool. So when he heard you’d helped Logan’s flier in that manner, and since he knows you don’t know Tucker better than any other flier in this regiment, in his mind, he was only asking for fair treatment for his fliers. He didn’t see it as asking you to do something unethical or immoral by your personal standards. He just wanted his men to be treated equally to Logan’s.”

  Alisha opened her mouth to tell Jack that was absurd, but as she recalled the conversation, she realized Jack was right. The general’s anger had been over the fact Logan’s flier had passed and all of his had failed. Truthfully, she had tried harder to teach Tucker because she knew Logan desperately needed Tucker on the East Coast.

  “Now, as for Dryer’s behavior and the claims of rape in the brig, those need to be investigated.”

  “I don’t want to cause any more trouble between Dryer and myself, but if you could investigate the rapes…”

  “Me? Where’s my kick-ass reformer?” he teased.

  Alisha didn’t return his smile. “She’s gone, Jack. Until I can figure out how to de-enlist from the Corps, all you’re going to see is an order-following soldier. I’ll do whatever it takes to stay on the general’s good side and out of everybody’s way.”

  Jack frowned. “Alisha, you signed a twenty-year contract with the Corps.”

  She felt her stomach roil in horror. “Twenty? I thought it was three!”

  “It’s three if the Corps doesn’t want the Ryder, but MAC will never release you. You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to this Corps.”

  She couldn’t breathe. It was as if some horrible beast had just sucked all the air out of the room. Twenty years? She’d never survive another year under Powell, nevertheless twenty.

  “Don’t look so terrified,” Jack reassured her. “I wrote Logan. He’ll get you transferred back to him.”

  “No, he won’t,” she cried. “I wrote him as well, and he wrote back through the general and told me my request for transfer was denied.”

  “He did what?” Jack asked in shock.

  “He quoted me saying that the general and I were like fire and dynamite, and told me it was my job to change. And if I couldn’t follow orders I would fare just as badly with him,” she explained through her sobs.

  She could see the fury in Jack’s eyes. He was as hurt and angered by Logan’s betrayal as she was.

  “You saw the actual email?”

  She nodded miserably and buried her head in Jack’s chest.

  “The son of a bitch.” Jack whispered his words so softly Alisha could barely hear them.

  Colonel Dryer entered the room. “You two didn’t waste any time, I see. I hear you auctioned off a lap dance for the best score on target thirteen, Alisha. There’s a whole mess hall of fliers dying for another try in the wind tunnel. They figure with a little comfort along the way, they might score the big one.”

  If Alisha hadn’t clung tightly to him, Jack would have been at Dryer’s throat. “Leave him alone, Jack. I don’t want the general thinking my presence causes trouble among his staff.”

  Just then, the general entered and frowned at them. “Have you told her yet?” the general asked Dryer.

  “No, sir. I was just congratulating her on her successful training and letting her know the men are fired up to try again.”

  “Good,” the general said. “Alisha, I’ve decided to alter the rooming assignments. You’ll quarter with Dryer from now on.”

  “Sir, may I speak to you in private?” Jack requested.

  “If it’s about the change in sleeping arrangements, you may say it in front of all of us,” the general announced.

  Jack was quite willing to state his objections in front of Dryer, but Alisha placed her hand on his arm. “It’s all right, Jack. If the general wants me to change quarters, I’ll change quarters.” Her eyes pleaded with him not to cause trouble.

  Jack sighed and shook his head.

  “And what about the other matter?” the general demanded. “Is it straightened out?”

  “Yes sir,” Alisha replied. “In retrospect, I didn’t make any deal I was not completely comfortable making,” she assured him.

  “Good!” he said with a satisfied smile. “You heard, Dryer: the troops are motivated to learn this. So give me another ten fliers in two weeks!” he demanded, then looked at Jack, who was losing his battle to hide his anger. “And go find the barber, Jack. You look like a fag with all that hair.”

  Jack stormed out of the room without another word.

  “Do you require assistance with moving your belongings?” Dryer asked Alisha.

  She tried to ignore the sparkle in his eye. “I can manage.”

  “Well, before you do, I believe there are some cadets in the medic ward awaiting your tender loving care.”

  “What’s that?” the general asked.

  Alisha sighed. “I told the cadets if the kickback of the rifle bruised them, I would personally rub salve on their injuries.”

  “Damn good response. Well, get over there now. When you make a promise, you have to keep it, or else you’ll lose all credibility with your men.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  She let herself cry a bit more on the walk to the medic ward, but her eyes were dry as she entered the lobby. The whole room went up in a cheer.

  The only one who wasn’t cheering was Sandy. “Where the hell have you been? I’ve got four injured Ryders who refuse to accept treatment unless you apply the salve.”

  “Sorry,” Alisha muttered, and followed Sandy back to the four bare-chested fliers. They looked in pain, but brightened up when she arrived.

  “Hey guys,” she said, and grimaced as she viewed their bruises. She looked at Sandy. “Are they okay?”

  “They’ll live.” Sandy slapped Rodney across the head. “They’re too stupid to die. So if you were trying to kill them, you’re going to have to find another plan.”

  “I wasn’t trying to kill them,” Alisha replied, feeling terrible as she approached Rodney. His bruises looked bad. She reached out to touch them and she saw him stiffen and brace himself. “Sorry.”

  “I’m tough, remember?” he teased in return.

  Sandy slapped a jar of salve into Alisha’s hand. “Cover at least two inches out from all sides of the bruised area. Apply gently in a circular motion. I’ll need this room in one hour!” she warned as she walked out of the room.

  Alisha screwed off the lid and set it on the table. “Okay, who’s first?”

  They had clearly decided the order in advance, because every one of them pointed to Sean. His shot had barely grazed the target, but it had still left its mark and it still counted. Alisha dipped her fingers into the cold salve and gently applied it to his wound. “Do you know, Sean, if you had missed your target, I’d still be a private?”

  Sean jumped at her first touch, but froze at her words. “You aren’t a private anymore?”

  “Nope. Your shot made me a colonel again.”

  “How so?” Sean asked.

  “Yeah, why was his shot so important?” demanded Dave, the flier beside him.

  “Because each of your shots was required for me to get my rank back. The general told me that unless each of you hit the target and passed the exam, I was looking at a lifetime as a buck private.”

  “Wow!” Dave said.

  She had finished with Sean, and moved on to Dave. “So each of you contributed to my promotion today. Just like in a battle. No single flier can win a battle, but when everyone does their share, the battle is won.”

  “Why didn’t you just tell us that?” Rodney asked, evidently not as pleased by her revelation as the others.

  “I don’t think that type of pressure is very motivating. I mean, would it have motivated you? If I’d gone out there and told you if all four of
you hit the target I’d be a colonel again, but if even one of you missed, I’d be spending a month in the brig and a private for the remainder of my life. Would it have helped you try harder, or would it have put so much pressure on you that you’d have frozen up?”

  “I’m glad you made it a game,” Mark said, breaking the silence her question had caused. Dave and Sean agreed.

  “I wasn’t sure what to do, and I still don’t know,” Alisha admitted as she touched Rodney’s bruise. He jumped at her touch. “Did I hurt you?” she asked.

  “No, it’s just cold,” he replied, and looked over at the other three. They slid off the table and grabbed their shirts.

  “We’re heading back,” Mark said, then paused. “Thanks for the TLC, Colonel. But just to be clear, you don’t have to bribe us to fly our best for you. We’d fly through fire if you asked.”

  The other two threw in their agreement, then left the room.

  Alisha turned her head away from Rodney so he wouldn’t see the tears streaming down her face. Had they been crude or macho, she could have born it, but their kindness was too much to bear.

  “Hey.” Rodney slid off the table and turned her toward him. “Don’t cry.”

  “I’m sorry,” she apologized as she sat the jar of salve down and tried to wipe her eyes using the backs of her sleeves, since her hands were covered with goo.

  “Allow me.” Rodney took a tissue and dabbed both her eyes until the tears were gone.

  “Thanks. It’s been a long day.” She tried to add a laugh.

  “Yeah. Some asshole forces you to agree to a lap dance just to get him to fly well enough to get himself promoted to captain.”

  “Well, it wasn’t one of your shining moments. But my agreeing to it wasn’t one of my best moments either.”

  “I never meant it like that,” Rodney insisted. “And just for the record, I was going for the kiss. I threw the lap dance in as my personal motivation. There was no way in hell I was going to let any of those Iraqis win a lap dance from you.”

  Alisha was stunned. “You don’t want the lap dance?”

  He blushed slightly. “Call me old-fashioned, but when you fantasize about the woman of your dreams, she’s not doing a lap dance.”

  “I’m not anybody’s dream woman,” Alisha said. Especially not to the one that matters, she reminded herself.

  Rodney gently stroked her cheek. “I don’t know a soldier on the West Coast who doesn’t wish you were his. Colonel Sparkes is the luckiest man on this planet. The rumor was you two were having a lover’s spat over Tucker, so I’ve spent the last two weeks trying like hell to get you to consider me as a replacement.”

  “Never believe the rumors around here,” Alisha advised him.

  “I know that now. Gunny heard about our deal—one of those three has a big mouth, and the damn thing is all over the fort. Anyway, he set me straight. Colonel Sparkes hadn’t dumped you. He was under house arrest for standing with you against the general, and when he found out the deal I forced on you, I’d be lucky if I lived another day.”

  “Jack’s not like that,” Alisha assured him. “We’ve already talked about it, and we both agree the fault is mine. I should never have allowed you to negotiate terms.”

  “Well, it did the trick. None of us can shoot worth a damn on a good day. I seriously doubt if the general had gotten off his fat ass and provided his own method of motivation, he would have been half as successful.”

  Alisha laughed at his moxie. Most cadets wouldn’t have the nerve to use “fat ass” and “the general” in the same sentence.

  “You’re so beautiful when you smile,” Rodney said, and caught her face when she attempted to turn away. “I’m not leading up to the kiss I negotiated,” he promised her. “I don’t deserve it. I don’t deserve someone as fantastic as you. I know that. The deal’s null and void. And I’m telling everybody I cancelled it. It was a bad idea on my part. What if everyone tries to negotiate sexual favors when you give them an order? What a fucking nightmare that would be!”

  Alisha looked up at him and smiled. “You know, the general’s right about you: you are something special.” She reached up and gently kissed him on the cheek. Then she walked out of the room and into the waiting room, where a lot of waiting was going on. Ryders packed out the lobby.

  Alisha had never felt more embarrassed in her whole life. If a hole would just swallow her up, she’d be eternally grateful. Unfortunately, the world was not so kind these days. Instead of escape, matters turned worse. Colonel Sparkes burst through the door and pushed his way through the Ryders. She reached out and touched his chest to stop him.

  “Jack, it’s okay,” she said.

  Jack took her hand and pressed it to his lips for a second. “No, it’s not,” he replied, his words low but very intense. “I need you to let me handle this.”

  Before she could reply, he set her aside and moved past her.

  “Jack, he took it back,” Alisha called out to him, expecting him to stop this unnecessary show of masculine bravado. Her words had no effect. He crashed through the exam room door and slammed it behind him.

  Alisha heard the crashing of metal and glass hitting the floor inside the exam room. She moved toward the door to stop this foolishness, but a strong hand clamped down on her arm. She turned to see Gunny’s stern face.

  “Gunny, let me go!”

  “Sorry, sir, no can do. I’ve orders to take you back to your quarters,” he said, and escorted her with firm force from the crowded waiting room.

  “Gunny, we have to stop him. Captain Rutherford took back the bargain we struck. There’s no reason for Jack to do this!” she said as he continued to march her across the grounds.

  “There is a reason,” Gunny assured her. “He needs to send a clear signal as to what happens when soldiers try to take advantage of your kind nature.”

  “But he took it back!”

  “Good. It means the colonel won’t have to kill him,” Gunny said. “But he’ll still need to hurt the captain sufficiently to stop any cadet from ever trying this stunt again.”

  “Kill him!” Alisha exclaimed. “Jack wouldn’t kill anyone!” She took a breath and relaxed. “I get it. You’re just giving me a hell of a scare as well, so I never make such a stupid-ass agreement again.”

  “Well, I hope it’s working, Colonel Kane, because letting the cadet live will have far worse consequences for Colonel Sparkes’ career than if the cadet died. Accidents are easy enough to arrange, but beating a cadet in front of a hundred witnesses…well, it’s not going to look good on his record.”

  Alisha desperately tried to break Gunny’s grip on her arm. “Gunny, you have to let me go back. I can’t let Jack sacrifice his career for me again. Why does he keep doing that?”

  “Why did you make the agreement with Rutherford in the first place?” Gunny asked in return.

  “Because the general was going to throw both me and Jack into the brig if they didn’t hit target thirteen and pass the exam,” she explained, then paused. Jack must have blamed himself for her negotiating the deal.

  Gunny didn’t seem to think any further comment was necessary. Instead he continued their march to her quarters.

  “I’ll be glad to help you move any belongings you wish to take with you to your new quarters,” Gunny said.

  She had forgotten about the general’s new method of torturing her, making her room with the slime, Dryer. “Gunny…you’ve probably seen all the tricks in the book.”

  Gunny gave her a strange look, as if he were wondering where she was going with the conversation.

  Oh hell, just ask him! she snapped at herself.

  “Gunny, is there any way a person can get out of the Corps before her time is up?”

  “I am shocked you could ask such a question,” he said with a tone of disappointment. “In all my career, there has never been anyone more suited for the Corps than you.”

  “I’m not suited at all,” she replied. “I’m as much a squar
e peg in a round hole here as I was as a debutante.”

  “No, sir, that’s not true. You were born to be a Ryder. It’s in your blood. I served under your grandfather, and he was the best general this Corps has ever known.”

  “But I’m not my grandfather,” she said, fighting back more tears.

  “No, you’re even more impressive than he was.”

  “Maybe I fly better, but it’s probably because I use better equipment. But flying is only a small part of being a soldier, I realize that now. And you have to admit, I have completely failed at the non-flying aspects of being a Ryder.”

  Now Gunny was the one to stop dead in his tracks. “You’ve had a recent string of miss-steps, I’ll grant you. Not surprising given your inexperience. But compare those to the contributions you’ve made to this Corps, and they’re nothing.” He paused to make certain she had heard his compliment. “Keep making these miss-steps and they’ll destroy your career, but so far, there’s nothing from which both your and Colonel Sparkes’ careers can’t recover.”

  She wasn’t so certain that was true. “I hope you’re right, Gunny.”

  Chapter 8

  Logan felt like a giant old dog, traveling about his forts, marking each with his scent. He responded to any challenge with lethal force by sending the soldier into battle. In essence, he let the Cartel win his dominance for him. He even sent several difficult colonels into battle, some who hadn’t seen battle time in fifteen years. One didn’t come back, another returned with a crushed spine, and two returned but resigned on the spot.

  It was ugly and hard, but Logan could see results from his ruthlessness. In the eyes of all he commanded, he was the meanest, most dangerous alpha male who had ever existed, and the remaining soldiers obeyed his orders to the letter. Feeling certain his new reputation would protect the Class Five fliers from harm, Logan promoted and left most of them at the satellite forts.

  When he returned to Chicago with his diminished squad, he noticed all the colonels standing in reception. That was a far cry from his arrival from the West Coast. On his initial arrival, not a single colonel had stood to receive him, and a few hadn’t made it to the meeting he’d called in his office an hour later.