Scavenger's Mission (The SkyRyders Book 1)

by Liza O'Connor

  “Why’s that?”

  “Because I’m not exactly sure of the date I arrived or what today’s date is.”

  “Well, I can help you with half the equation. Today is September fifth.”

  Alisha thought back. She had escaped her parents on July thirty-first, arrived in Capital about two days later, and spent a day finding her grandfather. She’d stayed with him for only a day before the landlord had made her leave. “Then I think it was thirty-one days ago.”

  “And what made you choose Doakstown?”

  “It was cheap.”

  “But you work in Capital, right?”

  Alisha nodded, wary of his questions.

  “How long have you worked there?”

  “Thirty-one days.” Easy math, since it was one more day than she’d lived in Doakstown.

  The colonel’s eyes rounded, as if surprised by her answer. “Where’d you work before?”

  “I really hadn’t found a profession before that,” she replied, hating to mislead him, but there was no way she’d tell him the truth.

  “A profession? I’ve never considered scavenging a profession before.”

  The food Alisha had just swallowed lodged like a rock in her throat. She tried to stop the choking by drinking water, but nothing seemed to help until the colonel gave her a sharp blow on her back.

  “Thanks,” she said and drank a long sip of water.

  “What were we talking about?” he pondered. “Ah, yes—the profession of scavenging.”

  “It can be a profession,” Alisha said.

  “Except it’s illegal.”

  “Only if the person hiring you to scavenge isn’t the rightful owner of the property.”

  The colonel cocked his head. “Now why would the legal owner of property pay someone to retrieve it for them?”

  “Well, sometimes because someone else has taken it unlawfully, and sometimes because it’s just hard to get.”

  “And that’s what you do?”

  “That’s all I do. If they can’t prove to me they are the rightful owner, I won’t take the job.”

  “So what job did you do today?”

  Alisha frowned. “I can’t really talk about my clients—that wouldn’t be professional.”

  The colonel’s voice turned hard and threatening. “Alisha, I’m not asking you to gossip on the street corner. You claim your clients pay you to retrieve property they legally own, something that, in all my years, I’ve never heard before. You’ve got to give me an example if you want me to believe you.”

  Alisha understood him very well. Prove my innocence or I’m going to jail. As much as she would have liked to take the honorable road and refuse to disclose her clients, the ugly and practical truth was she could not care for her grandfather from inside a prison.

  “Colby Cotton Industry hired me to retrieve seven bundles of fabric that were stolen from their warehouse last week.”

  “How did you know where to find them?”

  “They hired a detective. They knew exactly where the items were located. Unfortunately, it was a well-guarded compound. Any attempt to retrieve it by ground force would have failed. My job was to fly in, find the bolts, attach them to a freight catcher, and get out of there before anyone saw me.”

  “You mean before anyone shot you.”

  Alisha shrugged her shoulders as if the idea of someone shooting her had never crossed her mind before.

  “I’m rather afraid to ask, but what was yesterday’s job?”

  “Darby Medical had a freight-catcher crash in Eagle Canyon. All I had to do was fly in and bring out the load.”

  The colonel’s eyes narrowed. “Either that was a very small load, or you can carry an amazing amount of weight.”

  “It took twelve runs.”

  “You landed and took off in that canyon twelve times?”

  “I’m not a liar,” Alisha said, angry not because he didn’t believe her claim, but because there was no way she could prove it to be true.

  “If I hadn’t seen the tape of you going through the Cully, I would question your claim, but even knowing your skill, I’m still amazed. That had to take incredible stamina.”

  Alisha relaxed a bit and smiled. “Yeah, but I still prefer it over being shot at.”

  She instantly regretted her words, for the colonel’s face went hard and uncompromising.

  “If I spoke with these clients, would they collaborate your story?”

  “I’d prefer you didn’t, but I think they will. I’m sure Darby Medical will. I don’t know if Colby will admit it or not.”

  “So all that’s left is for you to show me your flying license with advanced aerial certification, and then we can go on to more pleasant topics.”

  Alisha’s heart sank. “I’m planning to get my license…as soon as I qualify,” she said.

  “Now why would an honest professional like yourself not be properly licensed?”

  “I haven’t been flying long enough. An advanced certification requires five years of flying.”

  “Then let me see your general license. Or maybe you lost it during your dive tonight.”

  Alisha closed her eyes. “I don’t have a general license.”

  “Why not?”

  “Well, I don’t qualify for it either, and to be honest, none of the flying I’m doing is permitted under a general, so I didn’t see the point of trying to bribe a flight examiner to overlook my flight hours.”

  The colonel frowned. “Exactly how long have you been flying?”

  “Thirty days.”

  “That’s a lie,” the colonel said, his voice soft but with an undercurrent of danger that sent shivers down Alisha’s back.

  “My instructor says I’m a natural.”

  “Who’s your instructor?”

  Alisha froze. Was it illegal to teach a non-licensed student? “He’s not really an instructor. We just talk about flying a lot, and then I put into practice what he tells me.”

  “Sounds like instruction.”

  “Look, I’m not telling you his name. I’ve admitted to having no license. Fine me if you insist, but I’m not getting anyone else involved with my problem.”

  The colonel stared at her for several moments, his face hard and unreadable. “No more questions for the night,” he agreed, and stood up from the table. “Now, if you’ve finished eating, then I’ll give you a physical exam and we can both get some sleep.”

  His words hit her like a brick wall. He plans to rape me after all.

  “Please don’t,” she said, her voice sounding pathetic even to her own ears.

  “Don’t what?”

  “You’re a very handsome man. I’m sure you can have any woman you want. You don’t need to take women by force.”

  “Take women by force? Oh, for God’s sake! I’m not taking anyone. I’m giving you a medical exam to ensure you aren’t seriously injured from the dive you took.”

  “I’m fine. I don’t need an exam.”

  “Well, you’re getting one anyway. My career would be over if you were found dead in my bed from a punctured lung. Especially since I’m trained as a medic. I’d have an impossible job explaining why I didn’t examine a flyer after she underwent a two-thousand-foot crash-landing.”

  He wasn’t going to back down on this. She only hoped he really meant to give her nothing other than an exam.

  Chapter 5

  As Logan retrieved his medic kit, he reassessed what he had learned about her. Her claim she’d been flying for only a month was an obvious lie; her level of skill took years to acquire. Hell, most flyers spent a lifetime flying and would never get near her skill level. Still, she’d spoken her absurd claim with great sincerity. Same with the fact she only scavenged for legal owners.

  Logan had to give her points there. In all his years as a Ryder, of all the thousands of scavengers he’d arrested, not one had ever thought to make this claim. Yet she’d been quick with the names to back it up.

  Nor had she lied about her li
cense, or lack thereof. She’d no doubt told the truth to establish her honesty, even if it meant confessing to a lesser crime. The only time her “sincerity” went shaky was when he’d asked who’d trained her. There she’d struggled. She was clearly hiding something. Her tone and words had set off all Logan’s interrogation alarms.

  Despite all her short and cautious answers, she’d revealed more than she’d intended. Her table manners were first class and indicated she might be from high society, despite her current residency in Doakstown. That in itself was an oddity. Without the slime-and-mud covering, he thought her the prettiest young woman he’d seen for a long while. The attraction he had felt from the first was no longer a mystery. She had everything he could ask for, and unfortunately, a past that would make recruiting her difficult.

  Her large brown eyes narrowed and her lips stretched thin as he approached. How did a pretty young socialite fall so far in such a short time? Drugs? Gambling? Sex addiction?

  When he examined her, he decided it clearly wasn’t sex addiction. She was terrified throughout the whole exam. In consideration of her continued fear of being raped, he limited his assessment to the necessities of ensuring she hadn’t suffered internal injuries during her fall. If he was able to get her into the Corps, MAC, the Merit Advancement Computer, would provide a more thorough exam.

  He reconsidered his suspicion that she was high society. She had taken a beating in her fall, yet withstood the pain stoically. Rich socialites were not raised to be stoical. They were spoiled, pampered, and weak.

  Perhaps she was the poor relative of a socialite, close enough to learn table etiquette but not important enough to be pampered and ruined.

  When he’d finished the exam, he retrieved a set of pajamas and tossed them to her. “You can sleep on the far side of the bed. I’m going to take my shower now, and then I’ll be going to sleep. Just so we’re clear on this, I do not want any sexual reward from you. So relax and enjoy a soft bed for the night.”

  The tears of gratitude swimming in her brown eyes started to get to him, so he headed off to his shower. He usually took a fast shower, but tonight he lingered. He still didn’t know exactly what to do with her. Her work as a scavenger posed a problem. The Corps didn’t allow the recruitment of criminals into their ranks, and for good reason. It was hard enough to raise honest cadets into honest Ryders, but impossible if you started with a core of corruption. The power of being a Ryder coupled with low ethics created a serious threat to the credibility of the entire system.

  Yet given such a short career in scavenging…especially if the jobs were partially legal…MAC might possibly overlook her history to obtain such a talented flyer. Better than letting her work for the drug cartels.

  When he entered his bedroom, she was already asleep. The thought of her in his pajama top made him remember her clothes were in the washer. He hoped Ginnie hadn’t taken it upon herself to hang them out to dry. Quietly, he slipped from the room and, with some relief, found her suit still with his in the washer. He pulled out the damp items and carried them back to his room, hanging them on the drying racks.

  He examined the girl’s flight suit. It was an antique, but of excellent quality. Fifty years ago, it would have been top of the line. He noticed the suit had been modified to improve its aerodynamics. He had checked the pockets before putting it in the wash, but now he took a little more time inspecting the garment. While she was clearly not the original owner of the suit, it might still reveal something about her.

  To his surprise, she hadn’t removed the bio tag at the neck. Most flyers wanted to hide the fact they wore second-hand flysuits. He squinted at the faded name. The last name looked to be Kane, same as the girl’s. Had she taken her last name from the suit, or was this her father’s suit? Was that why she had such an innate talent? Was she the offspring of a Ryder? Impossible. Ryders were never admitted into the ranks of society.

  Yet the emblem before the name proved the original Kane had been a SkyRyder. Logan glanced at his computer. With a little searching, he could probably track down the original owner, but he didn’t want to do it with the girl in the room. Tomorrow, he promised himself, stifling a yawn as he climbed into bed.

  He wasn’t particularly thrilled about sharing his bed, but he didn’t want his crew to know about her until he’d determined if she were recruitable. Given she was pressed against the far wall, he didn’t expect any incidental body contact.

  Still, sleep did not come easily. Her amazing flying kept running through his mind. The precision turning in the Cully Canyon, the two-thousand-foot vertical climb, surfing the water. He would have declared them all impossible to do, yet Alisha Kane had proved it possible. If he could get her into the SkyRyders, it would be his greatest contribution to the Corps he loved. He fell asleep with this pleasant thought.

  ***

  Alisha lay in bed and considered her current situation. While the examination had proven embarrassing and unnecessary, the colonel performed it in a completely professional manner, providing further proof he was a man of strong ethics who did not bend the laws even for his own benefit. And while this meant she hadn’t been raped, it also meant she had a problem.

  If the colonel wouldn’t bend the rules for himself, she doubted he’d bend the rules for her. The penalty for flying unlicensed was seven thousand dollars and thirty days of community work. While Alisha had the seven thousand dollars, if she gave it to the colonel, she wouldn’t be able to buy the medicine her grandfather required. And if she had to stop scavenging for thirty days while she picked trash from the street, her grandfather would die of starvation.

  Her only option was to escape. Her best chance would be once the colonel went to sleep. As long as he didn’t find the bio-scan and money she had taped behind his toilet, she’d have a chance.

  When he’d exited the bathroom and left his rooms entirely, she’d worried he’d gone in search of guards to arrest her, but a few minutes later, he’d quietly returned with no guards accompanying him. Her heart lightened as she’d heard the rustling of wet fabric. He had retrieved her flight suit, which meant she wouldn’t have to go out searching for it. The chances of successfully escaping had just moved up several notches.

  When the colonel had come to bed, true to his word, he hadn’t laid a hand on her. In fact, he’d left enough space between them to accommodate one or two more sleepers, had the need arisen.

  Am I that repulsive? His total lack of interest hurt her feelings, yet earlier she’d been terrified he might take her. But then she had discovered him to be considerate and honorable…and very handsome.

  Her feelings for the colonel confused her. He was nearly the same age as David Bowan, the man her parents had selected as her husband. Funny, she’d always thought David’s age made him so repugnant, and yet here lay a man the same age, intent upon arresting her for breaking the law, and inexplicably she found herself attracted to him.

  Her mother’s angry voice spoke in her head. You always want what you can’t have.

  Alisha thought the problem was she simply didn’t want what her parents wished to give her, but maybe her mother was right. Being attracted to a colonel of the SkyRyders made no sense if you lived on the edge of the law—especially not a colonel with integrity and ethics.

  Chapter 6

  Alisha waited a full hour after the colonel’s breathing changed before she eased out of bed and returned to the bathroom. She slipped the cash into the pocket of her flight suit drying on the rack as she returned to bed, but kept the bio-scan tucked in the sleeve of her borrowed pajamas.

  Despite her stealth, she detected a change in the colonel’s breathing and a sudden restlessness, which warned he was on the edge of waking up. He rolled onto his right side, facing inward.

  She crawled onto her side of the bed and moved the bio-scan safely beneath her pillow. She lay with her back to him, but she feared he was awake now. She feigned sleep, hoping he couldn’t sense her racing pulse.

  An hour passed be
fore he relaxed back into sleep. She rolled over so she faced him and pondered the best way to get the bio-scan of his hand. Any physical contact would no doubt awaken him…unless she created a distraction. She turned so her back was toward him and slowly inched across the bed until finally she felt the edge of his hand touch her back. She’d intended to place his hand across her waist, but before she could act, the colonel, still asleep, reached out and pulled her tight against his chest with a muffled groan of pleasure.

  Her body’s reaction surprised her. Instead of fear and revulsion, she liked the warmth of his touch against her back. His strong arm, wrapped protectively around her waist, soothed her, and his warm breath titillating the exposed skin of her neck sent shivers of pleasure down her spine.

  These new sensations almost caused her to forget her purpose. Her eyes closed, and her mind drifted toward a peaceful sleep before she remembered why she’d made this physical contact. She retrieved the bio-scan from the pillow. She had to manipulate the controls by memory because she didn’t dare turn the operating screen on. The glaring green light would wake the colonel. She had also shut down the audio clues for the same reason.

  Operating a dark, mute bio-scan was like flying blind, without any of the fun of flying. She gave the plasma screen ample time to warm and soften, and then she propped the screen against her stomach. She lifted the colonel’s relaxed hand from her hip, and while pushing deep against his hard, warm body to distract his senses, she pressed his hand against the plasma screen resting on her stomach.

  Instinctively, his arm tightened, and his hand pressed hard into the screen. She had to wait several minutes before his grip relaxed enough to ease the screen from beneath his hand. When she attempted to move away from him, an objecting growl rumbled from his chest, and his arm tightened, securing her firmly to him.

  Alisha tucked the bio-scan beneath the farthest pillow and stopped resisting his embrace. If she had operated the controls correctly, she should have an excellent bio-scan. Now all she had to do was wait until he relaxed his grip enough for her to escape.