Logan’s stomach churned. God, he’d been completely fooled by the girl. Sure, he’d known she hadn’t been entirely truthful about her profession, but he never expected this. He sighed and turned back. No Ryder went onto D Street alone. You either went in with a well-armed squad, or you stayed the hell out. Besides, he didn’t need to go in after her. He knew exactly where she’d eventually show up.
***
Most sane people feared D Street. Alisha just felt anger. People, through their bad choices and poor luck, ended up in this wretched existence, and no one cared. As hard as she and Gramps had it, their troubles were nothing compared to the misery on this street. At least her gramps was alive and had shelter. She was pretty certain quite a few of the bodies she stepped over weren’t just strung out but long dead. It was hard to tell. Sometimes a leg infested with maggots moved out of her way as she walked down the street, and incoherent words squeaked from the cracked, pale lips of the almost corpse.
Her desire to help such pitiful creatures was constrained by the hard reality that she could barely help herself and her gramps. If she wasn’t careful, they could be on the streets as well.
As she searched for her contact, she kept a low profile in the crowded streets. Strung-out addicts would kill her in a second if they knew how much cash she carried in her jacket. For protection, she dressed like a mid-city teen. Generally, kids only bought lightweight drugs and no more than a day’s use—which was all that was legal.
Denny had explained to her that a mid-city teen typically carried about ten dollars. Most addicts wouldn’t kill for ten dollars, because a single hit of Phantasia cost a hundred dollars. Killing ten kids for a single hit…well, it was just too much work for an addict. They’d be sick with exhaustion by their fifth kill.
Denny’s humor was a bit macabre, but it was how he survived in this hellhole.
She spotted him across the street. He gave her a small nod and scratched his forefinger with his thumb, the signal that she was to meet him in the ladies’ toilet at McDonalds. She made her way toward the restaurant halfway down the block. The ladies’ room was full, and she had to wait several minutes before a stall opened up.
She would have sat down on the seat to wait, but someone had pissed all over it. She would have cleaned the seat if there had been any paper. She shook her head in disgust and leaned against the metal wall.
She heard a girl curse, and seconds later the stall door pushed open and Denny slipped in, dressed like a tough street girl in red spandex, leather jacket and razor-sharp jewelry that could literally kill.
“You’d look less conspicuous if you sat on the toilet. People can see your feet,” he scolded.
Alisha pointed at the urine-spattered seat.
“Disgusting…I thought girls were supposed to be neater than boys.”
Alisha pulled out a roll of money and handed it over. “If you have more, I could buy another half.”
Denny looked up in amazement. “Shit, girl. You find a sugar daddy?”
Alisha scowled. “Do you have it?”
“I can get it. Next week?”
“Monday,” Alisha suggested.
“Wednesday is market day. Let’s make it Friday.”
Denny slipped the roll of cash into his pocket without counting and handed over a small container of tiny white pills. “How’s the old guy doing?”
“Better. These seem to be working.”
“I should hope so, for that price. I could spend the rest of my life breezing for the cost of one of those capsules.”
“You’re not much of a salesman,” Alisha teased.
“Not on those. Margin’s too thin. I wouldn’t even handle it, except I like you so much.”
“You’re a good friend, Denny,” Alisha said, and hugged the young boy.
The stall door opened, and a large black woman wearing a McDonald’s uniform interrupted their moment of companionship. “You two dykes find someplace else to do your filthy stuff. These bathrooms are for paying customers!”
Denny and Alisha scurried out of the restaurant. Alisha turned to say goodbye to her friend, but he was already gone. She sighed and made her way off D Street.
Chapter 9
The bio-scan of a Ryder overrode any security; thus Logan could have simply let himself into Daniel Kane’s home unannounced. Instead, he rang the doorbell. When no one answered, Logan knocked. When he still received no response, he placed his hand on the security panel and entered on his own.
An old man stared at him from the chair. “If you’ve come to kill me, do it fast. If not, I’ll cause a ruckus.”
Logan suspected the man wanted to protect Alisha from harm, hoping his murderer would leave before she returned.
“My name is Colonel Logan. I’m a SkyRyder.”
“As I said, do it quick,” Kane repeated.
Logan walked toward him. “Might I sit down and speak with you a moment?”
Kane glared at him. “We don’t need to speak. I’ve kept my side of the bargain, but it’s clear the bargain has ended. Just do your job! Establishing a bond will not make it easier.”
“General Kane, I’m really not here to harm you in any way. I’m here about Alisha.”
For the first time, the old man looked frightened.
“My granddaughter has nothing to do with this. She doesn’t know anything about it.”
“Well then, that makes two of us, sir, because I haven’t a clue what you’re talking about. Given these rooms are monitored, I don’t even want to know. I’m here because I’m worried about your granddaughter. She’s in trouble.”
“She’s a good girl!” Kane said. “You leave her alone.”
“I can’t. Up until an hour ago, I’d hoped I might be able to help her, but that was before I followed her to D Street.”
“D Street? Alisha wouldn’t go there. You followed the wrong girl!”
“No, sir. It was Alisha.”
“Well, there’s got to be a good explanation… Oh, for the love of God!” Kane suddenly exclaimed. “It’s my medicine. She must be buying it on the black market.” He looked up at Logan. “I’ll put a stop to this immediately. You have my word.”
“Your medicine?” Logan inquired, wanting to hear an explanation that would restore his faith in the girl.
“Diazaperamine. The miracle drug for the old. When Alisha showed up a month ago, I was completely bedridden and barely knew my name. She told me her health plan enabled her to buy prescription drugs at a steep discount.”
“Her health plan?”
“At Colby’s Cotton. She’s an up-and-coming executive there.”
Logan shook his head. “I’m sorry, sir, but she’s not. There’s no job and no health plan. She’s scavenging for a living.”
Kane’s face hardened. “I don’t believe you!”
“She told me herself,” Logan replied.
“Now I know you’re lying. A person would have to be a fool to admit a crime to a SkyRyder, and my granddaughter’s no fool.”
“No, sir, she’s very bright, and the finest flyer I’ve ever seen. Do you know who taught her?”
“She can’t be that good. She just started flying a month ago.”
Logan tapped on his palm pilot and handed it to Kane. “One of my crew caught her on video.”
Kane watched the video on the small screen. Tears of pride swelled in his eyes.
When the video ended, Logan took back the palm pilot and pulled up another. “This is your granddaughter’s departure from my compound at Broadtown this morning.” He handed the device back to Kane.
Kane watched the film and shook his head. “I had no idea she could fly like this.”
“She’s certainly in a class of her own,” Logan said. “So you see why I might want to save her?”
“Scavengers aren’t allowed to be Ryders. It might corrupt the Corps,” Kane said with heavy bitterness. Clearly corruption had played a hand in Kane’s departure.
“She’s never been convicte
d.”
“She confessed to her crime. You don’t seem like the type of a man who would turn a blind eye.”
“I’m not, but what she confessed to wasn’t a crime. She retrieved material for the rightful owners. That’s not illegal, assuming they really were the rightful owners.”
Alisha’s voice suddenly spoke up behind him. “I told you I made certain they were.” She set the groceries on the table. “Why are you upsetting my grandfather over nothing?”
“It’s not nothing, Alisha,” Kane scolded. “If all they need to do is convince you they’re the legal owners to get you to steal for them, they’ll simply forge the documentation. You’ll never know the difference.”
“We’ll talk about this later, Gramps. After you take your medicine and the colonel leaves.”
“The colonel says you bought my medicine on the black market.”
If glares could kill, Logan would have died on the spot from the withering look he received from Alisha.
“It’s good medicine, Gramps. It makes you feel better.”
When Alisha attempted to give her grandfather the pill, Kane stared out the window, ignoring his medication.
Her hands shook as she placed the pill back into the container and glared at Logan, clearly holding him responsible for her grandfather’s refusal to accept the drug that would make him better.
The tears in her eyes bothered Logan more than he wished to admit. He was tempted to insist that Kane take the pill. After all, the danger and cost of obtaining it couldn’t be undone. Yet at the last moment, he said nothing. He sensed Kane wasn’t just being righteous, but wanted to help Logan get Alisha on a new path.
Alisha glared at him. “Colonel, I would like to speak to you alone. Would you be so kind as to wait in the downstairs lobby for me?” Anger seethed in her voice.
“Why don’t we go down together?” Logan suggested.
“I need to put these groceries up before they spoil.”
“How do I know you won’t run off again?”
Fury burned in the girl’s eyes as she stormed back to the kitchenette. “Oh, believe me. I want to speak to you. I will definitely show up just as soon as I’ve put away these groceries.”
“Then let me help you, and you’ll get the job done twice as fast.” Logan reached into the sack and pulled out a box. “Spaghetti!” he said. “I had spaghetti just last night with a very lovely girl.”
“I’m sure she wasn’t so lovely.” Alisha grabbed the box of noodles from his hands.
“But she was…until she disappeared into thin air.”
Suddenly her grandfather let out a short burst of noise.
Alisha turned to him. “Gramps, you okay?”
“Yes, something just came to me.”
“What?”
“Nothing…”
“Fine, sorry I asked,” she snapped, and resumed putting away the groceries. The second she’d put up the last jar, she turned to the colonel. “Ready for a walk?”
The rage in her eyes made him wonder if she planned to talk or murder him. He decided to let her cool her heels a bit, and returned to her grandfather. “It was a pleasure meeting you, sir. I’d like to talk to you more sometime.”
“My grandfather doesn’t receive unwanted company,” Alisha said.
“True,” her grandfather conceded, but then added with a devilish grin, “however, you are most welcome. Come by as often as you like. In fact, why don’t you stay for spaghetti tonight?”
“I’d love to,” Logan said
Alisha glared at him. “But you just said you had spaghetti last night.”
“So did you,” noted her grandfather. “You told me you had dinner with a very nice man. Don’t you remember?”
Logan couldn’t suppress his smile. The poor girl looked as if she wanted to scream.
Finally, she turned to her grandfather. “I lied to you, Gramps, just like I did when I told you I worked at Colby’s and bought your medicine on my health plan. It was just another big, ugly fabrication. And the colonel is just as appalled as you are, so he won’t be joining us for dinner.”
Alisha stormed to the door. “It’s time for our conversation, Colonel!”
Chapter 10
Logan didn’t catch up with the spitfire until they were two blocks from the apartment. She walked so fast he had to jog to fall in beside her.
“I thought you promised not to run away this time,” he complained.
“I am not running away, Colonel. I am walking—quickly walking—trying to release my anger in some physical exertion before I succumb to murdering a colonel of the SkyRyders.”
Logan ignored her threats. He had just upended her life and had yet to offer her a new one. Her anger was only natural.
He remained silent as they continued their brisk walk. She was obviously still too angry to listen. He’d have to ride the storm, and he had no doubt he would soon endure one hell of explosion. No amount of walking could release the fury currently inside her.
After thirty minutes, he decided he needed to help move matters along.
“I like your grandfather,” he said.
Alisha came to an abrupt halt and looked at him. “Do you? Do you really?”
“Yeah.”
“Well from my point of view, it appears you hate him.”
“Why would I hate the poor old man?”
“Why indeed? There’s no reason. He’s kind and loving. He served his country faithfully for forty years. No one should hate Gramps. So I’ve been trying to figure out why it is you’re trying so hard to kill him, and I finally realized—it’s to punish me.”
Her words hurt, and he could tell she thought them true. “I’m not trying to punish you, Alisha.” He attempted to stroke her arm, but she knocked his hand away.
“Of course you are. I was your prisoner and I escaped. Naturally you would want payback. I knew that. I just never imagined you would kill a kind old man in retaliation.”
“You were not my prisoner. I never arrested you.”
“Semantics,” she snarled. “Tell me you aren’t pissed that I disappeared on you this morning, so angry that you’ve wasted an entire day of taxpayers’ money tracking me down to have your revenge.”
“I don’t lie, and yes, I was pissed. I treated you with nothing but courtesy and respect, and in return you ran off, leaving money on my desk.”
“Well, now you know how a whore feels.”
Alisha attacking his integrity broke Logan’s control. His hands clamped down on her arms, and he pressed her hard against the wall. “Now I know how a lady who is mistaken for a whore feels.”
“Good!” she cried. “I hope it hurts, deep inside you, because you deserve to hurt. You’ve killed my gramps—you deserve to hurt,” she said between gasping sobs.
Logan couldn’t take any more. He pulled her tight against him.
“Let me go, you bastard,” Alisha sobbed, her hands striking hard against his back. “Let me go. I’m sorry I ever met you.”
“I’m not, and when you calm down and let me speak, I think you’ll see it’s not such a bad thing for you…or your grandfather, either.”
His words wound her back up for a second round of rage.
“How can you even think that? Nothing you could possibly say will undo the damage you’ve done.”
“What damage do you think I’ve done?”
“You told my gramps I’m a scavenger. That’s the lowest thing on Earth to him.”
“You don’t think he’d eventually find out? Finding out now, he at least has a chance to put a stop to it.”
“By taking away my need for so much money! He knows I scavenged to get his medicine. He wasn’t just putting on a show for you in there. He won’t take his drugs anymore. I know him. He’d rather die before he lets me scavenge.”
“Good for him.”
Alisha tried to push away from him, and when that failed, she repeatedly struck him with her fists. “How can you say that? Isn’t it enough that he
gave up his career for his integrity? Does he also have to die for it?”
Logan contained her fists. “He’s had a long life, Alisha. He wouldn’t be much of a man if he sacrificed you just to live a few more years. You can’t save him this way. It would never have worked. First time something went wrong and you got pinched for a spell, he’d have died anyway.”
Alisha shook her head, trying to fight his logic. “At least I would have had him for a time.”
“Yes, but at a price he could never have borne. I’m telling you now, if you keep on this path, you will kill him. He’d rather end his life early than let you sacrifice yours.”
Alisha stopped fighting. “Damn you, Colonel. Damn you to Hell!”
Logan pulled her into his arms and held her for several moments. Hopefully she had exhausted all her rage now and would listen.
“There’s another way to get medicine for your grandfather.” Logan released her and they resumed their walk, only slower this time.
“There’s not. Diazaperamine is only offered on executive healthcare plans.”
Logan gave her a sly smile. “SkyRyders have a health plan equal to the best of executive plans.”
Alisha shook her head. “They declared Gramps dead ten years ago. Dead people don’t get healthcare.”
Logan planned to find out about that little oddity, but right now it served his purposes for Alisha not to know correcting the mistake would solve her problem.
“True, but SkyRyder health plans are very flexible. You can include, in a family policy, any family member, not just children.”
Alisha looked momentarily confused. “Are you asking me to marry you, Colonel?”
Logan almost choked in surprise. “No! Good God, no,” he repeated with a little less intensity. “I’m offering you a chance to become a SkyRyder.”
Alisha stopped. “That’s not possible…I’m not even licensed.”
“You’ll pass the flying test.”
She shook her head. “I’m required to have two years of flight time.”
“Recommended, but it can be overlooked if the candidate shows early progress.”
Scavenger's Mission (The SkyRyders Book 1) Page 5