Scavenger's Mission (The SkyRyders Book 1)

by Liza O'Connor

  “And how are you going to land?” he asked, getting back to the argument at hand.

  “On one foot.”

  Logan ignored her and pulled up his contact numbers until he found Riley’s number. Glancing at the time, he grimaced. It was five past ten. Riley would be off duty, but once Logan explained what the damn computer had done, Riley would get Alisha a new date.

  “I only have to do it once, Colonel,” she added.

  “Three times, minimum,” he corrected her. “You’ve got to go there, fly the test, and then fly home. That’s three landings, which is three too many.”

  “I can land like a feather on my own catcher, so the only potentially hard landing is at the end of the test,” she countered. “I can do it, Colonel. I want to do it. The sooner I can prove I belong here, the better for us all.”

  Logan couldn’t argue that point. In fact, he would have conceded the matter and hung up the phone if Riley hadn’t spoken at that very second.

  “Riley, it’s Logan. How’s married life?” Logan asked, remembering his friend had recently given up his lifelong status as a bachelor to marry one of the most beautiful women in the Corps. The marriage had created a whirlwind of gossip. Anna Grissam was not just the most beautiful of women, but one of the best marksmen. MAC had brought her up through the ranks, and for the last year, she’d been Riley’s captain. Within the year Riley’s squad performance rate had tripled, and in the National Ryder Marksman Competitions, no one could come close to unseating their dominance.

  The woman could have had any man in the entire Corps. So her choice of a balding colonel twice her age, who had sworn he would rather swim the Cully than ever marry… Well, it had caught everyone by surprise.

  Riley laughed at Logan’s question. “If I’d known how enjoyable married life could be, I would have done it a few years earlier. You should try it yourself, Logan. Maybe with this new girl…eh?”

  Logan frowned. “Why would you say that?” he asked, watching Alisha as she climbed off the bed and hopped toward her catcher. If Logan hadn’t been on the phone, he would have reamed her, but as it was, he didn’t want Riley to know the “girl” was presently in his room, hopping from his bed. Instead he snapped his fingers to get her attention and pointed back to the bed as he walked over to the rack, grabbed her catcher, and carried it to the bed.

  Knowing precisely why she wanted it, he also pulled out his mending kit and plugged it in for her, all the while listening to the extensive emails Riley had received about Logan’s new recruit—not just from DC, either. Every member of the crew had sent in complaints.

  “Why hadn’t I been told about this?” Logan asked.

  “Well, until two hours ago, MAC chose to ignore the complaints. The program does that. If it identifies a source as a chronic complainer, it just ignores them—saves us a lot of unnecessary investigations. Now, when it raises a problem, there really is a problem.”

  Logan stopped. “Do you think for a second I would put a girl on my squad just for sexual favors?” Riley had known him for over twenty years. If Riley could believe that…

  “Hell, no! I fully expect the girl to pass her flying test with high marks. Still, you have gone out of your way for her. You’ve never asked for an exemption before.”

  “I’ve never seen anyone fly like her before,” Logan countered, and moved as far away from Alisha as he could get. “Riley, I do not have a physical relationship with this girl. Hell, she’s half my age!” He regretted his words, remembering Riley had just married a woman half his age.

  He wouldn’t have blamed Riley if he’d hung up, but to his surprise, his friend just laughed. “I remember thinking much the same at one time. You’ll get over it fast enough,” Riley assured him. “But if you say there’s nothing going on, then I believe you. So tell me why you asked for an exemption.”

  “She’s injured now, so her landing may be rough, but when you see her fly, Riley, you’ll understand why I wanted her in the Corps.”

  “Okay, so she’s good. Why not wait five months and let her take the test as a normal trainee would?”

  “Her grandfather’s ill. She needs to be on our medical plan as soon as possible,” Logan replied. There was no point bullshitting Riley. He’d ferret out the truth eventually.

  “That’s not the Corps’ problem.”

  “Yeah, but it would’ve been the Corps’ loss. If I hadn’t retrieved her now, in a month she’d have been tainted.”

  “Scavenging?” Riley asked.

  “Yeah. So far all she’s done is retrievals for the legal owners of the property, but you know how long that would have lasted.”

  “That’s going to come out in the psych test, you know.”

  “I gave her one here. If she was going to fail, I wanted to know right away. She passed with high scores.”

  “Yeah, well MAC has enhanced its psych test. Too many bad apples getting through the old program.”

  “I think she’ll be fine,” Logan said, watching her patiently seal the tiny rips in her catcher.

  “I hope you’re right. A lot’s riding on this girl passing.” Riley paused and then added, “You realize your career rides on it…”

  Logan sighed. “If her flying was the only thing my career depended upon, I’d feel a lot better than I do.”

  “Is there something else?”

  “I’ve got a bad apple in my crew.”

  “MAC seems really interested in your captain. It’s calling every commander he’s ever worked under in for assessment.”

  Logan nodded. “I’m sure there’ll be plenty to uncover.”

  “What’s your beef with him?”

  “He’s been terrorizing my squad for three years, and I never had a clue. I knew I didn’t like his methods. I’ve been very consistent in his reviews on that matter. Unfortunately, I had no idea the level of fear my squad has lived with on a daily basis. I opened an official inquiry today on the injuries Alisha sustained when he stalled her out at three hundred feet over the ridge. Not one of my crew would testify against him.”

  “Three hundred feet? Logan, if she’d been stalled at three hundred feet, she wouldn’t be suffering from a cut knee, she’d be dead.”

  “As one of my crew pointed out to me, if it had been anyone other than Alisha, I’d have a dead crewmember on my hands. They’re scared to death of their captain, and they’ve absolutely no confidence that I can protect them. Nor can I blame them for their zero confidence. I’ve completely failed my squad.”

  “I think you’re being a little hard on yourself. It’s not as if you chose your captain. You can blame MAC as much as yourself.”

  “Honestly, if I thought it would do any good, I’d offer my resignation over this.”

  “Whoa, now! We can’t afford to lose the good guys. Look, let this thing ride out. I know you’ve never thought much of MAC, but I’m closer to its day-to-day activities, and I gotta tell you, it seems to get the right answer, certainly more often than our old methods.”

  “Maybe, but I’d still feel a lot better if these things were handled by real Ryders.”

  “Well, you wouldn’t if you’d been Daniel Kane,” Riley quipped.

  “What?” Logan said. What did Alisha’s grandfather have to do with anything?

  “Daniel Kane. He was unquestionably the best flyer the SkyRyders have ever had. He rose through the ranks, became a one-star general, then went head to head against a five-star General named Cohen. Do you remember him?”

  “I was just a cadet when they guy got booted. He was black marketing our supplies, I think.”

  “Right. He’s the reason why there are hidden cameras in our supply rooms, which I’ve noticed you’re asking for yours. Anything to do with this open inquiry?”

  “It’s related.”

  “Then you won’t see it. MAC will pull it up here.”

  Logan sighed. Damn meddling program. “You were trying to tell me why I should feel better about MAC dispensing justice over members of my own
Corps.”

  “Because members of the Corps didn’t dispense justice to the man who brought General Cohen’s crime to light. Instead, they drummed him out of the Corps on trumped-up charges that even a first-year advocate could have refuted.”

  The news astounded him. “If we know this, then why haven’t we reinstated him?” Logan asked. “Hell, then the poor man could buy his own medicine!”

  “Kane died over ten years ago.”

  “Daniel Kane is not dead. I just spoke to him today and gave him the happy news that his granddaughter would be taking her flight test tomorrow.”

  The silence on the other end was deafening.

  “Riley, are you still there?” Logan finally asked.

  “Yeah…I’m just falling off chairs. Are you telling me your girl is the granddaughter of Daniel Kane?”

  “Yes. And I’m also telling you Daniel Kane is alive and being very ill-treated by the Corps.”

  Logan could hear his friend typing over the phone.

  “The records say he died ten years ago, Logan,”

  “You’re in Benefits. Look in the general records…”

  After a pause, Riley read off Daniel’s address. “And you spoke to the gentleman who lives there?”

  “Yep.”

  “And he says he’s Daniel Kane.”

  “He is Daniel Kane, Riley. Alisha wears his flight suit. It’s how I tracked her down, and found him as well. Besides, I spent several hours listening to his old flight stories. He’s the real thing.”

  “Damn!” Riley exclaimed. “No wonder you think this girl can fly. Do you know he’s the standard MAC uses to assess flyers? He’s the best we’ve ever had. We fed all his flight videos into the program. No one has ever exceeded the standard set by him.”

  “Well, whatever he had, it’s genetic.”

  “You know, I wasn’t scheduled to be on-site tomorrow, but I’ve suddenly changed my mind. I’ve gotta see this girl.”

  “Will you be running the test?” Logan asked.

  “I am now!” Riley assured him.

  “Tell her the landing doesn’t count,” Logan requested, keeping his voice low enough that Alisha wouldn’t hear.

  “You know it does.”

  “Yes, but tell her it doesn’t. Otherwise, she could permanently injure her knee. She won’t need the landing to pass. Trust me.”

  Suddenly he looked up and saw Alisha hopping toward the dresser. “I’ve got to go, Riley. Call me after her test.” He disconnected the line then swiftly crossed the room, lifted her up and placed her on the bed.

  “I need the scissors,” Alisha objected.

  “Then I’ll get them for you.” He went to the dresser and retrieved them.

  She took them and cut a hole in the catcher.

  “Whoa…what are you doing?”

  “Making a slight change. I noticed when we were taking off today that there’s a brief moment when the back flap actually takes on too much air and destabilizes the mid rows.”

  “Alisha, you’re flying tomorrow morning. Wouldn’t it make more sense to wait and do these changes some other day?”

  “I can’t use my windcatcher for the general test anyway. You have to use gear provided by the lab. So even if it doesn’t work, it won’t hurt my test.” She stopped cutting and turned to him. “Don’t worry. I’ll make you proud of me tomorrow.”

  Logan didn’t doubt it for a moment. The only question was whether he could ever be proud of himself again.

  Chapter 21

  The colonel stopped frowning at her modifications. “I’m going to take a shower. When I get out, I’ll hang your catcher so the patches can dry. Do not try to do it yourself,” he warned, and disappeared into the bathroom.

  Alisha continued working on her improvement, carefully sealing the edges of the nylon with cord so it would hold under the worst of winds. After she finished. she wanted to hang the catcher, only she knew that would be the last straw. The colonel had let her slide twice, but given his mood, she decided not to push her luck.

  With nothing to do, exhaustion set it. She closed her eyes for a moment while she waited for the colonel…

  When she awoke, the room was dark, and she was lying beneath the sheets. “My catcher,” she exclaimed as she pushed herself up.

  The colonel reached over and gently touched her back. “I hung it up, now go back to sleep.”

  “I wanted to help.”

  “I took care of it.”

  “But…”

  “Do you really think I don’t know how to hang a catcher?” he asked in exasperation.

  “Did you curl the edges of the back panel?” She feared her question might anger him, but she wouldn’t be able to sleep if she didn’t know.

  “Yes,” he sighed. “Now go to sleep.”

  “I can’t.”

  “Why?”

  “I’m cold. Can I come over there?”

  He sighed again and curled his hand around her waist and pulled her toward him until her back pressed tightly against his chest. “I’m not hurting you anywhere, am I?” His breath caressed her cheek as he spoke.

  She wiggled a little closer to him and hugged his arm lest he try to take it back. “This is perfect,” she declared, and fell asleep feeling warm, safe, and loved.

  ***

  Logan had to agree; it was damn near perfect.

  When he awoke in the morning, her body still pressed against him. She felt so good that he hated to leave his bed. Sadly, he had a few things to tend to. He eased from the bed and dressed.

  He left his quarters and entered the kitchen area, desperate for coffee. He ran water into the pot and opened the top flap of the unit.

  Suddenly the patter of bare feet could be heard running across the floor. “I’ll do that, sir,” Ginnie whispered.

  “It’s all right, Ginnie, I’ve got it.”

  “You need a filter and coffee, sir…”

  “What?” Her voice was so soft he could barely understand her.

  “You’ll only get hot water unless you put a filter and coffee grounds in here,” she said, and swung open a mid-section of the machine. Pulling a filter from the shelf below, she fitted it into the plastic holder and added the grounds. She then closed it. “It’s ready for the water now, sir.”

  “Thanks, Ginnie.” Logan smiled, but the smile faded as he thought of the hell the poor girl must have gone through since she had become a Ryder. A hell he could have prevented.

  “Why don’t you go back and get a few more hours of sleep?”

  “I have to start breakfast.”

  “I’ll do it.”

  Ginnie’s eyes narrowed in what appeared to be anticipation of pain. “I appreciate the offer, sir…but do you know how to cook?”

  “I’m a colonel of the SkyRyders. Don’t you think I had to learn how to cook along the way?”

  Ginnie looked uncertain how to answer. “I imagine that you can cook a really amazing meal on a campfire.”

  For the first time in twenty-four hours, Logan laughed. “Yes, I can,” he said. “And if I could ever get the damn stove to light, I might be able to do something amazing here as well.”

  Ginnie relaxed and smiled. “It’s a little cranky. You have to hold the knob in until the gas ignites.”

  “Well, ain’t this cozy?” DC stood in the doorframe of the sleeping area. “I wondered where you were, Ginnie. One minute we’re having hot, sweaty sex, and the next you’re gone. If you’re thinking of trading up to a colonel, better think again. The colonel’s bed is full.”

  “Shut up, DC,” Logan said, then noticed DC was wearing the latest fashions. He recalled today was DC’s day off. He couldn’t have his captain running about freely while Alisha traveled to and from the MAC Lab.

  “I hope you didn’t have plans for today, because I’ve had to cancel your leave.”

  “No fuckin’ way!”

  “It’s within my rights as your colonel to cancel your leave. And I have canceled it. If you take one step ou
t of this compound today, I will have you up on AWOL charges.”

  “May I enquire why it’s canceled, sir?”

  “Certainly. I wasn’t able to get to your testimony last night.”

  “Maybe you would have been able to get to it if you hadn’t had more interesting things to do.”

  “Possibly, but then I knew I could do it today.”

  Logan poured himself a cup of coffee and left Ginnie to make breakfast.

  “We’ll start the interview at nine a.m. Until then, confine yourself to your sleeping quarters.”

  “The sleeping quarters? Why should I confine myself anywhere?”

  Logan smiled at him. “Because I am your colonel, and the first order you disobey will result in you spending the rest of today in the brig.” He waited as DC stormed from the room. A few seconds later, the remainder of the crew scurried from the sleeping quarters.

  They made their way to the coffee and sat down, waiting for their breakfast.

  “Besides Ginnie, who here knows how to cook breakfast?” Logan asked.

  “The new dog,” Ollie said, then quickly corrected himself. “Alisha, sir.”

  “Well then, Private Ollie, today’s a good day for you to learn. Ginnie, try to teach this private how to cook breakfast, because that ‘dog’ remark just earned him a week of rising early and cooking the meals.”

  Logan turned his stare on the remainder of his crew. “Understand, things have changed. We have no dogs, no slaves, no second-class squad members. We will work as a team, both on and off the field. You will care for your own gear, clean your own clothes, and take turns in all household chores. Is that understood?”

  The crew replied with a sullen, “Yes, sir.”

  Logan stormed from the room and returned to his quarters, where Alisha was struggling to pull on her grandfather’s flight suit. He set down his coffee and helped her. As he zipped up her suit, he endured her scrutiny.

  “You look pissed,” she said.

  Logan sighed. She could read him annoyingly well. “I am a bit. I’m not sure getting rid of DC is going to save those guys. They’ve become so accustomed to having a slave, the idea of doing for themselves is seen as punishment.”