by Anna Hackett
One thing he remembered most of all—Lia’s face. He sat upright, ignoring the bird as it squawked in protest. Shit. He remembered now. Lia’s soft voice, gentle touches, her trying to help him.
And he’d been a bastard to her.
He sagged back against his pillows. “Lia was here…”
Emerson pressed a button on the machine. “You were in pain, Finn, and confused.” The doctor pulled a face. “You might need to grovel a little bit, though. She watched you go down on the screens. Saw the explosion. She thought you were dead, and then when they brought you in…she saw the condition you were in.”
Finn rubbed his temple. Lia would probably want nothing to do with him, and he couldn’t blame her. They’d agreed to one night and no entanglements. She’d tried to be nice, and, pain or not, he’d repaid her with harsh words.
The gyr leaped onto his pillow and pecked at his hair. It was the least he deserved.
Then he remembered something else—what he’d seen on the Central Coast. Images blasted back into his brain. As much as he wanted to find Lia and apologize, right now, he had important information that he had to get to General Holmes.
“I need to see the general.” Finn scooped up the gyr and slid his legs over the edge of the bed.
A firm hand slammed against his chest. “Hang on there, macho man. You’re not up for it, yet.”
“It’s really important, Emerson. What I saw…”
She studied his face, then muttered a curse. “Okay, but you take it easy. And I’ll be coming up to check on you.”
“Can you call the Command Center for me, and have them set up a meeting?” Finn looked around for his clothes. “Ah, I don’t have any clothes to wear.”
Emerson sighed. “I’ll make the call and I’ll get you a set of scrubs.”
“And can you get Fluffball back to Selena?” He shoved the gyr chick into Emerson’s hands.
She blinked down at the animal and then shoved it back at him. “It’s cute as hell, but no. I can’t leave here.”
“Fine. I’ll drop him off on my way.”
After pulling on some green scrubs, he popped the gyr in his pocket, and hobbled up toward the Command Center. He was a bit achy, and his muscles were stiff, but he was alive. He figured that was all that mattered. But he hadn’t gone too far when he started to feel a little shaky and he broke out in a sweat.
“What the hell are you doing out of the infirmary?”
Finn whipped his head up and saw Lia standing nearby. His mouth went dry.
He studied her, and saw her face was carefully blank. Her eyes were…empty. Dead.
“You shouldn’t be out of bed,” she said.
Finn couldn’t see any sign of the sexy woman he’d made love to. The general and the aliens would have to wait. “Lia, I’m sorry about—”
“It’s okay,” she said quickly. “You were hurt. I understand.”
“So why are you looking at me like I’m a stranger?” He walked closer and watched her stiffen.
“I’m not,” she said. “I’m looking at you like a colleague I’m concerned about.”
Well, that rubbed him the wrong way. “Look at me like I’m the man who had his cock in you the other night.”
Her mouth dropped open.
“Like the man who sucked on your pretty nipples and made you come again and again.”
“Finn.” She made a hissing sound. “We agreed. That was one night. Over and done.”
“Lia—” He reached for her, his stomach tight.
Suddenly, Fluffball popped his head up and squawked. Lia’s eyes went wide. “Is that the gyr chick?”
“Yeah. I take care of him sometimes.”
Now her eyes narrowed. “The same gyr chick whose mother destroyed my drones?”
“Lia, look at him. He’s a ball of fluff.” Finn pretended to cover both sides of the chick’s head. “You can’t blame him for what his mother did. Hell, you can’t even blame the mother.”
Lia’s face softened a little as she stared at the bird. “No. The blame belongs solely with the Gizzida.”
“And I have important information about those bastards that I need to get to the general.”
She stepped back and nodded. “Then let’s go.”
As they neared the Command Center, Finn spotted Selena waiting for them.
“Emerson sent me to get the chick.”
Finn nodded and handed Fluffball over. “He took good care of me. Thanks, Selena.”
With a nod and a smile, Selena left.
“So, you let an alien chick watch over you while you were recovering.” There was a sharp bite to Lia’s voice. She turned away from him.
He grabbed her arm. “Lia—”
“Finn.” General Holmes’ deep voice interrupted. “I’m glad to see you’re okay.”
Finn turned and saw the general step out of the Command Center.
“Emerson said you had urgent news.”
Lia sidestepped around Finn and entered the command room. Resigned, Finn nodded and followed them inside.
The action and movement inside bombarded him. Screens were lit up all over the wall, and people were talking and moving back and forth between comp stations. After the quiet hush of the infirmary, it was a brief shock to the senses.
“Hey, Finn.” Noah came over and slapped him on the shoulder. “Good to see you up and about.”
Finn managed a smile. “You mean, good to see me not looking like fried chicken.”
Noah grinned at him. “Something like that.”
A crashing sound caught his attention. Finn looked over, and saw Lia had knocked a keyboard off a desk. “Sorry.” Her gaze met Finn’s, her mouth tight. “You shouldn’t joke about your injuries.”
“So Finn, what did you have to tell us?” Holmes asked. “Noah hasn’t been able to get any footage off your Hawk. The cameras were damaged.”
“My Hawk’s okay though?”
Noah shrugged. “She’ll need some work, but she won’t need to be scrapped. I’d say that’s all thanks to your fancy flying.”
A tight ball in the center of Finn’s chest eased a little. He knew the Hawk wasn’t alive, but she was his. She mattered to him, and they’d been through a lot.
“What did you see?” Lia asked. “In the jamming area?”
Finn frowned. “Horrible things.”
***
He looked good. Almost like his old self.
The only difference was, even after the nanomeds, regen patches, and the time spent in the infirmary, his hair was still shorter and finer than before. But all in all, Lia thought Finn looked fine.
Except for the grim horror she saw on his face.
“What did you see?” she asked again.
He dragged a hand through his hair. “I saw…factories, I’d guess you’d say.”
“Factories?” Holmes was frowning. “Can you describe them?”
“Definitely built by the raptors. They were big, organic-looking structures. There were domes intermixed with towers, and chimneys that were belching out thick, black smoke. There were large ponds filled with red muck.”
“That must be where they are manufacturing their vehicles and pteros,” Noah said.
“Possibly. I didn’t see any sign of vehicles, or much else, before anti-aircraft weaponry fired at me. They have some new heat-seeking missile. That gave my location away, and the pteros chased me out of there.” He shoved his hands into the pockets of his scrubs. “These factories were huge, and well protected. My gut says something else is going on down there. It can’t just be about making more raptor vehicles.”
“Damn.” Holmes tapped his chin, his gaze turning inward. “This is going to make dropping the amplifier more difficult.”
Lia nodded. If the raptors were intent on protecting whatever they were doing in these factories, anything that appeared on their radar would be a target.
“Plus, they have these new missiles,” Finn said. “They’ve obviously studied our tech enough
to know that while the illusion systems are up on the Hawks they can’t detect us, but that the Hawks still give off a faint heat signature.”
Noah made a frustrated noise. “I can get my guys working on something to try and hide the heat signatures. We aren’t making much headway on getting the amplifier to travel reliably in the water.” Noah’s dark eyes were piercing. “As it stands right now, it will need to be dropped several thousand kilometers offshore.”
There were gasps around the room.
“Keep working on it, Noah,” Holmes finally said. “We need to make contact with the other human bases. It’s imperative we work together on driving the Gizzida away.”
Lia knew the general was right. If they didn’t work with the other survivors, then even if they defeated the Gizzida in Sydney, alien reinforcements would come from other parts of the planet.
“General, Devlin and I will plan a ground trip into the factory area,” Santha Kade said from the back of the room. “Devlin will obviously be the one to go in.” She gestured at her rounded belly.
“I think it’s best I go alone,” Devlin said from beside Santha. “We need to get a better understanding of what’s going on in there, and I can move faster on my own.”
Holmes nodded, but his frown had deepened. “Plan it out. But Dev, take one other person with you. Someone from the squads.”
Devlin inclined his head. “Yes, sir.”
Thoughts were turning around in Lia’s head. “General, if we have to drop the amplifier a long distance offshore, we’re going to need an aircraft capable of traveling the distance.”
Finn stirred. “The Hawks—”
“Aren’t designed for the kind of range we’re talking about.”
Noah ran a hand through his long hair. “Lia’s right. I was hoping we’d find some way to get the amplifier to travel, but it’s not looking that way. We need to have a Plan B.”
“We need a supersonic aircraft,” Lia said.
Finn snorted. “Right. Have a supersonic jet parked outside, do you?”
Jets had gone supersonic fifty years back, and had given birth to the United Coalition of Countries. It had allowed fast travel between all parts of the planet.
“The aliens have destroyed any and all aircraft facilities,” Finn continued.
Lia straightened. “I was a pilot for Fusion Air. I know of one manufacturing facility in the area that my company had purchased aircraft from. There’s a chance, a slim one, that there might still be an aircraft there that we can use.”
“Where’s the location?” Holmes asked.
Lia reached over and tapped on a comp, excitement filling her. She pulled up the map on-screen. A glowing dot appeared. “In my spare time, I’ve been studying all the facilities I could remember, and analyzing drone footage of them when I could. I won’t lie, most of them have been destroyed, but this one—Aeron Industries—still looks like it’s mostly intact.”
She heard Devlin and Finn curse almost in unison. The men were staring at the map.
Lia cleared her throat. “This is based on old footage from a few months ago, so I’ve no way of knowing if this is what it looks like now.”
“That’s on the Central Coast,” Finn said. His gaze bored into her. “Right next to the alien factories.”
She nodded. “I know.”
***
“It’s risky, but it has to be done,” Holmes said. “We need a supersonic jet.”
Everyone in the room started talking. Finn stared at the map and knew that Lia and the general were right. They needed to get to this location and check it out.
“First,” Holmes said, “we need to confirm if there are any jets left. If there is a viable aircraft, we’ll send a team and pilot in to retrieve it.”
Finn glanced at Noah. “Noah, how long do you need to make the tweaks to hide the Hawk’s heat signature?”
The other man blew out a breath. “Weeks. But I can get something temporary rigged in a day. Won’t be perfect, but it should throw off these missiles.”
If Finn could avoid the missiles, he could get in close to the Aeron facility and take a look.
Finn nodded. “Then I’ll go in. I’ll come in from the west and take a look at this location. I’ll do a quick flyby of the facility and see if there’s anything left.”
Holmes stroked his chin. “All right.”
“There’s only one problem.” Doc Emerson strode in, her white lab coat flaring out behind her. “Finn does not have medical clearance to fly. At least not solo.”
“What?” He was grounded? A panicked sensation erupted in his chest. No way. “Doc, I’m fine—”
“You suffered significant trauma,” the doctor continued. “I’ve patched you up, quite well I might add, but I don’t think you’re ready for a combat mission alone.”
“It’s just a flyby—”
Emerson gave him a sour look. “In dangerous raptor territory.”
He muttered a curse.
“We can talk with the other Hawk pilots,” Holmes suggested. “I know none of them are quite as skilled as you—”
“You want to send one of the others in, with heat-seeking missiles out there that can bring down a Hawk?” Finn shook his head. “No way. I won’t ask them to risk their lives.”
“He won’t be alone.”
Finn whipped his head around to look at Lia. But she was looking at the general and Emerson.
“I’ll go with him. I’m the best person to assess the jets. And I’m trained to fly a Hawk, if Finn needs the help.”
“I don’t.”
She ignored him. “I’d also like to take a drone. I can send it down for extra intel.”
The general gave a few slow nods. “Okay, it’s agreed. Finn and Lia will go together. Plan the mission as fast as you can.”
The meeting ended, and, as a few people stayed to talk with Holmes, Finn saw Lia leaving. He hurried out after her. He spotted her at the end of the hall, turning a corner. He followed her and soon caught up with her in an empty corridor.
He grabbed her shoulder. “I don’t need a babysitter.”
Green eyes looked up at him. “The doc thinks you do.”
He growled.
Lia sighed. “Look, I’ll let you do your thing. I’m only there in case of an emergency, and to find us a jet.”
Finn felt a muscle tick in his jaw.
“I know you’re good at flying, Finn. You won’t need me.”
“What if I do?”
“Do what?” she said frowning.
“Need you.” He backed her up against the wall, pressing his body up against hers. Without another word, he crashed his mouth down on hers.
She went still for a brief second, then her hands wrapped around his shoulders and she kissed him back. Finn slid his tongue inside her mouth, pulling the taste of her inside him.
Then she yanked her mouth away from his. “We have to stop doing this.”
“Why?” He pressed his mouth back against the side of her neck, nipping and tasting her skin.
“Because…we’ll get attached. You don’t want that, right?”
Hell. She was right. For a second, he wanted to say fuck it, but he thought of his family. The loss of them tore at him.
Reluctantly, he pulled away from Lia’s warmth. “I need to meet with Noah to do work on the Hawk illusion system.”
She straightened, tidying her hair. “I need to get prepped for this mission. I’ll get my drone organized, and be ready whenever you’re ready to go.”
Finn really didn’t want to take Lia out there. Right into the heart of alien territory. A part of him desperately wanted to keep her safe.
“See you soon, flyboy.”
Finn forced himself to turn away from her and head toward the hangar. He needed to focus on the Hawk and the mission.
He found Noah already there, and hard at work. It wasn’t Finn’s Hawk, but one of the others in their small fleet. He glanced over to where his girl sat, parked off to the side in a main
tenance bay. He walked over to her.
She was pretty beaten up. He knew the maintenance team was good and they’d do what they could to get her fixed. He patted her. “We saved each other, didn’t we?”
He’d have her back soon enough. He went back over to join Noah. The tech genius was cursing.
“How’s it going?”
Noah scowled. “Like crap.”
Finn bent over the diagnostic panel Noah was looking at. “Looks like you need my help.”
Noah snorted. “I’ve got a few different things we can try.”
They got to work. That involved a whole lot of circling around the Hawk, climbing into the cockpit, climbing out of the cockpit, trying a few tests, arguing, and swearing.
Finn wasn’t sure how much time had passed, but when he looked up, he saw General Holmes standing nearby. His face was grim, and Finn knew he wasn’t going to like whatever the man was going to say.
“I need you to step up the mission timetable,” Holmes said. “You need to head out within the hour.”
“What’s happened?” Finn demanded.
“We received a partial message from the Groom Lake Base in Nevada. It was garbled.” The man pressed his hands together, his jaw tight. “It sounds like the aliens have attacked them. We’re not really sure what their status is, as we couldn’t get a message back to them.”
Shit. Finn could imagine the terror of the poor people at the base. They all knew what it had been like when Blue Mountain Base had been attacked.
“Parts of the message are missing,” Holmes said in a frustrated voice. “But they mention an alien weapon.”
Finn straightened. “Something we haven’t seen before?”
The general nodded. “They said it’s something the aliens are building.” Holmes shook his head. “Not enough info came through. But whatever this is…they said it’s a humanity-ending device.”
Finn bit down on the inside of his mouth. “Something to kill us off once and for all.”
“We need to get the rest of the information. We need to get the amplifier out there.”
Finn nodded and looked at Noah. “What we’ve done will have to be good enough.”