Lightning Game (GhostWalkers 17)

“Sean, get your men back under cover. Might be nothing, but when Diego says he’s got a gut feeling something’s not right, we act on it. Nine times out of ten, he’s dead-on.”

Rubin tightened his fingers around Jonquille’s hand. He had no intention of being separated from her again. “Let’s get to the meadow and see if the pilot will bring that plane in. It’s up to you to talk him into it, Sean. He’s going to be leery. Chandler’s spy, Barry, hasn’t been talking to him for a while now.”

“Yeah, I got that.” Sean was still bitter over the traitor in his unit.

The three of them jogged from out in the open to the relative cover of the woods. Rubin and Sean blended immediately. Jonquille stood out like a sore thumb. She began to pull a gray, black and olive green hoodie from her pocket. It was folded into a very small square, almost the size of a handkerchief, but when she opened it, it fell nearly to her knees. The minute she put it on, it adhered to her body, pressing any clothing she had on under it tight so it was like another layer of skin. She instantly blended as well.

Sean spoke into his radio and it took only a couple of minutes after the three of them making it to the edge of the meadow for two of Sean’s men to join them. Sean immediately contacted the plane.

There was a short silence and the pilot answered, his tone wary, obviously expecting Barry to be contacting him.

Sean didn’t reply immediately, then he snapped out a command. “This is Major Sean O’Connell. Identify yourself.”

The pilot replied reluctantly, admitting who he was, and he wasn’t Sean’s pilot. “Lieutenant Owen Abbey.”

“Swamp Man was supposed to be flying that plane. What happened to him?”

“I explained this to Barry …”

“He’s dead. The entire ground crew is dead. They were attacked, and all machines needed to effectively build a decent landing strip were destroyed. I needed Swamp Man, he can land in anything. You didn’t tell me where he is.” Sean’s implication was that this pilot couldn’t land the plane.

“He was sick and I offered to collect the package for him. He gave me the instructions.”

“We have the package, but the landing will be rough.”

“Give me a minute.”

Sean glanced back at Rubin. “I’ll bet any amount of money he’s consulting with Chandler, asking him what to do.”

They waited in the shadows of the tree. Diego was up in the branches of the trees above their heads. If the plane circled around and looked as if it was in any way threatening, he would shoot it down. He was very good at that. He had backup this time. Several of Sean’s men were scattered among the trees with the same idea. They didn’t like that Chandler had one of their “brothers” in his hands, possibly torturing him to find out their intentions.

“I’ll set her down,” the pilot eventually agreed. “Will need two soldiers to accompany package to destination.”

Sean waited to see if the pilot gave him preferences. Rubin thought it was an intelligent move on his part. If the pilot did specifically name someone, that meant there were more traitors among Sean’s men. The plane was in sight now. Circling the meadow.

“You have anyone in mind?”

“Your best. I don’t want trouble on the flight back.”

The relief on Sean’s face showed instantly. He took a breath and let it out. The men in his unit were close, the way Rubin’s were. They were GhostWalkers, men set apart with nowhere to go, so they had to rely heavily on one another. To have someone turn traitor was abhorrent to them.

They were silent watching as the pilot circled the meadow low, looking for the best way to land the small plane. It was a large meadow and the grass was short. Most of the large debris had already been removed by the ground crew. The pilot circled once more and then came in low, clearly determined to set down.

“I don’t want him to see Jonquille until the last minute after he lands,” Rubin said. “We’ll take him prisoner and turn him over to our commander. We know he’s taking a cut of the profits. Once we take a look at all of you and hopefully get you on your feet and in good working order, Chandler can be dealt with. Any of the new soldiers can decide whether they’re working for the United States or for profit. The government will have to deal with that.”

He hoped what he said was true. Too often it wasn’t. If a Ghost-Walker went rogue, only another GhostWalker had a good chance of tracking him and taking him out. Fortunately, that wasn’t something that happened often.

Diego joined them as the plane made its way to the meadow. Rubin had to hand it to the pilot. He knew his stuff. He circled twice, coming in low, studying the terrain before he made his commitment to the actual landing. When he did make the commitment, there was no hesitation. He was a good pilot. The plane was controlled, steady, came in low, against the wind to help slow it, where the grass was short and the dirt was smoothest.