Rising Tomorrow (Roc de Chere Book 1) by Mariana Morgan (essential reading txt) 📕

like apt retribution for the loss and suffering she had caused. She couldn’t shake the feeling that if she hadn’t insisted on joining them, they would all somehow be alive. The pros doing what pros were best at and surviving against all odds. Without the distraction of protecting an inexperienced, stuck-up Elite like her.

CHAPTER 48

Vicinity of Lac d’Annecy

Afro-European Alliance

Thursday 30 April 2725

DAY 11

‘Sir?’ Atkins said quietly, tearing Gonzalez’s attention away from the sensor display.

It had all worked as planned. Phantom had either been damaged enough for the engines to be traceable or the lieutenant had put his little fighter into a controlled state of engine overload to simulate additional battle damage and make tracking it easier for the enemy. The aircraft’s stealth capabilities remained impressive and the foe would only have had occasional glimpses of Rivas’ position. But it had been enough.

Both Bogeys Five and Six had taken the bait and pursued Phantom, as was evident by the sporadic laser beam flashes and the faint readouts coming from the enemy aircraft themselves moving further away from the Hippogryph.

Only a few seconds ago there had been three dots. One, belonging to Rivas and Phantom, which the Hippogryph had been able to detect in no small part due to the still open emergency comp link, had been fairly clear. The other two dots had been far fainter, disappearing when the sensors lost them following some unpredictable manoeuvre and popping back up each time the lasers discharged.

Now there were only two dots. And whoever was piloting them seemed to know their ass from their elbow. The two enemy aircraft had realised straight away that they had been had and were now on a course heading directly north. Unbothered by the need to remain under stealth, they pushed their engines to the maximum, gaining on the Hippogryph fast. The speed and overrevved engines made them light up on the aircraft’s sensors like an ominous sign of doom.

‘What is it, Joshua?’ Gonzalez asked.

‘Where do you want to land, sir?’

Gonzalez didn’t reply immediately. He had another few minutes to make that decision, so he took a moment to analyse their situation. Flying back straight to Roc de Chere and getting caught while landing was a dumb idea.

‘Are you injured, Sarge?’ he asked, his mind still considering possible alternatives.

‘Not a scratch, sir.’ It wasn’t technically true. There was a vast array of both scrapes and bruises from the explosion, and possibly also a mild concussion, but his armour had served its function and none of the damage would slow him down.

‘You, Ms Moretti?’

When Eloise didn’t reply, Gonzalez simply ordered his wrist-comp to scan her BCC. Physically she was well enough.

‘We’ll use the Duingt tunnel. We’ll jump here.’ He pointed on the digital map at a spot less than a kilometre from the ruins of the old castle-like residence. ‘And we’ll set the autopilot to continue north-northeast on course for Bern. Set the AI to scan for life signs and choose a big rock to crash into at least ten kilometres from any settlement.’

‘Understood, sir.’

Technically speaking, Gonzalez probably should have checked his own physical health first, including what was no doubt broken ribs, but he couldn’t see a better solution. Even an emergency landing would take too much time, and if anyone managed to get in range to catch it on their sensors, it would be a dead giveaway that they had disembarked. If they jumped, anyone would have to be substantially closer to see the small, stealthy parachutes.

‘He did it,’ Atkins said, breaking the silence a moment later, pre-programming the autopilot with the instinctive touch of someone who had done it often. ‘They can’t catch up with us in time.’

‘He did it.’ Gonzalez nodded. The Hippogryph’s sensors showed him precious little of what must have happened some hundred kilometres away. They knew when and roughly where Phantom had disappeared from their sensors but not what had happened. Without more active scanning that would light the Hippogryph up like a Christmas tree, there were no more details to be had.

‘Can Ms Moretti jump?’ Atkins asked, his voice deliberately light as he changed topic.

‘I’m sure she can. But whether she will do it without trying to be difficult is another matter. Hold us steady—I’ll talk to her.’ Without waiting for confirmation Gonzalez unbuckled his straps and left the cockpit. It was a much smoother ride now that they weren’t dodging mountain peaks and lasers every other second, and it was more common sense than necessity that made Gonzalez sit next to Eloise and strap in.

‘We can’t fly directly to the Roc. I assume you wrote some of the parachuting VRPs and play-tested them yourself?’

‘Yes.’

‘Are you familiar with military parachutes? MX Mark 4 or 5?’

‘Yes.’

‘Will you follow my orders and do as you are told?’

‘Yes,’ she snorted, sketching a mock salute. For someone who cared so little about the somewhat anachronistic tradition, Gonzalez had to throttle a new wave of rage that rose at her sarcastic and disrespectful attitude. He shared her pain, but he was too exhausted to put up with her acting up.

‘Good. But let me make one thing clear. I would rather haul your unconscious body all the way back to the Roc than put up with you interfering.’ He looked daggers at her.

‘Fine,’ she hissed. ‘I won’t interfere.’

The words were right, but Gonzalez had little faith that the meaning behind them was genuine. But at least he had given her a fair warning.

‘Gear up,’ he said, standing up and unlocking a storage compartment. He pulled out three small backpacks. He threw one at Eloise’s feet and took the other two to the cockpit.

‘Sarge, gear up and go and check on Ms Moretti,’ he instructed. ‘I’ll take over here.’

‘Yessir.’ Atkins passed over the controls and gave Gonzalez’s parachute a quick glance, checking for the tell-tale green lights. The parachute was fully strapped onto his back and the nanobots were busy fusing it to his armour. It was perfectly okay to jump with just the