The Valkyrie’s Ghost

Author's Note:

Welcome to Part 16. If you are brave enough to step inside, you are about to wander through 24,319 words of adventure, intrigue, and an empire so twisted it genuinely believes its cruelty is righteousness. Romance takes a quieter role this time, but the bond between two isolated souls still glows in the dark places, proving that even in the loneliest corners, connection refuses to die.

Now for a brief PHD reflection.

This chapter is exactly the kind of thing that made me shy away from writing the second book of Come Fly With Me. Crafting the murder of a young college student was too heavy, so my brain, in its pickle juice soaked wisdom, invented Riley and Lysandra instead. Thank you, avoidance. You did not save me. You made it worse.

Returning to your regularly scheduled author's note.

Please remember that every character and every scene is a product of my imagination, not a reflection of real people or events. The depravity belongs to the fictional world, not the author.

[PHD uses hand sanitizer to cleanse his sullied hands]

All scenes involve consenting adults, though the villains are, as always, absolute jerks who shove boundaries like it is their hobby. Boo, hiss.

And for the record, PHD does not stand for Poorly Hidden Deviant. I do not even like to cuss.

Thank you for sticking with Riley and Lysandra as their saga grows stranger, darker, and hopefully more compelling with each part.

PHD

Chapter 76

Lysandra Vale

Monday, January 26th

The Five House

8755 Ridgeline Hollow Road

Grants Pass, OR

Lysandra--------------

The next five minutes were a blurry set of images that would replay in Lysandra Vale's worse nightmares. Not that she was ever in danger. Not that her guests were in danger. All eight of her guests reacted to the terse orders. They were abruptly provided gear as if it was a mini-adventure, wearing the futuristic hats and glasses that provided each person who was wearing the tactical gear access to low-light imagery.

Sara, Emma, and Owen were escorted by a burley sergeant from Raptor, Lysandra searched for his name and thought it was Walt, no Wyatt. Wyatt Granger. Emma's parents, Marilyn and Jonas were escorted by a wiry Latino sergeant Mateo Rojas from Titan. Elizabeth, Kate, and Mike were hurried down the stairs by Sergeant Chase Donnelly. He served as the Cyber-Ops officer on Mnementh during the trials.

The Aegis security team clicked on small penlights that bathed the stairs in a soft red light that seemed like daylight in the tactical glasses. Owen's gasp of amazement brought a smile to Lysandra's face. The shepherding soldiers used whispers to urge the sheep in their care to be quiet as the group slinked down the stairs, through the basement, and into the safe room. Shawna Baker counted and the second she achieved the correct value, she pulled the heavy vault door closed. At the opposite end, Captain Zara Okoy opened the door to the escape tunnel, and with a warning to watch their heads, led the herd into the depths of the escape tunnel.

"Command. Check point three." Nyx said and she listened.

In a hush voice, she spoke in clear and concise sentences.

"The Five House is under attack by twenty ATVs with forty plus enemy combatants." She informed the tunnel. "We had a volunteer who took the Escalade and a mannequin dressed as Valkyrie to the north. We have an ambushed plan at waypoint Tango."

The voice of the Coast Guard sergeant Donnelly sounded somewhere behind Lysandra. "Don't worry, Titan's Gunnery Sergeant Lattimore is covered by two Lions fully loaded with kinetic ordinances that the command center is guiding. They have plenty of fire power to take out the whole lot."

Lysandra noticed that each of the Aegis security forces' concentration shifted. A few of them used their fingers to hold in the comms unit to listen. She would need to ask Shawna to have her own. She smiled at the thought of Riley doing so even without her asking.

"It is a bit creepy, but a lot romantic that you can smile like that huddled in a tube buried below the ground." Sara observed through a whisper that immediately reverberated throughout the enclosed space. "Thinking of Riley?"

"I was." Lysandra breathed. "I am."

Nyx spoke up. "Ten ATVs shifted their direction to chase Lattimore's Escalade. Ten ATVs are still on route. One of the ten is a Jeep truck with a significant weapon attached to the bed. We are shifting to the Wyverns." Nyx made eye contact with Lysandra. "Valkyrie and the Martins are in Mnementh. The Madderns will be in Canth. Owl, you are Cyber-Ops in Mnementh."

"No sounds. The doors are open. Martins in the back of the main cabin. Valkyrie in left side middle. All Wyverns have weapons lock and loaded." Nyx said. "We are going dark."

Granger 's bass voice almost vibrated the air in the tunnel. "Jonas and Marilyn will be in the middle chairs, Jonas go right, Marilyn go left to enter. Sara, Emma, and Owen are in back. Sara go left, Emma and Owen go right. Scuttle in quick."

The silent line of 'follow the leader' emerged into the parts closet and they met a six other Aegis soldiers who stood poised for action. Each person was directed into the two Wyverns which were pulled into the auto-shop Riley had emptied weeks ago. All lights were out and the gull wing doors were raised as if the two dragons were stretching their wings before a flight. Riley's tall garage doors stood wide open, waiting for the flight of dragons to escape their cavern.

Lysandra could see a driver nestled within the cockpit, the glow of the instruments providing a ghostly illuminance to the driver's head and shoulders. The resulting imagery was of the driver's head emerging from the belly of a mechanical beast.

Lysandra watched as the Martins wiggled into the back seat of the Wyvern. The second the last foot of Mike Martin cleared the stop, Donnelly scrambled up into the cyber operations seat. Miko's contemporary was immediately at work as his deft hands flowing across the keyboard getting systems online.

Lysandra looked across and at Canth, a large machine gun came to life and rotated the barrel to the center of the front bumper. Four smaller machine guns positioned at each of the four corners of the military vehicle worked through a systems check that had the barrel of the weapons tracking ground and air based threats, before they stilled and focused front or to the rear of the vehicle.

With an almost silent burbling of hydraulics, the gull wind doors closed.

"Welcome to Mnementh." A tenor voice that was heavily accented with Russian. "I am your driver. While my name is Viktor Sokolov, please feel free to use my call sign of Frost. American tongues and Sokolov don't mesh well." The Russian began to move Mnementh out of the shed's door and onto the pine needle forest floor. "Please take a minute and don the five point harness. If you have any questions, Owl will be there to assist."

"Mnementh. Canth. MoD ATVs are 2500 meters to your north, northeast. Set a course of 202.5°. Keep the speed at 10 miles per hour for the first click. After three clicks, double back and deliver cargo to Oscar." The familiar voice of... Ah, yes. Tyler Grayson. Lysandra remember Riley's threat to move him to days because all of the attacks have happened on his watch.

Frost and his fellow driver each confirmed the orders and the pair of Wyvern disappeared in the night.

Lysandra turned and cleared her throat. "Chase Donnelly, right?"

"Yes, ma'am." Owl responded. "Owl is easier ma'am." He smiled. "And cooler."

Lysandra returned the smile. "Is there a way to have a video feed of the Five House?"

Chase mind raced through the request, but with a slight hesitation. "Command. Valkyrie is requesting video from Casper Eagle. I repeat Valkyrie is requesting a feed from Casper's Eagle to her left mid seat monitor."

"Confirmed, Owl." Tyler responded. "She should have it..." He held out the 'it.' "...now."

The Russian accented voice sounded. "Rome is clear of Casper's perimeter. Lights are a go."

"Rome is clear. Titan. Raptor. Lights on command." The New York voice sounded.

"Hold for lights." Helena 'Falcon' Ward, the captain of the Raptor squad almost whispered.

"Eye. Report." Falcon checked in with her sniper.

"Sitting ducks." A male voice said in a soft, breathy voice. His Egyptian accent heavy. "Triggers?"

"New York. What is our trigger status?" Grant 'Rock' Holloway asked.

"Major Holloway. Captain Ward. We have confirmation from Admiral Stratis. Triggers are green if the combatants are moving towards the Five House, in the direction of Wyvern, or engaging Aegis security personnel. I repeat, triggers are green."

"Siro. Ramp. Titan is green." Hollway announced. "Siro, move to long gun. Disable ATV or take driver. If you are pressed, move to SAW without tracers."

A single click was returned.

"Ramp. SAW, no tracers. You are above the lights I don't think they will be able to locate you. You better be tucked in the rabbit warren just in case." Hollway finished.

"Eye, long gun." Ward said in a rush the second the Titan squad leader was done. "Focus on the Jeep truck. Driver and then gunner. Down first."

A click echoed across the speakers.

"Glac and Kite. Three shot clusters. Glac left-to-right. Kite right-to-left."

"Casper. Hold for Lieutenant Colonel Vale." Tyler said confidently over the coms unit.

"Casper, I leave town for a few hours, and you throw a party?" Riley's confident voice sounded clear as day. "We are going to have to discuss boundaries and expectations!"

"Valkyrie, did you order this party bus?" Riley asked, his voice trying to mask the concern with his forced humor. "Keep an eye on Torque. He tends to brood in the corner."

Owl smiled and shook his chin to Lysandra as she could respond.

"Party? It's all about shopping and spending my husband's money when he is out of town on business." Lysandra answered, her heart slowing and her breathing came easier. Her husband was in command. "It's a spa day on my husband's dime. You know while the cat is away, we mice must play!"

"You enjoy." Riley answered. His voice lost his forced playfulness and one of the Army's most respected leaders stepped in to take over.

"Command, status of Brick and the ten ATVs chasing him?" Riley asked.

"Ghost. Brick." A deep voice sounded, thick with a southern Alabama accent. "No contact as of yet, I am three clicks south of Tango."

Mags voice sounded on the Hermes communication network. "Brick, your pursuit is one click behind."

"Mags, it is nice to have you." Riley said. "Hopefully your brought along some company."

"Vera and Naomi are here and will make sure Valkyrie and friends stay safe." Mags replied.

"Brick, proceed to Tango at top speed. Mags, Lions to full effect. You see a grenade launcher, take that vehicle down."

"Eliminate on sign of grenade launcher." Mags confirmed. "Mike? Stan? Clear on the orders?"

Tyler's voice came over the coms. "Mags, Mike and Stan have confirmed. We apologize if this is not the right protocol."

"Tyler, you are good. I am off site." Mags said with a thread of empathy suggesting she likes Tyler.

"Falcon. Rock. I have been thinking about our plan." Riley said thoughtfully. "Would you mind if I shift the order or response?"

Two double clicks sounded.

"Your sectors of fire are perfect. However, in Vegas they used grenade launchers. The second that Mag's Eagle suggests the passenger is carrying launchers, assign long guns to start to remove them as far away as possible. Key target for all. Eye take out the Jeep gunman first."

"Raptor is a go with updated plan. Make it so." Helena Ward replied immediately.

"Titan is a go as well." Holloway said. "Titan, make it happen."

Riley---------------

Riley Vale was anxious. His mind would not let go of the decision to stand down the Lamia drone from recovering the rest of the conversation between the towering Rhett and the elderly Adreian. Working through the rest of the clips just provided a sense of the day-to-day operations of the compound. They had hit the gold mind if they had just delayed the recovery by thirty seconds, he would have had concrete plans for Grants Pass.

Riley looked around and to find the concerned eyes of his four-member team. Riley took a deep breath and then let it out in a huff.

"The second visibility reaches 250 meters, regardless of the reason, fog or sunset, launch our Dragon Eye to 15,000 feet to enact Amsterdam." Riley said, hating himself for not reaching out to protect his wife.

Shade was thinking out loud. "The Dragon's eye triggers the RQ‑4 Global Hawk to speed up its laser link. We could even have the Lamia pull building One's feeds and return to base for downlink."

"We would send now, but it is likely to break cover over a statement that could have ended. Grants Pass is a hard no, it is too well protected." Riley sighed. "Or it could be, Grant Pass attack is a go."

Riley was wired. The fog failed to materialize and the sun's march up and down the sky was inexplicitly slow. The few minutes of sleep had Lysandra's zombie asking if it was worth following orders knowing she now had to eat all of his pearl's brains. The zombie Lysandra turned and walked around the corner and in a very non-zombie sing song voice said, "Guess what? Auntie Lysandra is coming for dinner." The gleeful sound of Auntie from River and Jack's voices woke Riley up in a sweating mess. The humidity was dreadful, the guilt was almost paralyzing.

"Visibility is 251 meters and falling." Shade responded using a formal military tone. "Recommended to launch Dragon Eye to signal Amsterdam."

"Launch." Riley said simply.

"Prepare Lamia the second sunset officially hits." Riley added.

"Lamia launch at 1915 hundred hours." Shade replied.

"Van, let's shift to waypoint Driftwood the minute we retrieve the Dragon's Eye."

The camp was neatly packed in Ramoth. Each of the Vanguard's crew, with the exception of Shade who was sitting in her Cyber Ops seat, was leaning against Ramoth or tree in a relaxed readiness of a stalking tiger.

"The Dragon Eye is at 8,000 feet." Shade reported. "9,000 feet." It felt to Riley that the space-time-continuum had glitched and time was slowing. "10,000 feet." He closed his eyes and breathed deeply. "11,000 feet." He thought of her smile. "12,000 feet." He remembered her smell. "13,000 feet." He felt her touch. "14,000 feet." Riley stood, opened his eyes and walked towards the open gull wing door. Shade reported. "That is 15,000 feet. Amsterdam signal sent."

"Let's get on the move." Riley ordered.

"Thirty seconds until the Dragon Eye's dock." Shade narrated.

Two breaths after the drone was docked, Whisper had Ramoth crawling over the rocks and stones of the streambed to the planned pathway to the Driftwood waypoint.

----------------

"Lamia has completed the laser links to all thirty nodes that were placed yesterday." Shade reported. "Lamia's Eyes have deployed forty-five additional probes. Thirty audio and fifteen video probes have been planted. We are waiting for Lamia to verify the deployment with a laser link with ten minutes of content. Five minutes until the laser-link is complete. Eight minutes and Lamia is home for the day."

The clock read 0300 as Ramoth backed into the Driftwood. The Wyvern parked between two massive tree trunks. The understory vegetation parted for the large vehicle.

The cabin of the Wyvern turned a shade of red.

"Priority message from Command." Mags Chen voice sounded. "Ramoth, Confirm."

Riley's heart dropped. "Command. Ramoth. Confirmed."

"Ghost. Eight minutes ago Casper initiated Rome." Mags said, her voice calm. "Twenty incoming ATVs."

"Status?" Riley asked.

"Per the Rome protocol, Valkyrie and guests are being pulled through the saferoom to Wyvern which will deliver them to Oscar. Brick is running the Escalade as a decoy." Mags answered quickly.

"Did the MoD split their attack force?" Riley asked hopefully.

"Affirmative, ten ATVs are following Brick who is enroute to Tango. Ten are headed to the Five House. We have two lions shadowing Brick which will address any MoD aggression." Vera reported.

"Confirm boots on ground at Casper?" Riley asked.

"Seven sets of boots on the ground. Titan has three, Rock, Siro, and Ramp and Raptor has four, Falcon, Eye, Glac, and Kite." Mags responded.

"Wyvern?" Riley asked. "Frost and Torque are driving. Owl and Forge are Cyber Ops. Nyx and Talon are Valkyrie's shadows on Mnementh. Bolt is shadowing the Maddrens on Canth."

"ETA for Oscar?" Riley asked.

"Eight minutes until drop at Oscar's front door." Vera answered. "With Jonas and Marylin, ten minutes after that."

"What is happening at this moment?" Riley asked.

Mags replied. "Merging communications now."

"Good evening Ghost." Tyler Grayson welcomed Ghost to the conversation. "Merging now..."

"Siro. Ramp. Titan is green." Hollway announced. "Siro, move to long gun. Disable ATV or take driver. If you are pressed, move to SAW without tracers."

Riley listened to the conversations between Holloway and Ward. They were implementing Rome exactly as they had planned it.

"Ghost, just click when you are ready to enter the conversation." Tyler advised. "I have your channel silenced, but I will still see the click."''

"Thanks Tyler." Riley responded.

It was two minutes later when Helena Ward establish. "Glac and Kite. Three shot clusters. Glac left-to-right. Kite right-to-left."

Riley clicked his Hermes comm ring.

Riley emptied his voice of the rage at himself for waiting and scrambled to infuse his voice with cheer and focus. "Casper, I leave town for a few hours, and you throw a party? We are going to have to discuss boundaries and expectations!"

Even though ever second counted, he thought of his wife, folded in half in a Wyvern hurdling across the night darken forest. "Valkyrie, did you order a party bus?" Riley asked, his voice trying to mask the concern with his forced humor. "Keep an eye on Torque. He tends to brood in the corner."

Riley heard it. His wife's voice and it celebrated her confidence in him to ensure that he would exert his will over this MoD attack. "Party? It's all about shopping and spending my husband's money when he is out of town on business. It's a spa day on my husband's dime. You know while the cat is away, we mice must play!"

He left his love unsaid, but they both knew. Riley's mind was flashing through the potential implications for not sending Lamia back for the one video feed. It would have taken only minutes. At 10,000 feet, it would be highly unlikely that the drone would have been seen. His tactical mind compromised with his emotional center of his brain that they would settle balances after the event and took control.

Over the past 20 hours, Riley's mind approached the MoD attack from every angle. He considered the past tactics used on Laucala Island and at Vegas large scale operations. The island used a fixing attack and had infiltration had moved around the back, but they had a mole which is why it worked. In Vegas MoD used a preparatory fire approach that aimed at trying to neutralize Aegis superior training, skill, and expertise with brute attack with grenade launchers. The use of ordinance was measured, which suggested they had an able military mind scripting each offensive maneuver.

The plan that he had helped build was to minimize the loss of life by attempting to disable vehicles and drivers and surround the MoD men and secure for civil justice. That would reduce MoD's trained soldiers that could impact Aegis's own offensive on La Fortaleza del Silencio.

If MoD repeated the Vegas approach, grenade fire would close the gap between skill and lethality. Close counts in horseshoes and grenades.