Chapter Fourteen
Punishment
"Appalling. Absolutely appalling."
Alexis tried not to wince with every word. Stanton calmly paced behind the three of them as they sat facing her desk. Tom was sitting in a chair in the corner, not bothering to hide his amusement in the circumstances that landed the three pilots in the general's office. It was extremely late in the evening, and Alexis was only starting to feel fatigued from the day's events. She had yet to face Stryker; she had a gut feeling that he would be giving her a mouthful about this incident after Stanton.
To her right, Ari sat, stony-faced. Alexis was envious of her ability to sit through a grilling without flinching, but she suspected that it was due to the fact that Ari constantly got herself into trouble. Ari must have developed her ability through the endless hours of lecturing and punishment from not only Stanton, but from any prior instructors, military or otherwise. It was only her perseverance that had brought her this far. If it wasn't for that, Alexis knew that Ari would have been discharged from the Air Force years ago.
Tyler on the other hand did not possess such patience, and was fidgeting in his seat to Alexis's left. Nobody knew exactly what his story was before he came to the 401st about six months prior to Mission City due to his compulsive habit to lie when asked certain questions. From observations though, Alexis could tell he had as much patience as a young child when it came to discipline. He only stilled in his seat when Stanton cleared her throat behind him.
"Permission to speak ma'am." Alexis asked, having found the courage to finally speak. She dared not turn around to face Stanton; Ari had done so once already and had had her head turned back to face forward by Tom, who was right near her. The saying went, better Tom than Stanton for reprimands, but he was nowhere near Alexis, unlike Stanton.
She heard Stanton's footsteps pause. "Permission granted Preston," she said, her voice now off to Alexis's right… she was behind Ari now.
"We stopped a potential assassination from happening. Those two men having that conversation over the radio were planning this. Have you taken the fact that the president is still alive because of us under consideration?" Alexis asked, wondering if she was overstepping her boundaries with the question.
"There is currently an investigation underway as to determine whether it was an assassination attempt or merely a innocent police officer trying to catch a certain rogue driver." Stanton said as she resumed pacing behind them.
"You got everything right except the innocent part. I swear that guy is out to get me." Ari muttered, only loud enough for Alexis to hear. Alexis shook her head discreetly to discourage her friend, but Ari continued anyway. "In fact, I will bet three hundred that the next time I'm in DC, the cop will be there too and we'll have to fight for our lives again. Three hundred. Any takers?" Alexis rolled her eyes when she and Ari saw Tom nod in acknowledgement of the bet. Then his eyes flickered back to Stanton as she began talking again.
"What is worse is that this is exactly the evidence Simmons needs to disband the 401st. The three of you were identified as being in the vehicle, and then I received a direct complaint from not only Thayer, but Keller as well. Mr. Keller complained about apparent misuse of a government-owned vehicle, and Mr. Thayer complained about the obvious lack of conduct and control from pilots under my jurisdiction. I can't fight for you all in the Pentagon if you keep acting like this."
"How the hell did they find out about this?" Ari demanded. Suddenly she turned around to face Stanton and demanded, "How the hell did you find out about this?" Before Stanton could forcefully turn her head around, Ari quickly resumed facing forward, only she was smirking this time.
Stanton stopped between Alexis and Ari and said coolly, "We all found out through the news station. The press covering the presidential visit to Mission City managed to catch your little stunt on film, and then 'accidentally' broadcasted the incident to the entire nation."
"We saw it during the little session I was giving the newcomers. How much force did you use when you rammed the cop?" Tom asked, speaking for the first time.
"Thomas!" Stanton hissed, and Tom put his hands up in a gesture of surrender. "I will not have any encouragement for this kind of… activity. I expected a call from Mr. Thayer about it, but when Keller called, I was embarrassed. Honestly, I haven't had such troublemakers since 1995, and they weren't as bad as these three." She growled low in her throat when Tyler began to fidget again. He stilled once again immediately.
"So the SecDef is a lot more strict than the Staff Chief. Big deal." Tom muttered, ignoring Stanton again.
Stanton ignored his remark. She snapped, "Miss Aliskevicz and Mr. Collins, I sadly expected this behavior from you. But Alexis," she hesitated, and then finished in a softer tone saying, "Alexis, I expected better from you. Somebody could have been killed. We are all fortunate that everyone survived, including the police officer. He was a bit disheveled, but alive and unscratched. Sadly, we can't say the same about his vehicle… yet he refused to let it be taken to the shop. He was able to drive it away from the scene after crews dug him out."
"Devil's Run was ingenious. Congrats." Tom said from his seat, grinning.
Stanton didn't bother trying to tell her third-in-command to shut it this time. She had been up for almost eighteen hours straight now, and was running on three hours of sleep. Several hours after the damned alarm had been shut off, Stryker Davis and Rad White had started bickering over who had set the alarm off in the first place. Then later during their session with Tom, there had been another minor, semi-violent argument between them, and although they both refused to reveal the cause of it, Tom said it had been an issue concerning Preston. This all made her nervous. Stryker was a figurative time bomb, one that was rapidly ticking down. Stanton had faced people with similar temperaments to his, but at least then she had known how to either set the people off or diffuse the situation before things got too ugly. Stryker was very hard to read. She didn't know when he was going to blow, so she had figured out a way to not only make sure he and Preston became best pals, but keep an eye on him as well.
"So… are you gonna punish us?" Tyler ventured, choosing his words somewhat carefully. He hadn't uttered a word since he was hauled into Stanton's office. Alexis suspected that he disliked his status as 'not-a-rookie-but-not-an-experienced-flier-yet', the level above rookie but below respected pilot. The respect level hadn't really changed much either. Stryker had dealt a severe blow to Tyler's self-confidence by intimidating him and holding him by the ear in front of the older pilots. One did not gain respect by being hauled around by the ear.
"What on earth made you think you were going to get out of punishment?" Stanton hissed, and Tyler flinched at her harsh tone. Stanton walked around the desk and sat back down, clearly frustrated with the three of them. "You all are lucky that Simmons was out of the country on a diplomatic mission and therefore missed this golden opportunity to shut the whole operation down." Stanton said in an icy tone.
"I thought Simmons lost his job." Ari interrupted, frowning.
"Thayer told me that Simmons does odd jobs for Mr. Keller from time to time… although how the Chief of Staff of the Air Force knows this is beyond me. Even I didn't know what he was doing at the time. It's almost feels as though Keller is hiding something from me and has my own boss in on the loop." Stanton murmured thoughtfully. She shook her head and then said, "Aliskevicz and Collins, you are hereby sentenced to being Tom's 'assistants' for an indefinite amount of time."
"Yeah, Mackerson could really use the company." Tom said, grinning now. Alexis knew he was going to run Riley, Ari, and Tyler ragged by the end of the week. Ari was fidgeting nervously just from viewing Tom's scheming expression.
Ari opened her mouth to protest as Tyler groaned. The expression on Stanton's face however stopped Ari from fully vocalizing her protest and prompted her to shut her mouth and nod stiffly. "Yes… ma'am," she consented through clenched teeth.
"Dismissed." Stanton ordered, smiling sweetly for the first time since they had arrived
"Come on guys! The mess hall can't clean itself you know." Tom said, grinning bigger at the loud groans from Ari and Tyler. Alexis was smart enough not to follow her friends this time. Instead, she stayed in her seat and listened to her friends' departures. Then she watched with disinterest as Stanton leaned forward and pressed a button on a small console on her desk. "Randall, bring Stryker Davis to my office," she ordered before releasing the button. Turning to Alexis now, she asked, "Preston, how are you handling your relationship with Davis?"
"Very well ma'am. No problems whatsoever," Alexis replied. It wasn't really a lie; she and Stryker had mutually established two different kinds of interactions; either snippy exchanges or full-blown arguments. The only time they had ever come close to physical violence was that one time she had tried to punch him in the face. She cringed when she thought of the awkward position they had ended up in.
In a way, they established the enmity between them.
"That's good." Stanton said, apparently not noticing Alexis's discomfort. "Thomas and I have both decided to keep him on the squadron. He is a phenomenal flier and a good soldier. His flight instructors put commendations on his records and he has excellent scores," the general continued, pulling up Stryker's electronic record. "All we need to do now is start having the two of you work and train together. At the end, you should be able to predict his actions. My objective is for you two to be able to trust each other with your lives by the time we are done with this little… experiment let's call it."
Alexis nodded, even though her mind was reeling. She hated being the guinea pig of a social experiment from the general, especially when the experiment involved a person she didn't get along with. What made things worse was that it was Stanton who came up with the experiment. Her 'experiments' often ended up with bizarre results.
"Ma'am?" she asked, and the general looked up to acknowledge her. "When you say 'work together' do you mean that we need to stick together for the entire day?" she asked, struggling not to think of the implications if that was the case.
"From sun-up to sun-down." Stanton replied, smiling again. "The trick is for both of you to carry on your usual routines. I want to see how this turns out. If it works, I may try with another set of partners." She frowned slightly, and then asked, "Are there any questions or complaints or both? Do you want to back down from this?"
"No ma'am. What I meant earlier was that if Stryker had a training seminar or something, would I have to go too?" Alexis asked.
Stanton grinned and said, "It would all be review for you would it not?"
Alexis could just see hours of torment from Ari ahead of her. Servitude to Tom suddenly didn't seem so bad anymore.
"One more thing," Stanton said, catching Alexis's attention, "I encourage you to maintain your friendship with Aliskevicz and Collins, but your main priority is to work on your relationship with Davis." A soft knock on the door interrupted her. Stanton looked up and said in a business-like tone, "Come in please."
Alexis heard Stryker's heavy footsteps enter, followed by Randall's lighter tread behind him. There was the scraping of a metallic chair against the carpeted floor as Stryker sat down beside her. There was a click of the door shutting as Randall left the room.
"Thank you Stryker for being patient with us." Stanton said, still smiling.
"You are welcome." Stryker replied in a mimicking tone.
His blatant disrespect was starting to get on Alexis's nerves. She discreetly kicked him under the general's desk.
To her irritation, he didn't even react.
"Stryker, you and Preston will be working together for now. I expect the two of you to carry on your usual routines, except you'll be together. I want you to be able to trust Preston with your life, and be able to predict her actions." Stanton explained, eyes studying for a reaction. Alexis knew that Stanton wouldn't be able to get one from Stryker.
"I look forward to working with… Alexis." Stryker said, eyes briefly flickering to Alexis. She mentally shuddered; she felt more like she was his prey rather than his flight partner.
"Good. You will both start tomorrow. Dismissed." Stanton said, and gestured for them to leave.
Alexis was out the door before Stryker. She now wished she hadn't kicked him; he usually succeeded in getting his full revenge. She knew that from experience. Alexis finally slowed down when she heard Stryker's heavy footsteps right behind her. Might as well as get it over with.
"You realize this is your fault right? If you hadn't pulled that infantile stunt off in front of the cameras we wouldn't be here because Stanton wouldn't have felt insecure about our 'relationship'." Stryker hissed in her ear, and she jumped at the close proximity and the suddenness of his words. "We both know you don't want to be with me as much as I don't want to be with you. But since you are so obsessed with pleasing your leader, you will bear it in silence."
Alexis scowled. "She's your leader too Stryker," she snapped, turning around and jabbing her finger into his chest. He jerked back, his face twisted into an offended expression. "Don't forget that."
"You are really aiming to be the bane of my existence Alexis Preston," he snarled in a slightly raspy tone once he got over his brief shock at her aggression towards him.
"Then what are your aims Stryker? To be a part of this team or become my personal demon sent straight from hell designed specifically to torment me?" she demanded, her patience starting to wear thin.
He paused, as though considering the question. "I think my first priority is to make your life miserable," he finally answered, offering a nasty grin.
Alexis stared at him. "Jerk," she snapped at him, and then stalked away. The only things holding her back from pummeling him was her discipline and the fact that he was bigger and stronger than her. She knew that he knew he could easily kill her if he so chose, and she could have sworn that he was considering it when they were having the staring contest a few minutes ago. Besides why the hell would 'her' stunt bother him so much to the point he had to act like a sore loser? It wasn't as though he was counting on a completely different outcome…
She swore when the thought hit her. He wouldn't care unless he could have been one of the terrorists on the radio channel when she tried to get through to Stryker… Damn. She smacked her head against the corridor wall in frustration, and muttered another curse when her head began to throb. She was the base's biggest idiot. It was on Stryker's channel that she caught the conversation. So of course Stryker was going to be involved; he must have been the raspy-voiced person. The news coverage would probably have the identity of the cop, the other perpetrator. She snorted as another thought occurred to her. Ari was worried more about the cop when the bigger threat was in the same building as her.
Alexis knew she couldn't go to Stanton yet. She needed the damned evidence first.
She also needed the evidence fast before another assassination attempt was put in motion.
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A/N: I know this was a fast update, but my reason is that I may not get a chance to update for a while because exams are coming up and the term is closing, so I don't know when I'll have the next chapter up. Until then, enjoy!