Free Finn: Scifi Alien Invasion Romance (Hell Squad Book 10) by Anna Hackett Page A

done will have to be good enough.”
    Noah gave a single, dissatisfied nod. “I’ve added extra flares to the Hawk’s arsenal. Even if the missiles do still pick up your heat signature, you can use the flares to confuse them, and give them other heat signatures to follow.”
    This was it. “I’ll call Lia. Our mission is a go.”
     

Chapter Eight
    Lia adjusted her flight suit and gripped her drone. She strode down the corridor toward the hangar. As she stepped inside, she watched people moving to and fro, working on Hawks, refueling equipment, moving spare parts. She spotted Finn’s damaged Hawk, and her stomach did a slow turn.
    Then she spotted another Hawk in the center of the hangar. She could see Finn through the cockpit window.
    She pulled in a deep breath, calming her nerves. The last time she’d been out on a mission, she’d ended up running across an alien battleship while being attacked by raptors. The last time she’d watched a mission on screen, she’d seen Finn go down in flames.
    This was their life now. Heading into danger, taking enormous risks. She looked around at all the people. To keep the Enclave and its people safe, some people had to take risks. To fight off the Gizzida, some of those fighters would die.
    She looked at Finn again. He looked almost normal, busy getting the Hawk ready. But she remembered what he’d looked like, how hurt he’d been, when Hell Squad had brought him home.
    Her thoughts turned to their night together. She knew she shouldn’t think about it, about him. But she didn’t want to see him hurt again, and she wanted more. She wanted to touch him and taste him again. God, she was an idiot.
    At that moment, he looked down and spotted her, then waved her inside.
    Lia climbed into the Hawk and moved through to the cockpit. She settled into the co-pilot’s seat.
    “We’re just about ready to leave,” he told her.
    “I heard about the message from Groom Lake.”
    He nodded. “Not enough info got through. No one’s sure what exactly happened, or if they are okay. We need a jet and we need it yesterday. We have to get the amplifier out there.”
    “Then let’s do it.”
    Finn moved through his preflight check with an ease and skill that proved he’d done it many times before. Soon, the Hawk was shooting upward, through the retracted hangar doors. The afternoon sunlight was almost blinding. Lia closed her eyes and absorbed the warmth of it. There were some days when she really missed the sunshine.
    “Good luck, you two.” Elle’s voice came through the speakers. “I’ll stay with you as long as I can.”
    “Thanks, Elle,” Finn replied. He tapped the controls, and the Hawk tilted and moved northwest.
    Lia could see that Finn was moving them a long way to the west. He was avoiding the main part of Sydney, and the areas that had the most alien activity. Soon, she saw the dark purple shadow of the Blue Mountains.
    “I wonder what’s left of the old base,” she said.
    He shrugged. “No point thinking about it. We made it out, that’s all that matters.”
    He said it so matter-of-factly. Lia nodded, but she wondered if it mattered more than that. After all, it had been their home for eighteen months.
    But maybe he was right. It was another thing that she’d gotten attached to, and then had snatched away.
    She turned her gaze downward. Every now and then, she spotted raptor patrols. And once, off in the distance, she saw the huge form of a rex lumbering along. The creature had gotten its name because it resembled a T-rex.
    “Do you think many survivors are out there? Alone?” she asked.
    “Probably,” Finn said.
    It had to be horrible to be so alone and afraid. “I wonder what this new alien weapon is.”
    “We won’t know until we get this amplifier out there, and can talk to Groom Lake. Or other bases. Someone else might have intel on it.”
    Worry ate at her, as she imagined what else the Gizzida had up their scaly sleeves. But Lia pushed it aside.