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

For the moment, she had to focus on this mission.
    Soon, they were flying over the thick trees of a national park on the northern side of Sydney.
    “Okay,” Finn said. “We’re coming up on the facility.”
    “I’ve been there a couple of times.” Lia scanned the ground below, to see if she could spot Aeron’s buildings. “I went to take a look at some new aircraft designs they were working on. They did good work.”
    “Look. There it is.” He pointed straight ahead.
    Lia could see the white curved hangars in the distance. “Any alien signatures?”
    “None. Factories are that way.” He nodded his head toward the east.
    Lia looked in the direction he indicated. She couldn’t see the buildings Finn had described, but she could see the thick clouds of smoke hanging in the air on the horizon like ugly storm clouds. Her gut cramped. What the hell were the aliens doing?
    “Shit.”
    Finn’s curse made her look back. They were right over the Aeron facility. Oh, no . Despair stuck its sharp claws into her. She could see it clearly now. The hangars were all crumpled. One had been burned, and was now just a blackened husk.
    The only thing that looked intact was the main office building. It was a three-story building with a large glass roof over the lobby.
    Finn circled around the site. Lia could see the twisted remains of jets on the test runway. There was nothing left.
    “Nothing here.” Finn’s voice was hard. “We’ll have to look somewhere else.”
    Lia nodded dully. But she knew they might not have the time for that. Hell, she wasn’t even sure there was anywhere else to look.
    She glanced down through the grimy glass into the lobby of the building. She remembered her last visit there. The company had pulled out all the stops to impress them. She’d loved their sleek, minimalist office building. In the lobby, an early version of their first supersonic jet had sat on display, suspended from the ceiling.
    She froze. She could see the silhouette of the jet now.
    “Finn, there might be something left.” She pointed downward.
    He looked and frowned. “A display?”
    “It’s the actual first Aeron Mark 1 supersonic jet. It’s old and hasn’t been flown for years, but it might still be operational.”
    Finn’s frown deepened. “It’s a bit of a longshot.”
    “I remember them saying it would still fly. They were proud of it. Let’s get the drone out and take a closer look.”
    Within moments, Lia was operating her drone. She flew it down, and found a broken window. She maneuvered it carefully inside. The place was a mess. The formerly pristine offices were now in disarray. Ceiling panels and wires dangled down. Desks had been overturned, and cupboards lay open and ransacked. She made her way carefully through to the lobby. Lia was grateful that it was a large, open space that made it easy to fly. The last thing she wanted to do was to get her drone hooked up on something.
    The Mark 1 hung in the center of the lobby. She circled around it.
    “It still has engines.” She was feeling excited now, bouncing in her seat. “I think it’ll fly.”
    “It looks in decent condition,” Finn conceded.
    Suddenly, an alarm blared in the cockpit. She looked up.
    Finn’s face turned hard as granite. “Get the drone back in. We have to go. Now!”
    “What is it?”
    “We have a heat-seeking missile incoming.”
    ***
    Finn flew the Hawk southward, racing across the sky. He saw the missile incoming, and fired the first set of flares. Behind the quadcopter, several small flares streamed out.
    Mentally, he cursed. Clearly, the work he and Noah had done hadn’t been enough to hide the Hawk’s heat signature.
    Now, all he could rely on was his flying skills—and luck—to get them home.
    He keyed in evasive maneuvers, and saw the missile go off after a flare.
    Beside him, Lia was gripping onto the edge of her seat.
    More lights appeared on his screen. Damn . There were more missiles coming, and right behind them,