“Oh.” Bash’s eyes widened. “Now, that would be cool. Shame we don’t have some recording gear. We could make the Angel Fire USO Unplugged tour out of it.”
Forest’s low rumble caught everyone’s attention. “Give me forty-eight hours, Bash, and I’ll have everything you need.”
Of course, Forest Summers would have everything they needed. When you had as much money as he did, nothing was impossible. Ryker eyed Forest sideways, wondering what else the gentle giant had shoved up his sleeve because he was sure as shit something was going on in Forest’s head.
Vane gave a nod to Ryker. “Major Meyers and Sergeant Lyons, if I could speak with you outside.”
“Yes, sir,” he said.
T gave a nod. “Yes, sir.”
Vane headed out while Skye came over and whispered in T’s ear. T gave a slight shake of her head and then followed the colonel out.
Bent thumped the table. “This is going to be awesome!” The deep reverberations of his voice practically sang the last word.
Ryker wished he could stay and hang with the band, but duty called him elsewhere.
Vane and T waited at the back of the hangar. A dull buzz filled the giant building. The colonel hadn’t been kidding about no one wanting to leave. The band would be headed back out in a bit for meet-and-greets and spontaneous yet highly choreographed interactions with the troops. He wished he could be with them. Never in his life had the power of music thrummed in his veins. He felt as if he’d been breathing in energy and breathing out sound. It had been beyond amazing. He never wanted it to stop.
“Sir,” he said, approaching Vane and T, “thank you for the opportunity.”
“I think this is going to be great for all involved,” Vane said.
“What exactly is the plan?” T asked.
“You’ll return to your post in the morning. We have a convoy headed that way. The rest of your team will accompany you. Mr. Summers assures me the band can travel light and aren’t against roughing it a little.”
Ryker smiled at this. There would be more than a little bit of roughing it. They weren’t housing the band at The Ritz. It would be field shelters, kitchens, and bare-bones everything.
“And your plan is to have them do what exactly?” Ryker asked. “Play for the troops obviously, but what else?”
“This is why I want you. Mr. Dean wanted an up-close-and-personal experience. We’ll have the band go from place to place and do some pick-up songs, probably in the chow halls, to maybe see if they can find anyone else with musical talent that can play. We’re going for organic.”
“Organic?” T scoffed. “Sounds like a lot of planning is going into this.”
“Unfortunately, that’s the way of things,” Vane admitted. “You’ll have an escort the entire time. We’ll scout the routes but can’t guarantee…”
“We understand,” Ryker said. Nothing was guaranteed in this godforsaken place.
“Sir,” T interjected, “I still don’t understand why I have to go.”
“That is a concession we made with Mr. Summers. There’s the interview—”
“I can do an interview in an afternoon. Don’t need two weeks.”
“I agree,” Vane said. “But he requested time to speak with both of you. He’s very interested in the capability of our special ops surgical teams.”
“And Collins is okay with this?”
“Yes,” Vane said. “Now, it’s all been arranged. You’ll get your temporary-duty orders in the morning. In the meantime, Collins has asked to meet with the two of you tonight.”
“Yes, sir,” he said, glancing at T.
Her eyes strayed back to the hangar, and he didn’t like what that implied.
SIXTEEN
Maze
