by Susan Stoker
Caroline mentally shrugged, it wasn’t as if she could do anything about it, and turned her attention to the SkyMall magazine in the seat pocket in front of her. She idly flipped the pages, looking at the overpriced items as the plane taxied to the runway and took off.
After safely reaching cruising altitude, Caroline put the magazine back into the pocket in front of her and rested her head on the seatback, much as Matthew had done when he’d first sat down. She was tired, but the middle seat wasn’t conducive to sleeping with nothing to rest her head against and there was no way she’d risk falling asleep with her head tilted back on the seat. She’d probably snore like an eighty year old man if she did. Even if the sexy man next to her wasn’t interested, she still didn’t want to embarrass herself. She had some standards after all.
Caroline looked over at Matthew and saw he also wasn’t sleeping. He had one leg stretched out into the aisle and one under the seat in front of him. His eyes were closed and his hands were intertwined, resting on his stomach. Every now and then he’d shift in his seat, open his eyes, and close them again. She smiled. At least in the aisle seat he was more comfortable than if he’d been scrunched in the middle.
Wolf opened his eyes with a sigh; there was no way he was sleeping. Airplane seats sucked, another reason to not to fly commercial. Not knowing why he couldn’t keep his eyes off of her, Wolf glanced over at the woman sitting next to him again, and caught Caroline’s smile which lit up her whole face. Wolf thought that while she wasn’t conventionally pretty, she was certainly interesting looking.
“So, you come here often?” He couldn’t resist the cheesy pickup line. Something told him Caroline would think it was funny and not take him seriously. Hearing her soft laugh, Wolf knew he was right.
“Ha-ha. Actually, I don’t fly too often, but I’m currently on my way to a new job in Norfolk. Normally I’d drive, but my new company is paying all my moving expenses, including shipping my car out to Virginia, so I figured instead of taking the extra days to drive cross country, I’d just fly and take the extra time to get to know Norfolk before I have to start work.”
“Sounds sensible.” Wolf agreed, happy to hear she seemed like a reasonable woman. He’d met too many women that were all about the money, or fame, or fashion, or whatever.
“What are you doing in Norfolk? Or is that just a stop-over to somewhere else?” Caroline asked curiously. She wasn’t trying to pry, but since he was talking to her and seemed interested in what she had to say, she wanted to keep the conversation going.
Wolf knew he had to be careful about talking about his job, but he figured since they weren’t on their way to a mission right now he could be mostly upfront. “I and two buddies are headed for some leave in Virginia. We’re between missions…er…jobs right now.”
“I figured you were military.” Caroline told him matter-of-factly with no surprise or awe in her voice.
“How’d you guess?”
Caroline couldn’t tell if he was being serious or just kidding with her. “I don’t know if that was sarcasm or not, but I noticed you’re very much in shape, you have combat boots on, and honestly, you just have the look of a military man.”
Wolf laughed. “I was teasing you Caroline, but yeah, you’re right. I’m in the Navy. I’m a SEAL.” Wolf was surprised at himself. He didn’t usually blurt out that he was a SEAL. There was something about this woman that invited confidences. He wasn’t sure what to expect from her with his revelation, but was honestly surprised when she didn’t say anything about it and continued their conversation as if Wolf never mentioned he was a member of one of the most revered and respected branches of their country’s military.
“What are you going to do on your leave?”
“We have a friend who lives out there. He was medically retired after losing a leg in combat. We’re just going to crash at his house and hang out. We’ll probably go to the base and check it out, but we all decided we needed the down time and try to keep the shop talk to a minimum.”
“Oh geez, that sucks about your friend. I’m so sorry. I’m so glad people today recognize what you guys do for our country. I knew someone in high school that told me when her dad came home from Vietnam he was spit on and generally treated like crap. It’s such a shame and I love seeing the support all our country’s soldiers get today. I think it’s a good idea for you and your friends to take some time off and for you to try to keep talk about your job out of it,” Caroline agreed. “It can be tough to really relax if all you do on a vacation is talk shop.”
Enjoying the conversation more than he’d thought he would, Wolf asked, “So, what is this new job you’re flying across the country for?”
Pleased he was showing interest in her, Caroline told him, hoping it wouldn’t turn him off—some men didn’t like smart women. “I’m a chemist. I decided I needed a change of scenery since my parents passed away. I researched where I wanted to work and applied for, and was hired, by a great company out east. I’m pretty excited to get started actually.”
“So what does a chemist do exactly?” Wolf was impressed with what he’d heard so far.
Caroline laughed lightly. She wasn’t exactly surprised at the question. It seemed like most people had no idea what she did most of the time, even when she explained it she could see their eyes glaze over. Well, he’d asked, so she decided to tell him. She was enjoying talking to him and he seemed pretty smart. She had high hopes he’d understand.
“There are two basic “worlds” when it comes to chemists. A macroscopic world in chemistry is the one that you’d probably think of when thinking of a chemist. It involves a lab and white coats and experimenting with different compounds and materials. You can actually see, hear, and touch things in the macroscopic world. On the other hand is the microscopic world. This involves things you can’t actually touch or hear or see. It basically deals with models and theories mostly.”
“Which do you work in?” Wolf asked, seemingly following her conversation without any issues.
“I’m a card carrying, lab coat wearing, chemist geek,” Caroline answered laughing at herself.
Wolf didn’t think, but reached over and took her hand in his. “You’re not a geek sweetheart; you’re a scholar in a lab coat that does magic with her hands.”
Holy crap. This man was lethal. Caroline’s stomach clenched at his words. Had any man, ever, said anything nicer to her than that? She didn’t think so. She tried to blow off his words and airily joked, “Actually I have a wand that does the magic.”
“Tell me more about your job. It sounds really interesting.” Sensing Caroline’s reluctance, Wolf begged, “Please?”
Embarrassed, but not sure why, Caroline hesitantly told him more. “I’m in applied chemistry; I work for a company and do short term research on whatever is on my plate at the time. It could be product development or improvement to something that’s already out there. There are also pure chemists that do more long term research on whatever they want or can get funded and there’s no real practical application in the short term with them.”
“So what do you do all day at work?” Wolf found Caroline fascinating. He’d never met a chemist before. Oh sure, Wolf met people who were good at chemistry and had a knack for things like making bombs for the military, as well as defusing them, like Dude. But being a bomb ordinance technician wasn’t the same thing as being a chemist. It wasn’t like Wolf came in contact with someone like Caroline in his regular world.
“Well, it depends on the day and the project, of course,” she told him, losing her self-consciousness since she was talking about a topic she loved. Caroline had no idea her enthusiasm made her prettier and that Wolf thought her excitement was a turn on.
“Sometimes I analyze substances, trying to figure out what’s in it, how much of something is in it, or both. I can create substances too. Sometimes we make synthetic substances, trying to copy something that’s in nature, and other times we work from scratch to create something new. And,
sometimes I have to do boring things, like test theories.”
They both laughed, Wolf knew she was probably never bored. The flush on Caroline’s face as she spoke about what she loved was sexy as hell. Wolf couldn’t believe he’d ever thought this woman plain.
It was during a lull in their conversation they both heard the man sitting by the window snort in his sleep. Caroline put her hand over her mouth to keep from laughing too loud and waking him up. She couldn’t contain her giggles though and loved sharing a laugh with the big bad SEAL sitting next to her.
Caroline was pleasantly surprised with the conversation with Matthew, who was even more appealing now. Too many times good looking men thought they were God’s gift to women and acted that way as well. She’d met some SEALs when she lived in California that were obnoxious because they thought every woman should be throwing themselves at them.
Matthew was interesting and he’d actually listened when she talked. God, she had to get herself together. They were two strangers on a plane. Once they landed in Norfolk they’d go their separate ways and never see each other again. He was just being polite. It was disappointing, but it was just the way it was.
Continuing to talk while waiting patiently for the flight attendant to come by their row with their complementary drinks, Wolf and Caroline shared how they were both sad to leave the nice weather of San Diego—Caroline for good, and Wolf for whatever time he’d be on his new mission.
Finally the flight attendant made it to their row. Caroline was thirsty and was glad to see the drink cart. The attendant still seemed to be a bit sullen and didn’t engage people in conversation. Asking the people in the row ahead of them what they wanted to drink and silently serving them, he did the same when he got to their row. The man next to the window had woken up and asked for vodka on the rocks. Caroline ordered a diet soda and Wolf requested an orange juice. Each were given a cup filled to the brim with ice and their drinks, while the flight attendant moved past them to continue serving the rest of the plane.
Caroline poured her drink into the cup and lifted it to take a sip. Suddenly, she stopped. What the hell? She brought the cup to her nose and inhaled deeply. Quickly placing it back on her tray, Caroline saw Matthew was about to drink from his plastic cup. Without thinking how intimate or odd it might seem, Caroline reached over, grabbed the top of Wolf’s cup and lowered it to the small tray in front of him.
Chapter Five
Wolf twisted in surprise as Caroline lowered his drink to the tray. What the hell was she doing? He’d thought they were getting along, but damn, he didn’t really know her well enough for her to be touching his drink and invading his personal space like that.
He looked over at her, ready to question her, and was surprised to see she was quite pale.
“Don’t…,” was all she said at first. Wolf could tell Caroline was trying to get her thoughts together.
Wolf’s senses went on alert. Whatever was going on had this woman on edge. Feeling bad about thinking she was overstepping her bounds a second ago, Wolf looked at Caroline more closely and saw goose bumps up and down her arms. Shit. Whatever she was thinking was serious.
Matthew gave her the time she needed to gather her thoughts, which Caroline appreciated. Without him asking again what was wrong, Caroline leaned close to him and cautioned in a soft urgent voice, “Something’s wrong with the ice. I can smell it. It smells off, like something’s in it.”
Wolf picked up his drink again and raised it to his face. He could see Caroline wanted to stop him, but she didn’t. Pretending to take a sip he smelled it as she had… nothing. He couldn’t detect anything but the orange juice that was in the cup. He looked at her and said softly, “I don’t smell anything.”
Caroline was frustrated. She could tell Matthew wanted to believe her, but when he hadn’t noticed anything off about his drink, he was having a hard time. She looked away. Great, now he thought she was nuts. But she wasn’t. She was a chemist dammit, and this is what she did for a living. There was some other chemical in with the drink, she knew it. But how would she convince him without sounding crazy?
She turned back to Matthew, only to see him still looking at her.
“What is it?” he demanded softly. “Explain, so I can understand.”
Caroline’s respect for Matthew rose. He wasn’t sure he should believe what she was saying, but he was smart enough to give her time to convince him, and she knew she’d have to explain it in a way he could understand.
Caroline knew she had to get through to him and did her best to convince him she knew what she was talking about. Lowering her voice even further so the people around them wouldn’t hear her, she leaned into him and looked him in the eyes as she spoke. “I don’t know, but as a chemist I’m trained to pick up on the different chemical smells of compounds. I don’t know what it is, but it’s not natural.”
“Is it in mine too?” he asked her just as softly, passing his cup over to her.
She sniffed it and immediately nodded.
“Shit,” Wolf said under his breath. He believed her. He wasn’t a person to trust easily, but this woman didn’t have any guile in her at all. She’d have no reason to lie to him. Caroline had too much pride as a chemist to pretend something was wrong, he could tell that just from talking to her for the last hour. Besides he couldn’t think of what she’d get out of it even if she was lying, and she was obviously freaked the hell out.
His next thought was what the hell was going on with the plane? If Caroline was right, who was trying to drug the passengers on the plane? Who was in on it? Was it all the passengers or just him and Caroline? Was he targeted? Were Mozart and Abe targeted too? He thought about his teammates for the first time after he’d started talking with Caroline. How far back was the flight attendant with the drink cart? Had they drunk anything yet? Shit, he had to warn them.
Leaning in to avoid the possibility of being overheard, Wolf whispered, “Stay seated. I need to warn my men.”
Caroline watched as Matthew put his drink on her tray and secured his tray back into the seat back. She didn’t ask any questions as he stood up and reached into the overhead bin. He reached for his bag, took his time looking through the small duffle he’d placed up there, then latched the compartment and sat down again.
Wolf felt a bit better after settling back into his seat. He’d signaled to Mozart and Abe that there was danger and not to eat. They’d come up with the signal after being holed up while on a nasty mission and found that the food they were being served was drugged. His men would know something was up, but how to get word to them for sure?
Caroline was watching him closely. Could he use her? No, not use her, but have her help him? He hadn’t refastened his seatbelt, so he turned in his seat so he was angled toward Caroline. He took one of her hands into his own, absently rubbing his thumb over the back of her hand as he thought about how he wanted to approach her with his plan. Finally he sighed and looked into her eyes. Caroline was watching him intently. Her big brown eyes were wide and slightly dilated. Her grip on his hand told him she was more scared than she looked.
Wolf’s protective side was fighting to come out. He felt and could see the quivers taking over her body. He wanted to stuff her under the seat and tell her not to come out until they were on the ground safe and sound, but he also, unfortunately, knew that wasn’t an option. He needed her.
“Caroline, I need your help,” he admitted to her softly. He watched as she nodded immediately. Jesus, she didn’t even ask what he needed help with, just immediately agreed. He felt something inside shift, but wrestled it down. Now wasn’t the time.
“My men are seated in seats 18C and 24D. I need to tell them what’s going on, but since we don’t know what’s really up or who’s involved I need to keep it quiet. Will you help me?”
“Of course, Matthew,” Caroline told him, her voice only shaking a little. “Although I’m not sure what I can do. I’m just a civilian…”
Wolf squeezed the
hand he was still holding, “That’s why this’ll work. No one will think twice about you walking in the aisles. If I suddenly got up and went back to talk to my teammates, I would definitely be noticed. I’m going to write a short note, if you get up and go to the restroom in the back of the plane, you can pass it to Mozart, who’s in 18C.”
“Mozart?” was Caroline’s comment.
Wolf smiled a bit, chuckling inside that in the middle of a serious scary situation, Caroline still had the presence of mind to question Mozart’s name.
He explained quickly, “It’s his nickname, we all have one.”
Caroline nodded, she wanted to know what his nickname was, but knew this wasn’t the time or the place. Maybe someday she’d pluck up the courage to ask him about it…if they got out of this…whatever this was. Remembering there were two of his friends on the plane she questioned, “What about your friend in row twenty four?”
Wolf put his other hand over where their hands were still clutched together. “When you pass him, grab his shoulder instead of the seat and press your second and fourth fingers down hard.” He demonstrated on the back of her hand he was holding. “He’ll know what it means.”
Wolf expected Caroline to ask what the gesture meant, but she didn’t. She only nodded her head and demonstrated the hand signal back to him. “Like this?” she asked.
Wolf nodded with approval and couldn’t help himself. He lifted her hand that was still clutched tightly in his own and kissed the back of it, holding his lips there for a moment longer than was socially acceptable, before letting go.
“That’s all you need to do, then come right back here after you go into the restroom,” he told her seriously, looking into her eyes, willing her to understand the danger she was in, that they were all in. “Don’t try to be a hero. If something goes wrong, don’t worry about it. Just continue on as normally as you can. Don’t bring any undue attention to yourself. My guys know something is up and will look out for you. They can see you’re sitting next to me so when you get up they’ll be on alert. Do you have any questions?”