by Susan Stoker
Caroline shook her head. She was nervous, but she could do this. She wanted to sit and digest the kiss Matthew had planted on the tender skin on the back of her hand, but she didn’t have time. She knew if she did have the time, she’d probably over analyze it, and besides she had to concentrate on not chickening out of what Matthew needed her to do.
Matthew quickly scribbled on a piece of napkin. His writing just looked like gibberish to Caroline, so she knew it was in code, but it didn’t really matter. She knew he’d probably summed up the situation in a way his friends would be on alert and would be ready to do…whatever. Hopefully it made sense to the man in row eighteen. His other friend wasn’t getting an actual paper message, but hopefully whatever pressing her fingers into his shoulder meant, he’d understand. There were so many “hopefullys” in what she was about to do, but they had no other choice. Matthew tucked the napkin into her hand and squeezed it closed gently.
“You can do this, Caroline,” Wolf whispered.
It was time. Caroline stood up and flattened herself as much as she could to squeak past Matthew. He didn’t want to get up again and bring too much attention to himself. She felt his hand on her waist as she squeezed by. The heat from his hand was intense, but she tried to ignore it. But holy hell, if they were anywhere than here, in this particular situation, she knew she’d be a complete mess. As much as she wished Matthew was touching her in a sexual way, he was just trying to be reassuring; he wasn’t putting the moves on her. She had to force her brain to concentrate though. It just wanted to replay his hands on her body.
18C, 18C, Caroline repeated to herself as she made her way down the aisle toward the back of the plane. She vaguely noticed the other passengers enjoying their free drinks without a care in the world. Caroline had no idea if their drinks were drugged as well, but she had a bad feeling they probably were. She had to make sure she delivered the note to the right person. The last thing she needed was to trip into the wrong person and have someone get the napkin with the weird code. She looked at the seat numbers as she passed them, concentrating hard on making sure she didn’t screw up.
She knew right off who Mozart was. She shouldn’t have worried about counting the rows. He looked as big and hard as Matthew. Just as she got near him she “tripped,” and reached out with her hands to stop her fall, right into Mozart.
“I’m so sorry,” she cried out apologetically as she extricated herself from his arms, taking her hands off of his chest where they’d landed. “I’m so clumsy!”
The man simply nodded and helped her right herself. He didn’t actually say anything to her, and Caroline found herself blushing, as if she hadn’t fallen into him on purpose. She had to get herself together. Sheesh. These sexy men were going to be the death of her.
She straightened, brushed herself off, and continued on her way to the restroom. She took a deep breath. One message delivered, one to go. She’d pressed the note into Mozart’s chest when she fell, and she’d felt him grab it when he’d steadied her. She wanted to laugh; it seemed she was pretty good at this cloak and dagger stuff.
Caroline figured she might as well actually use the restroom while she was in the back of the plane. Who knew when she might get another chance with whatever was happening. The practical side of her mind never turned off. She arrived at the restroom in the back just as the flight attendants were finishing up the drink service. Squeezing past the guy who’d served their drinks with an apologetic smile, Caroline closed the restroom door, quickly got down to business, and washed her hands once she was done.
Just as she was going to leave the bathroom, Caroline heard two men talking right outside the door. She paled after hearing their conversation and waited until they’d moved away. Jesus. They were pretty dumb talking about their plan like that where people could overhear them. Caroline supposed they figured soon everyone would be passed out, so it didn’t matter. She had to get back to Matthew and tell him what she’d overheard. Crap.
She left the bathroom and didn’t look back at the galley; she just walked back toward the front of the plane, grabbing the seatbacks as she went down the plane. When she got to row twenty four, without missing a beat, she nonchalantly grabbed the shoulder of the man sitting in the aisle seat with her right hand as she walked by, then continued up to her seat. Matthew was waiting and again, assisted her to her seat with a hand on her waist, looking at her questionably. Caroline nodded once and sunk heavily into her chair. She reached for her seatbelt, but Matthew stopped her.
“Leave it off, just in case,” he told her. Caroline nodded again. Crap, she should’ve thought about that. She wasn’t thinking straight. She had to get herself together.
“Matthew,” she stated urgently, “before I left the restroom I heard two of the flight attendants talking. They said everything was in place and as soon as the passengers were out, they’d start.”
Chapter Six
Wolf didn’t say anything, just grabbed Caroline’s hand, squeezed it and settled it on his leg. Holy crap, what had they landed in the middle of? He absentmindedly rubbed his thumb over the back of her hand while he thought about what the hell was going on.
He felt better knowing Mozart and Abe were alert and ready. Thank God they were on this flight with him. They had very little chance of breaking up whatever was going on here, but at least with all three of them they at least had a slim one. He was keyed up and ready to go, to do something, but they didn’t know who the players were yet.
Obviously two of the flight attendants were in on whatever it was since Caroline had overheard them talking about their plan, but who else? They had to sit and wait and see. He hated that. Wolf thought about 9/11 and wondered if the people on the planes that had been crashed into the World Trade Center had known something was wrong. It was a helpless feeling. The passengers on the plane that had crashed that day in Pennsylvania obviously did what they could to prevent the plane from crashing into the White House, but unfortunately lost their lives in the process.
Wolf didn’t want to die, but he knew he could at any time. He job wasn’t the safest. Ironically, he was supposed to be on vacation and he was in just as much danger as he was when he was on a mission. It was crazy.
Wolf turned toward Caroline.
“You were amazing,” whispered Wolf. “You pulled that off even though you were scared and you didn’t bring attention back to yourself or me.”
Caroline didn’t respond with more than a quick smile. Wolf knew he wouldn’t have been able to pull off what she did and not bring attention to himself. Hell, he wouldn’t even know he was in the middle of a situation if it hadn’t been for her. He hated she was going through this, and loathed even more the thought of her not making it through whatever was going on.
Wolf thought more about the situation and was aware the plane had gone pretty quiet. Oh, it hadn’t been loud to begin with, but it was obvious what little conversation there had been, had dwindled off. He moved his head a fraction of an inch and saw the three people in the seats across from him had their eyes closed and were sleeping…or worse. He had no idea if they were unconscious, sleeping or even dead.
Just as he was about to tell Caroline they had to lay low and see what was going to happen next, she surprised him by beating him to it.
“Matthew, we have to pretend to have finished our drinks and that it affected us just like everyone else.” She’d obviously noticed the other passengers’ stillness as well.
Wolf nodded. “I was thinking the same thing. Great minds think alike.” He watched as she blushed. She constantly amazed him. The women he’d known in his life didn’t blush at a simple backhanded compliment. He thought it was a shame he didn’t have the time at the moment to see what other compliments he could give her, just to watch her face light up in the charming blush that was currently covering her cheeks. He tamped down the thought of just how far down that blush went. Wrong time, wrong place, but God he wanted to know.
Caroline took her hand out of his re
luctantly, and laid her head back on the head rest. She didn’t dare open her eyes to try to see what was going on. They had to pretend to be just as unconscious as the other passengers. She knew Matthew had also tipped his head back and closed his eyes. They just had to wait.
Caroline hated waiting. She was terrible at it. She always got antsy. Her mom always teased her about not being able to sit still for even five minutes when she was little. She was always on the go. Caroline smiled internally at the memory of a story her mom loved to tell guests about when Caroline was about four years old. They’d been at an amusement park and there were long lines for everything; the food, the rides, and of course, the bathroom.
Apparently Caroline had had enough of waiting in the lines, and when they were waiting to use the restroom she’d gone right over to the grass alongside the building and pulled down her pants and peed right there. Caroline’s mom was mortified, but everyone else around them had thought it was hysterical.
Caroline thought sadly of her mom. She missed her. So many times in the last year she’d wanted to pick up the phone just to talk. She’d known she would lose her parents far too early in her life, they were older, after all; but it was harder than she thought it’d be.
Pulled from her thoughts by Matthew shifting in his seat, Caroline admitted she was scared. Scared of what was going on and she had no idea how they’d get out of it. It couldn’t be good to be trapped in a plane thousands of feet above the ground with people hell bent on causing trouble. What that trouble was, remained to be seen.
Caroline thought about how glad she was Matthew was sitting next to her. At first she’d been apprehensive; he was a big man after all. But the gentle way he’d held her hand and how he’d immediately taken action to warn his teammates made her feel so much better. She had no idea if he and his buddies would be able to get them out of this, whatever this was, but just the fact he was here, made her feel not quite so lonely. She had no idea what she would’ve done if he hadn’t been there. She would’ve noticed the smell of the ice, but wouldn’t have known what to do and would’ve just had to have sat there, helpless. She shivered a little bit. God. This really sucked.
Thirty long minutes after they’d agreed to act passed out, the terrorists made their move. Almost all of the passengers sat in their seats not moving, either passed out or more. Wolf couldn’t waste time thinking about them now. He thanked God for Caroline smelling whatever it was in the ice. He shuddered to think about what would’ve happened if he hadn’t been sitting next to her. Actually he knew what would’ve happened, he and Mozart and Abe would be passed out in their seats, just like all the other people around him now.
Wolf watched as two passengers and the two flight attendants passed by their row of seats and walked toward the front of the plane. He closed his eyes as the two of them then walked back through the plane, examining the passengers, making sure they were all unconscious. Wolf heard them talking quietly as they passed by him.
“Does Smythe have the coordinates?”
“Yeah, as soon as we contain the passengers that are awake, he’ll go and take care of the pilots and put us on course.”
Wolf tensed. Shit.
The few people the terrorists found awake, they made get up and go to the back of the plane to the galley. Wolf heard some women scream and cry, and grunting from of some of the men, but mostly it was a quiet operation. Eerily quiet. In all the battles and missions he’d been in, Wolf had never heard anything like it. Usually people were screaming and crying and there were the loud sounds of gunfire and mortars going off. Not this silence and complete compliance from the passengers. It unnerved him, and with his history, that was saying a lot.
He kept his eyes opened only in slits, and watched as one of the terrorists, who’d been posing as a normal passenger, and one of the flight attendants made their way into the cockpit. It was easy since one of the flight attendants simply knocked on the door and requested to talk to the pilot. Since they had no reason to be alarmed, the co-pilot opened it without hesitation. He was immediately beaten bloody while the pilot was killed outright. It wasn’t hard, just a quick slice to the jugular. His body was dragged out of the cockpit and thrown into the galley at the front of the plane—still jerking and bleeding out. The co-pilot was alive, but badly hurt. The other flight attendant calmly hefted up one of his legs and callously dragged him to the back of the plane with the other alert passengers.
Wolf’s heart rate sped up in preparation for the fight to come. He had to be careful, as one of the terrorists was now at the controls of the plane. He’d been trained by the Navy the basics of flying almost any type of aircraft. He was most comfortable behind the stick of a helicopter, but he’d also spent some time in a big commercial plane like this one. He knew since he was closest to the cockpit, it’d be up to him to get up there and gain control of the airplane.
Mozart and Abe could also fly the plane, but Wolf would rely on them to take care of the other terrorists. He’d have his hands full as it was. He sincerely hoped none of the other passengers were hurt in the process of taking back over the plane, but he couldn’t think about that now. His one and only goal was getting back control of the plane.
Wolf knew he had to get going, but for the first time as a SEAL he hesitated. He didn’t want Caroline anywhere near what was about to go down, but he had no choice in the matter. He surreptitiously moved his hand and placed it on her thigh and squeezed, feeling her muscles clench under his palm. Caroline’s hand came over slowly where it had been resting in her lap and covered his. They sat like that for a moment, both feeling better after the short, but intense contact. Wolf knew it was time to go. He couldn’t wait anymore, all their lives depended on it. He turned his hand over so he could grasp Caroline’s hand in his and gave it one hard squeeze. Seeing Caroline’s small smile, she mouthed, “Good luck.” Wolf immediately let go and took a deep breath. It was time.
Without looking around or saying another word, Wolf sprang from his seat and toward the front of the plane. In full battle mode, he blanked all extraneous thoughts out of his head, including the courageous woman he’d left sitting in his row. As he ran toward the front of the plane, Wolf heard a cry and managed a quick look back to see what the situation was.
Mozart and Abe were fighting with two of the terrorists at the back of the plane, but the third was headed right toward him. The look on his face was pure hatred. Shit. Wolf didn’t have time to deal with him and make sure the fourth didn’t crash the plane. For a second he hoped the guy now piloting the plane didn’t know what was going on, but when he felt the plane lurch downward, he knew that thought was futile. Wolf had no choice but to continue toward the pilot. He’d deal with the guy coming up the aisle at him when he had to, which unfortunately might be sooner rather than later.
Wolf watched in amazement as suddenly a leg shot out from a row of seats and tripped the man coming toward him. Caroline! He turned around and ran full force toward the cockpit. Dammit. He wanted to go back to Caroline, but he couldn’t stop now. He was scared for her, which was unheard of for Wolf to lose focus as he had, but there was nothing he could do for her now. He had to get control of the plane or they’d all be dead. Her actions just might give him enough time to subdue the man flying the plane before the other terrorist caught up to him.
Chapter Seven
Caroline couldn’t believe she’d just tripped a terrorist. A freakin’ terrorist! She was scared out of her mind. She’d sat next to Matthew and knew he was about to make his move. She could almost feel the tension in his body, the anticipation, the adrenaline being produced in his bloodstream. She wanted to beg him not to go, to stay with her and just let whatever was going to happen, happen. But he was a SEAL. She knew he wouldn’t just sit around and let terrorists take over the plane. He’d be in the thick of it. Hell, he and his team would be the only reason any of them lived through this nightmare, if they lived through it.
When he put his hand on her thigh, she knew it was time
. She couldn’t have stopped herself from reaching out to Matthew at that moment if someone paid her a million dollars. She didn’t know if she’d ever see him again, but somehow in the couple of hours they’d spent getting to know each other he’d become important to her. All she could do was smile and mouth to him “good luck”— how cliché. It was stupid. She was just another woman to him. Just one more woman who thought he was gorgeous and who wanted to take him home and spend hours in his bed getting to “know” him. Caroline hadn’t admitted it until just now, but yes, she wanted him in the worst way. God, it was so inappropriate and it wasn’t going to happen, but that didn’t stop her from wanting him.
She didn’t know what to do to help, she desperately wanted to do something, but she was just a chemist, not a kick-butt SEAL. Caroline watched as Matthew sprung up from his seat. A relaxed sleeping man one second and a raw on-a-mission SEAL the next. He leaped for the front of the plane and Caroline peeked back between the seats to see that Matthew’s teammates were busy with two bad guys in the back of the plane. They’d clearly jumped into action right after Matthew had. Obviously Matthew was going up to the cockpit to deal with the terrorist flying the plane.
That left one bad guy unaccounted for. She watched in horror as he came running up the aisle of the plane, headed right toward Matthew. Caroline felt the plane tip down. Her heartbeat tripled. Crap. Crap. Crap. The guy flying was trying to crash the plane. Matthew was about to have to deal with two terrorists, she knew he needed all his concentration to take control of the plane so they didn’t die.