by Susan Stoker
Caroline wasn’t sure where they were free to go to. It was dark outside. The airline employees weren’t even there anymore. The airport was deserted except for the odd janitor or two. It was a small town and a regional airport. There were no late night flights out. The group was told flights would resume the next morning and they should be able to get on another plane at that time. Caroline sighed. She didn’t have her purse; it was still on the plane. She’d have to wait until they released their luggage so she could use her identification to book another seat to Virginia.
Apparently the airline wanted to put all of them up in a local hotel. The airline employees had told the police when they were done interviewing the witnesses to let them know they could get the shuttle to the hotel and stay free-of-charge. Caroline was glad to hear it, since she didn’t have any money, but one look outside the airport made her change her mind.
It was complete pandemonium. There were news trucks and people standing around everywhere. It was a madhouse. The reporters were trying to talk to anyone that was around, hoping they’d have some information about the hijacking they could use on their morning news program. Caroline even saw a CNN truck amongst all the other vehicles.
She wanted absolutely nothing to do with the media. It wasn’t as if she was afraid to talk to them or anything, she was just exhausted from everything that had happened that day. The fight with the terrorist in the aisle was finally taking its toll on her— she was tired and hurting. All Caroline wanted to do was find a dark corner and shut her eyes. No, what she really wanted was a bath and to talk to her mom, but since she couldn’t have either, she’d have to make do with a dark corner where she wouldn’t have to talk to anybody.
Caroline watched as Brandy and the other women tried to straighten their already impeccable hair and clothing and got a light of determination in their eyes. They’d seen the media vultures and were thrilled to be able to be in the spotlight. Ignoring the orders not to talk to the press, the small group of witness quickly left the lobby and entered the fray. No one looked back at the quiet, plain woman walking back into the depths of the airport.
Chapter Eight
Wolf, Mozart, and Abe settled into a booth at the bar at the hotel. They’d spent an hour going over what had happened over the phone with their commander, then another hour going over it again with the FBI agents. Most of their actions were downplayed as their profession required, so the story the FBI received was a watered down version.
But now they were alone and could debrief amongst themselves. While they’d discussed what had happened with the authorities, now they could talk to each other and get the real story, something they hadn’t had time to do before now.
“How did you know what was going on Wolf?” Mozart asked in a low voice so no one around would overhear. They all knew if they’d taken a drink most likely everyone on the plane would be dead—them included. It was a sobering thought, but nothing they hadn’t been through before.
Wolf shook his head. “I didn’t. It was Caroline.”
“Who?” Abe asked confused.
“The woman sitting next to me. The brunette.”
“The one who gave us the messages,” Mozart offered with certainty.
Wolf nodded. “She’s a chemist and smelled something off with the ice. She wouldn’t let me drink my orange juice.”
The men were quiet and digested what Wolf said, realizing they owed their lives to the woman. While they were used to using whatever they had to in order to be successful, none of them could remember a time when a civilian woman’s actions had unequivocally saved their lives.
The threesome continued to discuss what had happened. Abe and Mozart had also seen the effect the drinks had on the other passengers and were biding their time until Wolf was ready to move. They’d instinctively known Wolf would take the terrorist in the cockpit out since he was closest to the front, just as the others would take out the remaining men.
“What happened to the third man while you were taking care of the other two?” Wolf asked.
“He was in the aisle fighting with that woman,” Mozart answered. “I took care of him and went up to assist you. You know the rest, she was up front and you asked her to get the co-pilot.”
“Was she hurt?” Wolf asked Mozart, regretting he hadn’t been able to talk to Caroline after everything had started happening.
“I don’t think so. I asked if she was okay when I went to the back, she nodded, but I didn’t get to talk to her after that.” Mozart replied nonchalantly.
“What do you think she said to the Feds?” Abe asked quietly. They knew they hadn’t done anything wrong, but at the same time, they didn’t want to be the subject of the media’s attention either. They had a job they had to do in a couple of weeks and media attention wouldn’t be good.
“I have no idea, but they didn’t come in asking us more questions, and there was no media when we checked in,” Mozart said thoughtfully.
“About that…did you guys sense anything weird about the Feds that interviewed us?” Wolf asked his teammates.
“Yeah, I was going to bring that up. They seemed more interested in how we knew what was going down than about who the terrorists were or how they managed to get those knives on board.” Abe had spoken, but all three men knew something was off.
Mozart added his say as well. “It’s obviously important to know how we found out about their hijacking attempt, but it’s also very strange they didn’t spend as much time trying to figure out how it was all planned.”
“I’ll talk to the commander when we land in Norfolk. Tell him our concerns and see what he can figure out. It’s horrible timing with our upcoming mission though. We don’t have time to look into it ourselves. Besides there’s no way the Feds will talk to us about it. We’ll have to leave it in the commander’s hands.” Wolf was frustrated. They were missing something, but he didn’t know what. If they were back at the base, they’d be able to spend more time trying to figure it out. Wolf had been so looking forward to this vacation, and now he didn’t think he’d be able to enjoy it. He’d do what he could from Virginia to look into it though. His gut was screaming at him, there’s no way he could drop it.
The men heard a commotion at the bar. They looked over and saw a couple of the women from the plane and two of the businessmen. They were laughing loudly and had obviously imbibed a few too many alcoholic beverages. Obviously this was the hotel the airlines had sent them to after they were allowed to leave the airport. The SEALs had been quietly offered a free room after they’d talked to the authorities, and they’d gladly accepted it. It was obvious the other passengers had also most likely been put up for free as well.
“They are hot,” Abe said, watching the women, always on the prowl for a one night stand. “Until we had to leave the blonde on the right was into me.” He laughed. “Guess she found someone else huh?”
“Where’s Caroline?” Wolf asked, more to himself than to his teammates, but they heard him anyway.
“I’m sure she’s here somewhere. Man I’m tired and could use a few hours sleep. You guys coming up?” Abe asked, dismissing Wolf’s concerns about Caroline as if he didn’t even remember meeting her.
As the three men headed up to their rooms Wolf couldn’t help but continue to ponder why Caroline wasn’t around. She’d been amazing. She was the hero in the whole situation in his eyes. Without her, they’d all be dead. Hell, hundreds of passengers would be dead.
He recalled when he’d looked back and saw her fighting with a terrorist, a terrorist dammit. He couldn’t believe she’d actually stuck her leg out into the aisle to trip the guy as he made his way toward him. It was a stupid thing to do, and he knew it had to have hurt.
Wolf had been scared for her and felt helpless because he couldn’t aid her. He wished he’d been able to talk to her before they’d left, but he didn’t have time. As soon as he landed the plane he, Mozart, and Abe had to get their story straight before they met with the Feds. He hadn’t even
thought about checking up on Caroline before he’d left the plane. Suddenly he felt bad about that. Had she watched him leave? What did she think? Did she even care?
Wolf wondered again where she was. Was she okay? He suddenly felt an urgent need to talk to her. To make sure she was all right. Everything had happened so quickly and he just wanted…he didn’t know what he wanted. He hoped he’d see her tomorrow. She said she was going to Norfolk, so she had to be at the airport tomorrow. Their commander told them he was sending a military bird to pick them up in the morning, but maybe he’d see Caroline at the airport before they left. He made a vow to himself to leave early enough in the morning so they’d have time to scope out the civilian side of the airport and see if he could find her and thank her.
* * *
Caroline washed as much of her face and hands and arms as she could in the restroom at the airport. It was mostly deserted with the occasional passenger here and there, and of course the cleaning crews busily going about their business. She was hungry and wanted to brush her teeth, but had no money, and certainly no toothbrush, but it didn’t matter if she had a thousand bucks…the stores were all closed.
Caroline turned her shirt inside out to try to hide some of the dried blood. She didn’t really want to put the terrorist’s dried blood next to her skin, but she also wanted to blend in. And blending in with others trumped feeling squeamish. Besides, she didn’t have any other clothes to wear, so she had to deal with the shirt she had.
The cut on her side was bleeding sluggishly, even after she’d used the antiseptic wipes the EMT had given her, but Caroline didn’t think she was in any imminent danger. It hurt, but again, there wasn’t anything she could do about it now. She’d go to the doctor when she got to Norfolk. She’d be just fine. Thinking for a moment about heading to the hospital there in Nebraska, Caroline dismissed the thought almost as soon as she had it. All they’d do was probably put a few steri-strips on it and it’d be fine in a few days anyway.
One reason she didn’t want to go to the hospital here was that it’d probably be absolutely crawling with reporters trying to get the scoop on the passengers. Second, just as Matthew’s friend had said to the woman on the plane, the hospitals were too busy here to need to deal with her little cut. Third, at this point she just wanted to get to Norfolk. Caroline also hated hospitals. If she could at all avoid having to go to one, she would. She’d spent enough of her life cooped up in one for her to voluntarily check herself into another now. As long as she was upright, mobile and her arm wasn’t hanging off, she’d self-medicate.
Wadding up some paper towels and holding them to her side as she left the ladies room, Caroline searched for a place to lie down for the night. Thank God the airport police were keeping the reporters out. Maybe, just maybe she’d be able to sleep a couple of hours. She found a dark empty gate and made her way to the edge. Crap. The seats all had arm rests that weren’t removable, and she had no desire to sleep sitting up.
Giving up on finding a comfortable seat, Caroline eased herself down to the floor, turned onto her side and made sure the wadded up paper towels were pressed to her side against the floor. Hopefully the pressure of her body against her side and the paper towels would have the sluggish bleeding stopped by morning.
Caroline closed her eyes and tried to block out the images that bombarded her. She saw the terrorist’s eyes right before his throat was slit; she saw the stranger sitting next to her slumped over against the window; she saw herself tripping a freaking terrorist and watching as he flew through the air. She saw the sightless eyes of both the pilot and the terrorist that had been flying the plane. Also whipping through her mind as if she was watching a movie and not simply recalling events that had actually happened to her were scenes of Matthew holding her hand and running his thumb over her knuckles. She saw the tender look in his eyes as he asked if she was okay while he was sitting in the cockpit. Finally she saw him walking away from the plane without a second glance.
Chapter Nine
The military plane wasn’t leaving until early afternoon so the SEAL team had a leisurely breakfast—as leisurely as it could be with the shouts and lights from the media outside the small hotel—and watched as two women from the plane and the men headed out the door to go back to the airport to see if they could catch another flight.
Abe heard them talking before they left about how irritated they were that the airline and Feds hadn’t given them their bags back yet. The men had their wallets in their pants pockets, but the women’s purses were still on the plane. That got Abe thinking about the woman who’d saved all their lives. He’d been thinking more about her last night. Yesterday had been crazy, but he’d had time to think now, and he was ashamed of himself and his fellow teammates.
“About the woman…” he blurted out when they’d all sat down at breakfast.
Wolf and Mozart looked at him with surprise.
“What about her?” Wolf snapped, somehow knowing Abe was talking about Caroline and Wolf was feeling possessive for no good reason he could think of. But he knew there was no way he was letting Abe make a move on Caroline if that was what he was getting at. He was way too slick with the ladies and hadn’t ever had a lasting relationship. He didn’t want to think of Caroline being just another conquest for Abe.
“SEALs don’t leave SEALs behind. Ever.” It was their motto. The thing that every SEAL learned throughout Hell Week and BUD/S training. “Why do I feel like we’ve left a team member behind?” Abe asked quietly. Neither of the other men said anything.
“We all heard the women this morning say they didn’t have their purses with them. They weren’t able to get their stuff from the plane. We didn’t see Ice last night and she’s not been down for breakfast this morning. Where did she stay?”
“Who?” asked Mozart.
Abe smiled for the first time that morning. “Ice. That’s her nickname.”
They all nodded, understanding at once how she’d earned the moniker. Without Caroline smelling the ice and knowing something was wrong, they’d all be dead.
Wolf still hadn’t said anything, but stood up and gathered his stuff quietly. Mozart and Abe didn’t even have to ask what he was doing. They’d been together long enough to know when Wolf decided on a course of action he was all about getting it done. After throwing some bills on the table to pay for the food they’d barely touched, they followed his lead. They were going to find their teammate.
* * *
Caroline stood leaning against the wall of the airport and watched the chaos around her. She’d slept like crap the night before. Even though the airport was basically deserted, the stupid recording about not parking in the white zone and the possibility of being towed was replayed all night over and over. She had no idea why they bothered to keep it going when there weren’t any passengers around to hear it. The recording, along with her nightmares and the pain in her side, kept her from getting a good night’s sleep.
When Caroline had woken up that morning she’d felt light headed and weak and wasn’t thinking straight. When she’d gone to the restroom and checked out her side, she was dismayed to see that as soon as she took the paper towels away from her side, she started bleeding again. It was red and obviously infected as well. Nice. The least the terrorist could’ve done was made sure his knife was clean, Caroline thought grimly, wincing as she poked the reddening wound on her side.
At least she had some good news that morning—she’d finally gotten her purse back. Since she was already at the airport she was first in line to reclaim her belongings. All of the passenger’s bags were still sitting in the belly of the plane. The airline couldn’t release them yet; they were still investigating how the terrorists had smuggled their weapons on board, so everyone’s luggage was being searched. She’d been reassured that the bags would eventually be flown to Norfolk once the investigation was over and the airline employee handed her a business card with a small apologetic smile.
Caroline bought a bottle of water an
d a bagel as soon as the little coffee shop in the airport opened, but when she’d started to eat, she felt nauseous. She hoped she’d be hungry later, so instead of throwing the food away, she tucked it into her purse.
Many of the relatives of the passengers on the plane had been arriving in the little airport all morning. A lot of the passengers had been released from the hospital already. Caroline watched for a while as they ran the gauntlet to try to get into the airport. If possible, it looked like there were even more media trucks and people standing outside. Of course this was a huge media event. An attempted airplane hijacking after the September 11 attack was a huge deal and it was getting coverage from what looked like every country in the world.
All of the passengers who’d decided to brave flying again, and their relatives, were standing in line to talk to someone from the airline. Everyone wanted to get to Virginia, or at least get to somewhere, but of course the airline was putting them all on standby. It seemed to Caroline that the least the airline could do was get another plane here to take care of them all. But she didn’t really know anything about how the industry worked, and mostly likely it was easier said than done.
Caroline stood against the wall eyeing the line at customer service, waiting for it to go down. She should’ve gotten in line first thing this morning, that was one of the reasons she’d stayed the night in the airport instead of the hotel, but she’d been hungry and feeling sick, so she’d put it off. Now the line was too long for her to be able to stand in it–not with how much her side hurt. If she’d been thinking clearly she would’ve realized the line wasn’t going to get shorter anytime soon because people were arriving at the airport steadily. So as soon as one person would get seen, another would arrive and get in the back of the line.