Protecting Caroline (SEAL of Protection Book 1) (6 page)

“This is the co-pilot.
We’ve made an emergency landing in Omaha, Nebraska. Everyone who can, please
move to the back of the plane. There’ll be emergency personnel coming aboard as
well as Federal Agents. We’ll get everyone off as soon as we can and anyone who
needs medical help will get it. Thank God, we all made it.”

The plane fell
silent. Caroline pushed herself to her feet and made her way to the back of the
plane. There were eight civilians in the back besides her—five woman and three
men. The men looked like businessmen, and the women…the women were gorgeous. Jesus,
where were the ugly people? Oh crap, was
she
the ugly person here? The
women were all tall and slender. One had attached herself to the SEAL that been
sitting in row twenty four…Caroline still hadn’t learned what his name was, and
another was hovering close to the man Caroline knew as Mozart. The other women
were huddled with the civilian men. It looked as if they’d all bonded over the
horrifying experience, while Caroline was once more left sitting on the outside
looking in.

The SEALs had
moved through the cabin checking the statuses of the other passengers, but there
wasn’t a lot they could do for them. Caroline eased past the women hanging all
over the SEALs without looking at them, and moved to the back corner of the
galley.

The jump seats
in the back were already occupied, one with a man and a woman on his lap, and
the other with another one of the women, who didn’t look inclined to move, so Caroline
put her back to the wall and slid down until she was sitting. Curling her knees
up in front of her and laying her head on her knees, Caroline figured it’d be a
while before they’d be leaving and she just wanted to rest.

Caroline didn’t
see Mozart and the SEAL whose name she never learned, exchange glances. She was
just tired and scared. She wanted a shower to get the rest of the dead guy’s
blood off of her, but knew that wasn’t happening anytime soon.

Hearing the
medical personnel arrive on board and organizing the removal of the passengers,
Caroline overheard Brandy, one of the women standing in the back with the other
conscious passengers, exclaim over Mozart and an apparent knife wound he had.

“Don’t worry
about me,” he’d told her. “It’s only a flesh wound, I should know, I’m a medic.
Besides, the hospital will have enough to worry about with the other passengers.
I’ll look at it myself, or get one of my buddies to take a look at it. I’ll be
fine, don’t worry about me, but make sure the EMTs get a good look at
you
,
sweetheart, to make sure you’re all right.”

Caroline
silently agreed, admiring him. Thinking about her own throbbing side, the SEAL
was right. Even though she was hurting, she was alive and didn’t want to be a
bother. It probably wasn’t even a big deal, just a scratch. The other people on
the plane needed medical care more than she did—
they
were unconscious
and had ingested who knew what. Caroline wished she could’ve been more help. If
she’d been able to figure out what chemical was put into the ice the doctors
would be able to help the passengers quicker, but without her lab, she had no
idea.

Finally all of
the passengers had been taken off to local hospitals. Caroline had fallen into
a half-conscious state—awake, but barely aware of all that was going on around
her.

After the plane
was emptied of the other passengers, the police and FBI herded the little civilian
group in the back of the plane outside so the EMTs could look them over. Caroline
watched with detached interest the reactions of the other women and men to the
dead terrorists scattered around the plane. They were now covered in sheets,
but the blood was still clear on the floor as they walked past and over it.

Caroline didn’t
think anyone was really hurt, but there was no way the police were going to let
anyone get off the plane without at least being looked over. There were too
many sue-happy people in the world today for them to let that happen.

When it was
Caroline’s turn, the EMT wasn’t happy with her. “Look, I can see you’re
favoring your side, let me look at it.”

Caroline tried
to wave him off. “No, really, it’s nothing. I just hit it when I fell on the
plane—it’s fine.”

“I should at
least look at it,” he insisted.

“Well…” Caroline
was about to give in when Brandy, one of the civilian women, piped up from next
to the young man.

“Sir? I’m
feeling a bit dizzy…do you think I can sit down somewhere?”

When Caroline
looked at her, she didn’t think she looked sick at all. The woman had her hand
wrapped around the EMT’s bicep and she was leaning into him, crushing her ample
boobs against him.

“Uh, yeah, okay,
let me finish up here and I’ll be right with you. Please sit on that bumper
right there so you don’t fall and hurt yourself.”

Caroline wanted
to roll her eyes. When the EMT turned back to her she could see he was already
thinking about Brandy. She put him out of his misery.

“Look, just give
me some alcohol wipes or something. I’m not hurt that badly and you can go and
see what Brandy needs.”

It was
ridiculous at how quickly the man agreed with her and pulled out some
antiseptic wipes. Caroline thought meanly that it was a good thing she wasn’t
hurt more badly, she’d probably be lying on the ground bleeding to death and
the men around her would still probably ignore her.

After each of
the conscious passengers were looked at, the police reassured that no one had
any life threatening injuries, and they’d all signed paperwork refusing
transportation to the hospital, the group was herded onto a little bus.

As the shuttle
bus headed toward the airport, away from the tarmac, Caroline was a little
depressed. Matthew, Mozart, and the other SEAL had left in a separate bus to
who-knew-where. She watched closely as the SEALs walked to their shuttle to see
if Matthew would acknowledge her in any way, and of course he didn’t. He and
his teammates had their heads together as they walked away without looking back
at the plane. She shouldn’t have been surprised. It happened to her every day.

It was just the eight
passengers left, plus herself. Caroline followed the other passengers onto the
shuttle. They were driven toward the terminal and hustled in through a side
door into a room in the airport. The federal agents wanted to hear their side
of the story.

Two hours later
Caroline was ready to scream. She wanted to get away from here. She just wanted
to be in Norfolk and have all this behind her. They’d been questioned as a
group, then separately. The other passengers had no clue what had happened.
They’d told the authorities they were sitting in their seats one minute and the
next, men with knives had herded them to the back of the plane and while they
heard yelling and such, they hadn’t seen anything. No one knew what had made
the other passengers pass out.

Caroline just nodded
along with whatever the others said. No one paid too much attention to her. She
was used to it though and, in fact, had counted on it now. She explained the
blood on herself away by saying she’d slipped and fallen in the blood of one of
the terrorists. She didn’t want to say anything because she knew SEAL missions
were notoriously secret. And while this wasn’t a mission, they were in the
wrong place…or was that the right place, at the right time? She didn’t want to
spill any of their secrets or anything. She wasn’t sure what she was supposed
to say or not say. The FBI and whomever else would learn what they needed to
from the SEALs themselves, not from her. She wasn’t even a player in the whole
drama, she told herself. She was just Caroline Martin, a regular citizen.

After the
authorities had heard everything the awake passengers knew about the attempted
hijacking, they were free to go, after being warned not to talk to the press.
Yeah,
right!
thought Caroline… A plane hijacking was big business for the media,
huge
.
And she knew there was no way Brandy wouldn’t use this experience to get
herself on television. Caroline had been glad to hear Brandy and the others
didn’t know what Matthew and his friends did for a living, but of course there
was speculation that they were some kind of military secret agents or
something.

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.

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.