skymarshals2

Part 2 Sky Marshals

Chris leaned back in his seat and waited patiently as a red haired flight attendant named Julie cleared away the remains of his breakfast. He knew he should have eaten more of the fresh fruit mixture, but since Vin�s soft comment, his tension levels had skyrocketed.

There was a natural ease about Tanner�s ability to read people and situations that made Chris confident in the man�s instincts. He�d been around long enough himself to pick up on the subtle atmospheric unease around him.

Julie moved on and Chris flipped the tray back into its upright position. A Business News Today magazine poked out of the seat pocket but he chose to ignore it. Beside him, a short balding executive had already shrugged out of his suit coat and was typing away at a report on his laptop.

Chris sighed softly and pinched the bridge of his nose, his thoughts floundering as he scanned the cabin again. He shifted; the pressure at the small of his back reminding him that his weapon was still there. It was not the most comfortable way to spend an eleven-hour flight, but he�d found that shoulder holsters tended to be more noticeable. He reached up and turned up the cool air, aiming it directly at him then adjusted his casual suit jacket and tried to look uninterested as he carefully studied the passengers around him.

He was seated in the smallest business class section of the plane, right behind the main galley. He hated the limited view. It left him feeling blind and hampered, but he knew the position allowed him the best chance of sneaking into the galley and then upstairs, if he needed to.

Quickly he began to run possible scenarios through his mind again. There were so many that it seemed overwhelming for a moment but he knew that his team was very well trained. They were just new to working together. His nerves continued to remind him that even though they were prepared for anything and everything�up until now they hadn�t had to do anything more than be prepared.

He listened intently, singling out the sounds from each of his agents. It had taken him awhile to get used to the communication system that the FAM teams used. The first few training missions had left him with horrible headaches from trying to process all the input at once. It helped that the systems were designed to pick up sounds only in close proximity to each agent and over time Chris had learned to filter. Thankfully his agents had all learned that constant jabbering was not a good thing. He was pretty sure he was not the only man who�d needed to adjust to the system.

He smiled. It sounded like Buck and JD were playing a video game that JD had managed to rig up between their laptops. Buck�s occasional cursing telling him that JD was winning. Though it might have sounded like his agents were completely caught up in the game, Chris knew that they were paying close attention to what was going on around them.

Vin, Nathan and Ezra were all quiet at the moment, although Nathan had been talking earlier. It seemed the Doc had ended up seated next to an elderly hypochondriac. Chris was somewhat concerned about Ezra�s silence. Even the southerner�s interactions with the flight attendant were subdued. Usually Standish oozed with charm when dealing with the flight staff but Chris had been around him just enough to know that something was wrong now. Nothing major, or else Ezra would have found a way to alert the others; this was different. Something had caused Ezra to put his walls up higher than normal and Chris swore he�d heard the man mutter �dear lord� earlier.

Chris� thoughts turned from Ezra to Josiah as he heard the big man begin to describe the Peace Corps to someone. Sanchez had spent almost five years with the corps and if they knew the man was still such a devoted recruiter, they�d have put him on a payroll by now. Larabee listened as Sanchez described Mexico City as if he�d just been there yesterday and mused a moment over the men of his team.

He still wasn�t sure what had motivated CO Travis to put such an eclectic bunch together but part of him hoped it worked out. The other part wanted to run away at full speed. He could feel the bonds between the seven of them strengthening every day they worked together and he wasn�t sure he was ready to actually care about someone else again. If he was honest with himself he knew it was already too late. He just hoped he was ready for whatever came their way.

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Nathan bit back a groan as he heard the lady next to him begin to inhale. He knew it was coming; she was going to ask him another question. Quickly he stood and moved down the aisle toward the restroom. He just couldn�t handle another question from that woman. What in the world had possessed him to admit he was a paramedic in the first place? Oh right�his cover was that he was going to an international medical conference for further training.

Shaking his head he slipped into the unoccupied little room and closed the door behind him. �Two minutes, JD.� he said quietly and smiled when his earpiece turned off. He looked at himself in the mirror and wondered what good it did to signal JD for privacy when the signal itself gave away his intentions to the entire team. He shrugged; it was better than the team listening to the whole process he supposed.

His wire came back on just as he was stepping back out of the restroom. He took a deep breath, trying to prepare himself again for Mrs. Swertfager. He didn�t know if he could handle another handful of way too personal questions dealing with her current state of health. Maybe by the time he got back to his seat she would be caught up in a novel or maybe he could pull out one of his medical journals and pretend to be caught up in an article. With his luck, though, the graying little woman would probably start drilling him with questions about the article.

Nathan made a point not to look in Chris� direction as he turned the opposite way and headed back to his seat. His brown eyes swept the cabin quickly then settled on a man seated at the front of the cabin. The man looked over his shoulder and caught Nathan�s gaze. There was coldness in the stranger�s dark eyes. A chill darted up Nathan�s spine and as he took his seat he whispered �S- one.�

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Josiah looked up in surprise when he heard the code from Nathan. S-one was simply a �suspicious� character alert for the rest of the team. They usually had one on every flight; someone who just set wrong on their radar, but Nathan had never used the S-one alert before. With a higher level of concentration, Josiah watched the passengers around him.

The young man next to him had listened politely as he�d spoken about Mexico City and the Peace Corps but eventually the youth�s eyes had glazed over with the look Josiah recognized as polite tolerance. The kid was bored with him, so Josiah had ended his story swiftly and pretended to be caught up in the movie playing on the video monitors.

Now, as he looked around, he catalogued the passengers with a closer eye. It didn�t escape his notice that a middle-aged man, not much smaller than himself, was signaling the flight attendant for yet another drink. The man was three rows up and five seats over from him, but Josiah could clearly hear the gruff tones being used to address the man he knew as Bill. Though Bill was only about JD�s size, he was holding his own against the other passenger�s verbal abuse. Josiah decided that he would hold off on any alerts to the others. There was little they could do in this situation anyway since they had been strictly instructed not to get involved with disgruntled passengers unless it escalated to the point that the flight crew requested assistance.

Josiah leaned back in his seat again reassured that for now, there were no problems in his section of the plane. He�d just started to relax when he was surprised by a harsh question directed at Ezra.

**************************************

�So you like your new job Standish?� Rogers� hostile voice jolted Ezra out of his quiet thoughts. Turning slightly in his seat to face Rogers better, he glared at his former friend.

�It�s satisfactory,� he replied managing to keep his voice even.

�I�m surprised anyone would hire you. I mean with your history and all.� The insinuation in Rogers� voice was obvious.

Ezra kept his face expressionless. �Let it go Rogers.� He knew the rest of his team was listening by this point, hearing every implication against his character. It was bad enough that they knew about his tainted past, he didn�t need Rogers spelling the details out for them.

�What�s the matter, Ezra? Truth hurt?� Rogers bit out in a loud snarl.

�I�ll let you know when I hear some,� Ezra replied bitterly. He heard the light laugh from JD and thought maybe that it was Chris who had growled out a soft curse. He felt like a kid on the schoolyard, trading taunts with the local bully. He cast a glance around the first class section before turning back toward the window and tried to ignore the other man. He�d have to talk to Chris about seating on the next flight. It wasn�t easy to observe the entire cabin when he was in the second seat from the front.

Chris frowned as he listened to the man Ezra had called Rogers harass his agent with questions. What were the chances that Ezra would end up on the same flight as someone he knew? Ezra had a hard enough time letting his teammates get to know him without someone throwing his past in his face while they were listening. Rogers might not be aware he had an audience, but Ezra certainly was. Chris cursed softly when Ezra effectively cut the man off and ended the short conversation. He could hear the strain in his agent�s voice. Damn, they didn�t need this now. Ezra needed to be focused on this flight not on memories from his ruined NSA career.

Larabee shook his head slightly, ignoring the look from the passenger beside him. He was familiar with Standish�s file, the facts of it anyway. He�d read the accusations and the investigative reports, had scoured them thoroughly as soon as he knew Standish was going to be assigned to his team. He�d found nothing that came close to proving that Ezra had ever sold out any in-field agents and neither had the NSA investigators, but that hadn�t stopped the agency from destroying the man professionally. It had come down to Ezra accepting Orrin Travis� offer to transfer to the FAA or being fired. Chris still didn�t know why Ezra had accepted the transfer, but Standish had worked well as a special agent for the Civil Aviation Security division for a year before joining the FAM7 team. Even though FAM teams were all made up of volunteers, Chris suspected that Travis had had a lot to do with Standish being placed on Team 7.

Glancing at his watch Chris wondered exactly how much trouble this Rogers was going to stir up. This could end up being a very long flight.

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�Interesting game?� Buck looked up at Korine�s question and immediately was shot by JD, his last space ship dissolving behind a large blinking �game over� message.

�Damn, um oh yeah, sorry,� he sputtered as he flipped the laptop closed. He could hear JD laughing softly and swore he�d get even with the kid later.

�Didn�t look like you were doing too well there.� Korine smiled as she brushed a strand of hair back behind her ear.

�How could I concentrate on the game with such a beauty sitting beside me?� Buck asked easily, smiling as Korine rolled her eyes. �You�re not buying that one are you?�

Korine shook her head. �Not really.�

The man sitting on the other side of Korine just shook his head and kept his nose in his magazine. �Smart man,� Buck thought. He wasn�t about to tell Korine he had actually been distracted by a conversation happening in first class.

�So, what is a grown man doing playing computer games anyway?� Korine asked as she ran a thumb over the edge of her book, fanning the pages.

�Why not?� Buck grinned. �I test games for a living. You know, research their marketability, handle focus groups, etc.� He counted at least four different laughs from his earpiece but pointedly ignored them.

Korine raised an eyebrow, obviously unsure whether to believe him or not. Before she could voice her doubts however, Buck cut in with a question of his own.

�What do you do for a living?�

�I�m a reporter.� Korine answered easily.

�Really?� Buck wasn�t sure why her answer surprised him.

�Yeah, don�t tell me you�ve never seen me on TV?� Korine tilted her head to the side as she waited for his reply. The man on the other side of her chuckled softly.

�Uh�� Searching for an answer, Buck missed the flash of mischief in her eyes. �No, I haven�t.�

Korine laughed and shook her head. �Probably because I haven�t been on the air yet. I�m on my first assignment with the Time news Channel. This is Dan, my cameraman.� She winced, realizing how sing song the introduction had sounded.

Dan grimaced as he looked up and nodded at Buck but there was humor in his eyes as he added, �It�s Daniel.�

�I can see why.� Buck shook the blonde�s hand and settled back in his seat while Korine went on to describe the feature she was doing on the pyramids.

*****************************************

Now that Buck seemed to be distracted by the reporter, the game was just not holding JD�s interest. Smiling to himself, he puttered with the settings on his computer. Well, the team�s computer actually, but JD viewed the Roughrider I Series as his own. He ran a hand over the dark aluminum casing and sighed contentedly, then laughed remembering Buck�s crass innuendo about his �unnatural� relationship with the computer. JD shook his head; the thing was worth every penny of the $8000 plus price tag and could do almost anything. Anything except what Buck liked to insinuate or run for an unlimited amount of time on one battery. Glancing at his watch, he debated a moment, calculating the length of the flight in his head, before deciding to go ahead and put a new battery into the system.

From the empty seat beside him, JD picked up a small box that looked like a mini mixing board. Carefully he double- checked the machine, making sure that the channel was set to the one that had been pre-approved by the pilot before the flight. JD hated using the antiquated system. It was so much easier to control the entire set-up from the laptop where he could fine-tune the volume levels and give the others privacy whenever they needed it. The back-up plan gave them the rudimentary ability to communicate and nothing more, though JD figured in a crisis that would be better than nothing.

�Battery change,� he warned as he switched everyone over to the backup program. Immediately he noticed more background noise over his own receiver. Quickly and efficiently, JD went through the process of changing the machine�s battery and within minutes he had the computer back at full power and the back up unit on stand by.

�FUI,� Josiah�s voice over his earpiece made JD jump slightly. He smiled at the code, must be there was a passenger drinking too much again. There seemed to be one on every flight they took. This one must be starting to get agitated already or Josiah wouldn�t have alerted them. Looking at his watch, JD sighed. It wasn�t even lunchtime yet, just over two hours into the flight and someone was already drunk.

Leaning forward JD set the back up communications board on the floor and after one last check to make sure it was on, he pushed it under the seat next to his and tucked the bag he had been carrying it in around it. He was just sitting up when all hell broke loose around him.

�Nobody move!� The heavily accented shout came from behind him and instinctively JD turned in his seat, his hand moving toward the weapon strapped to his ankle. Two men were storming up the aisle; both armed with semi-automatic weapons. The first man in the duo was pushing the flight attendant, Melanie, in front of him, his weapon pressed into the back of her head.

�Shit.� JD grabbed his laptop, instead of his gun and hunched over it as another shout commanded everyone to keep their heads down.

**********************************

Josiah watched as Bill ran a hand through his short-cropped brown hair and took a deep breath to calm himself. It was evident that the steward had his hands full with the now drunken passenger.

�Mr. Wood, please settle down.� Bill was straining to keep his voice firm and polite but Josiah could tell that the man was losing his patience.

�FUI.� He smiled even through the seriousness of the alert. � �Flying under the influence,� leave it to Buck to have come up with a warning like that.� He mused. Still focused on the inebriated passenger, it took Josiah a second to interpret what he was hearing from JD�s section of the plane. Before he could react, a man sitting six rows in front of him jumped to his feet and began shouting for everyone to get down.

The assailant�s dark eyes flashed angrily as he pointed his weapon back and forth. A lady somewhere behind Josiah screamed and the weapon was aimed in his direction.

�Shut up, I say! Heads down!� The man shouted in English, then repeated the order again in what Josiah thought was Arabic.

Taking a calming breath, Josiah leaned forward in his seat, following orders. �Confirm one,� he whispered.

�What?� The young man next to him asked, obviously trying to keep himself from hyperventilating.

Josiah smiled faintly. �Just do what they say and keep your head down.�

The boy nodded, his blue eyes locking with Josiah�s a moment before he buried his head in his arms and focused on the floor.

Vin almost jumped out of his seat when he heard the shouting start but the dark haired man from two seats in front of him stood up and pointed a semi-automatic at him, effectively quelling Vin�s instinctual reaction.

He heard Josiah�s soft confirmation and whispered his own, as he ducked his head to avoid eye contact. The man next to him had wrapped his arms protectively around his whimpering girlfriend. �Just stay down and quiet,� Vin told them.

Across the aisle from him another woman was approaching hysterics. Her pre-teen daughter was trying vainly to hold her mother down in her seat. Tears rolled down the young girl�s face as she quietly pleaded for her mother to be quiet.

�Calm down, lady!� Vin reached across the aisle and grabbed the woman�s other arm just as she tried to stand and yanked her roughly back into her seat. �You�ve got to calm down now,� he ordered.

He glanced back up at the hijacker in time to see the butt of a weapon coming at him. Automatically, Vin turned his head and rolled with the hit. He let out a soft groan as the force of the blow sent him back against the couple in his own row. Darkness encroached and he could faintly hear the woman�s screams intensify as the terrorist began to beat her. He felt hands holding him upright. �You okay, Mister?� whispered frantically into one ear while Chris� voice demanded a response in the other.

�Vin!� Chris hissed as loudly as he dared. �Report!� he ordered. He could still hear a woman screaming and had almost felt the impact when Vin had been hit.

Glancing around while his position still hid him from any assailants, he tried to reassure passengers around him. �Just stay down and do what you�re told.�

He heard Buck confirm and warn that one hijacker was headed his way and quickly turned around in his seat, ducking his head. �Vin,� he tried again, this time to be rewarded by a faint, � �m fine.� Tanner�s voice was strained and hushed and Chris realized that the woman�s screams had finally stopped.

He tensed as a man stormed past him, shouting and striking out at random passengers as he commanded them to stay down. Larabee tilted his head up just enough to be able to see what was going on. The hijacker entered the galley and a moment later was dragging Julie out of the small kitchen. Violently he shoved the woman down onto the floor in the middle of the aisle.

�Stay down,� he ordered, poking Julie with the barrel of his gun, then he turned and moved forward into the next section of the plane.

Careful to remain seated and cowering, Julie slid backwards the few feet until she was next to Chris� seat. �What do we do?� she asked, keeping her head down and not looking at him.

�Whatever they tell you to,� Chris answered, trying to process the screams and cries coming from all over the plane. He closed his eyes at the sound of the first gunshot. �Stand down,� he ordered the team. �Stand down.�

Buck swore and dropped his laptop onto the floor, kicking it under the seat in front of him. �Get down.� He commanded harshly to Korine and Daniel only a moment before the noise erupted around them. Instantly, a man was standing at the front of their cabin waving a weapon around and shouting at everyone to stay down.

�How did you know?� Korine tried to ask but Daniel and Buck both grabbed her and pushed her head down to her knees.

�Shut up.� Buck didn�t mean to sound so heartless but he was straining over the chaos to hear anything from JD. He listened to Josiah confirm a hijacker in his section and winced at Vin�s altercation with another hijacker. He frowned when Tanner didn�t immediately answer Chris.

�Come on, JD,� he thought as he listened for any sound from his roommate. He could hear the demands for someone to open the cockpit door and knew that the hijackers couldn�t be very far from JD if he could hear them that clearly. Glancing up for another quick check the location of the hijacker in his part of the plane, Buck saw him head towards Chris� area.

�Incoming, Chris,� he warned. Another shout from behind him prevented Buck from daring to lean out into the aisle and try to check on Chris or Vin visually.

Forcing himself to stay put when he heard the gunshot, followed quickly by Chris� order to stand down. �Damn it!� Buck growled as he wiped a hand over his face. He felt like he�d lost the ability to breathe until he heard JD�s barely audible whisper. �Confirm two.�

�What the hell is going on with you?� Buck flinched at Korine�s sharp question --her expression a cross between fear and anger. �Who are you?� she asked.

Buck could only stare at her; unable to fathom that in the middle of a hijacking she was actually risking drawing attention to them just to ask him such a question.

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Nathan heard the muffled shouting and JD�s panicked curse only a moment before the man he�d labeled as an �S-one� stood up and began waving his weapon menacingly at the passengers around him. Shouting in fractured English the terrorist commanded everyone to keep their heads down. He hurried up and down the aisle pushing one passenger after another into compliance.

Jackson started to duck his head when he realized that Mrs. Swertfager was still rambling on about ingrown toenails. Quickly he clamped one hand over her mouth and bent her forward over her legs, as far as he could without hurting her. He held her there until the hijacker had passed by them.

�Hush now!� he whispered emphatically. Once he was sure the elderly lady was going to stay quiet, he released her and turned his attention to monitoring what was happening around him. �Confirm one,� he whispered, his eyes widening as another heavily armed man entered the cabin. �Add one more,� he amended. �Coming your way, Ezra,� he warned as the hijackers finished their brief conference and one moved on towards first class.

Trapped at the front of the plane, Ezra listened anxiously as the confusion of the takeover intensified through the aircraft. Helpless to do anything but listen as his teammates reported in, he ran through possible scenarios of action he might succeed in taking on his own. He was just about to get out of his seat when he heard the gun shot and Chris� order to stand down. Slumping into his seat, he caught Rogers� gaze as panicked murmuring spread through out their cabin.

�Watch my back,� Rogers ordered as he glanced towards the expandable doors separating first class from the rest of the plane.

�No.� Ezra shook his head. �Stay where you are, Rogers.�

Rogers� eyes widened with disbelief. �Do you know what they�ll do to me if they find out I�m NSA?� he asked. �Do you care?� he added angrily.

�Sit down and shut up and they�ll never know,� Ezra�s accent sharpened. �Trust me,� he implored.

�Like hell.� Rogers began to rise from his seat when the armed hijacker bursting through the flimsy plastic door cut off his action. Shouting angrily and gesturing with his weapon, the man forced the passengers down in their seats. Quickly he moved to the small open area at the front of the cabin, standing guard less than three feet from Ezra�s seat.

Moments later another man entered and the two began conversing in Arabic. Keeping his head down Ezra quietly began to relay information to the rest of the team. �Confirm two,� he murmured. �Rashid and Jamil I believe�

�Arab?� Chris asked, already knowing the answer.

�Yes, sounds like there are six of them.� Ezra�s voice dropped lower as the man named Rashid stepped closer to him and shouted again for everyone to shut up.

*********************************

�Open it!�

�I can�t.�

JD tried to block out Melanie�s pleas with the hijackers as he frantically keyed in commands, programming the laptop to run the communications system on auto. He could hear shouting all over the plane and blinked when he heard Vin get hit. Hearing Nathan confirm, he belated remembered to do the same. He dropped his voice as low as he could to whisper, �Confirm two.�

�I said, open it!� the hijacker fired at the passengers, the shot barely skimming past the man who had been talking to JD earlier, and embedded itself into the seat.

JD listened to Chris command them to stand down, and hurriedly tried to finish his programming. He heard Melanie crying, �I can�t, I can�t,� while Ezra named two of the attackers.

A second gunshot rocked the air around him and he looked up in time to see Melanie slide to the floor, blood pooling from a hole in her chest.

�Oh God,� he gasped, blinking at the suddenness of the woman�s death.

�JD?� Buck�s worried voice kicked him back into motion.

�One innocent dead,� JD responded curtly, ducking down further in his seat as the hijackers shot their way into the cockpit. �They�re in the cockpit,� he informed the others.

�Sit tight. Hide the computer,� Chris ordered softly.

�I�m on it.� JD�s fingers flew as he buried the running program under layers of encryption that he and Ezra had set up. Task completed, he flipped the case closed and shoved the computer down onto the floor, then glancing up to check on the other passengers, he froze with the realization that the man who�d just killed Melanie was staring right at him.