Infiltration of the Iridine | Silence of the Lambs

Chapter 4

Your POV:

I have reached an impasse. Standing, staring at the options before me, my face twists in thought. Making decisions has never been my strong suit.

I sigh, eventually deciding to grab a simple sandwich with ham, cheddar, and lettuce. I hand the cashier a twenty, slightly annoyed at the inflated cost of the food here.

"Hey!" I hear my name being called and I turn my head to see Agent Davis jogging towards me. "They're boarding the flight soon, let's go," he yells and waves me towards him. I thank the cashier before following him to the gate.

Tracy waves us over to where he and Mr. Crawford are waiting near the desk by the boarding bridge. We rejoin with the two of them as Davis asks "where's Jeffers and Dalton?"

Mr. Crawford raises an eyebrow, smiling slightly, as he points to the men across the gate. We all turn around to see Dalton sitting doing some kind of Sudoku while Jeffers loudly encourages him to get up and continue it on the plane.

Tracy chuckles before running over to assist Jeffers in his plight.

Davis smiles, watching the confrontation before shifting his glance to you, changing the subject.

"Didn't you grow up in California? Will you be close enough to see any family?"

I shake my head. "Unfortunately all of my family is about eight hours south of where we're headed."

"Damn, you really could've saved the government some money on hotel rooms," he jokes.

"Oh yeah, because my top priority is saving the government money, allowing the funds to be allocated to something else like... politicians' five star hotels rather than our three star ones," I say with a laugh. Even Mr. Crawford smiles slightly, glancing away to hide it.

"Hmmm... well if you're really that passionate about reallocating government funding, you know what also saves money? Sharing rooms," Davis says, winking.

Slightly taken aback by the sudden flirtatious statement I fumble over my words, not quite knowing what to say. Luckily, I am saved by Tracy and Jeffers' sudden return, followed by an irritated Dalton, still holding a Sudoku puzzle.

Suddenly, the speaker interrupts any kind of tension within the group, blaring the message that group three can begin boarding.

I glance down at my ticket again to check my seat. The ticket reads "6F" and signifies that the seat is a window seat on the right side of the plane, part of business class.

Sweet deal, I think to myself, I never fly business class, and it's quite nice that we can even get these seats. I try to peer over Dalton's shoulder to see what seat he's in, to check if the group is at least in the same vicinity of the plane.

"Wondering who you're next to?" asks a voice behind me. I turn and see Mr. Crawford holding his own ticket facing outwards so I can read it.

"I hope you don't mind, I made sure to sit us next to each other for the flight so I can go over some more procedure for how the investigation will work when we arrive."

My face lights up, perhaps a little too much, excited that I won't have to spend the flight next to Tracy or Jeffers considering my first impression was very weak.

"Sounds perfect, sir," I finally say.

After the man at the desk by the entrance scans my ticket, I make my way through the tunnel to the plane, following closely behind Dalton. I glace outside the windows of the tunnel to see view the trees, perhaps for the last time before I return. Watching the runway, I see the planes lining up to take off with the miniscule people below directing the colossal mechanical aircrafts.