The Dark Edge Chronicles - Clan War

Hand Snakes on a Plane

He was still working on that thirty five minutes later as their flight passed the halfway point and was beginning its descent when he heard movement in the seat behind him. Then a hand was grabbing his left arm. Looking down at it, he saw it belonged to Bronwyn. A quick look back found her in Narcist's seat and wearing a mask of concern.

"I smell dark intent!" she hissed for my ears only, her eyes narrowed. "And gun metal!"

Gun metal and dark intent? They were the last passengers on board, the gate agent pretty much closing the door right behind them. So how did they miss that as soon as they were in the same enclosed space?

It was then that a puff of air against his face reminded him that the plane was on recycled air. It had taken over half the flight for scents from further back in the cabin to circulate to the front. To where a vigilant Bronwyn had picked them out of the flow. The realization tightened his expression.

Out of the two places he had anticipated the enemy attacking, he had hoped it would've been the terminal at Heathrow. There, they had defensible positions to retreat to and defend, as well as extraction points. It would've been a fierce battle, but one they could have won without casualties. And they were indeed attacked there, the more logical of the two places for their enemy to strike against them.

Fighting on board a plane, on the other hand, was tantamount to suicide. And here the enemy was, prepared to try and take them on a Day Witch cursed plane. It was madness. Or desperation; either way, there would be no victors here. Only death.

A passing thought made him wonder if they had actually been attacked twice. Was the ambush in the corridor with Jerisa and her M'tada aimed at them? Or at the lilith and her Blood Guard? It could be argued either way, with Lash and his company simply in the wrong place. Or that Jerisa and her M'tada were.

Even the possible attack about to unfold on the plane; how could it have been deliberate if the Hand didn't know they were actually getting on this plane? Unless the reason they weren't attacked in Dublin was to allow the Hand and the White Flames to crack the booking database and find out what planes they were on and react accordingly.

Of course that was given a generous amount of credit to the thuggish Hand. The White Flames, however; they were a different animal altogether. Then he was grimly pushing it all aside. It didn't actually matter if the attack in Heathrow was planned or not. They were attacked.

Nor did it matter whether the Hand and the White Flames planned to take them out on the plane if they couldn't in the airport. Because here they were. In both instances, Lash and his comrades were forced to take action. Or die as piles of ash.

Nodding over his shoulder to let Bronwyn know he was acknowledging her track. Then it was over at Truk to flash him two upraised fingers.

In the planning session earlier that day, Lash had made Truk, Narcist, and Bronwyn aware that he thought there were two distinct possibilities of the enemy attacking: at Heathrow, and on the plane itself. They then hammered out two separate scenario plans for those two possibilities. Of course, none of that planning had anticipated their enemies would attack them in both places!

Flashing a two to Truk signaled they were on scenario two: defending an attack on the plane. He then held two fingers out into the aisle to let Narcist and Bronwyn also know they were moving to the second scenario. Then he was waving one of the stewards over.

When the human reached his chair, Lash showed his Interpol credentials, which Narcist had retrieved from their database as part of the scenario 2 work up.

As the man's eyes widened, Lash spoke in a low voice.

"I need a quiet conversation with your pilot, and the air marshal."