The Jungle

Chapter 13: Jesus

An hour into the flight, Bahati woke with a start from the nap he’d been taking. At first, he was confused about what had woken him, but he later figured it out and sat bolt upright in shock.

Juliet was clenching his arm tightly, her fingernails digging into his arm. Something was making her nervous. “What is it?” he whispered

She glanced his way, her green eyes wide with fear. “We’re being watched,” she whispered.

Bahati sat up and glanced around the plane. “Watched? How do you know?”

“I just know,” she whispered. “It’s some kind of sixth sense of mine. See that girl behind us with the green hair? I think it’s her.”

“Your kind have green hair?” Bahati asked, a bit awestruck.

Juliet sighed and put her palm to her forehead. “It’s not important now. Just focus on what I’m saying. You’re telling me you can’t sense that?”

Bahati turned around in his chair and looked at the woman. She had her head reclined as if she were sleeping, but she wore sunglasses so he could not tell if she was really asleep or not. As he watched, her eyelashes wiggled gently, much in the manner of blinking. She was faking. As he continued to study her, he noticed a wire that curled up to her left ear and stopped in the pocket of her jeans.

“She wears a wire and is faking,” he concluded, whispering his findings gently to his teammate.

Juliet nodded. “I think she may be affiliated with Hamlet. Maybe it’s just paranoia, though. The best thing to do is to keep calm and act like nothing’s happening. She may be just a civilian.”

“Maybe,” Bahati agreed, “but I have a weird feeling about this.”

At that moment, Caroline walked by Bahati and Juliet. She stared straight ahead, but as she passed, she made a small, discreet pointing motion with her hand that indicated she wanted someone to follow her. Unfortunately, Juliet missed it.

“Juliet, I’m going to the back of this thing for a moment. I need to…”

Juliet smiled a bit. “Alright. Just go,” she chuckled, moving her feet to allow him to exit his seat. Bahati walked quickly, staying only a few feet behind Caroline. At the end of the aisle, she disappeared through a door, leaving it slightly ajar. Bahati slipped in after her and pulled it completely shut.

It was a tightly confined space, and there was not much room inside. He became aware of just how close to Caroline he stood. It didn’t help that he was twice as massive as her. His Kupata height was not in his favor at the moment. His chest gently brushed hers and he could feel the hairs on his spine stand up. Caroline, too, was affected. Her pupils dilated out until the pupils covered almost all of her iris. But now was not the time to dwell on feelings. That bit would come later. He was sure of it.

“Why did you call me back here?” he asked as Caroline quickly locked the door. “What is this place?”

Caroline chuckled. “It’s a place where people relieve themselves mid-flight if they have to. But that’s not important. Warren thinks there’s a spy on the plane.”

“Juliet and I made a similar observation,” Bahati replied. “Unfortunately, our fears may be wrong. The woman in question may be a civilian.”

Caroline looked shellshocked.”The person we suspect is the punk guy with blue hair across the aisle from us. We noticed he wears a wire and won’t stop staring at us.”

“Ours is a woman with green hair who is pretending to sleep,” Bahati said. “The common denominator is the hair. Maybe they work together. I noticed on my way here that a man with orange hair is sitting behind Macbeth and James, and we passed a woman with purple hair near the back of the aisle and there is a man with pink hair at the front of the cabin. I find it suspicious. The purple one wears a wire as well. I think they plan to ambush us when we land. Up here in the air, it is not safe for them to make a move. It would be foolish.”