Dominic

"LUX Tower II calling DFW9304 Passenger." The man's voice crackled in my ear. "Please provide input on the condition of the pilot and the copilot, as well as any other downed crew members on board."

My brown-eyed beauty looked at me with a blank stare, but I was more than certain that the gears in her pretty little head now whirled at a dizzying speed.

"It seems you're up, Mina."

"What do I say?" Her eyes grew large once again.

"This is DFW9304." I drew in a deep breath, then let it out with a heavy sigh. "LUX Tower II, the pilot's unconscious, and the copilot has GI symptoms and is vomiting bile. Flight attendant Mina Melchor seems unaffected." My eyes locked with hers. "And the rest of the information needs to come from you, Mina."

"Oh, um, all of the crew except for Filipe Sandoval and me are down with fever, nausea, and other gastric symptoms of various degrees. I'm not sure when the pilot and copilot took ill, but Mona and the others started showing signs about six to eight hours into the flight."

An audible click hit my ears, then a couple of beeps sounded. One of the two men had picked up an extra set of headphones and opened the channel by the entrance.

"LUX, this is Barry Martinez, DFW9304 air marshal. I'm affected as well." Martinez stood at the mouth of the cockpit.

The man hunched over, then removed the headphones. He glanced in my direction.

"Hey," said Barry, "did I hear you say that you can fly?"

"Yeah," I replied, then nodded, glancing at him over my shoulder.

"Well, hallelujah, darlin'," said a male standing behind the marshal.

If guessing, I'd put money on him being Filipe since he didn't show any signs of distress like Dan, Will, and the marshal.

"This is LUX Tower II calling DFW9304," a new male voice came over the headset. "What's the status of the passengers on board?"

I shot a glance at Mina. Then my eyes drifted to the marshal and Filipe before flicking back to my doe-eyed beauty.

"Well?" I motioned to Mina, prompting her to respond. "Is anyone sick?" Annoyance coated my words.

"No, uhm, not that I know of?" She peered at Filipe. "I think they're all fine. Filipe do you—"

"Oh, darlin', other than a few passengers who get motion sickness, I've not heard of any?"

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"DFW9304 responding to LUX Tower II?" I spoke into the headset again. "Seems whatever it is has only impacted the crew at this point."

"Filipe, grab Will's feet." The air marshal kneeled next to the pilot's head.

"Why?"

"So we can move him out of the cockpit, then secure the room." The marshal slid his hands under the pilot's shoulders, lifting him. "We can put him in the pilots' cabin next to Dan."

"Need some help?" I rose and pulled off the headset.

"No," said Barry, "you need to stay focused on flying and landing the plane."

I only managed a single step before Mina's hand wrapped around my wrist.

"Oh, uhm, hold on." Mina glanced up at me from under those dark, mahogany lashes again. "They're asking you something."

"Filipe and I got this," said the marshal, who looked like death warmed over. “Don't we?"

"If you say so." Filipe picked up the pilot's legs, then groaned. "Damn, for such a skinny-ass dude, he weighs like a ton."

"Filipe, after this," said the marshal, "I need you to check on the passengers. But don't alarm them. We don't want mass panic."

"Oh, I'm not sayin' nothing. I don't want people breathin' down my neck." He checked his watch. "We're still, what, a good six hours away?"

A series of beeps sounded, and the plane hit some turbulence.

Mina and the others shared a combined gasp in the room.

"Yeah, give or take." I nodded, then turned my focus to the instruments in front of me. "It's an air pocket—a small patch of rain—nothing to worry about," I said, more to Mina than the rest of the listeners. "We're almost past it."

I slipped back onto the pilot's seat, then put on the headset.

"This is DFW9304 calling LUX Tower II," I said, "come again, I didn't hear your message."

"DFW9304, this is LUX Tower II," a masculine voice crackled, but it wasn't that of the first or second contact caller from earlier. "Is autopilot engaged?"

"DFW9304 responding to LUX Tower II," I replied, "yes, autopilot is engaged."

"This is LUX Tower II Command," a feminine voice squawked, "please disengage the autopilot, drop to twenty-four thousand and level out, then reengage autopilot."

"DFW9304 is disengaging now, LUX Tower II Command." I disengaged the autopilot, then took the yoke in hand.

"Are you sure you know what you're doing?" asked my doe-eyed beauty.

"Well, now," I flicked the mute button on the comms, "I guess you'll find out, won't you?" I winked. "And here I thought you trusted me."

Her ears wiggled, and her nose twitched twice, indicating we hadn't formed a level of trust just yet.

Watching the instruments, I eased the plane down in increments of five hundred feet, leveled out at the designated height, then unmuted the comms.

"DFW9304 to LUX Tower II Command," I said, "we're now holding steady at twenty-four thousand. Autopilot reengaged."

"LUX Tower II Command to DFW9304," the woman's voice hummed in my ear. "Hold on the line. Await further instructions."

"Roger that, LUX Tower II Command, DFW9304 on standby, now awaiting instructions." I hit the mute button again. "You okay over there?"

"As good as one can be on a plane without a functioning pilot and copilot." She chewed on her lower lip, making me wish I could do the same.

"How long have you worked for Friendly Skylines, Mina Melchor?" I held her gaze, wanting to read her physical reaction in conjunction with her verbal response to a question I already knew the answer to—four years.

"For a while," she said, "how long have you flown planes?"

"Six years," I replied.

"All in the military?" Keeping her eyes cast down, she smoothed the hem of her skirt over her knees, drawing my eyes to her shapely legs.

The memory of how her silky thigh felt made the tips of my fingers itch for more contact.

"Is that a Texas twang I hear?" I shot a smile her way.

"No, it's not." Her nose twitched twice, but this time, without her ears.

"Then where do you call home, Miss Melchor?"

"Oh, you know, here and there—the life of an army brat, ya know?" Two more twitches struck her nose, highlighting her little spoken lies, and I grinned.

Oh, Mina, baby, you're an open book, and I can't wait to feast on your pages.