Melinda May put on her best "you better fix this now or die" face. The short man behind the counter did not even flinch.
"I'm sorry we have nothing else leaving in the next few hours. The coach flight to Chicago is it. Now either purchase the ticket or step aside. I do have other customers you know."
Melinda took a deep breath. "Fine. How much?"
"Three hundred nineteen dollars and ninety nine cents."
"What! For a coach ticket 600 miles away. Plus you cannot even hook me up with a connecting flight once I get there?" Melinda was annoyed. Beyond annoyed. She needed to hit something. Where the hell was a quinjet when you needed one. She hated flying on airlines. Yeah, she was super stuck up about it. She wanted her bus back. She reached in and handed him her cash. He smiled at her and gave her five dollars and one cent back. He then printed the boarding pass out and handed it to her. She grabbed it and briskly walked away. Her flight would be leaving in 40 minutes.
She walked toward the gate. She glanced down at the ticket as she waited in line to be searched. She groaned. The seat number was 3A. Which meant she was in the front of the plane which she hated but also she had a window seat. She hated window seats. Plus, the plane was full so she would have to sit next to someone. It sucked. She sighed and wondered if asking Phil to send a quinjet would be too much. She took off her shoes and jewelry and set them on the scan table and walked thru. She had left her gun behind since she was technically Heidi Martin and did not have a gun license.
Finally she was sitting on the plane and so far no one had claimed the two seats next to her. Maybe her luck was improving. She opened her phone and checked for messages. Four were from her mother and five from Andrew. She started reading them. She had gotten to her mother's second one when she felt a presence. She looked up. A woman had stopped at her aisle and was putting something in the overhead carrier. But it was not her who Melinda was looking at but rather at a young girl around eight years old, standing almost in front of her and looking at her intently.
"Hi. Are you a spy?" the young girl asked her with huge brown eyes and an arched eyebrow.
"Arianna? What did I tell you about talking to strangers? " her mother admonished her.
Arianna smiled and said, "She's not a stranger, she is our plane date. And mommy I think she is a spy."
Melinda gaped at both of them, her mouth opening then closing as she found herself at a loss for words.
The mother looked at her daughter firmly and said, "Arianna, not everyone who dresses in black and wears sunglasses is a spy. I don't think I should have let you watch 'Men in Black' at the hotel last night." She looked to Melinda. "Sorry but my daughter has a huge imagination." She did not wait for Melinda to reply but rather sat down in the aisle sit and told her daughter to sit in the middle seat. After making sure she was properly buckled in she opened the book she was carrying and started reading.
The girl smiled and leaned over toward Melinda. "Don't worry I won't tell anyone you're a spy. Are you looking for aliens on the plane?"
Melinda had regained her senses and glanced at the child. "I don't like children, " she whispered so only the child heard her. She took off her aviators, frowned at the girl and gave her a look that always froze Skye in her tracks. She slowly placed the aviators back on, turned away and looked out the window.
"Undercover huh?"
Melinda sighed. This was going to be a long 2-1/2 hours. She needed to hit something.